December Days - 12.29.10

My sleepy kids waiting at the airport

I don't think my kids have the type of 'special needs' the sign in the picture is in actual reference to, but on travel days like today, the whole family has a history of special needs.

Thankfully though, despite a 4am wake-up time today was actually a pretty good travel day.  The kids all did great on the planes and through the airports.

We only had one really stressful experience occur when we were in the car getting ready to leave the Indianapolis airport and Caeden calmly told me that he had forgotten his iPod Touch on the plane.  I raced back inside the airport to the Southwest counter and told them we had left an iPod on our plane and asked if there was anything she could do to see if someone could check the pocket of the seat Caeden was sitting in.  She called right down to the gate and someone had actually turned it in!  I had to go back through security and down to the gate, but we got his iPod back safe and sound.

Big shout-out and fist-bump to the honest traveler who turned it in!  You saved the holidays for a little eight year old boy.

Thirty

Thirty (30) is a significant number.

It's an age that many people look to as an important milestone in their lives.  Some look forward to it, others dread and try to avoid it.

It's how many pieces of silver it took for Judas to betray Jesus.

It used to be, you couldn't trust anyone over it - coincidental it's the minimum age to be a US Senator?

It's a lot of points to score in a basketball game.

It's a lot of home runs to hit in an entire baseball season.

It's too big, if it's how many miles per hour you're driving through my neighborhood.

It's too many students for any of my kids classes in school (IMO).

Thirty (30) is all these things (and many more), but it's also how many times we've been fortunate to have Marcy's dad LaDyle - or Bumpy as the kids call him - visit us in Indiana!  Retirement has its perks and the free time to be able to fly across the country has been one that our family has been thankful for.  The fact that Bumpy's willing and wanting to travel that often for my kids says a lot about his commitment to our family.  There are a lot of places He could go with his free time, but He chooses to come spend it with us.  That fact has made it easier to transition to a Hoosier way of life.  This fall/winter makes four years for us in Indiana and although we miss all our family in Oregon everyday, we're thankful each time one of them are able to come visit us.

I dropped Bumpy off at the airport this morning rounding out trip number thirty to Indiana. This good-bye was a little easier for the kids though because trip number thirty-one is just 3 weeks away.  You'd think with all this travel between Oregon and Indiana we could convince someone to put a direct flight in!

It's all thanks to Twitter...

Last week Wednesday we had a terrible experience at the airport. My wife and daughter were scheduled to fly to Portland via Denver on Frontier Airlines for a family wedding this weekend.  When we got to the airport, there was a surprisingly long line at the counter. The girls got in line but then became suspicious when they noticed it wasn't moving at all.  Eventually a counter agent came over the speaker to explain that due to weather they had cancelled all remaining flights into Denver for the day and furthermore every flight the next day was overbooked so passengers could contact customer service for a refund of their tickets.  That was it. No assistance to transfer travelers to another airlines, that isn't their policy since the cancellation was due to weather.  When we dug deeper they told us the soonest they could get the two girls on a flight to Portland, was next week Wednesday.  I have never experienced or heard anything like this. Both girls were very upset and my daughter started what seemed like 5 hours of constant crying and complaining.

The whole experience was very strange to me so turned to twitter looking for some answers.  I knew Frontier (@flyfrontier) used and communicated with passengers via twitter, so I reached out.  In the mean time, my wife continued her efforts through the 800 number to customer service the ticket agent gave us at the airport.  Every person she spoke with gave her the same story: since it was due to weather they had a policy to not transfer passengers to other airlines and if we wanted to pursue another airline, the expense would be our own and they could refund our Frontier tickets.  The challenge with this, was that their refund process typically takes 15-20 days, according the the agents we spoke with, and same day tickets were 4x as expensive as what we purchased the original flights for.  The whole experience was more than disappointing and leaving me with a very bad perception of Frontier.

At the end of my wife's two hour ordeal on the phone with customer service (I'd like those cell minutes back, please) I checked twitter to see that Frontier had responded to my original tweet.  I began a conversation with @FlyFrontier about my our travel situation, the importance of getting back to Oregon for the wedding, and the all around dissatisfaction and disappointment we were having with their airline.  The responses to my tweets and direct messages was quick and helpful.  In the end, I got a message that said, "we don't usually do this, but how would a 7pm flight...." and a few hours later my wife and daughter were on their way to Oregon on a different airline, arranged completed by Frontier and through twitter.

What began as a terrible customer service experience ended with a great story and example for other companies to follow of how to connect with customers via a very effective and powerful communication tool.  Sure my wife and daughter lost a day off their trip, but we don't blame Frontier for the weather, we just expected the ticket agents and phone agents to provide the customer service experience the tweeter agent ultimately did.

Kudos to @FlyFrontier for saving a family of customers, providing a level of service to be mirrored, and thanks for helping my girls get to the wedding of the year.  For anyone who hasn't embraced twitter yet, hopefully this story demonstrates how valuable a tool it can be to connect with people and businesses.  If you're already tweeting, follow @FlyFrontier if you want an example of how to engage your customers and improve their experience with your business and brand.

Follow me on twitter - @rkaopuiki

December Days - 12.18.09

One of the great things about coming home is having the chance to eat at those places that I love and can't get back in Indy. One of those places is Burgerville! By most definitions, Burgerville is a fast food chain, but ask their employees and they prefer the term "quick service." They're all about the Pacific NW, using products that are specific to the region and as a result supporting local businesses, farms, and producers. Marcy and Makela love the milkshakes and I'll admit they're pretty good!

What I also appreciate about the company is how mission focused, or 'missional', they are. They put their mission on their food containers, and employees are ready to share and discuss it with you when asked. Tonight I put this rumor to the test and asked our drive through attendant about Burgerville's mission. She smiled and went into her explanation including recent examples of initiatives they had made at their store in support of the mission. I think that type of awareness and focus within a company is awesome!

The food is great, the Pacific NW connection makes it unique, and I have great admiration for their mission and commitment. The $31 for a 'quick service' meal for four....not so great.

Burgerville's Mission:

SERVE WITH LOVE

Be the Difference

Reach out

Start a Conversation

Share a Smile

Create a Memory

Inspire Hope

December Days - 12.17.09

The two older boys each have their own iPod Touch now and they came in very handy during our plane flight tonight. Makela has her own video ipod and Kyron was using mine to watch a movie during the flight. That left the parents without any entertainment during the flight. I tried to get my laptop out, but the 5'2" woman in front of me thought she needed the extra space in her exit row and decided to recline her seat into my precious travel space. Using the laptop is tough in the confined space as is, but that made it impossible. So, I sat there realizing I forgot to get some reading material and pondered how to pass the time.

Marcy captured the scene perfectly, the boys with their gadgets (I'm both proud and envious) and Me without - probably could have used something a little stronger than the Ginger Ale too. It was a long flight, but I'm glad we made it.

December Days - 12.16.09

Most people who know me, know that I am a gadget guy. I think technology and cool trendy gadgets are a lot of fun and I've passed on that love of the gadget to my kids. The pile of cables above is only part of the collection of cables, chargers, connectors, and such we take when we travel as a family. It's sort of insane that we pack a small bag just for our gadget cables! We get some pretty funny looks from the TSA employees at the airport.