How to Get to Greenland
Each Kayak employee interacts with a few consumers each day; we don’t believe in outsourcing our finger on the pulse. These interactions are usually by email or telephone.
Today, a gentleman arrived at our software development lab seeking help. He lives nearby and had taken the initiative to find us when the online service didn’t meet his needs. We’re glad he did because it was a mutual learning experience.
Mr. Mahmood Rezaei-Kamalabad needs to be in Greenland in June for the purpose of hand delivering a scholarly religious text he has authored. This hand-crafted work-of-art requires personal delivery.
Mr. Rezaei-Kamalabad was left empted-handed by his Boston-Greenland kayak searches.
One of our team members answered the front door and Mr. Rezaei-Kamalabad explained the situation. Together they did a few kayak searches without success. They also tried online agencies, airlines, and the like. Absolutely nothing was found.
Mr. Rezaei-Kamalabad was thankful for the time we spent and left with the advice to call a travel agent.
The team member posed the question to the entire Kayak team after Mr. Rezaei-Kamalabad left the office and within a couple minutes we had come up with several ideas based on personal and professional experiences. The best route, as offered by our corporate attorney, was to first stop in Iceland or Denmark.
Mr. Rezaei-Kamalabad was pleasantly surprised when we called him back with the above suggestions. He also gave us the thumbs-up to include a picture of one of his sculptures which he says was inspired by the kayak logo.
You can see more of his work at www.mrkart.com
Have you had a hard time planning a trip to an off-the-beaten-path location? We’d like to hear about it!
April 15th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
This is an awesome and inspiring story - so glad I found your blog today. I am really inspired by your approach to customer service and the commitment you have for ‘being human’ instead of cogs in the machine. Tell Paul et al I am watching what you are doing and loving it!
April 18th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
There was a more direct route from Baltimore but it has been cancelled:
Air Greenland operated a summer service to and from Baltimore (Baltimore-Washington International Airport) from June to August 2007. Plans to reopen the route for ten flights during the summer of 2008 were cancelled on March 10, 2008, due to financial losses on the route as well as the drop of the U.S. dollar and increased fuel costs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Greenland
April 18th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Hi Brandon, thanks for following-up. I was also surprised that a more direct route wasn’t available from BWI; a coworker had remembered flying that path a few years ago and we’d gotten excited about offering that as an option