BackOfTheBus

Back to the topic of Delta's Inida reservationists: I support the outsourcing of wicker basket, rice and porcellain production to other countries, if they can do a better job. I am sure Indian organic rice might taste better than that ADM GM crap and have more nutrients, China-made porcellain would incorporate centuries of tradition and skill, and Sri Lankan wicker baskets will be cultural artwork in addition to a consumer good.

Most of the Indian reps that are now working for 50 cents/hour at the Delta call center have probably never flown on a plane before, much less on a US airline. When they spent many weeks in training, they weren't told about the great Detroit snowstorm, about which seats on the plane are good and bad, about how travel was disrupted after 9/11, about what it is like to seek an airplane ticket to someone's funeral on a moments notice. These people have never had a frequent flyer account, never could even dream about taking a trip to Paris in Business with their loved one for their Silver anniversary.

I don't care if they have PhDs in Microbiology, Linguistics or Economics - now matter how educated they are, Indian representatives likely lack the lifeskills that most American travellers (not to mention, road warriors) have acquired over the years. The assistance, which they provide, is sterile at best - it mimics a machine - so their functions could very well be replaced by expanding the website functionality.

DL's plans have been to quickly train agents in India, fire the US agents (or just quit hiring) and reap the big bucks on that 50c vs $9/hour pay difference. Dear Delta, a 4-week training course in some cublicle classroom is not enough to compensate for the 20 years of real-life travel experience the American counterparts of these agents posess. So take your SGB and shove it.

Yes, I am paying more for the privilege of dealing with a US airline that has not yet outsourced reservations. For my recent trip to London I paid a $35 premium to fly Northwest over Delta, on a longer routing. Not to mention, I credit my miles to WorldPerks now, and the agents in small-town Minnesota are a lot friendlier than the Indian ones.

Having had the pleasure of growing up in a communist dictatorship, I would like to assure you that most democrats are not communists It might interest you, that when I vote in my native country's elections, I always vote for the most conservative party (something like Pat Buchanan or George Bush) because I am sick of the ex-commies promising free prosperity for all, while at the same time pulling an 'Enron' by privatizing everything lucrative by buying it up for pennies under the table.

I am quite conservative, I assure you - I am a firm believer in market economics, free enterprise, and limited bureaucracy and government intervention. However, I am not an anarchist (or, as they call themselves, libertarian) - and hence I believe that some social aspects should be preserved in our government set-up. The US Democratic party is fiscally conservative and it ain't to liberal on social issues either - it is quite comparable to the German Christian-Democarts or the Conservatives in Britain. With the exception of Senator McCain, the majority of Republicans in this country are way off to the right in the political spectrum for any European-grown citizen to choose... sorry