Manizesto

The following is an actual Continental Airlines customer who is upset with his seat and provides frank, hilarious feedback for the company (it’s from a few years ago):

Dear Continental Airlines,

I am disgusted as I write this note to you about the miserable experience I am having sitting in seat 29E on one of your aircraft. As you may know, this seat is situated directly across from the lavatory, so close that I can reach out my left arm and touch the door.

All my senses are being tortured simultaneously. It’s difficult to say what the worst part about sitting in 29E really is? Is it the stench of the sanitation fluid that is blown all over my body every 10 seconds when the door opens? Is the the woosh of the constant flushing? Or is it the passengers a—-s that seem to fit into my personal space like a pornographic jig-saw puzzle?

I constructed a stink-shield by shoving one end of a blanket into the overhead compartment - while effective in blocking at least some of the smell, and offering a small bit of privacy, the a— on my body factor has increased, as without my evil glare, passengers feel free to lean up against what they think is some kind of blanketed wall. The next a— that touches my shoulder will be the last!

I am picturing a boardroom full of executives giving props to the young promising engineer that figured out how to squeeze an additional row of seats onto this plane by putting them next to the lav.

I would like to flush his head in the toilet that I am close enough to touch - and taste - form my seat.

Putting a seat here was a very bad idea. I just heard a man groan in there! This sucks!

Worse yet, is I’ve paid over $400.00 for the honor of sitting in this seat.

Does your company give refunds? I’d like to go back where I came from and start over. Seat 29E could only be worse if it was located inside the bathroom. I wonder if my clothing will retain the sanitizing odor…what about my hair! I feel like I’m bathing in a toilet bowl of blue liquid, and there was no man in a little boat to save me. I am filled with a deep hatred for your plane designer and a general dis-ease that may last for hours.

We are finally descending, and soon I will be able to tear down the stink-shield, but the scars will remain.

I suggest that you initiate immediate removal of this seat from all of your crafts. Just remove it, and leave the smouldering brown hole empty, a good place for sturdy/non-absorbing luggage maybe, but not human cargo.

You can read the original letter in PDF format here (yes, the illustrations are also original).

Lesson to business leaders and marketers: Just because you can do something, does not mean you should.

Sure, marketers often focus on offers and conversion, but you really ought to look at your customer experience from start to finish and see if you’re being true to the experience you promise in your marketing literature.

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