Originally Posted by
Gargoyle
All I can say is YMMV.
That is not what I heard management saying at the meeting. They acknowledged that some things were done better at NW, some done better at DL, and they are trying to learn from both and implement as much as they can. This is an industry which is really struggling to stay afloat, and some changes cost too many millions of dollars to be instantly implemented.
BTW, a significant part of management and corporate culture in the new company comes from NW. Anderson wasn't with DL...
I had an experience opposite of yours last year, I was on 06 ticket stock, NW metal, and my bag was damaged by NW baggage handlers; among other things they shredded my PM luggage tag (and my FlyerTalk luggage tag). I wrote DL and NW; DL quickly sent a personally written reply, NW never responded. Some NW fliers want us to think that NW was godlike before the borglike DL assimilated them, but that just isn't the case.
That's not to say I never had problems with NW luggage.
But, I was always responded to quickly and often given compensation in one form or another. My favorite was the card they put in your luggage when it was delivered to you at the hotel that apologized for the delay, here's a coupon off your next flight, go to NWA.com and redeem this coupon for 1,000 bonus miles, and here's a drink coupon, something like that.
I've always recieved a quick personal response on NWA.COM TTU. Not always on Delta. I wonder if (at least in email) if they don't know your status immediately they just treat you like everyone else. I've never been non NW Elite on NW, so I wouldn't know how they treat people. Maybe that's the problem. Since you had no status on NW, you were treated poorly. Since I have no status on DL, same with me. It's a thought.
On what was said at the DO, I hope that's the case. I just don't get that warm and fuzzy feeling, and I think Anderson is very hands off and lets the people who have been there do their thing. If he's very hands on and trying to instill the old NW culture, then there are too many people in the middle who are buffering that out. It's definately not the same culture NW has had for years.
On the cost too much / struggling industry thing, well, you need to budget properly before an acquisition and I'm sure the IT component of the acquisition isn't nearly as much as other costs. You know, these people don't think twice about the scores of legal fees, contract buyouts, regulatory fees, accountants and lawyers and stuff. Those costs will dwarf the IT costs, and I consider it poor planning or a cop out. I didn't say instant either, because that's almost impossible to do as well. But, we're being told "in a few years" on some things that NWA has had for years and other things of integration. I don't doubt their working on these things, and I don't doubt they take time. But I also don't buy the "we're in a downturn etc" stuff either... my industry is and was too -- part of the reason they asked for the merger was to get operational synergies and save money to stay together in this downturn. They have money to repaint planes and change the uniforms and redo kiosks and safety cards and all that stuff before their FAA certificate is even granted, but not enough money to adequately do an IT conversion? That's a big red flag to someone who's done one of these before. You know what? If times are that rough, let the NW planes stay painted as NW planes and the FA's wear the same uniforms for a bit longer so we can do the IT conversion right.