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CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE
Annie Walton likes to tell
the story about one particular customer on a canceled flight
whose wife said to her, in a thick Texas accent, “Annie, you’ve got
to get Bob on the plane because he’s got to go to a lunch.”
Wonderingwhat could be so important about a lunch that the
man’s wife would be so adamant, Walton found him a flight that
day, and he made it on time for his appointment. Walton later
saw the man on television: He was in a rocket blasting off from
Cape Canaveral. “It wasn’t a lunch,” she clarifies. “It was a
launch
.”
Getting an astronaut to the launchpad on time is all in a
day’s work for Walton, who’s based in the Star Alliance lounge
at Kingsford-Smith International Airport in Sydney, Australia.
United has two flights arriving at the airport everymorning, with
one going on toMelbourne and returning that a ernoon, and two
more flights departing to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Raising the Bar
DownUnder
AnnieWalton represents both the best of United
and the best of Sydney to her customers
BY A. AVERYL RE
“I look a er 4,000 people a
month in that lounge,” Walton
says. And while her station
may be only a small desk
with three drawers, “I make
that little counter of mine
into something that everyone
remembers. There are somany
other carriers in that lounge,
but I make sure [my custom-
ers] know exactly who we are
in Sydney.”
Making sure everyone
knows a l l about Uni ted
Airlines is a job that Walton
believes she was born to do.
She was working in television
and public relations when a
headhunter recruited her for
United’s RedCarpet Club some
23 years ago. When the airline
later closed the Red Carpet
Club, all the products—and
Walton—moved over to the
Star Alliance lounge. She didn’t
miss a beat in taking care of 150
to 200 customers a day, five
days aweek; many of those are
repeat customers who remem-
berWalton because shemakes
a point of remembering them.
“I know everyone’s name,”
she says. “I have aphotographic
memory, so I never forget
faces.” Remembering names
and faces, Walton adds, is part
of a bigger effort to respect
the fact that “every single per-
son in front of me is different.
I have learned not to judge
and I realize that sometimes
I cannot give them what they
request—but I can try.
“They are individuals, and to
the best of my ability I try to
understand what each person
needs.”
Walton’s compassion and
understanding come through
loud and clear to customers,
who have written hundreds
of letters through the years
praising her. Part of her
attitude comes from being a
native of Sydney, where, she
says, people arewelcoming and
laid-back. She and her United
co-workerswant to relax at the
end of the day and know they
did a great job.
“It’s not just about flying. It’s
about everything. It’s about
giving the best customer
service you can and making
everyone feel important,” she
says. “I also let people know
I’m glad they chose us. I tell
them, ‘I realize you have to
make a choice, and I hope you
will choose to stay with us.
But don’t forget—if you don’t,
youwon’t getme!’ A li le bit of
humor goes a long way.”
14
FEBRUARY 2012
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