Adelaide, a Charlotte ticket agent with Delta Airlines, had undoubtedly heard similar passenger comments hundreds if not thousands of times.
“$15 a bag and $40 for two? What’s with that?”
She handled it well, including laughing at the ( joking) speculation by other passengers that all the luggage fees go to her personally. Still, it was clear that she was handling it off the cuff.
But was she trained by Delta to discuss it in a way that would defuse the passenger’s annoyance and/or anger?
Did her employer offer training for handling the situation so that she would not to simply repeat the corporate mantra (whatever that might be), but actually engage in a meaningful conversation with her customer as they check in and deal with their bags?
It wasn’t clear that Delta had trained their staff – including Adelaide – to deal with that question and do so disarmingly.
Obviously, it’s an unpleasant position to place your public-facing staff, so why not arm them with the perfect response that disarms most clients?
Why not prepare them to handle the situation in a way that doesn’t leave everyone with a bad taste in their mouth?
Sometimes, even the things you don’t sell need to be sold.
