Your Call Matters: How United Airlines' 'Reasonable Department' Is Revolutionizing Customer Service

Last month, thousands of CX leaders gathered in Las Vegas for CCW (Customer Contact Week), the world's largest conference focused on making customers believe that their call is truly important. In today's digital age, customer support has evolved beyond phone calls to include AI-powered self-service, email, text, and social media. Through every interaction, customers form opinions about a brand.

As I walked the trade show floor and attended keynotes, a common theme emerged: technology may change, but the fundamentals of customer service remain the same. Here are key takeaways that reinforce timeless principles while offering fresh insights for an AI-powered world.

Customer Service Is a Journey

Customer service is no longer just a department for problem-solving. It now encompasses support, marketing, sales, and relationship-building all in one. When a customer contacts you, even if their issue is resolved, it's not the end—it's part of their journey. Every interaction fuels the next, hopefully leading to more business.

The 'Reasonable Department'

Bryan Stoller, Global VP of Customer Care at United Airlines, posed a compelling question: "What's the standard operating procedure for things that don't have a standard operating procedure?" His answer: the Reasonable Department—a place where judgment, context, and empathy come together to handle the hard stuff. Stoller outlined a four-word strategy:

• Detect: Identify when an interaction falls outside routine procedures.
• Route: Direct the issue to the right person or department with expertise, not just the next available agent.
• Resolve: Empower employees with the tools and authority to fix problems without being constrained by rigid policies.
• Learn: Understand why the issue occurred, how to handle it in the future, and how to prevent it altogether.

Reasonable shouldn't be a place customers have to search for—it should be intentionally built into how you serve them.

Every Customer Interaction Is a Signal

When customers contact you after a purchase, it's a signal. Ask yourself: "Why do they have to contact us for this?" Then, find ways to eliminate the issue in the future. Jan Carlzon's Moment of Truth concept from the 1980s emphasized that every interaction shapes customer impressions. Flip this idea: every interaction is an opportunity to get better. Turn interactions into insights, and insights into improvement.

A Higher Standard

We hold our people to high standards; it's time to hold AI and digital self-service to the same—or even higher—standards. If a customer chooses self-service over a phone call, the experience should be easier and more efficient. Imagine an airline passenger whose flight is canceled: AI should automatically recognize the disruption, proactively offer alternatives, make the change, and send the new itinerary in seconds. Self-service should never be harder than a phone call; it should fix the problem and impress the customer with its ease.

Final Words

CCW showcased plenty of new technology, but the biggest lessons were reminders that customer service is evolving from a support function into a driver of revenue, growth, loyalty, and trust. The companies that win customer loyalty won't be those with the most technology, but those that use technology to remove friction, empower employees, and create better experiences. In the end, customers just want their questions answered and problems resolved. Keep that in mind, and they'll be back!