Customer Service, US Airways' Style

US Airways is not known for it's customer service, but Business Week magazine reports in it's March 2 issue (p 31) that the airline's performance after Flight 1549 landed in the Hudson River "may become a model for crisis management."

US Airways stages disaster drills at every location it serves three times a year. When their plane went down in the Hudson River, their "Care Team" went into action. A special toll-free number was activated for families to get information. More than 100 employees boarded a plane from corporate HQ to New York to help. The Managing Director for Corporate Finance carried a bag of cash and credit cards to purchase whatever the passengers needed. There were prepaid cellular cards and sweat suits available. Employees escorted passengers to hotel rooms or other flights. They arranged train or bus tickets and rental cars for those who (perhaps understandably) didn't want to fly. Some passengers lost their Driver's Licenses, so US Airways worked with top management at Hertz and Amtrak to make sure people could go on their way without proper ID.

US Airways has sent each passenger three letters updating them on status, and along with one letter was a check for a refund of their ticket price, plus a $5,000 advance to purchase whatever they needed to replace what was lost. Of course, some do-gooders are griping about the small amount of that check. However, US Airways has done something surprising: These checks were given out without the passenger having to waive any of his or her legal rights. This is, as one consultant put it, "an unprecedented exception to the industry norm."

Sounds like they got something right after all.