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AA cancels flight at OKC , DL brings in plane for 41 student group

AA cancels flight at OKC , DL brings in plane for 41 student group

Old Jun 9, 2019, 3:51 pm
  #1  
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AA cancels flight at OKC , DL brings in plane for 41 student group

Another PR hit for AA?

American Airlines cancelled a flight out of OKlahoma City and offered no options to get a group of 41 fifth graders and their chaperones to Richmond, Virginia the same day. One of the group leaders says, We were told by American Airlines they were just going to refund usthese 5th graders need to get to Washington, DC weve been planning this for over a year.



Delta agents heard the story and reached out to management in Atlanta who brought in an aircraft to fly the group to Richmond. Delayed six and a half hours, they had a flight to themselves and a non-stop instead of a connection.



https://viewfromthewing.boardingarea...o-rescue-them/
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 4:16 pm
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Nice recovery from Delta..going for greAAt AA..it does show that there are solutions if someone what's to make it happen
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 4:36 pm
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The cost to DL to arrange that special flight is tiny compared to the PR value they'll get from the media coverage. The thing is, had AA done the same thing, it would not have been newsworthy and we'd never have heard about it.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 4:48 pm
  #4  
 
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Originally Posted by Steve M
The cost to DL to arrange that special flight is tiny compared to the PR value they'll get from the media coverage. The thing is, had AA done the same thing, it would not have been newsworthy and we'd never have heard about it.
Plus, those kids parents could become loyal to DL in the future - maybe some of them travel for work. And when the kids become adults they likely will remember DL saved their trip and book future trips on DL.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 4:55 pm
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Originally Posted by Steve M
The cost to DL to arrange that special flight is tiny compared to the PR value they'll get from the media coverage. The thing is, had AA done the same thing, it would not have been newsworthy and we'd never have heard about it.
Why is that?
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 5:06 pm
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Originally Posted by Antarius
Why is that?
Because it's the expected thing to do (even if it's not). Delta went above and beyond.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 5:14 pm
  #7  
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Originally Posted by Antarius
Why is that?
If Delta had canceled the flight and AA brought a plane, they would receive media attention.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 5:16 pm
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This can't be recent. The trees behind that CR9 look winter/January time frame.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 5:16 pm
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This would probably have been a lot easier for aa to execute due to proximity of okc to dfw but in terms of thinking outside the box or maybe just thinking, aa is just not in delta’s league.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 5:28 pm
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Here is the news article that Delta reported:
https://news.delta.com/we-re-here-he...ked-competitor

Really proud of Delta on this one

Also, that photo is from the wintertime, but this did happen recently.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 5:41 pm
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Originally Posted by abk
This would probably have been a lot easier for aa to execute due to proximity of okc to dfw but in terms of thinking outside the box or maybe just thinking, aa is just not in deltas league.
...or maybe AA does not have spare aircraft like DL does because of the 737MAX grounding. Good for DL though, that was a great thing to do for those children.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 5:50 pm
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The better title is "good for for DL." OP has no idea whether AA had a spare aircraft.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 6:13 pm
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Originally Posted by SiempreBCNJFK
Because it's the expected thing to do (even if it's not). Delta went above and beyond.
Ah. I thought the post was saying if AA and DL were reversed, then AA wouldn't have received press.

Originally Posted by jackvogt
If Delta had canceled the flight and AA brought a plane, they would receive media attention.
Agreed.

This does illustrate a difference in service recovery attitudes. Bad stuff happens, how companies recover is what defines them.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 6:21 pm
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Originally Posted by Steve M
The thing is, had AA done the same thing, it would not have been newsworthy and we'd never have heard about it.
Integrity is doing the right thing, even when nobody notices.
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Old Jun 9, 2019, 7:05 pm
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That's amazing for Delta to step in like that. It shows a lot about company culture - that the DL agents overhearing the AA debacle felt empowered enough to try to help any way they can. Whereas AA agents just want to get rid of them as quickly as possible. Refunds? Not even reroutes or trying to put them on another carrier? Ridiculous.
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