Originally Posted by
kenn0223
It wouldn't surprise me if DL had some sort of program that trains people in all departments to jump in when things like this happen. When I used to work for a major electric utility nearly everyone in the company had "storm duty" assignments including high-ranking fresh out of biz-school management folks. Everyone had to get re-certified each year and when major storms hit most other functions stopped. We would even loan out people to other utilities for bad storms. I would assume airlines do something very similar.
I actually expect this sort of mobilization is somewhat common (a few times a year) related to weather events. I don't think it would make sense for DL to carry enough dedicated reservation staff to cover the occasional massive surges that occur as a normal part of the airline business. I also to hear all to often
of multi-hour waits like you do over on the UA boards.
This comment reminded me of the time I was in Germany when PMNW pilots went on strike and almost all NW flights were being cancelled one day at a time. When I called to be rebooked, the agent seemed to be a BA employee (or maybe a British travel agent who mostly booked BA flights) as she had a lovely accent and constantly referred to WBC on NW and KLM as Club. I never did figure out whether NW somehow outsourced their European call center to BA during the crisis. It seems highly unlikely to go to a competitor for support, but the person really did seem like a BA agent.