AA cancels flight at OKC , DL brings in plane for 41 student group
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Huntington Beach, CA, USA
Programs: AA PLT 2mm
Posts: 212
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/
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/
#3
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Houston, TX, USA
Programs: UA 1K, AA Lifetime Platinum, DL Platinum, Honors Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium, Hertz Platinum
Posts: 7,954
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.
#4
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Austin, TX - AUS
Programs: AA Platinum, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott
Posts: 1,622
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.
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: KHOU/KIAH
Programs: AA EXP | Marriott Bonvoy Titanium| Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 11,119
#9
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: stl
Programs: AA LT Plat/8.1mm now with 1350 miles left in my account and proud of it.. SPG LT Titanium.
Posts: 3,073
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.
#10
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: LAX/BUR, RDU
Programs: DL SM, AAdvantage, SPG
Posts: 1,360
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.
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.
#11
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: MSP/BUF/BNA/LFT
Programs: AA Plat, Priority Club Gold, Choice Privileges Gold
Posts: 1,223
...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.
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: KHOU/KIAH
Programs: AA EXP | Marriott Bonvoy Titanium| Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 11,119
This does illustrate a difference in service recovery attitudes. Bad stuff happens, how companies recover is what defines them.
#15
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: ORD (formerly SAN)
Programs: Hilton Diamond; IHG Platinum; Bonvoy Gold; AA Platinum Pro and United Premier Silver (DH = AA EXP)
Posts: 1,927
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.