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Since I used to travel a LOT for work, I got more exposure than I ever could have wished for to airline customer service. And let me tell you, attitude goes a hell of a long way.
Just a few months ago, I was traveling out of Madison (which is a piddly little airport about 2 hours drive from Chicago) when some thunderstorms had disrupted travel pretty much system-wide. I had to yell for someone to come to the desk when I checked in, he was flirting and swearing with his co-worker (both were college age, she was a dopey little thing). Fine, I think, aren't they cute and immature? Well, when it came time to board they were at the gate, and turns out our flight's delayed and people with flights before 9 are likely to miss their connection. Even though it wasn't their fault, they had this "whatever" attitude about it that pissed everyone off. No apologies, no efforts to find alternate flights, just "we'll put you up at a hotel and your next available flight is at 10 tomorrow morning." They giggled and mocked irate customers after they left the kiosk, they rolled their eyes, they did absolutely nothing to help. I ended up going to another airline's desk and asking THEM if they could get me out. Eventually I decided I'd rather get stuck in Cincinatti if I missed my connection than deal with these yahoos for another day. Turns out my connection was delayed anyhow and I made it home that night, no thanks to Beavis and Butthead.
Now, skip back a few years to flying from San Fran through DFW (super busy) during the same situation: system-wide disruption from weather near a major hub. Everything's backed up, everyone's pissed and anxious, and our gate agent is an angel. She's joking with the passengers, she's booking people on other airlines or routing them through other airports if she needs to, she's reassuring people that they're likely to make their connections because they're probably delayed, too, she's defusing angry, tense people. She's just a joy to work with. The flight crew was just as great. Not Southwest great, but still reassuring and "yeah this sucks, but we're all in this together, don't worry we'll take care of you." It was so nice to be surrounded by that kind of human kindness, only the diehard bitchers were really still unhappy, and everyone on the plane kind of rolled our eyes together at them.
The right attitude from someone in charge can make or break your day.
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"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
- Anatole France
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