DLBeno

There is a lot truth to this. I know many employees whom used to post here to assist where they could, but a few things occurred:

1. The entire tone and demeanor of the conversation has became very negative on this section of FT and, to be honest, what employee of the company that everyone is bashing wants to come here and read, let alone assist. We try to do the best we can outside of this venue dealing with thousands and thousands of customers everyday, not the 100-150 voices who generally complain about everything DL related. When you think about it, the FT Greek chorus is a very, very, very small percentage of the total Medallion customer base--maybe less than .01% Does DL really think that .01% is indicative statistically of the whole? Probably not.

2. The new social media policy has indeed made everyone more aware of what they say, how they say what they say, and if they even say anything anymore--at least those of us whom have identified ourselves as employees on this forum. I am sure there are some others on here whom are employees but have not made themselves known as such and can get away with a bit more.

3. Alot of what we receive internally about SM and other programs are basically distilled pieces of PR for the employee--not much different than what customers receive. Operationally, statistics are statistics. I can look at those all day long, come here and post some truthful information/stats and still get berated.

So, in the end, I have met some very interesting and good DL customers through FT and I continue to help them in any way that I can because I know that they know that I am doing my job the best I can.

Unfortunately, I do not think you will see much participation from rank and file DL employees on FT anymore. SMI, and Jeff and others might post here but it is because there job is to do so. Ours is hopefully to make your travel experience the best that it can possibly be.

WBurcham

Thanks for the candid feedback... it's disappointing to see it come to this though. Can't express to the fullest exactly how much this post disappoints me.

BF263533

I don't mind the negative tone if the personal experience is bad, but the demeanor and debate should be more respectful and constructive. It is more important to discuss the facts. The experssion of emotion should not get out of hand.

I am not too satisfied with Delta right now, but this attacking back and forth is not helpful.

Thanks for the insight of your post.

MikeMpls

If you're upset with the "negative tone and demeanor of the conversation", you need to address the source of that negativity -- Delta Air Lines management. I doubt that very many are inclined to stifle their disappointment just to hear happy thoughts from a few Delta employees.

The frustration expressed in here is the culmination of the latest blunder coupled with frustration (over a period of years for some people) with Jeff's hit & run style of posting and past deceptions. Only Delta managment can address this, and it appears the frustrations are now bubbling up outside of FlyerTalk as well.

If the folks at Delta HQ don't listen, in time they will pay a big penalty. It took three years for the sLUT debacle to play out, culminating in the reversal of all the unpopular changes and the departures of Leo Mullin & Rob Borden. We've only just begun.

ND76

I became hooked on Delta because of the fantastic people who worked for it both at the airports and on the flights, and the great ground service I consistently received for many years (Mel at the CTO on K Street at 16th NW in DC always waited on me; the staff at the old north terminal in DCA recognized me and greeted me by name; I had a case in Chattanooga 20 years ago that required me to travel there frequently, and by my last couple of trips out of there the counter staff in CHA greeted me by name too). Now, I've found that I try to be as low maintenance as possible, knowing that the counter staff are undermanned and overstressed, and the concierges in the CRC (oops, SkyClubs) don't have the same juice they once had.

itsaboutthejourney

Your efforts are always appreciated!

However MikeMpls is right. This forum can quickly turn into the tone of say the CO forum if DL management made some minor changes in the FF program, listened, communicated and engaged in truthful, honest dialogue with us.

In the meantime, many of us appreciate the info and assistance of the Delta employees who contribute to FlyerTalk and get us on and off DL aircraft safely and often with kindness and courtesy.

c_d

FACT!

Despite the fact that I am just a lowly Gold, I have many noticable ecounters with DL ground crew - in particular at JFK. In early January, I was queuing in the security line for general pax because I had the time. I noticed a counter agent screaming over to me: "Hey, I know you!" and a subsequent: "You are in the wrong line". Indeed, here are many good employees that do their jobs well with a lot of compassion and a customer-focused attitude. This posting pilot WX-(something) explaining things to me is another example. I love this guy, he is actually creating a link between me (as a customer) and "that DL thing". Bravo.

As sad as it is to say - this is not the group I am addressing in most of my posts. I envy the CO and LH boards where an official representative with the power to actually address and solve problems is appointed. What good can the DL ground staff do, when the DL loses mine and my families business just because their webpage is that faulty! They cannot do a thing! There is something wrong in the system, when DL front-line ppl are not allowed to do anything.

Next thing I totally miss with DL is transparency, in particular with highly emotional things such as complimentary upgrades. For instance: I, as a European, have a pretty relaxed view on that since DL is not delivering this perk here. Is it so hard to display a list with your current place in the queue after the automatic windows kick in (5 days onward)? CO shows that this works and it makes procedures understandable for the customers.

The FT boards may well be seen as a super-cheap single-point-of-contact. The rep of LH on FT actually took over one of my problems afte I posted a question and the issue was actively approached and finally resolved.

DL makes it pretty hard to be considered as "my airline". It's just some huge thing that sometimes provides a service and that's it. This might not be the best foundation for a long lasting loyalty relationship.

DLPhoenix

One of the reasons I stayed a loyal DL customer for so many years was because my interactions with DL personnel were positive experiences, I have only praise for the line employees.
I also don't expect any response from anybody but persons who are authorised to do so. I am thankfull when someone helps me through a complex process, but this is not the topic of this discussion.

Having said that I think DL (implied: management) could have done a better job of cummunicating with this forum.
A couple of glaring examples:
- There is a bug reporting thread. It contains quite a lot of accurate bug reports. Microsoft gave away a few hundreds of throusands of copies of their latest operating system to obtain customer feedback. DL doesn't even respond when someone makes the effort to provide a sequence how to reproduce a problem.
- There was a poll regarding "What will you fix in Delta.com". A short while after the thread started SMI posted a note indicating that DL is listening. That was his last post in the thread. Not even the "Thank you all for taking the effort to share your ideas..."
- Not to mention the fact that despite roaring complaints about the labyrinth aka award calendar it has not been shut down yet.


Happy Travels
DLP

waltinsocal

Not really sure what to say. Maybe DL has decided that the members here are such a small percentage of their fliers that we simply do not matter. I mean the planes are not empty. I had some peronal business and was forced to fly LAX-MSP-AUS-SLC-LAX in 20 hours. Four flights and maybe 4 empty seats. I really am not exaggerating. And when I finally ran out of luck in terms of getting back early, the flight before mine from SLC-LAX was oversold and they were paying people to take my flight. If all the planes are full for whatever reason, why would they really care about the complaining here? There have been capacity cuts, and perhaps listening here simply is also not important. It is a distinct possibility that DL prefers the unhappy leave because it is not going to change anything.

5khours

I think DL listens. It's just that either they mistakenly think their policies are good for DL financially (which they are not), or..... they can't admit they've made mistakes in the way they've been running the program. I was a huge fan and have made lots of phone calls and sent lots of notes....almost entirely out of goodwill trying to provide helpful advice in return for all the really good service I had in the past. Now though the only thing I really care about is getting the kind of service I want at the price I want to pay. Even though DL reads this stuff I don't think they are going to change anytime soon. So I think we ought to either think about some form of consumers union or a class action for false and deceptive marketing. Sorry it has come to this.

5khours

But they are flying a lot less planes. One of the main problems in DL's thinking is that they are trying to maximize the amount of revenue per flight rather than trying to maximize travel. They got a bunch of bean counters who will slowly put them out of business because they don't understand behavioral economics.

javabytes

I think you've touched on the key point. They're listening... to how you vote with your wallet.

YDJanet

Are you saying that probably the only malcontents are those here on FT? That's absurd. I personally know a number of people not on FT who are at least as unhappy with DL as those here on FT.

But if that is the conception in the boardrooms, I suppose that does explain a few things.

So let us eat cake....

waltinsocal

I agree because as I said in my post above, there have certainly been capacity cuts. Right now DL believes in the bean counters. I think the old days of many, many half-full flights are gone. Show me a route that is frequently half-full and I will show you one that will be cut. As far as the other issues here, I think many of us agree that DL is in some form monitoring this Board and the complaints. I don't see any indication that DL is going to do anything about the complaints. As I said above, perhaps DL has decided that the complaining people here can go
elsewhere if they can. If they can't such is life. As with almost any form of a business, the marketplace will eventually determine who was right, no matter how vigorous the debate here.

florin

I'm sure DL is aware of our malcontent. Nothing has been changed though. There is a difference between a reason and an excuse.

Capacity cuts: That's an operational decision with direct impact on the bottom line. It's their choice to make; I for one have no qualm with that.

Award availability: They went public about limiting award inventory on purpose (MikeMpls posted quotes in a thread on that topic). They've purposely devalued our miles and that's a hard pill to swallow.

Award/Reservation engine: They chose the cheapest, crappiest version (DL) instead of a solid system that was harder and more expensive to implement (NW). That was a myopic decision that ultimately upset many customers, including myself. I'm an IT guy and have worked with both kinds of companies: those who choose to spend more for a solid product and those looking for all sorts of compromises to get something that almost works. DL made an utterly retarded decision because it has a huge direct impact on customers. Not only does the website itself annoy customers, but the fact that awards can't be booked online means many people need to spend at least an hour on the phone, causing an overflow and backlog of calls to customer service. Either you get cut off, which is annoying, or you wait a long time to get an agent, which is also annoying (or both).

Spend the money, give us something that works, make us happy and we'll spend the money on DL. Screw us over with cheap shenanigans and CO (or WN or UA or LH....) wins our revenue.

I don't care if DL is listening as long as I can't redeem miles. If nothing is done in due time (i.e. before I loose my status with DL), it will be too late.