With all the traveling that I do, it's no wonder that things go wrong sometimes. From missing baggage to middle seats to nearly missing (or missing) flights, adventures abound at the airport. One such mishap took place when I was flying Air France from Madrid to Philadelphia (connecting in Charles DeGaulle in Paris). Not only was the connecting terminal about 5 miles away, but security had cleared the terminal because some genius left a bag unattended. Now a couple hundred of us were stranded in our attempts to make our connections to Philadelphia, DC and New York. After the unattended bag was 'detonated', all of us were free to figure out how we would get home. I missed my flight, so I went to the Air France counter and basically got the run-around. I was told that since it was a security issue, Air France was not responsible for any of the costs I would incur to stay in Paris, but they would fly me home the next day. I was upset because I had already spent 14 days in Europe. My clothes were dirty. My French was not so good.  I just wanted my own bed. Reluctantly, I headed down the escalator with the next day's airline ticket in hand.

While in the baggage department to recover my belongings, the gentlemen there were kind enough to put me on a flight to DC the same day, that way I wouldn't have to stay in Paris after all. They put my bags on the plane and I had plenty of time to get a baguette and a newspaper before departing. My husband drove to DC and picked me up.

While I was at the baggage counter that day, I filled out a feedback form to Air France. Well, I GOT A REPLY! I was shocked the other day to open my mail to see a personalized letter from Air France that referenced the mishap of that day and offered a sincere apology.  There were no gimmicky discounts or free flights, just a nice personal letter, with a hand signature, to let me know that they read my feedback and were concerned about my loyalty. While I had a bad day with Air France, I would fly with them again. This little letter really impressed me and made me feel like someone, somewhere, pays attention to customers.

How does your company resolve customer complaints? What little things do you do to make the customer's day?