It seems like I’m on a roll these days with rants about customer service. And this one is a doozy. A few weeks ago my wife and I were flying to Las Vegas where I was to speak at a conference. We were supposed to fly from Kansas City to Phoenix and then to Vegas. It was a Sunday morning and when we arrived at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, the trouble began. Apparently some joker decided to leave a locked vehicle unattended at the curb outside one of the terminals. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone was late for a flight and didn’t have time to take the car to the off-site rental car return and simply dropped it at the curb and figured he’d deal with the flak later. Well flak there was.

As we got off the plane, we were told that the terminal was closed due to a “security issue.” Passengers were not allowed to move down the concourse with TSA and the Phoenix Police Department enforcing this edict. Shortly thereafter, we were quickly herded to an adjoining section of the terminal where even more passengers were gathered. The line of demarcation was just short of the restrooms and very quickly the scene turned ugly. People were chanting and a full-scale riot was minutes away. Fortunately, someone in authority decided that letting people go to the bathroom might be a good idea, so they began creating bathroom lines and allowed ten people at a time to step under the tape and head single-file to the restrooms – all the while under the watchful eye of those in “authority.” Finally, they allowed the mob to move deeper into the concourse where everyone had access to the restrooms.

This situation persisted for somewhere between three and four hours. And not once did law enforcement provide any information whatsoever. I was able to watch some video on my phone from a local television station that enabled me to understand what was happening. Eventually (I was told), the bomb squad decided they needed to blow something up, so they blew the trunk of the car and the passenger doors to find . . . nothing. I guess I can understand how cautious we need to be in this day and age. But it was absolutely inexcusable that everyone was kept in the dark through the entire ordeal. A public affairs representative for law enforcement should have provided updates every 15 minutes on the overhead PA system as well as on social media along with an estimated time for resolution. Phoenix PD and the TSA did nothing to help their image with this display of arrogance. It was equally inexcusable that the decision was made to cordon off the terminal at a point where the restrooms weren’t accessible. From a practical standpoint, we’re talking 30 or 40 feet – and eventually the decision was made to move the cordon anyway.

Of course a number of flights were cancelled including ours. I received a text message from the airline (I’d “love” to say which one but I won’t) informing me that our flight was cancelled and to click on a link to re-book . . . except the link didn’t work. So, shame on the airline. Eventually we made a standby flight to Los Angeles that took us on to Las Vegas. But of course our luggage was MIA. The one bright spot in all of this was a very delightful lady named Lori at the airline’s lost baggage department in Las Vegas who really cared about our situation and said she’d do everything she could to see that we got our bag ASAP. And later that evening our bag did arrive. Kudos to Lori! Unfortunately, this airline – which is supposedly known for its technological prowess – has still not deployed a bar coding system for baggage. Another major airline we fly sticks a bar code on our luggage and we can look at a phone app and know exactly where it is in the country at all times. So another pox on the airline we used that Sunday for not getting with the bar coding program.

Things can really go wrong for us as entrepreneurs and sometimes they do. We can learn from experiences like this and avoid the mistakes that others are making. Above all, continual, clear and honest communications is paramount as long as the train is off the rails. And it’s also important to make sure all systems and processes are working and that common sense prevails. If we do it right, we can actually score points with our customers as they weather the storm with us.

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This blog is being written in tandem with my book, “An Entrepreneur’s Words to Live By,” available on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle (My Book), as well as being available in all of the other major eBook formats.