How to Complain – Part 2
The Times yesterday had a long article yesterday on the story I detailed under How to Complain. Read the Time article, as there is some interesting on-line comment from other disgruntled passengers.
One thing that the article says, is complain with humour.
Years ago, I had a couple of bad experiences on PanAm, so I vowed never to fly them again. At the time, my company had a US Head Office in Houston and I used to go a couple of times a year. But at the time, the alternatives were fly either to fly British Calendonian direct or Braniff via Dallas. Now, I know my flying and after various incidents, I didn’t like DC10s, so I often went by a roundabout route, changing perhaps in Chicago or Boston.
But then PanAm decided to fly TriStars direct from Houston to Gatwick.
So I thought I’d give it a try and was actually pleasantly surprised. Especially, as the planes were often half-empty and you could usually find four seats in steerage to lie across for the flight back to Blighty.
So as the article in The Times says, I used humour not to complain, but to thank them for the service. I remember, I started the letter with something like.
What’s gone wrong with your airline? I vowed some years ago never to fly with PanAm again, after some bad experiences, but after flying between Gatwick and Houston, I certainly will again, after the great service.
I got a very nice letter in the same vein in return and continued to fly PanAm to Houston until the company was sold. Unfortunately, I don’t have the letters now.
But it does show, that humour is the best policy.
The problem now, is that a lot of complaints are handled in countries, where the British, American or French, sense of humour is not understood, so the jokes may fall on deaf ears.
It’s funny, but all airlines mentioned no longer exist.
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The Anonymous Widower 
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