Qantas Cabin Crew: a customer service standard to aspire to
I have long admired Qantas for their customer service. After the pandemic, after months of travel restrictions, I took this Qantas 787 from London to Darwin and then on to Sydney. It was an emotional experience for me, having been unable to travel back home to Australia for some months. I was one of the 40,000 Aussies stranded overseas.
When I say stranded, I was lucky in that I was staying with family, but still, my life in Australia had been on hold, and I had been separated from my partner for over 1 year. We were well and truly over the long-distance relationship.
I was touched when the cabin crew team lead mentioned during the announcement, “Our cabin crew are here to help you. For some of us, this is our first international flight in 20 months, so we are keen to do everything we can to ensure you have a pleasant flight”.
The team followed through on that commitment. They were so kind and attentive as I often find they are, whilst maintaining their usual level of professionalism. I’ve travelled regularly with Qantas over the years. I’m a fan of their customer service usually, but I sensed an added enthusiasm on this flight, and perhaps there was a shared appreciation for being back in the air flying internationally again.
Something that struck me was the challenge the cabin crew and passengers face in having to wear their masks on all flights, especially on the long-haul flights, for up to 16 hours, and for going through airports as well. It’s not easy.
Mask wearing in customer service is a challenge. Not having the social queues from facial expressions, and especially not being able to see smiles can contribute to feeling stressed. Then there’s the realisation; before the pandemic, we were all incredible lip readers, and these masks are wreaking havoc with our hearing!
I offer these 5 simple tips for team members in customer-facing roles dealing with these challenges.
Ensure you:
1. Speak with the intent to be heard and from your diaphragm.
2. Articulate clearly and be ready to repeat if necessary.
3. Maintain eye contact.
4. Are kind and empathetic.
5. Smile and let it show through your eyes.
The Qantas flight crew on QF2 from London to Darwin got this right that day. Even though I didn’t get to see their smiles, nor they mine, I got their care and kindness.
Kindness boosts oxytocin and dopamine and can also increase serotonin. These happy hormones and neurotransmitters create an exceptional customer service experience.
Thankfully we have been able to ditch the masks but, we can always aim for kindness and empathy to underpin our customer service experience.
