Skyteam’s latest partner(Vietnam Airlines) just doesn’t get it

This Blog was on the tip of my tongue for while, many people told me to blog it. And I promised to the purser of the Vietnam Airlines (VA) flight that she would hear about my worst Sky Team flight ever. This is my review of my first travel with SkyTeam latest partner Vietnam Airlines (VA).

Date: Sunday 16th January 2011 & Monday 17th January 2011.
Route

1. Saigon – Hanoi (Vietnam Airlines) – Were not able to check us into the flight Hanoi -Paris.
2. Hanoi – Paris (Vietnam Airlines) – Left us waiting in the cold terminal for more than 2 hours, instead of helping us into the lounge
3. Paris – Kiev (Ukrainian Airlines – no SkyTeam Member) – best service and most humain, kind and caring.

Cripple, without a wheelchair, waiting in front of the business class check in. This picture represents well my memory of the trip with Vietnam Airlines: sleepless, painful, stressful and waiting for good service that didn't arrive.

 

Summary
Vietnam Airlines is an airline that comes from an emerging market. It means many unexperienced young personnel, low systems integration level, poor english speaking service, low flexibility and urge to follow all rules (confucianist influence of the country).

As any emerging market, companies are focussed on the transaction instead of the long term customer relationship. My Father said that once the president of VA even said on an interview on the BBC radio that they don’t need more customers, they already have too many. They really don’t care if they will see you again. They follow strict rules and do not have the ability stretch them to help loyal clients. Sky Team Elite members are not even allowed to use the lounge in internal flights.

The total trip took more than 30 hours with 3 planes. I was amazed that Ukraine International Airlines gave me the most care on board, whilst not even being a SkyTeam partner. They we’re just humain, showed interest and care, Anna and I were moved up front without any question. The purser made sure that we were short of nothing. And I aks by myself at the end: “why am I a loyal Skyteam Member? I just didn’t know anymore”.

Detailed Stories of the trip.

Flying as a gold member of SkyTeam in a weelchair (WCH code on ticket) has not brought me any extra care, that I would have expected from them. On my flight from Hanoi to Paris, I had asked at the checking desk and on the plane for extra place for me and my girlfriend, since we were both injured from an accident. Our arms and legs needed extra space, as our skin surface was badly damaged. After having requested the checkin-stewardess on the floor, we still did not receive a seat with a blocked seat in between. Once on the plane I explained 3 times my situation to different stewardesses and non of the could give us a better seat, responding: “it’s a safety matter to change passengers places, the captain does not allow it’.

After 3 hours of pain and lack of sleep I requested the attention of the purser. The lady came to me and listened to my story and already had worked more than 10 years with Vietnam Airlines . At this moment I was frustrated and stressed, so quite emotional.  I showed her my wounds and told loudly about the pain I had and told her that I had never been treated so bad by SkyTeam. She said “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t know”. And I asked her, how come you don’t know if on your list of guests, there is a guest with GOLD card and WCH (weelchair) code, how she doesn’t know as the purser.  At this moment, the conversation in the kitchen had attracted the attention of others and made her nervous. She said “please don’t be so loud, you are Vietnamese, you should understand you should keep this quiet.” I explained her that my politeness and silence for the last 3 hours only left me with lack of sleep and agoning pain. And finally she decided to place me and Anna in the deluxe section, saying that she is “breaking the rules” for us.

Once we had moved to the almost empty deluxe section, the stewardesses were clearly informed to care for us because of the complaints. Their attitude changed to fearfull for more complaints, always looking at us, but not daring to come and really care for us in a humain manner. None of them showed interest in us and only one misinformed steward came and asked us “who had give us permission to sit in the Deluxe section”.

 

My left arm and leg very sensitive to any touch and the accident left me cripple.

This was the ‘deluxe’ class I was looking to, 80% empty. KLM gives me extra space seats for free.

 

Other facts fromt he trip

• Wrong Name; I had booked the ticket and mistyped my surname: ‘Vp’ instead of ‘Vo’. KLM and Air France made no problem of this, because there is a rule that allows 3 character mistakes in the name of the reservation. Vietnam airlines ground personnel had to check, recheck and check again before they could allow this exception.
• Lack of Technology intergration; We could not be checked in for all the connecting flights at once. It left us waiting for 2,5 hours in Hanoi, instead of spending it in the business lounge.
• Personnel is not well known with the system; they could not change my mistyped name in the system. While a checkin steward of Air France easily corrected my name on the ticket, preventing problems at the customs and the gate.
• Not flexible personnel; frequent flyers know that it’s possible to check into the system even 24 hours before. But the ground personnel in Hanoi, could not even think of checking us in 4 hours before departure, we had to wait for 2,5 hours more looking at them checking in another internal flight. I had to cream at them before getting more care and a new wheelchair.
• No problem solving ability; the headphone connection did not work in our seat…. they said “sorry, we cann’t do anything about it” instead of proposing a different chair. Not even caring that the flight was 10 hours.

CONCLUSION

Skyteam’s newest partner is not worthy of the partnerhip and does not understand the needs of loyal customers. They only know how to follow rules and are not flexible in customized care. It is a shame that Vietnam Airlines was let onto the alliance (speaking as a Vietnamese born) without making them understand the need of care for loyal customers. I will never fly with VA again and will rethink wether I’m willing to reach into my pocket to keep on flying with SkyTeam.

We were happy to fly to a tropical island, not because we were happy with Vietnam Airlines.

 

IT was a great party – but we didn’t win.

Just wanted to share with you a small video: I’ve made it back to Ukrainian national television again.

http://tsn.ua/video/video-novini/?media_id=242432

The atmosphere in the Kiev Pub Golden Gate was just great, see it on the video.

Would have been nice witnessing our first cup, but I guess one has to be happy with what we have been given. It has been more than 36 years ago that the Netherlands have reached the finals of the Fifa world Cup.

A country of about 17 million people have done a great job… we’ll have to wait for a long time before we will experience again.

Thank you Dutch team, Hulp holland Hulp!

A life’s lesson about golf balls and cups of coffee

I was recently shared a wonderful story from my friend Parrish. I trust that you will enjoy it!..

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, When 24 Hours in a day is not enough, Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee. A professor stood before his philosophy class And had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students, if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.. He then asked the students again if the jar was full  ~  They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.. He asked once more if the jar was full.. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’ The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the  entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.  The students laughed. ‘Now,’ said the professor, as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things – family, children, health, friends, and favorite passions – Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else — The small stuff. ‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ He continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, You will never have room for the things that are important to you. So… Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. ‘Take care of the golf balls first – The things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’ One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. ‘I’m glad you asked’.. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.’ Please share this with other “Golf Balls” I just did…… LLH&R from Canada

Christmas 2009 Blog – wow, what a year it was.

It was a tough year, but somehow a happy year. Business went down and I needed to reinvent myself in 2009. This blog is to share with you all that how I managed to turn this year around. But it was rightfully one of the most craziest and enjoyable years!

Crazy is just not enough

Before setting out my future plans, I took time to evaluate my previous decade. Since I was thirty, I look at the last 10 years of entrepreneurship, travelling, loving, partying and people. I came to learn that in my nature I am very strong in socializing, networking, cooking and easily see possibilities to improve communication using the latest technologies. I’ve been appreciated as a virtual marketing & communication consultant and as a positive and energetic friend. And it were these strengths that I would build on.

Off course I also reviewed my weaknesses, for only changing those would help me out of the crisis.

• I trust people to easily and forget to ‘check’ them, this often has led me to situations where i have lost something dearly. I had to implement a control mechanism in my mind for even my best business partners. I started to work together with the 1 person that could always trust in my life: my twin brother Ha
• I spent too much money every time I earned and saved nothing. So i decided to set aside at least 30% of my income to pay of debts to save money. And business wise I would not outsource financial control anymore.
• In my optimistic anticipation, I always had told about expected positive happenings before they even occurred. And often they would not occur. So this year I decided to only tell about things that already had happened.
• I lacked professional knowledge in other areas than 3D / Virtual Reality. So I developed through the guidance of my brother knowledge about social media business and marketing within Componence. For if I really wanted to consult in communication, I would really need to know more about social media marketing and business.

Mademoisselle Anna and Monsieur Hai

Even though this crisis year was said to be the worst we had since the war, I was sure that I would also recover from this crisis fairly quick all by myself. But I was determined to this time maintain my recovery for longer than 2-3 years.

So I made an action plan:

• Decrease the costs of my company: which led to more flexibility, less fixed costs and more motivated people around me. 3DSolutions will be a part of Componence Concepts in 2010, where me and my twin brother will work together.
• Developing new skills: i explored the possibilities of social media business with my brother and for 2010 we will launch the new company with our first social media clients. I am certain that the world will develops as we described in our chameleon vision.
• Focus on the people who care for me and give for me in my time of need. I’ve connected to a very dear group of new and true friends, who have the mindset to break boundaries and to proof their value in any new circumstance. Some of them have left Kiev, but some of them are still around. Live had found a way to give me back something special in one of my biggest  moment of need: friends who truly cared for me.
• For more than 10 years I had focussed on digital products and consulting and services. I felt that I need to spread my risks and chose to focus part of my energy and effort on something more tangible and that where I could set the policy: She Tailor. At She Tailor I can set out how we communicate and do marketing online. And I know that make an amazing product that most people just love: tailored suits at affordable prices.

An impressive, outstanding and fitting Suit from She Tailor

• Pay off my debts: surprisingly even in the crisis year I’ve been able to generate money to pay off some of the debts that I’ve created for my entrepreneurial adventures. I thank my friends like Aurash, Bas, my brother Ha and my parents that they’ve provided this money. But 2010 will be the year to resolve those outstanding debts.
• Last, but not least: build on love. I’ve taken the choice to devote my time to Anna, a special lady who I met at a party at the German Embassy. Anna shows all the right qualities of a good family women. Now we are almost 10 months together and I trust that she will be a founding force in 2010 and hopefully longer than that. Here are some pictures of Anna and me in Paris.
• And the biggest surprise was the birth of my first newphew: Noah. He made my view on the world change: all of a sudden money and career are less important than our newest family member. His health and happiness would be one of my top priorities for 2009 and the future.

New life

So now the big CRISIS year ends and I’ve found a very special lady, gained more expertise on social media marketing, cut down my company cost structure, spread my attention into more tangible business, yes I am ready for my comeback in 2010. And how did I manage to do that: thanks to the love and care of my friends and realisation that that was the most special thing in my life.

I hope that 2010 will make our roads cross again and that I will get a chance to visit more of my friends to share some positive energy

I wish you all a very happy New Year. May it bring you wisdom, health and love. When you have that, and you manage to look up every day, all will come right…. be well my dear friends, where ever you are on this beautiful earth.

HaiVoltage (www.twitter.com/haivoltage)

No need to panic for Swine Flu

Dear All,

 

Since the Mexican flu has reached Ukraine and the government here completely F*CKED up in handling the issue. People are scared and public life is coming to a halt. Why don’t they tell that this current strain of influenze is not worse than the normal we get every year? A lot of people outside the risks group are scared…

I just wanted to inform you on the statistics:

 

http://www.h1n1.name/h1n1/docs/stat/stat.jsp

 

these are the numbers of the 7 most affected countries in the world,

 

Number 1 is the USA: Out of 34,000 people infected, 170 have died – this brings it to 0.5% of people who died.

Mexico: 10,262 – 119 = 1.1%

Canada: 7,983  - 25 = 0.29%

Chile: 7,376 – 14 = 0.2%

 

So if you catch it, you will have a rather small chance of dying from it. Mexico was above 1% because it was discovered there and medical treatment was not directly available. Most vulnerable people are young children and older weaker people.

 

Main ways of preventing it:

-          Stay home if you feel sick, take antiviral medicine asap and call a doctor if situation worsens after 2 or 3 days.

-          Avoid crowded areas

-          Don’t rub your eyes and nose

-          Wash your hands often

-          Wear a mask if you travel through crowded areas

-          Breath through your nose and not through your mouth.

-          Don’t hug or shake hands

further recommendations:

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/recommendations.htm

 

Since the anti viral medicine and masks were sold out

-          We even bought some ointment that you can rub in your nose. It kills incoming bacteria an viruses (28 HRN)

-          Also we bought a fluid that you can rub on your hands (any time) that kills all bacteria and viruses on your hands. (5,55 HRN)

-          We bought loads of healthy fruits and vedgetables. We eat every morning a grapefruit for instance.

 

So let’s just relax, beware and prevent. Stay healthly everybody!

 

I hope that this was useful for you and please send it on to prevent panic anywhere. Be well everybody.



Happy with nothing

Yesterday  I was walking with my girlfriend through marinsky park in Kiev. Spring had finally come…

It was a really nice day as finally the temperature was above 15 Celcius. The park was full of people in their spring or love mood. I could feel so much happiness and positive energy around me. People were happy to get out of the pessimistic vibe of the winter. They were laughing, loving, running, smiling, kissing, dancing… as if there was no crisis. This is quite remarkable if one understands the situation the country is in.

Ukraine is after Iceland the worst hit country in europe. It is close to default and the economy looks to be in a freefall. As the country is lacking Western Europe by at least 40 years, I understand the rising criminal acitivity, the existence of corruption, the lack of govermental care, the need for Ukrainians to escape their countries in search for a better future.

Since the orange revolution the country struggled to find a stable political path. The government has disappointed them again and again. Kapitalism showed them that they could not handle money. They were like young children to receive to much allowance from their parents. It is easy to critize the government, but it is better to understand Ukraine as a child that still needs to learn to walk.  This year the child Ukraine has fallen again and it feels a lot of pain. But you know what…. the child is not crying, it is strong and fights to stand up again.  There is no room for disappointment, because the child could not walk at all and it is willing to run.

For those who think that Ukraine is a dark country struggling to come out of the post soviet area, they are wrong. The country is full of color in Spring, Summer and Fall. The people are opportunistic and live close to nature. The reason i decided to relocate to this country is because the people are in survival mode, they are eager to take any chance in live and to make something out of their lives.

The Ukrainians have learned to be happy with nothing during the soviet time.  It is only this skill that could have allowed them to be so happy yesterday in Marinsky Park….. because they already used to having nothing…. and it felt great to be amidst them.

For my tribe…

Now i’ve started my 30′s and have had the opportunity to live a exceptional 10 years where i travelled, did business, talked to many people from different countries, cultural and religious backgrounds. I’ve managed to understand my position in this world and the role i have to play.

So many have cherised the talks i had with the about my vision and now it’s time to start sharing it to the world and to create and move my own tribe. I’ve just read the book tribes and reliazed that i have created my own tribe, but have not enabled them to follow me….

This blog is dedicated to energize people to see and understand people,  it is to share the small perspectives i get in live, it is to boost the belief in all people …. to provide positive energy…. it is to activate my tribe to add positive energy in this world through understanding.

Follow me…. inspire me… discuss with me …. activate yourself….this is for you my Tribe…

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!