Can't Delta Do Better?
 

The October issue of the Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report was published last week. Included in this report is the “Consumer Complaints: Rankings / U.S. Airlines” table.

Here, U.S. airlines are ranked by complaints per 100,000 enplanements as received by the D.O.T. during the reportable month; there is a two-month lag in the A.T.C.R., so in this case August, 2009 statistics are being reported.

For the October issue of the A.T.C.R., Consumer Complaints Ranking for U.S. Airlines, Delta Air Lines placed dead last out of the 19 carriers that report to the D.O.T.

Any company can have a period where customer service slips, but usually the situation is identified by top management and rectified promptly. In Delta’s case, however, customer service as measured by the D.O.T.’s complaint rate has ranked in the bottom three for nearly a year:

Month Rank

AUG09 19
JUL09 18
JUN09 19
MAY09 19
APR09 19
MAR09 19
FEB09 17
JAN09 19
DEC08 17
NOV08 18
OCT08 18
SEP08 15

In fact, Delta has consistently place in the bottom half of the rankings for at least three years, with the highest finish at 13th place for one month three years ago.

Recall that this ranking is out of 19 air carriers reporting (20 prior to and including February, 2008) so, lately, Delta is one of three consistently worst carriers for passenger complaints in the United States.

To be fair, passengers complain about Delta for basically the same reasons everyone complains about airlines: “Flight Problems”, “Reservations / Ticketing / Boarding”, “Baggage” and “Customer Service” being the top four reasons given for the industry as a whole and for Delta.

However, Delta’s problem is that they receive complaints from their passengers at a rate at least twice as high as the industry average – 2.61 versus 1.13 in the last report.

Drilling deeper in to the D.O.T.’s statistics, it appears that Delta has a higher ratio of problems with “baggage handling” and “Res/Tktg/Boarding”. Observe a typical day at Delta’s largest hub in Atlanta, and you can easily see why: staffing has been cut to a minimum. Insufficient gate and ramp agents for connecting passengers and baggage handling and ticket agents that have been replaced by phone banks and kiosks.

Delta management has made the decision to cut airport customer service staffing to a bare minimum, which produces average results when everything works well. Throw in some problems, however, and things turn ugly very quickly. During an irregular operation, you’ll be dealing with surly agents, luggage that gets mishandled and one of those afore-mentioned phone banks, where you’ll be on hold for quite a while before anyone ever speaks to you.

This brings up another problem for Delta: “Res”. Here’s a simple test: Call Delta Reservations (1-800-221-1212) and, once the phone rings, see how many “computerized questions” you have to answer (I’m sorry, I didn’t understand you… I’m sorry, I didn’t understand you…) before a live agent finally answers the phone.

Now, call Southwest Airlines (1-800-435-9792) and you’ll usually get an agent on the third ring (granted, after listening to a short “Lower fares may be available on Southwest.com” recording).

Who wants to talk to a computer that can’t understand you half the time? How many potential customers hang up before Delta gets the chance to make a sale?

It must be assumed that top management is aware of Delta’s consistently low ranking in the A.T.C.R. So the question must be asked, why do they continue to tolerate it? What are they doing about it?

Evidently, nothing. Delta continues to perform poorly month after month and year after year. So while the customer service agents are dressed in Richard Tyler uniforms, and the flight attendants are serving Signature Cocktails by Rande Gerber, Delta fails to deliver the fundamentals of customer service.

Management at Delta Air Lines has been so focused on providing “flash” that they have dropped the ball on the basics. They’ve been so concerned with installing internet service on every flight they’ve forgotten where your suitcase was. They’ve cut airport customer service down so far that one in four of their flights operates late.

All of the cuts in customer service have been driven by the desire to reduce costs. However, when your business is based on customer service and you fail to provide the fundamentals, how long will it be before the cost savings are overwhelmed by revenue loss? How long will the traveling public tolerate this poor service before they seek a better alternative which, in the competitive airline business, is easy to do? Especially when all of your competitors provide better service?

When will Delta’s executives decide to do better than fail? There are plenty of examples of corporations that thrive, not only because they operate efficiently, but because management has decided to focus on the customer.

Southwest Airlines is one of those companies.

Delta Air Lines was one of those companies.

There are plenty of examples of corporations that fail, not because they operate efficiently, but because they attempt to do so at the expense of their customers by providing poor quality.

General Motors is one of those companies.

Delta Air Lines is also one of those companies.

So, a couple of questions for the executive team at Delta:

What’s the point in building the world’s largest airline if, ultimately, no one will want to fly on it?

When will Delta’s executive team stop investing in other airlines and start investing in Delta again?

When do you stop tolerating providing your customers with worse than mediocre service and restore Delta to the gold-standard of airlines it once was?

Or can’t you?

Delta doesn't have to do any better. They only have to be one notch better than the absolute worst.

Please follow the discussion as the thread moves to our Delta Airlines forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Maybe WN is better than DL, maybe it's not. It depends on what you want from a carrier. If you are flying from MDW to BWI, WN would be the logical choice. But as others have pointed out numerous times, try getting to NRT or LHR or JNB or HKG on WN. And exactly whch rows on WN are first class? My point is not to say that DL is perfect, nor that WN is perfect. Each pax should make their choices based on what works best for them.

I will concede, however, that one area where WN is far superior than any other domestic carrier is in managing expectations. Pax expect more from DL, perhaps fairly, perhaps not. Pax expect no seat assignments, no first class, no lounges, and no international destinations from WN, and WN does not disappoint.

Welcome...I guess. BTW never really cared about the DOT stats anyway since they don't take a lot of things into consideration.

My only gripe would be on the Plat CS line, could they please forget about the survey option. If as a Plat I want to let them know something, I think I have an idea of how to communicate that. The automated attendant, doesn't understand "NO!"...:mad:

What would be some objective metrics/standards that would allow for comparisons of airline quality/performance, then?

Hear, hear Lawndart!

I'm done talking to representatives who either don't care or who's hands are tied even if they did give a rats behind. I'm done filling out surveys, I'm done sending email. I'm done being polite, patient and understanding with merger "hiccups". I'm done seeing my hard paid benefits disappear one by one. I'm done finding increased fees, increased fares and increased fustration.

Sorry Delta, I'm just...done.

Oh what a surprise!! May I faint now? This is what I've been saying all along. I am sorry to the ATL based people out there, but the world is much larger. With such ratings, I am almost sure Delta will sink. Think about it, if the airline closes MSP, NRT and other NWA hubs as some of us predict them to.. they won't be the cheaper airline in numerous locations and that will make them even less competitive. It is important to remember that AA is still the largest airline in terms of passenger miles transported, and could easily reclaim it's #1 title of the world's largest carrier from Delta with all their customer service blunders.

While I appreciate the data, it will not affect my travel decisions greatly if at all.

I am also somewhat suspicious of a first post that lays out industry data and then points at one of the airlines as worst and then goes on to say how good another specific airline is.

Where is the discussion of how good the #3 airline is or how bad #18 on the list is? Did the OP make similar posts about the other airlines and their positions on the list, or is this simply a "WN is better than everybody else" post?

I think even if the original source and facts were provided, many would still refuse to acknowledge it or pretend the data was never posted... and that's the exact problem. Delta lives in a fantasy where it refuses to see it's mistakes.


Oh by the way, here is one link that proves that..
http://triangle.bizjournals.com/tria...6/daily74.html
oh wait.. no.. let us turn our eyes away from this news, it was totally made up by such a reputable website. these are all lies to discredit this wonderful airline! We should never speak anything less than perfect about Delta

DL should look at that data and have some level of uncomfortability, certainly. Do the data include all complaints, valid or not? Regardless, they should have some concern with the numbers.

My real problem with the post was that it was the OP's first, was only negative about one of many airlines and only positive about one of many airlines. It was also specifically targeted to DL, but posted in a general forum (TravelBuzz). It makes me feel like the OP is somehow connected to WN. I can't say specifically why, but the post had a "WN Marketing" feel to it.

Most genuine first-posters, in my experience here in the DL forum, post because they need help with a specific problem relating to their travel, or about the SkyMiles program and how it works.

My $0.02...:)

I see your point, but let us forget about the motivation for starting this thread and look at what is out there (like the link I provided).. I did not know prior to reading this that Delta was indeed in the bottom of the list and naturally with such ratings, it is no wonder that it would be written about. It's a reputation that is beginning to stick with the airline, and so I hope they do something about it before their customer's dessert them. Now is a crucial time, they need to prove their worth in lieu of this merger.. they can screw up later but now is probably the most important time to make that lasting impression to former NWA customers

I agree that they need to make their best efforts to win over the NWA crowd, but they also need to continue to prove themselves to the DL crowd, too. It is an adjustment for everyone.

I largely ignore the rankings not because they aren't objective, but because there simply isn't enough differentiation between the carriers for it to influence my decision-making.

I've posted this before, but look at mishandled baggage as an example. DL has 5.02 mishandled bags per 1000 pax. CO has 2.89. Dramatic difference, huh? But put this into perspective. Let's assume that a mishandled bag causes you $1000 worth of inconvenience. This means you should pay just over $2 extra to fly CO on the exact same routing and timing. The difference is almost certainly not worth trading a non-stop for a connection or a lesser time, as you would eat up the $2 difference after about 5 minutes of your time wasted.

Delays would see similar arithmetic, once you exclude those air traffic and weather delays - it may lead you to choose different airports, but I doubt it would inform your choice of carrier. Denied boarding rates are so low at all carriers as to not be worthwhile to look at. Complaints? Unless I am the one complaining, I'm not really concerned.

Are these measures objective? Yes. Do they actually give you any real, actionable information? Not in my opinion.