One of the best parts of my job as The Travel Troubleshooter is seeing customer complaints resolved through normal channels, without need for my intervention. That happened twice this week with an airline that I would have considered an unlikely candidate: Delta.
In the first case, reader Kim Clark reserved a seat for her mother and niece on the Delta site. The seats were initially together, but after an equipment change, the airline arbitrary assigned new seats that were far apart. Clark was nervous about her 15-year-old being separated from her grandmother, and Delta seemed unsympathetic to her pleas to change the reservations.
I suggested that she appeal her contact to a higher authority, and sent her a few names. I also e-mailed a couple of tips on how to write an effective letter.
Not even a day later, Clark sent me an update:
“A lady by the name of Linda Dunwoody e-mailed me back and changed the seat assignments,” she reported. “She also gave me her direct phone number to call if anything else would happen with the seat assignments. In addition, she said she would check periodically to make sure that my mother and niece were not split up again. This is what I would call great customer service from Delta.”
Yep, me too.
Reader Robert Cocozza e-mailed me with another problem a day later. Seems he had used his Delta SkyMiles to book two tickets with Alitalia. But Alitalia had changed its flights, and on the return leg, it didn’t have any award-based seats — leaving him with no return ticket. Delta was playing a game of “pass the buck” with Alitalia, and Cocozza was no closer to getting his ticket.
Again, I recommended that he appeal his case. And wouldn’t you know it …
“It worked! With in 10 minutes, Delta was calling back with two confirmation for the return flight on our original departure date. Many thanks for your help.”
Well, thank you Delta.
As I’ve noted in the past, travel companies in bankruptcy often improve their customer service. Delta may be a case-in-point. (But two resolved cases do not make a trend. I learned that back in my hard-news journalism days. No, the correct number is actually three.)
I’d love to hear from readers who have interacted with Delta, post-bankruptcy. Is it better or worse than before it filed for Chapter 11 protection? Your thoughts, please.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m a little surprised that you feel that way about Delta. Delta has
been my primary carrier since I first started flying. [That was
probably before you were born.] Yes, I’ve had my issues with Delta,
but in the vast majority of cases, they have addressed the problems in
a reasonable way. Of course, I may not have really thought so at the
time, because I was more than likely rather irritated. But, on the whole,
I’ve felt Delta was above average in handling problems. Certainly they
are a lot better than what might have been had the USAir buyout
happened.
Actually, I seem to recall that, in the past, Delta was usually voted
as one of the best airlines. I always attributed that to the employee
loyalty and the fact that most of Delta was non-union.
You wanted “a third example, ‘pre-bankrupcy’.” [You said 'post-' but
since the bankrupcy process is still going on, that's not possible, so
I assumed 'pre-'.] Well how
about this one:
I was flying from CVG to LAX. As a Gold Medallion,
I was hoping for an upgrade. I got to the airport
early, checked in and thought I had been added to the
‘upgrade list’ by the ticket agent. She even said I
was high on the list and should easily get my upgrade.
By mistake, she put me on the ’stand-by list.’ Of
course, as the gate agents were processing upgrades,
they never saw my name until after all of the First
Class seats had been given away. I complained! No
good; too late! The seats were gone. There was one
First Class passenger that had not checked in, so I
waited to board. Unfortunately, he showed. As I
was about to board, one of the Delta supervisors arrived
on the scene. He apologized for the mistake, and as
‘compensation’ he upgraded my return flight from LAX
to CVG, even though it was over a week away; far in
advance of the normal lead time.
This is, in my opinion, paying attention to customer satisfaction.
___________________________________
Unfortunately, I still don’t think they get it, at least some of the folks that interact with customers. Had seats changed because of an equipment change and the supervisor in San Diego acted as is if it was our tough luck. Went from a confirmed exit-aisle to an in the back middle seat. Supervisor then proceeded to change my wife’s upgraded seat on the second leg back to coach citing she didn’t deserve to be in business class and whoever did that (it was a supervisor in Atlanta who gave us a comp upgrade) was wrong. He also told me that I can call anyone I want because that doesn’t scare him. Prior to my exchange I watched this same guy frustrate three other passengers with his “Don’t care” attitude. After trying to get a number to their care line, I finally found it from your links. Their reservation folks told me I couldn’t call customer care, but could only write a letter or go to Delta.com and send an email. If what I experienced today is indicative of where Delta is going, they will be back in bankruptcy sooner than later. I’ll certainly look elsewhere first before flying with Delta again – I am sure the other three passengers feel the same.
I never dealt with Delta customer service before they went into Chapter 11 so I can’t say if customer service has improved. I would be incredibly shocked if it was ever worse than it is now. I write to you while currently on hold with their telephone customer service. My phone timer reads “1:09:26″ ticking away. Yes, I’ve been on hold for over an hour. This isn’t the first time I’ve experienced this but it will be the last.
Delta gives you a busy signal when you first call. You have to redial multiple times before you’re finally able to get through. Once you get through, you’re met with a voice “recognition” system, which is pretty bad at recognizing anything you say. Once you request a person (which you need to do if you want to cancel a flight), you sit on hold for a long time. In my case it was 15 minutes this time. A woman came on, found out I needed to cancel my flight, and told me she would need to transfer me to someone else. She did and now I’ve been on hold for over an hour. I assume they’ve forgotten me but I’m afraid to hang up after investing this much time.
This happened to me once before, when I was trying to redeem credits and they numbers I had been given weren’t working online. I had to call and ended up on hold for over 30 minutes. At least that time everything got resolved in the end.
The truly frustrating thing is the hold time. Once you reach a person he/she is always very friendly and helpful. But getting that representative is such a trial. I’m about to bang my head against a wall, so tired am I of sitting here and listening to the same lame hold songs over and over. I will never use Delta again, no matter how cheap or convenient they may be when I need a flight. And since I book travel for my boss who travels a lot, they’re losing a pretty good customer.
I’ve been a Delta customer for about 10 years (started in 1997). One of the primary reasons I decided to use Delta is because I was living in the Cincinnati area. One of Delta’s hubs. Anyway, I’ve had Platinum Medallion status for 4 consecutive years. I now live in the Boston area. In the past two years I’ve made about 20 trips from Boston to Honolulu. I frequently used the upgrade coupons Delta provides or miles to get an upgrade to 1st class. On one occassion I had a layover in ATL. I attempted to use my coupon and or miles to get the upgrade. I was told that 1st class was sold out, which meant no chance for the upgrade. I asked to be put on the upgrade list anyway but the gate agent refused because it was already full. I waited for everyone to board just in case someone didn’t check in. Once I boarded I noticed that 2 seats in 1st class were empty. I went back to the gate agent and asked if I could have one of those seats. He said 1st class was full. I got back on the plane and asked the flight attendant supervisor if I could have one of those seats. She said I’d have to ask the gate agent. I explained to the supervisor and the gate agent that I was a Platinum Medallion customer with a full fare coach ticket. Again, I was told no. Once we got to our cruising altitude the supervisor let 2 other people sit in my seat. I’m sure I was the highest priority on the upgrade list. You don’t get much higher than Platinum Medallion full fare coach. I asked the supervisor why the other people were allowed to sit in 1st class and I was denied. She said there wasn’t anything she could do about it. I complained to Delta after my flight. I got the usual thanks but too bad response. I gave them the names of all the Delta reps. I came in contact with along with my seat number and the seat numbers of the 2 people who were upgraded. I figured they could check if my story was on the up and up. Nope! Just the cursory sorry but too bad. I no longer fly Delta if I can help it. I only do it as a last resort.
I recently took my family on a straight through DELTA flight from
Jacksonville to Boston resulted in a lost bag. Three out of the four
pieces my family checked made it to Boston. I understand that things
happen in a large organization and that mistakes happen which cannot be
avoided so I immediately spoke with a baggage representative and filed a
claim. I repeatedly contacted the customer service number provided to
me and received no real help at all. The standard response was simply
“No Update”. I requested a call if an update was available and it was
promptly denied. I was denied access or a contact number to a supervisor
and dealt with 30 minute hold times, REPEATEDLY. No instructions or
recommendations were provided until I begged for assistance. I was in
Boston for a Harvard graduation and the piece of luggage lost contained
suits and dress clothes for the entire trip. I was told out of pocket
expense is covered up to USD125 for the entire trip. I was left no
other alternative than to spend over a thousand dollars to cover clothes
for my family. This was supposed to be a relaxing, exciting, and happy
visit for my family, but due to this mistake, frustration and
helplessness clouded the entire week. Many excess trips and wasted time
was devoted on acquiring clothes, alterations and pointless calls to
a non-responsive service center. It has been 45days and my trip has come and
gone, along with my baggage. It apparently is lost for ever. I have
submitted a claim form following the company guidelines for
and have been told “Consideration” will be given to the
contents of my luggage within 4 to 6 weeks as stated in their documentation. I waited and emailed after 30 days and was the told 12 to 16 weeks was the norm. My frustration grows with the inability of the company to provide any sense of decent customer
service. In a bad situation people reach out for assistance and
assistance is not what they are receiving from Delta. I followed your advise and emailed all parties, beginning with customer service and working up the chain. They have completely stop replying to my inquiry. Do you have any other suggestions?
As a (past frequent) Delta traveler, I have seen the overall quality of service at Delta drop to well below those of other carriers. My most recent attempt to book reward tickets resulted in two days of calls to both the preferred and regular reservation line (two hours and no answer is a bit much – Medallion members who tried their Premium sales and service number were rewarded with a busy signal).
My concern is that, if Delta had simply moved my reservation through without further cost or delay once I got through to a representative, I probably would have let it pass. Unfortunately, once I ended up with a rep, after 2 hours of waiting on hold, I was told it would cost me $20 per ticket to resolve the issue. The issue, by the way, was that my itinerary which was saved in the Delta online system couldn’t be confirmed because the system was not functioning properly (the section which allows you to change your registered credit card was not functioning properly – nothing to do with how you enterred the info, the card you used or anything else – simply that part of the system was not functioning properly…probably still doesn’t).
I tend to fly much more now than in the past…all long haul international flights. Great for getting to Premium levels with these flyers, but I have (and after this will without exception) avoid Delta. As a businessman, I know that those $6,500 – $8,000 (much higher for the flights to Sydney and Seoul I occasionally take) business class tickets I purchase monthly are the way these airlines make their money…what are these guys thinking is beyond me.
Too bad…when I did more domestic flying I use to pick these guys over American and USAir…no more.
I would say “NO” they don’t. I am a Platinum flyer and had the worst experience with Delta customer service I have ever experienced. A summary is here on my blog; http://tdubner.com/2010/02/21/delta-customer-service-redux/
For about $500 they could have maintained a Platinum flyer relationship. I will now be moving my business.