Okaz

IT is a common sense that any company or institution will acquire accumulative experience over time, preventing it from making silly mistakes. A company with a history of 75 years is not expected to commit so many such mistakes.

There is no excuse for such neglect on the part of the management of a company with so many years of experience. Otherwise, it will mean that its employees are incompetent and have no respect for its customers or for the reputation of the company.

I have mixed feelings of anger and sorrow, which emanated from the unjustifiable behavior of our nation›s flag carrier, Saudi Arabian Airlines. This airline started with one airplane that was gifted to King Abdul Aziz by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt when they met aboard USS Quincy in 1945. From there Saudia began its expansion, enlarging its fleet and flying to destinations all over the world.

After many years of achievements and acknowledgements, and with all the government support it received, the airline was supposed to be managed and operated conforming to Saudi Arabian quality standards in administrative, technical and logistical aspects. But we hear from time to time voices of anger over the performance of Saudia, which should never have been the case with an airline having many years of experience and a great reputation.

These are mistakes that are simple and easy to avoid. When a consumer complains, he or she is not trying to tarnish the reputation of the airline, but is trying to point out areas that need attention. They care about fixing the problem so it is not repeated in the future.

We are living in an age of transformation envisaged by our ambitious Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman. There is no room for the neglectful in the future vision of the country.

My problem with the airline is not about a flight that was delayed without warning, or a reservation that was changed in the last minute, or a seat that was not working properly.

My problem is that I failed to get a refund of my ticket that I purchased by paying cash. I was forced to cancel my flight and I wanted a refund. That was when my problems started.

I logged on to the airline›s website but it refused to accept the cancellation request. I called the airline›s reservation number by phone and after a long wait, an employee answered. I explained to him the whole situation and he asked me to go to the airline›s main office in the Khalidiyah district of Jeddah.

I went to the office on a Saturday. An employee walked into the office, struggling to stay awake. He was the only employee there since it was the weekend.

I stood in line with other people and I listened to them voicing their complaints. Most of them had inquiries that could have been done easily through the airline›s website if it was up to the mark, serving its purpose in the first place.

The employee kept telling his customers to come back the next day because Saturday was an official holiday. He was not ready to listen to anyone. It seemed as if he was trying to get out of a situation that the airline had put him into. There were women who came from places outside Jeddah. He refused even to listen to them and asked them to come back on Sunday.

When my turn came, the employee started asking me questions, the answers for which were already in his computer. I left the office confused about the way the national flag carrier was dealing with its customers.

Why can›t the airline fix the issues in its website, instead of making customers to waste their time waiting in long lines, which no longer exist in most countries of the world.

This was not my first experience, not for many others like me, but I hope it would be the last.

The airline should know that they have the task of achieving a vision on the ground. The airline should prepare itself for a new reality and introduce drastic changes to meet the objectives of the national transformation plan. The country is trying to increase society›s awareness and at the same time wants to get rid of all paperwork and the filling of applications. We need to put an end to the system of people going from one office to another at a time many issues can be solved with the click of a button all over the world.