“I could really learn to love baseball…”
In 2007, I was part of a team that was sent to Everett, just north of Seattle to conduct a delivery for a B777-300ER (extended range). We identified a defect in the aircraft’s vertical stabiliser and informed the operator. Boeing told us that it would take a while to repair the defect and that the delivery would be delayed by four days. Instead of sending us home, they requested that we stay in Seattle, in case we were needed during the repair operation. We agreed and the customer services team came down and let us know that as thank you they had arranged the team’s entertainment for the whole weekend.
Friday night started with a baseball game at the T-Mobile Park, home of the Seattle Mariners. We were picked up from our hotel by a shuttle and taken to the stadium where we were met by Boeing staff and taken to a private box. They had gone to town with a full spread of food and refreshments waiting for us and an incredible view of the stadium and field. None of the team had ever been to a baseball game before, so this was a unique experience. And once someone explained all the rules to us newbies it was even more enjoyable! After the game and many complimentary beers, we were returned to our hotel. Now, I’m not a huge sports enthusiast but after a night like that, I could really learn to love baseball!
The following day, the team and I were picked up and taken to the Seattle seafront, (some of us with foggy heads!) We were taken onboard a private hire pleasure boat and taken out to the centre of the bay, (a few team members choosing to remain outside in the fresh air!) The captain cut the engines and weighed anchor so we could observe the “world-famous” Tugboat race. At first, we thought this was a practical joke, but we were swiftly assured otherwise.
The race takes place between Pier 86 -66, and I wish I had been given a pair of binoculars so I could have seen the boats as from our ship they were mere specks on the horizon and extremely slow-moving ones at that! But the sea air was very welcome, and the catering was outstanding so we couldn’t complain. We even got into the tugboat race when the larger ocean-going tugs started racing, those we could see just fine, roaring across the bay. Once the race had finished, our boat churned to life, and we took a leisurely cruise back to shore. The Boeing team were waiting for us with shuttle buses and we all wobbled aboard and enjoyed a scenic drive back to our hotels.
Sunday was pure retail therapy. We were taken further north to a large outlet store where we could do lots of shopping at greatly reduced prices – my wife was thrilled! We were there for about 4 hours, including lunch, before the transport took us back to our hotel. We were all exhausted at this point but the whole weekend had been excellent. Boeing customer services had outdone themselves, we felt really looked after and we made sure that we thanked them profusely.
They didn’t need to do any of this, but as it was down to them to fix the defect that we had identified, they made sure that whilst we were in their city we were treated as honoured guests the entire weekend. When we returned to the factory on Monday the defect had been rectified and we could continue our work. The aircraft was delivered two days later. This trip always stuck with me, not just because we were spoiled rotten. But because it was such a good example of how to look after your customer and go above and beyond. Needless to say, we returned to Seattle many times after this!
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