What I Learned From My Awful British Airways Experience

Hey, friend. Welcome back to The Modern Hairstylist Podcast. So, you may have seen on my Instagram stories that not too long ago, I went on a big trip to Europe. It was a very long trip.

It was 17 days. And I did it through this agency, this travel agency, in which you show up and you get introduced to a bunch of random people, and they take care of everything for you. They take care of the flights, they take care of the tickets, the itinerary, and the travel, and all the things. So, they booked my flight for me.

I had a layover in London Heathrow, um, from Philly, that would then bring me into Italy. And I had the absolute worst travel experience of my life. And I travel a fair bit, okay? I travel a lot.

And I had the absolute worst travel experience of my life, as far as getting to the area, right? As far as getting to Italy, it was awful. Um, and I learned a whole lot from it, and I'm really excited to share with you the lessons that I learned from it. You know, as, as somebody who's so obsessed with business, I don't know if you can relate with this, my friend, as a business owner yourself, I love being able to...

Or, um, I'm always, uh, very aware of how a business is conducting themselves when I'm the customer of it. And I'm always reflecting on my own business and saying, like, "Oh, I don't like how they just treated me. I'm gonna make sure that I never do that with my clients." Or, "Oh my God, I love how they went this extra mile.

I maybe wanna implement that in my own business," right? So, I'm always very aware of those things. And this crazy, awful, but also kind of good customer experience that I had was mind-blowing to me, and I knew that I had to share it with you guys. So, I was taking notes the entire time, and I'm so excited to share it all with you.

So, what happened was, I got on this freaking plane, and we get an announcement over the freaking, the announcement thing... I don't know, on the plane, somebody got on the microphone and they were like, "Listen friends, so sorry to tell you this, but we... There is something wrong with the plane. Our GPS system is not working how it's supposed to, and we cannot take off until we know that it is fixed.

So unfortunately, there will be a delay, and that is that." And I was like, "Okay, here we freaking go." And because this travel agency had set up everything for me, I had to get to the airport at a certain time to not miss the bus that they had coordinated for me. So, I got really stressed out and freaked out, and it was...

And I got t- Oh, my God, I... It turned into literally, like, 24 hours of traveling, a massive delay, layover, all the things. It was just completely awful. I think that after that announcement, it was like three hours before we lifted off.

And the way that British Airways handled it was super fascinating, so I'm very excited to share that with you. So, if you're ready to hear about all of it, then I'm excited to give it to you. And by the way, what fixed this airplane, what fixed this problem, was so stupidly ridiculous, and I can't wait to share with, that with you at the very end of this episode, so make sure to listen all the way through. You will be shook.

And without further ado, let's get into it. Let's go. What's the tea, friend? My name's Hunter Donia, industry business educator for hairstylists, but my friends just call me Hunty.

Whether it be growing your clientele, making more money, or automating and streamlining your systems, in the next 20 minutes or so, you'll be hearing realistic, actionable strategies to create a beautiful career for yourself behind the chair. So, if you're ready to get into it, welcome to The Modern Hairstylist podcast. Okay. So, like I said, I got on this plane, and they announced over the overhead, and they were like, "Listen, we have a part of the plane, our GPS system, it's not functioning how it, how we need it to.

So, um, we can't lift off until it's fixed, and I'm the head, the head person..." It was British Airways, so it was these, like, British people in these British accents, right? And I was kind of geeking out 'cause I... This was my first time traveling internationally.

And the fact that all of the staff, like, the people who were working on the airplane were all, like, have, like, genuine British accents, I was just, like, geeking out about it and I thought it was so fascinating, and it just felt really real to me. I was like, "Oh, wow, I'm, like, going to another country right now." But she got on the overhead announcement with her British voice, and she was very kind, very reassuring, and she was like, "Listen, I know that this is not ideal, but I will keep you updated about what's going on. Right now, we have this, and we can't take off yet."

And she also said, "I'll be coming down, up and down the aisle answering any questions that you may have," which I thought was super amazing. Like, I thought it was fantastic that this person was willing to speak to every single individual up and down the aisles and answer any questions to make sure that everybody felt reassured, which brings me to the first lesson that I learned from this. The fir- first thing I really reflected on was just consistent communication and making people feel heard and taken care of during times of tension or during times of anxiety. This flight attendant was removing any uncertainty.

They were making people feel like they were really cared about and they had their voices heard. And I think that a way that you can relate this back to our own businesses... For example, one time, I had a client named Paige. I freaking love Paige, super ideal client.

But I had this, like, haircut before her that just was completely... I was unprepared for, and it was much more complicated than I thought it would be, and I ended up running behind for Paige. So, Paige was waiting outside of my suite, and I asked my client that I was, that was in my chair right now, I was like, "Hey, friend, we're almost done your haircut. I just need to go ahead and greet my next client because I wanna make sure that she knows, like, a t- a good time estimate for when I'll take her, um, so I'll be right back," instead of just letting Paige sit there and wait and wonder, right?

Because I feel like the more that we can confront those scarier uncomfortable situations, even though it might be a little intimidating to speak with that person about it, the more calm and comfortable you'll both make, you and the client. I know that for me, I'm freaking out while I'm doing this haircut, rushing, anxious, sweating, right? But I know that if I am willing to face that uncomfortability, then I might feel a lot better and make everybody else around me feel a lot better.So, I went out and I said, "Hey, Paige," and I sat down next to Paige.

Okay? I didn't just, like, look over her. I wasn't running out. I walked, I got myself together, collected myself, took a big deep breath, very calmly sat down next to Paige, and I said, "Hey, Paige.

Right now, I'm running behind with my last haircut. It's going over longer than I thought it would. I truly, deeply apologize that you're gonna be waiting here for a moment. Not sure how much longer it's gonna take me, probably just an extra 15 minutes.

In the meantime, is there anything I can get you? I would love to get you something to drink. I have snacks as well too. How can I serve you to make sure that you're as comfortable as possible here?"

And instead of just ignoring Paige, and just being like, "Okay, I'm gonna be a little bit, goodbye." I really took my time and I looked Paige in the eye, and I made Paige feel like she was cared for, and that she was heard, and that I told her that I was deeply sorry, and I apologized. I acknowledged the fact that I was inconveniencing her, right? And I offered some sort of solution to hold her over and keep her comfortable, which is also what British Airways did with us.

So, they were also coming down the aisles offering us drinks and snacks to hold us over while we were in this unfortunate, uncomfortable delay. So, moral of the story here with that first lesson that I took was try to make somebody feel as heard as possible, and whatever you can offer to make the uncomfortable experience as comfortable as possible, make sure you try and do so. Whether that be with snacks or drinks, or just calm acknowledgment and reassurance that you know what's going on, and you will take care of it. So, what the team also did was, like the entire team of people who are working on this airline were, they also shared with us very openly and honestly, they were like, "Okay, we're gonna be keeping you updated every 30 minutes," right?

"We're gonna come on this, on, on the overhead. We're gonna share with you what's going on every 30 minutes." They kept us updated. They consistently communicated with us what was going on, so that way we weren't just confused and getting more and more pissed.

They acknowledged us and they, they kept us in the know, which I really appreciated. Calmed me down, for sure, and I was like, "Okay, cool. Whatever. I'm gonna sit here and watch my Harry Potter on the, on the, you know, the British Airways screen."

I was like, "I'm living my whole British fantasy right now, okay?" While they kept us updated, they also made sure that they reassured that they are in this together with us, right? Like, it's not just us against them. We're all one unit.

They, they created this feeling of, like, we are all one unit, and we wanna get home too, right? Like, they literally said the same thing, like, "Trust me. We wanna lift off just as soon as you guys do. Unfortunately, there's nothing that we can do about this.

You know, we have to have a long flight home back to, uh, London, and we wanna make sure that this is resolved as soon as possible, so we'll do everything in our power to make sure that that happens." And the way that I related this back to Behind the Chair was, whenever I would have a consultation with somebody, and it was a situation where, like, I know that the client wants something that is just not going to happen, or there's just, like, unrealistic expectations, or I have to talk down some expectations, or underpromise, overdeliver, et cetera, et cetera, I would always tell the client that I have their best interest in mind, and also that I really want them to be successful. I want just as bad for them to get the same result. And if I could wave my magic wand and make that happen for you, Susie, I would freaking do it.

But unfortunately, these are the re- this is the reality, and these are the circumstances that we're dealing with. So, we're in this together. I wanna make sure that I'm taking your best interest into heart, because that's who I am as a service provider. Those are my core values.

But trust me, I want you to have this just as bad as you do, and I'm gonna try my best to get you there within these smaller steps. So, just making sure that you let your clients know, within whatever inconvenience or whatever experience that you're going through with them, that you're on the same team as them. That we're in this together, and that we can make this happen together instead of this is, like, vers- me versus you, right? Um, I think it, it will always create a more positive outcome.

Even, like, with, like, um, changes that you be ma- may be making in the chair, or in your business. Like, maybe let's say that you're changing your schedule around, or maybe let's say you're chang- you're raising your prices, right? Like, creating a feeling and a sense of like, this is with us and for you and for us, and we are willing to work with you to make this work for you , right, I think is a really beautiful and positive way to approach your customer service, versus a us versus them. So, that definitely calmed me down.

I mean, at this point, you know, it was like two hours we were sitting on this freaking plane, and I was like, "I am missing my layover," right? Like, missing my layover. I'm gonna have to be stuck in London. I'm gonna have to be freaking rescheduling my flight.

I'm gonna have to talk to these airlines. I don't know, I want my freaking money back. Like, pissed off all about that, right? But, what British Airways did to combat that specific part of my feelings and emotions that were coming up was, they didn't wait for them to be asked from us about what we should be doing about our li- missed layovers, right?

They anticipated what our worries and our questions would be, and they got ahead of them before we even thought about it, such as our missed layovers. So, they got on the overhead and they say, "We understand that some of you may have tight layovers that you may be missing because of this delay. There's no need to worry, no need to panic. Please just know that we will take very good care of you, and we are going to connect with our team that handles these types of things, and we are going to schedule the next flight out for you from your connecting destination, and we will announce you what that is going to look like towards the end of our flight.

So, no need to ask us, no need to call or email or anybody right now. We will take care of it for you." And that's exactly what they did. Once we finally took off, and closer to the end of our flight, they got on the overhead and they said, "Okay, seat 4D, you were originally set to go to here at this time.

Your new flight is going to be at this time instead."And then so on and so forth. So they took care of it. They took responsibility for ensuring that we all got to our final destination, and they knew that they were inconveniencing us in one way or another, and they tried to make as convenient of an experience as possible, right?

And they got ahead of our worries and let us just relax so we didn't have to do any more work. So when you are the one who is at fault, and when you are the one who is possibly causing an inconvenience for the client, make sure that you take responsibility for that, and you fix it, and you do everything that you can to get in front of it as fast as you possibly can. And you may have to be flexible, and you may have to sacrifice to make it happen, because you know what? We expect the same thing out of our clients, right?

With our cancellation policies, right, we, we expect our clients to make it happen that they show up to their appointment. So what happens when we are the ones who are running late? What happens when we're the ones who have to reschedule a client? We want to make sure that we are taking initiative to be the ones who say, "Okay, here are the new appointment times for you.

Does that work for you?" Or somehow, someway offering some sort of consolation for however we messed up. We have to go out of our way then to offer a next-level customer experience 'cause we were the ones who messed up. When you can handle a negative experience in a beautiful way, that will get you so much more longevity in a client and their positive experience than anything else.

The way that you handle a negative experience will speak volumes, way more than how you handle positive easy experiences on the day-to-day. For example, the way that British Airlines handled this experience, this ended up being, like, an awful trip for me. Like, I was in London Heathrow tired, exhausted, and upset for, like, 12 hours before my connecting flight. It was absolutely terrible.

But every time I talk about this terrible flight experience with people, I will always tell them how amazing British Airways was, right? I will always talk about how absolutely fantastic they are. And that, my friend, is how a good customer service experience looks like. That is how that can affect the way that people are talking about you and your reputation in your local area.

Lastly, once we got off of our flights, there was a massive crew of British Airway staff. Like, they were right there, right? Once we got into the actual terminal, um, right off of the flight, there was, like, a table and, like, five British Airway employees set up there with our boarding passes, printed and ready to go. They were grabbing and getting us through as fast as possible, handing us our, our cards, finding them for us, our boarding passes, es- and handing them to us personally, each and every one of us, and giving us $25 vouchers for the airport as a good faith gesture.

So here's the thing. What I also took away from this all is that British Airways created the systems, the flexibility, and also empowered their team to be able to go out of their way when something like this comes up. They are prepared to offer an excellent customer experience when things go awry. And I wanna make sure that you have the systems set up and flexibility in your schedule to protect you and offer an excellent customer experience in situations like this that allow you to create a margin for magic.

And all of those systems are the things that I teach in Pre-Visit Pathway. They allow you to have a beautiful foundation to offer solutions in inconvenient situations, right? So customer service can go a super long way, and I hope that this episode and my travel experience was insightful for you. You will never guess how they freaking fixed this problem.

So literally, it was, like, the two-and-a-half-hour mark, and they were like, "Okay, guys, so here's the thing. What we've tried, what the technician has tried thus far is not working, and he is suggesting that we do a good old turn-it-off-and-on. So we are going to turn off the electronics of the entire plane and try to turn it back on and see if it resets the system and starts working. So you will have to sit in the dark, you will lose your movie and wifi for just a moment, and then it'll come right back on."

So they literally turned the flight off, okay? They turned that plane off, and all the lights were off, and we were sitting in the dark for, like, a minute. They turned it back on, and that's fixed the freaking problem. So that, it was all, all they had to do was just turn it off and back on, and then we were good to go.

So it was absolutely ridiculous. Nonetheless, I made the most out of it. I watched my Harry Potter. They gave me plenty of wine to hold me over, and I had a beautiful trip to Europe.

It was absolutely fantastic. So I hope that this episode was entertaining and helpful and insightful for you, my friend. Thank you so much for tuning in to The Modern Hairstylist podcast. Peace out, girl scout.

Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2023 Hunter Donia LLC.