Platinum Class Service

I thought that I'd follow up the introduction piece with some thoughts on Platinum Class Service.

The analogy starts with many credit card companies and airlines. Generally you'll have a silver level above the basic level, rising through gold up to platinum. Thus, Platinum Class Service is the highest level of customer service.

It also happens all the time - frequent flyers on the highest levels don't get once off privileges to use each year. They fly so frequently that simply quoting their frequent flyer number allows them use of their privileges with every flight. Likewise, Platinum Class Service is giving the highest level of customer service - all the time.

The textbook definition of platinum service would be exceeding customer's expectations in the service they receive. I'll relate this to ordering a pizza. There's a well known pizza restaurant in Chicago that is considered by some as the home of Chicago-style pizza (well, one of the restaurants laying claim to that fame!). My wife and I have eaten there on many occasions but decided one night to order take out via their website.

On placing our order, we were advised that it would take up to 45 minutes. While this is significantly higher than what a chain store pizzeria could cook a pizza in, it is well worth the wait. After 45 minutes I turned up to the restaurant and was shuffled to three different areas before finding out that the pizza was going to be another 30 minutes away (since the store uses a third party to process the order there is an additional 30 minute lag).

The pizza store has fantastic pizza and even a 45 minute wait (since I was warned on the website) didn't upset my wife and me, however it then gave me a new expectation on the store's service. When I then turned up at that stage and was told that it wouldn't be ready for another 30 minutes, my expectations weren't met, and thus I didn't receive Platinum service.

We probably will still visit this restaurant as we've dined in their restaurant on a number of instances without issue, but if we'd been a first time customer I would have been looking for another pizza store.

I'll compare this to an experience with Singapore Airlines a few years ago, on my first overseas trip. My wife and I had flown on an around the world ticket with Star Alliance, and as a result had been on a number of different airlines. At the time, our only knowledge of Singapore was that they had seat back entertainment (only a handful of carriers had this during this time). Aside from that, we had no idea of their service.

A few hours into a 12 hour flight from Frankfurt to Singapore, I was having trouble resting as the seat I was sitting in was broken. I let the attendant know about it, simply so that when we landed they could look at having it fixed for the next passenger. Soon after, he returned with a replacement cushion which fixed the problem, and a small bag of merchandise as an apology for the discomfort. While it was only a minor inconvenience, it exceeded my expectations. Shortly after this, he then delivered two piping hot mocha's from the business class galley for my wife and I!

In future posts I will go into more detail about the "hows" of Platinum Service, this is to help give an idea of a baseline.