Surprise! “Welcome to Plus3 Charlotte”. Our trip to Charlotte has been extended to 3 days instead of a few hours. Our flight to Dublin, Ireland was cancelled. In the meantime, we have been able to interact with many businesses while exploring Charlotte.

Specifically, we’ve had many experiences with companies’ customer service. American Airlines seemed to have many difficulties, but their way of handling it and speaking with customers made it even worse. Our flight was scheduled for 6:45 pm and we did not know it was cancelled until 11 pm. There were almost no announcements at the gate to keep customers updated. When customers asked when the flight was going to take off we heard them say, “we’re just guessing at this point.” Many customers were noticeably upset and even booing loudly. They seemed to stop any communication or updates after people were booing. I believe even a simple apology from American Airlines would have helped customers’ views of the inconvenience.  Thanks to Liz and Chris we were able to stay at a nice hotel close to the airport. At this point, we did not have our luggage. Liz and Chris were on hold for hours with American Airlines. They said we were not able to even come to the airport to get our bags. So Liz explained that she tweeted American Airlines explaining our situation. Their response shocked me. They tweeted back, “We’re unable to garantee. It’s not always possible for our airport team to released the bags.” I think this tweet shocked me so much because they seemed to have absolutely no care for the customer. Again, they did not apologize. This tweet also must have been written in a rush because of so many spelling and grammar mistakes. This was another opportunity to make the customer feel better but instead, it showed their carelessness. After Liz and Chris made many more calls with American Airlines we were able to get our bags. This experience really showed me how important customer service and careful communication is for a customer’s opinions and experience are with a company. Even if American Airlines could not do anything about our plane they could have at least been more understanding with customers and give updates as to what is going on. Their tweets could be a great way to build their marketing and customer servies but instead, it makes them look defensive and careless.

In great contrast, our experience with Hyatt’s customer service has been incredible. We were able to check into our room as soon as we got there. Every worker there has a smile and a positive attitude. We were in the elevator with a maid and she was energetic and wished us to have a great day. They have gone above and beyond and warned us when breakfast is close to being over and made suggestions of things we can do while we’re in Charlotte. They had to keep giving us new keys because we extended our stay twice. Even though it could be a pain to give out twenty new keys twice in two days, they had a great attitude and made my day even better. All of the employees seem to work together and help each other out, which has given them the ability to quickly respond to any needs that we have. This contrast with American Airlines really shows how your employees’ attitudes can make a difference in the customer experience. American Airlines could learn a couple of things from Hyatt about communication, teamwork and customer service. Liz said she is so happy with Hyatt she is writing a nice letter and review for Hyatt.

Besides interacting with American Airlines and Hyatt we were able to explore Charlotte. We walked around the city and ate tacos on Cinco de Mayo and then we got ice cream at Jeni’s Ice creams which was absolutely delicious. We also went to Topgolf which was a lot of fun especially because the weather is nice here in Charlotte. I noticed that even though it was unfortunate to have our flight cancelled I always looked for the bright side. I was able to bond with my group more and explore another city. Today we are going on a bus tour of Charlotte and then to an escape room. We will be in Dublin soon enough but in the meantime, I am glad we are making the most out of our time in Charlotte.  

I am so thankful for all of the work Liz and Chris have done for us. They booked our rooms, dealt with American airlines, booked us another flight, scheduled a bus tour,  and even took us to Topgolf and are taking us to an escape room. They made an entirely new itinerary for our group in Charlotte. They have had to deal with some difficult changes but they have made this extra trip in Charlotte enjoyable for all of us. Thank you Liz and Chris!