Customer service at almost all companies has got worse during the pandemic, especially so within the travel sector including:

• British Airways ending cash refunds (minus GBP 35 fee) on BA.com in 2020 pushing people onto phone lines 

• Lengthy refund timelines

• Excessive hold times on most airlines when trying to make a change

In the early days of the Covid-era, this was somewhat understandable whether it was staff shortages, working from home or people isolating - it had an impact. But two years on, airlines are still playing messages stating ‘due to Covid-19, we have excessive hold times…’. When most of the global economy is beginning to reopen, this excuse just doesn’t hold up anymore.

Virgin Atlantic and Delta, who are partner airlines, made a genuine improvement to customer service just prior to the pandemic. Virgin introduced customer service messaging via WhatsApp, SMS and iMessage just prior to Covid in March 2020 whilst Delta had a similar web-based and iMessage service. I used Virgin’s service many times, whether it was cancelling bookings, making new enquiries and more, as well as using Delta’s iMessage contact up to 1 month ago. Quite simply, it was a far more streamlined and effective method of getting in contact with the airline without having to be on hold for hours. Sure, you may wait a while to get a reply but you could get on with your business and not have to hear the same playlist of 7 songs on repeat.

However, as of 18th February both airlines appear to have quit these innovative messaging services - representing a serious degradation of customer support from the airlines. Trying to send an iMessage just doesn’t go through - with no error message. Meanwhile Virgin Atlantic provide the following message when you attempt to use the WhatsApp service:

The reasoning feels a bit weak. Waiting times on Virgin Atlantic are still around 30 minutes, more than pre-Covid, and they really need to increase their customer support function if they want to get back to full speed. The airline does supposedly provide an alternate web messaging service which is only open to people who already have a booking which means it is worse than the previous solution. The WhatsApp/SMS/iMessage service was far more convenient and effective in contact methods.

There is a solution to most of this Covid-excuse for bad customer service across industry - improving the digital experience. I appreciate this is easier said than done but the likes of British Airways made it more difficult to cancel and get a refund, according to the terms of your ticket, by simply removing the functionality. Reinstating this, two years on, is a feasible effective method to improve the customer experience or get it back to the same level as before - and it won’t cause the same rush for cash refunds that it did two years ago. It’s time that airlines across the board put their effort into the digital experience to make it as easy as possible - removing capabilities like live chat are a hindrance to this. 

Airlines, get your act together.