Customer service: PAL, AirPhil, and Machille Ongluico

I’ve always advocated, albeit in a private capacity, for quality customer service and consumer relations among companies, big or small, especially those that provide services. No matter your promotions and slashed prices, if your relationship with your customer is traumatic for the latter or if your company’s front-liners are rude and inconsiderate, don’t expect people to come back—unless of course when they don’t have much of a choice. 

 Airports, luggage, layovers, delays are the story of my life. It feels like I’m always in an airport each time, so I’m quite particular about airlines and the quality of their services. Since I first started flying, my family has almost always (unless inapplicable) flown with Philippine Airlines. Mocked by passengers for the longest time to mean ‘Plane Always Late’ (in reference to the airline’s acronym PAL and the delays people experience when flying with PAL), PAL seems to have become more punctual in recent years than its number one competitor, which has obviously rested in its laurels. I personally don’t mind being late (not too late, of course) for as long as I know that everything is being taken care of.

 Throughout the years, Philippine Airlines has maintained the professionalism and standards it’s become widely known for, especially in dealing with its customers, and this is reflective, too, of the kind of care and concern the company has for ensuring the safety of the flying public. Internal squabble among employees and management rarely, if at all, affect how they treat their customers.

 Admittedly having preferential bias for PAL, our grandfather, Captain Generoso Lopez, is noted as being (one of) the country’s very first commercial pilots (with ID number 001 or 002), after serving the war as a US Air force fighter pilot. We’ve proudly kept a 60-year-old American-produced documentary of PAL’s history told through our grandfather’s story (called “The Story of an Airline Pilot); it shows how the airline has subscribed to stringent standards of safety and excellence even back then, as Asia’s first commercial airline. Suffice it to say, our family and PAL share a common heritage, and we’re pretty proud that to this day, the airline has preserved and upheld the image and practice of competence and high professional standards.

 Recently, since I’ve been flying to Manila very frequently for our tapings of The Bottomline and other engagements, I’ve also been taking Air Philippines for many of my flights. Hesitant at first, I found comfort in the fact that the airline is a subsidiary of PAL.

 And one very important reason why I continue to fly with Air Phil, despite encountering some costly problems several months back, is one of their employees: Machille Ongluico. Machille, who I didn’t know from Adam, told me as I was checking in one time that she noticed I was flying very frequently. I was impressed that she was very keen but jokingly complained that her airline didn’t have a frequent flier program like PAL’s Mabuhay Miles. She then went the extra mile to make up for her company’s shortcoming in rewarding loyal passengers and gave me her personal number, assuring me that the next time I fly, I can text her ahead so she can assist me in checking in and reserve my preferred seat (that’s if it’s not already taken), or for any other concerns or questions (and this was way before their latest promo for frequent fliers: collect 10 boarding passes and get a free flight).

 Because of this, and my friends and family can very well attest, I’ve been promoting flying with the airline, even if sometimes, one suffers from momentary delays and stoical personnel at the Terminal 3 check-in counters. Why do I do this? The way Machille gave more than was required of her shows the company’s existing culture or the potential for a culture of excellent and personalized customer relations, and this definitely has to be rewarded and encouraged. And I don’t know how else but to patronize the company and give credit to employees like Machille.

 Air Phil, you have a gem in her that you should nurture and take pride in. This is the kind of friendly service that defines the Filipino brand we all aspire to develop, an intangible quality that silently drives tourism and powers growth.

 To everyone else, here are simple tips for good customer service I’ve gathered scouring the web: always answer your phone; don’t make promises you can’t keep; listen to your customers and deal with their complaints; be helpful even if there’s no immediate profit to be had; train your personnel to be always courteous, friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable; take the extra step, and always try to throw in something extra. 

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 Tonight on The Bottomline with Boy Abunda: Bayan Muna representative Teddy Casiño takes the hot seat and shares how his party keeps him from being ‘swallowed by the corrupt system of government.’

 Watch it after Banana Split on ABS-CBN. Encore telecast on the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC), Sunday, 1:00 pm.

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