flyerslc

I am in a leadership position where I work. I make a lot of money compared to most people. If I ever send a personal package or mail from work, I make sure that I document it and reimburse our employer. I could be in serious trouble if I did otherwise - so would my secretary or any employee. If someone enters a computer account without authorization, they will be terminated. We work for a company which insists on everyone playing by the rules, even minor ones.

NotHamSarnie

Same here and I absolutely feel this is theft.

That tells us more about DL's culture than about the individual GAs imho.

I agree that training is the key, and if the training is such that the GAs feel this is either ok or not a serious infraction (which personally I feel it is) then we can assume this is also how DL feels. Do you really think the GAs would do this if it jeopardized their jobs? The fact they do it suggests (i) it's a common thing that they've either done before or know how to do (ii) it's expected by the NRSAs who hover around the GA desk while we board (iii) punishments, if any, have been wrist-slappings.

OP, I'm really happy you did this and I hope you report it, however quixotic this is.

fattieonboard

It also suggest that Delta, like other US airlines, continues to have a culture go "The Customer is the Enemy"... that it is OK to not be helpful, to play games with customers, to mot takes the customer's hard earned dollars seriously.

OP should absolutely FedEx a letter to Richard Anderson including the photo. Delta should not blink at firing this employee if what we think happened actually happened. A public hanging will go a long way towards sending the right message. These goof-off employees can go work for UA if they don't want to take their job seriously.

His address is:
Richard Anderson
CEO, Delta Air Lines
Sits Behind CE Woolman's Desk Every Day
Atlanta, GA

davetravels

This is only the um-teenth this has been posted here, and even when an employee is caught 110% red-handed, the company just doesn't care! Firing will NEVER happen. My guess is, that a supervisor would give the GA a very mild reprimand, and then whisper - < next time, don't get caught showing the name on the GIDS! >

RSSrsvp

IMHO, this is one of most talked about pet peeves that is discussed here along with the broken award calendar and the lack of international upgrades on the day or travel when there are available seats in the B/E cabin.

motytrah

I was having a chat with some former and current NW crew the other night. From what they said the company positions non-rev F/J as a job benefit. It's a mindset that's prevalent in both PMNW/DL employee bases. From their perspective they feel lucky to score a Y seat these days, let alone a F/J.

From the perspective of the revenue flyer it's more or less the same story. Those of use in hub captive markets used to have it pretty cushy in terms of BF upgrades if we were gold or higher. At the same time there was plenty of room for the NRSA back then too.

Now it seems like there's a perfect storm of preferred routing, shrinking F/Y ratios and status inflation that have resulted in way too many people on the UG list. The end result is more and more instances of shenanigans and system gaming.

cfischer

on a more positive note: This weekend SEA-DTW-BOS (my upgrades already cleared @ 48h and 24h respectively) the GA both times made an announcement 'pax X please remain in the boarding area for a potential upgrade'. This is IMO the way to to it.

javabytes

Pot, Kettle.

Kettle, Pot.

FitTraveler

Same thing SFO-JFK yesterday morning, plus, "We will know in eight minutes if we are able to upgrade you."

Also, the GA did a great job turning away people who were not following the board by zone procedure... "We are only boarding first class. You are in Zone three and will have to wait until Zone three is called."

NotHamSarnie

I hadn't really looked at it this way, but it totally makes sense. Rather than viewing the NRSAs engaging in Shena as some kind of disreputable low-down bad employees, perhaps we should view them as we view ourselves, promised one thing but faced with another. The difference is that the GA has the power to make it right for them, whereas we have no advocate at the gate and no recourse when things go wrong (I don't consider post-facto skypesos in any way adequate to losing an UG). Possibly this is why DL "tolerates" it: they know they've overpromised on the F/J front so they "allow" their employees to game the system when we're too dumb to notice. Not a good situation.

BOSavi8tr

Not to go too far off topic, but kudos to that GA. I find the GA's in ATL the worst offenders, perfect example was my ATL-BOS last night - flight 2448. Boarding SkyPriority and she literally let anyone on.

QueerEyeForDelta

Why are picking on Fattie? There is no need to be a forum bully. If you don't like his opinion, act like a real man and just let it slide by. Just because you've had a bad day, your life isn't going the way you think it should, or you have some messed up inferiority complex and feel the need to prove yourself doesn't give you license to single others out to be rude and disrespectful.

QueerEyeForDelta

Let me guess. The passenger was wearing pajama bottoms and Uggs, and was carrying a full size bed pillow.

davetravels

I was not picking on anybody! It's all in how you read it.

I certainly was not intending for my post to sound anywhere near what you make it sound like! Believe me, & I apologize if it came off that way!

I used the term "um-teenth time" merely to point out that this is hashed & rehashed, and the company turns a blind eye & simply does not care! I wasn't at all trying to sound like I was lecturing anyone! I can assure you that this issue is probably the #1 thing that gets me fired up! Please be sure to read my post back in the first few posts.

I hope you'll re-read my post & yours & consider taking back the inferiority complex stuff, as you simply injected your own slant when you read it.

Thanx

QueerEyeForDelta

I obviously misread your tone. Sorry, davetravels!