Don’t question this airline – you’ll get BLOCKED!
Customer service seems to be a lost art in many businesses. I can’t even tell you the amount of times that I’ve called a business and faced the dreaded “we’re experiencing a heavy call volume, your call will be answered in 90 minutes…”
Justin was banned from Argentina too! From the mirror.co.uk
Has it ever happened to you that you’ve called that company and the person you got wasn’t the one who could help you, so you were transferred to someone else? Only to find out they hung up on you and you’ve got to go back through the queue again?
Pan Am rotary phone
Twitter has revolutionized the way that consumers react with companies. For the longest time, I didn’t even have a personal twitter account (we just used the NoMasCoach twitter… follow us!), but I realized that with airlines and hotels especially, the response time is usually a lot faster and more personalized. When I have a problem at a Starwood hotels I tweet @SpgAssist and they get back with me pretty quickly. When I had a problem with my flight being cancelled, I tweeted @Delta and got a response back with a new schedule.
One airline however, Aerolineas Argentinas, has taken their “I could care less” attitude from their real in person employees to their twitter feed.
We had a unique flight experience flying back from Rio to Buenos Aires two weeks ago, and I wanted to tweet @aerolineas_ar to see if we could get some help. But look at what showed up when I pulled up their twitter feed:
I got blocked?! What?!
What the heck? Why would I be blocked by a twitter feed from a company? I couldn’t think of a single reason. I didn’t insult their CEO. I didn’t complain about their pilots breaking federal law. I didn’t even have the chance to congratulate them on their birthday. So how in the world did I get banned from their twitter feed?
I sent them a message which, guess what, went ignored, so I went back and started looking through my twitter feed for an answer.
Then, like a needle in a haystack, I found this FLAGRANT and INSULTING tweet that I sent back in 2014.
Una demora de más de 8 horas desde MÍA a EZE? Qué pasa con uds? @aerolineasar ¿Y ahora cual es la excusa? pic.twitter.com/O5gjt1Fkwg
— Jon (@jon5c) February 10, 2014
It roughly translates to “A delay of over 8 hours from Miami to Buenos Aires? What happened you guys? What’s the excuse?”
A competent and customer focused company would have responded with something like “Hey Jon, our pilots were sick so we’re waiting for new ones, apologies” or “We’re having a mechanical delay, I’m sorry. We’re working on it.” But no, Aerolinas Argentinas, in the style of a petulant 5 year old, have placed their hands on their ears and yelled LALALALALALA and blocked me from seeing any more tweets or reading any of their tweets. This is just another reason among the many that you should avoid flying Aerolineas Argentinas. I’m surprised that SkyTeam has allowed them to be a member considering all their problems. But hey, it’s SkyTeam after all.
I mean… Justin Beiber was banned because he not once but TWICE he kicked the Argentinian flag off a stage during a performance. All I did was ask what’s going on with my flight since no one was willing to respond at the airport.
Real mature there guys.
September 1, 2016
In the interest of transparency, for those reading the blog, your translation does not convey the tone of your tweet.
A better translation would be “A delay of more than 8 hours from MIA to EZE? What’s up with you guys at Aerolineas Argentinas? Now what’s the excuse?”
A bit more combative that your vanilla translation.
September 1, 2016
I guess that’s the beauty of translation. You should have hear the stuff that people were spewing in person! And also in the interest of transparency, you still think that’s a valid reason for a company to block someone? There was no vulgarity or other offensive language. In fact, I’d say considering an 8 hour delay, that was pretty G rated. It’s just an example of that company’s mindset and attitude towards its clients.
September 1, 2016
No, not at all a reason to block someone. I apologize, didn’t mean to suggest anything otherwise. I’m 100% sure the legacy American airlines receive much worse things all day!
September 1, 2016
I don’t know. They might. I suspect Spirit and Southwest get the brunt of that. I will say however, that insults have a special … ring to them in Spanish 🙂
September 1, 2016
John,
You were dealing with a state administrated company in one of their worst periods in time. Most likely your flight back then was delayed because of some ass politician or something related to a childish attitude of some administrator.
Don’t know how much different things are right now, but there was a change in government and they are cleaning house. I had to take a flight recently with them and it was ok (just ok), when it used to be 9 out 10 times delayed by 2 hours.
September 2, 2016
Well. It still is a state run company that hasn’t changed with the new administration. And I can see by your comment you know the inner workings well. Hahaha. I married an Argentine so trust me, we have had to deal with their inner workings on more than one occasion. Thanks for reading 🙂
September 3, 2016
I believe the expression is “I couldn’t care less.”
September 3, 2016
You are correct. But in my defense. They COULD care less but if they did I’m sure SkyTeam would kick them out