An open post to Delta
 

Recently, I had a chance to see behind the curtain during a hotel stay. Behind the hotel restaurant staff station I saw signs saying things like, "make eye contact and greet customer" and "ask if customer needs anything else". Simple customer service directives. The restaurant also happened to be quite good and a pleasant experience, to the point it had won numerous awards and my family and I ate there on 4 occasions over 3 days with very positive experiences every time.

I was also lucky enough to fly on Singapore Airlines recently. I was in economy on a 400 person flight, and staff were personable, friendly, and attentive to my family and everyone else. They remained pleasant and accommodating, even to demanding fliers. I would fly Singapore again in a heartbeat.

My flights took me through LAX on 2 occasions. Expecting the worst, I was treated with respect and attention. The TSA staff were professional and polite. Customs staff joked with me. A staff member offered my family a ride on a cart to another terminal. Food service staff chatted with me. A cleaner was polite. I watched a staff member help a disabled man into and then out of a bathroom stall in a helpful and personable way. I watched 2 situations where difficult passengers were given eye contact, spoken to in smooth and helpful tones, and their problems resolved.

I flew several flights on Delta as part of my itinerary, I'm currently waiting for another. None were bad, all were unremarkable. Staff were efficient, none were helpful. I was spoken to in curt tones. I received little eye contact. None were friendly. I made no demands and had no needs, yet got the impression I was an annoyance. Despite flying 5 hours in a fabulous 737-300 (I think), I was glad to get out of that and every other Delta plane.

What is the difference in my experiences? I believe it can only have something to do with staffing. Hiring good people, and training and helping them to help Delta customers. I will give my money and adulation willingly to the hotel, to Singapore Airlines, and even to the LAX ground staff. Yet I dread flying Delta and nearly all other domestic carriers. Your staff were actually beaten every time by the TSA in terms of helpfulness over a period of 3 separate Delta flights. I have every reason to believe I will have similar experiences on the next 2 Delta flights in my itinerary.

I have no direct complaints. I have not been treated in a way that demands specific remediation. I can point to one Delta employee who was helpful to me during those flights and airports. But only 1. Beyond that, I was not treated particularly well. As a result, I am speaking more positively and about specific situations at several other business entities.

I recognize improvements at Delta. Please continue to make them for fliers. I wish to be a customer loyal to an airline, I would like that airline to be Delta as I live near an airport where Delta dominates. Please learn from my experiences, as I am unlikely to become one until Delta can provide me a comparable and consistent experience.

So what other domestic carriers do you have this same service issue with?

Seven paragraphs and yet “no direct complaints” to make to Delta… So you started this thread why, exactly?

Move along folks, nothing new to see here.

Your observations are in synch. with the Consumer Reports airline survey. All the domestic big legacy carriers are at the bottom.

You can't blame a guy for wanting to see extraordinary customer service, a certain "wow" factor. It's my hope to provide that same kind of great and lasting impression to my own customers within my industry. No doubt, however, that some experiences for even our best customers have been, well, just okay. Sounds like the usual courtesies from DL just happen to appear a little more mediocre when paired next to SQ. The differences between the two airlines are stark. I have to say that as a FF my experiences overall have been quite nice, as they should. DL has captivated me just enough that I choose to fly them almost exclusively.

Welcome to the world of DL!

My travels take me from ATL to BHM once or more a week. Since the new terminal in Birmingham opened, most of the DL flights leave from the end of the terminal where gates are arranged extending off the end of the rectangular shaped concourse in such a way that you can hear the announcements at every other gate. I have been amused and offended recently at the lack of training of DL gate agents at BHM. There is one in particular whose greeting and announcements are so poor that she frequently trips over her words, explains things incoherently or incorrectly and sounds as if she has a third grade education (which is an insult to third graders). The first time I heard her overhead announcement, I thought she must be new or having a bad day. It turns out that she has apparently been with DL for a long while and every time her performance is equally bad! While my experiences overall with DL have been good, which is in large part why I remain loyal, I have encountered my share of GAs and FAs that seem to be undertrained in at least the area of customer service skills. This is something that is correctable and could easily be overcome with some remediation and an inexpensive refresher course for their personnel. Not only would it resolve the issues I have observed but would improve the issue the OP commented on as well and might propel DL to better standing in surveys like the one mentioned in Consumer Reports.

Overall I have been very happy indeed with Delta and that is why I stop with them and give them the vast majority (>85% on spend) of my business. Of course as with most things in life, there is always room for improvement.

Twilight zone trip

If a long-time GA explains things incorrectly and sounds like she has a third-grade education, I'm not sure this can be corrected by retraining. Maybe paying for her to obtain a GED on her own time would help, but I don't know whether DL has such a program or could strongly encourage an employee to pursue a more decent basic education.

I flew on USAir a few months ago and the difference in attitude from Delta was striking. Maybe they were just happy with the pending merger, but they were happy. Made for some nice flights.

I would think a simple script to follow and some customer service remediation could likely get her up and running in little time. Perhaps such retraining in how to use the PA would be useful too.

Shocking! :rolleyes:

SQ sets a high bar, and few carriers come close. That said, I have found DL FAs, SC agents, and phone agents to be significantly friendlier and more helpful on average than their counterparts at AA and UA (can't speak for US).

Part of this difference is attributable to having status on DL. But even my interactions with AA staff on the GLD line and in ACs don't compare -- almost always, they are much less friendly than DL staff. Even when I am sitting in Y, I have found most DL FAs to be warm and friendly. I certainly cannot say the same for the other US legacy airlines.

Do you work for Delta? I think the OP has a point. For me DL is an OK airline, but could do better.

I've witnessed what the OP describes and it kinda scares me about ever flying DL non-status.

It's almost as if DL front line have been instructed to treat non-status fliers as described above - perhaps in the hope Medallions will still feel "special" in spite of continuing program devaluations?

Seems to be a fair post - more genuine pax should speak up, use Yelp, etc so the buying public can make a better informed purchase decision.