Delta Bumps Passengers for College Basketball Team
Dec 4, 2013, 6:51 am
#181
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Delta Bumps Passengers for College Basketball Team
The media hysteria is out of hand. On ABC last night, one of the anchors claimed that pax had been "lied to" because DL told them their flight was cancelled for mech reasons, then "stole" their perfectly good plane to use for the team.
Dec 4, 2013, 7:02 am
#182
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Hmmm...the Neilsen ratings show there was only 1 person watching the ABC news....must'a been you....lol.
Dec 4, 2013, 7:18 am
#183
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No offense, but you are dramatically oversimplifying things in order to make a rah-rah, Europe-is-great point that, frankly, is not only beside the point, but quite inaccurate on it's face.
Dec 4, 2013, 7:30 am
#184
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The number of people defending Delta's decision in this matter as being "good business sense" or whatever similar phrasing is surprising to me.
I wonder if these same people will also defend Delta for a supposedly stingy upgrade product/policy, increasing rates of redemption for SkyMiles, increased airfares, and all the other things Delta does to "screw" its "best customers" -- clearly Delta's "best customers" are different than what many of you believe, likely those from whatever walk of life are willing to pay more for the services than you are.
So many of you have said that a college basketball team more than 24 hours before they need to get somewhere should be given priority to "regular customers" who need to get somewhere the same day, presumably, that I hope you extend the same sympathy toward Delta and its business decisions when it starts to impact you directly (i.e. upgrades, SkyMiles redemption rates, etc).
I wonder if these same people will also defend Delta for a supposedly stingy upgrade product/policy, increasing rates of redemption for SkyMiles, increased airfares, and all the other things Delta does to "screw" its "best customers" -- clearly Delta's "best customers" are different than what many of you believe, likely those from whatever walk of life are willing to pay more for the services than you are.
So many of you have said that a college basketball team more than 24 hours before they need to get somewhere should be given priority to "regular customers" who need to get somewhere the same day, presumably, that I hope you extend the same sympathy toward Delta and its business decisions when it starts to impact you directly (i.e. upgrades, SkyMiles redemption rates, etc).
Dec 4, 2013, 7:31 am
#185
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Not really.
+ 1
Agreed.
I wasn't aware that the plane "belonged" to any group of passengers.
Great post and perfect analogy.
No, they are a private business. We all use limited public resources... By paying taxes. That doesn't mean everything that touches a public resource should have a goal of serving the public good first and making a profit second. Because without profits, those limited public resources begin to disappear if no one or thing is footing the bill.
I wasn't aware that the plane "belonged" to any group of passengers.
There is a lot of palaver in this thread.
1. Finding it distasteful that people make money by entertaining...
2. Finding it distasteful that people have higher priority by paying more money...
3. Aw, their Thanksgiving weekend was ruined by a big bad corporation.
4. You mean airlines swap planes? [I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!!]
We don't know what's in the UF-Delta contract. We don't know how much UF paid DL for the flight, although I suspect that somebody will try to find out via a FOIA request and publish it.
What if this had been an Honor Flight instead of a basketball team? WN flies veterans about 10x/year on an early morning MDW-IAD, and back that night on a late IAD-MDW. If WN had a mechanical on that plane, would you all be up in arms if they moved a bunch of 85-year-old veterans to a new plane and cancelled a MDW-BNA flight which operates 7x/day?
When it comes to a business, some customers in this world are more important than other customers. If you don't believe that, you really shouldn't interact with any businesses, because I'm willing to bet that you're not the most important customer to any of them.
1. Finding it distasteful that people make money by entertaining...
2. Finding it distasteful that people have higher priority by paying more money...
3. Aw, their Thanksgiving weekend was ruined by a big bad corporation.
4. You mean airlines swap planes? [I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!!]
We don't know what's in the UF-Delta contract. We don't know how much UF paid DL for the flight, although I suspect that somebody will try to find out via a FOIA request and publish it.
What if this had been an Honor Flight instead of a basketball team? WN flies veterans about 10x/year on an early morning MDW-IAD, and back that night on a late IAD-MDW. If WN had a mechanical on that plane, would you all be up in arms if they moved a bunch of 85-year-old veterans to a new plane and cancelled a MDW-BNA flight which operates 7x/day?
When it comes to a business, some customers in this world are more important than other customers. If you don't believe that, you really shouldn't interact with any businesses, because I'm willing to bet that you're not the most important customer to any of them.
Last edited by pbarnette; Dec 4, 2013 at 7:48 am
Dec 4, 2013, 7:37 am
#186
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...well...isn't that what happened?
Dec 4, 2013, 7:54 am
#188
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I wonder if these same people will also defend Delta for a supposedly stingy upgrade product/policy, increasing rates of redemption for SkyMiles, increased airfares, and all the other things Delta does to "screw" its "best customers" -- clearly Delta's "best customers" are different than what many of you believe, likely those from whatever walk of life are willing to pay more for the services than you are.
So many of you have said that a college basketball team more than 24 hours before they need to get somewhere should be given priority to "regular customers" who need to get somewhere the same day, presumably, that I hope you extend the same sympathy toward Delta and its business decisions when it starts to impact you directly (i.e. upgrades, SkyMiles redemption rates, etc).
So many of you have said that a college basketball team more than 24 hours before they need to get somewhere should be given priority to "regular customers" who need to get somewhere the same day, presumably, that I hope you extend the same sympathy toward Delta and its business decisions when it starts to impact you directly (i.e. upgrades, SkyMiles redemption rates, etc).
One can (though some choose not to, to their detriment) detach themselves from the emotions of the impact to themselves and analyze a decision objectively. It is quite a useful skill, in fact.
Dec 4, 2013, 8:04 am
#189
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I don't get it then.
I obviously wasn't there, but from what's been reported, it sounds like that is exactly what happened. DL needed a plane, the teams chartered plane was the one broken, so DL said the pax plane was delayed due to MX issues and then watched the team get on while the chartered plane would hopefully be fixed relatively quick so the pax could then get on that.
I completely get it's a business decision. I agree with that move. The problem is that (if what's been reported is true) is that DL got caught lying to the passengers. That's why there is this outrage.
Honestly, if I was waiting for a flight and they said they needed to swap our plane for someone else, I'd be upset, but I'd get over it a heck of a lot faster than saying "sorry, the plane isn't working and were delayed for a short bit" and then watching people get on it.
I obviously wasn't there, but from what's been reported, it sounds like that is exactly what happened. DL needed a plane, the teams chartered plane was the one broken, so DL said the pax plane was delayed due to MX issues and then watched the team get on while the chartered plane would hopefully be fixed relatively quick so the pax could then get on that.
I completely get it's a business decision. I agree with that move. The problem is that (if what's been reported is true) is that DL got caught lying to the passengers. That's why there is this outrage.
Honestly, if I was waiting for a flight and they said they needed to swap our plane for someone else, I'd be upset, but I'd get over it a heck of a lot faster than saying "sorry, the plane isn't working and were delayed for a short bit" and then watching people get on it.
Dec 4, 2013, 8:10 am
#190
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I obviously wasn't there, but from what's been reported, it sounds like that is exactly what happened. DL needed a plane, the teams chartered plane was the one broken, so DL said the pax plane was delayed due to MX issues and then watched the team get on while the chartered plane would hopefully be fixed relatively quick so the pax could then get on that.
A passenger who was supposed to be on the flight to Atlanta before it was canceled and did not want to be identified told The Sun passengers were told there was a mechanical difficulty, but some of them noticed the Gators basketball team boarding the plane meant for them out the window.
Dec 4, 2013, 8:32 am
#191
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What am I missing then? I'm just trying to justify why there is a very good reason for the pax to be upset. DL definitely has to value their HVC - by all means do it. Just don't do it by lying right to the other customers' faces.
This is what was reported in The Gainesville Sun:
A passenger who was supposed to be on the flight to Atlanta before it was canceled and did not want to be identified told The Sun passengers were told there was a mechanical difficulty, but some of them noticed the Gators basketball team boarding the plane meant for them out the window.
A passenger who was supposed to be on the flight to Atlanta before it was canceled and did not want to be identified told The Sun passengers were told there was a mechanical difficulty, but some of them noticed the Gators basketball team boarding the plane meant for them out the window.
Dec 4, 2013, 8:40 am
#192
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I don't get it then.
I obviously wasn't there, but from what's been reported, it sounds like that is exactly what happened. DL needed a plane, the teams chartered plane was the one broken, so DL said the pax plane was delayed due to MX issues and then watched the team get on while the chartered plane would hopefully be fixed relatively quick so the pax could then get on that.
I obviously wasn't there, but from what's been reported, it sounds like that is exactly what happened. DL needed a plane, the teams chartered plane was the one broken, so DL said the pax plane was delayed due to MX issues and then watched the team get on while the chartered plane would hopefully be fixed relatively quick so the pax could then get on that.
Dec 4, 2013, 8:48 am
#193
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But when I'm on a flight from A to B, and am told that my flight is being delayed due to MX issues, that should mean that the plane (#1) that was going to take me from A to B is having issues, not plane #2 that's going from to C to D.
The pax were told it was their plane (#1) that was having issues and that was the reason for the delay, when it was the other plane that was assigned for the charter having issues.
DL should have said that they needed to swap aircrafts for the charter, not blame MX issues. I feel better now.
Dec 4, 2013, 8:55 am
#194
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It was still an MX issue that caused the need for the swap.