While were at the Thai International Airways counter at the Bangkok airport checking in for our flight to Chiang Mai, I was really surprise to see a big sign that said something like ‘Our Customer Service is ISO 9001 Certified’ Most Americans probably don’t know the ISO 9001 standard is but it is quality control standard developed by the International Standards Organization. It is a rather rigid set of quality control standards that address quality control requirements for all sorts of organization. I didn’t realize that this was merely a harbinger of things to come. Countless establishments proclaimed themselves as being ISO 9001 certified. Sometimes the declaration was used inappropriately. When I was in the jewelry store in Chiang Mai, the sales lady told me that they couldn’t negotiate on the price because they were ISO 9001 certified and it prevented them from negotiating the price. The statement was pure malarkey but I didn’t question the statement since I was certain that she had no clue what the standard was about anyway. However, I was really heartened that so many Thai businesses were attempting to adhere to the ISO 9001 quality control standards. I can’t think of a single company in the US that advertises the they are attempting to be ISO 9001 compliant.
I wish that Japan Air Lines (JAL) was ISO 9001 compliant. While I really loved their service, they make it really difficult to confirm your flight like you are supposed to. I tried to call them to confirm our flight a few days before we left for Thailand. I couldn’t find any telephone number listed on the tickets or the envelope that the tickets came in. I looked in the Yellow Pages and there was no listing for JAL. Just about every ‘Glue and Bailing Wire" airline in the world has a listing in the Yellow Pages, but not JAL. I checked on the internet and still there was no 1-800 number listed. Finally, I called directory assistance and they were able to give me the 1-800 number for JAL reservations. To their credit they were very helpful once I found out their number. They even realized that we had a connecting flight from Tokyo to Bangkok and asked if we wanted to confirm that flight too. Lucia had an even harder time when she attempted to confirm our return flight. Their number wasn’t listed in the Bangkok telephone directory either and when she called, they gave her a number that nobody answered when she called it. Finally, she called the Bangkok Airport and was able to get hold of JAL to confirm our flights.