The flight was actually somewhat icky. We took off 20 minutes late, which is minorly annoying. We hit a lot of turbulence along the way, which happens. I'd never actually had the flight staff not come through the cabin for final cleaning before, so that was a little different. So was them over-explaining that they were being asked to sit by the captain. That was also a touch awkward. But whatever, I arrived in one piece, half an hour late, no big deal.
A day later they sent email, asking me to fill out a survey about my experiences. I don't like surveys because people have a hard time being honest when they are put on the spot. They either don't want to say anything too negative, or they go into bitch-rant mode, or they say nothing meaningful.
Here's the survey:
1. On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied were you with your flight.
I dunno? I mean, I got there. I was a bit late. The staff made me slightly unnerved, but through no real fault of their own. I was sitting next to a 4-year old who was wriggling around the whole time and kept kicking me. They only weigh like ... 30 pounds? So whatever, I barely felt it. It's not a big deal. The overhead light wasn't quite lining up with my book, so that was slightly annoying. Putting all that into the Gergely heuristic engine returns, in this case, a 7. Don't ask me to elaborate, cuz fucked if I know why I picked 7.
2. On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend United to others?
... and, carry the 1, multiply by waxing-moon offset and polish: lucky 7 again! Ugh. The indicator bar, which clearly has 10 stages, is currently showing that this is the 2nd. I have to answer 8 more questions??
3. What is the top thing we can do to improve your satisfaction rating?
Hey, that's a solid question. It's actionable. It forces me to prioritize. It doesn't matter if I've given them a 1 or a 10. I said "be on time". I later regretted that and wished I could go back and say "don't gouge me for flying around Thanksgiving".
4. What is the primary reason for your satisfaction rating?
Aww crap, they've asked me to elaborate. And the best honest answer I can give is:
5. Please share with us any other feedback you have.
I decided to just roll with the above and give them a brain-dump, the essence of which is that sending me a survey is just annoying, and how come they can't learn what they need to know from telemetry they already have?
Thankfully the progress indicator was buggy and at this point I was done.
However, I really do wonder how much useful information they get back? or are they just trying to make me feel like I have input? or are they just unable to figure out where/how I fly and then cross-analyze when I use United (to/through Houston) and if I'm opting for other airlines for the same routes at times?
Or does this mean we can't tell if someone is happy unless we ask them? And then we may or may not trust what they tell us?
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