Bingbong. Easyjet are proud to show that their clients are bastards (Airline)

Member Name: salgirl

Product:	Airline
Date:	15/06/01 (2708 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fly on the wall format

Disadvantages: Complaints get repetitive

Oh come on, that's the lure of the program. Let's watch Mr. Uppity insist that he can still board the plane that is currently at 2,000 feet and climbing. Or we can watch Miss Sly Student, trying to use her Uni ID card instead of her passport which she left on a pub table somewhere after a drunken binge. More mishaps, more mayhem and more unreasonable passengers than you could shake a stick at is what makes this fly-on-the-wall docu-soap tick.

BBC have Airport, ITV have Airline, and if you aren't concentrating you can be watching one thinking you're watching the other.

It's not always easy to differentiate between the forgetful, the late, the irate or the lost passengers, but the staff are a different matter. And it's this point alone that lifts the ITV version above it's rival.

Airline is based on the day to day runnings of the Easyjet Company, owned by the Greek bloke Stavros. This is the airline that prides itself on offering cheap, no frills flights from their bases at Luton and Liverpool airports. (This means the good old packed lunch and thermos on your part, as they don't provide food on board the plane. Probably the best bonus actually, having sampled some unrecognisable meals on many an aircraft. It also doesn't send out their airline tickets, they have to be collected on your arrival at the airport. And you have to book direct with them, not via travel agents. This is how they keep their costs down).

The staff are the stars, first and foremost. You have the beautiful, young and extremely brave Katrina, who has been suffering from cancer.

So far in the series we have followed her through her wedding plans and a reoccurance of her illness which sees her hospitalised only hours before her wedding. She'd been desperate to hang onto her gorgeous long blonde locks, but after the service that she had insisted on going ahead, she had to come to terms with losing it all.

>The hardest bit to watch when it comes to Katrina are the general public's attitude towards her just after she became well known. Some meant to be kind, but told her that she looked much better with the long hair in her ID photo than with the close cropped style, and some are so unkind as to be completely foul. Especially the man who when annoyed at the service from Easyjet, told her he was glad she'd got cancer. Luckily for him, this bit wasn't actually broadcast...

Katrina has now left the show and she will be sorely missed.

Another memorable member is Jane, the manager at check-ins. Her hair styles and colours changed on a regular basis, as well as her moods. Despite being a consummate professional, her guard would occasionally slip when confronted by idiot of olympic proportions, and considering how funny it is to watch her gradually losing it, you are thankful that they are always out there, waiting to test her customer service skills.

She's brilliant in dealing with the elderly in particular, and became very upset when an old person was taken ill, fussing round them, making sure that nothing was too much trouble for them. Thankfully the elderly gentleman made a full recovery, and Jane was informed as per her request. A lot of airline companies I know could do with at least 10 Janes working for them.

On a business level you get to see the ubiquitous petty rules that companies love to set in place, the problems they can suffer at the capricious hands of mother nature, the policies they have when dealing with procedural problems (informative and handy if you're thinking of travelling with them) and just how they get round all the niggling little problems that can generally disrupt and make your personal life hell when trying to fly from A to B.

The staff at Liverpool Airport have a slightly different feel to them, their northern attitude, rooted in direct and plain speaking, makes the coverage o
f dealing with customer complaints maginally more interesting. The interaction between the airline rep and the customer tend to be more confrontational and abrupt, and I've seen more stand-up rows at their desks than in Luton. The name calling from passengers can get really fuity at times.

I'm sure that the presence of a camera filming the disputes makes Easyjets customers more determined to not lose face and back down in their arguments, which is great for tv viewing, but ultimately doesn't help them win their case.

Having been on the receiving end of abuse from the general public in a few jobs, I know what it is that people have to do in order to get effective help. And behaving like a baby who's just lobbed the rattle from the pram ain't one of them.

- Complain in a way that you yourself wouldn't mind being complained to, ie. calmly, politely and justifying the complaint in a reasonable manner.

- If you know that it's your fault that you're late for a flight, be a good customer, take it on the chin and accept your responsibility for the situation. People will feel more inclined to try and help if they think that you will genuinely appreciate their efforts, rather than just assuming that this is the way you talk to subserviant beings who only exist to take your abuse.

- Know what you are and aren't legally entitled to. Check over any small print and ask to see rules in writing that you're in dispute over. It's a good point to argue from if you are seen to be being fair.

But then, if you listened to me, this would be a crappy, boring show to watch.

So go ahead, rant away. I'll look out for you on the next series....

ITV. 8.30pm Currently on Thursdays.

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