Like in the past, I have found this to be very employee-dependent. Most GAs still say "thank you for being Diamond" when I scan my boarding pass, particularly on long flights the lead FA comes by toward the end of the flight with a "thank you for being a 3MM", the phone agent will still thank me for being a Diamond member, etc. Some employees are very personable and others are not. I must say I have not noticed a downward trend here.

And in terms of fixing things when travel goes sideways: during Covid Delta lost a lot of their most experienced employees, and they are still trying to rebuild that expertise. My experience with newer employees is that they tend to be a lot more stressed during meltdowns and such, and cannot think through problems and solutions as clearheaded as highly experienced employees can who have seen it all. In those cases I tend to lead them to the solution I see that is acceptable to me and that I know is not far outside the "lines" within which they need to operate; this often works out well. So, always good to have solutions in mind when you call, and remember that it does not always need to mean an alternate flight on Delta; if there is a cancellation, then feeding them with alternative options on other carriers with which they have an agreement sometimes works wonders. Regardless, stay positive and treat travel disruptions as one big adventure .