RumPatrol

You don't see the harm of a captive audience being openly solicited for donations to a charity they may not know is legitimate and without knowing where, exactly, the money is actually going or what the motive is? Especially utilizing a public address system that people need to get important flight information? That doesn't feel a little manipulative to you?

We aren't talking about the Salvation Army ringing a bell outside of a department store or the American Red Cross passing a bucket at a football game. You can easily just pass on by, no harm done, or if you choose to donate you at least know it is a legitimate organization. It is likely that a great deal of travelers have no idea what the Children's Miracle Network is, where the money is actually going or who is collecting it but are being solicited for donations with no option but to listen because they need to listen for flight information.

Make no mistake, this is PR, it is not charity. If it were an actual attempt at charity, I would think a company that posted over a billion dollars in net profit last quarter, the best second quarter in the history of Delta Airlines, would have very little difficulty taking care of it all on their own.

Charity is great, I donate a great deal of money to charity, after I've thoroughly researched exactly where it is going. Others can speak for themselves, but being guilt tripped into donating to a charity I have little information about by a multi-billion dollar company after I just flew halfway around the world and just want to get my connection home for the first time in a month is really not something I'm fond of.

Maybe that's just me, but judging by the comments in this thread, it isn't. There is a time and a place for charity, the boarding area in an airport is not it.

BJM

Appropriate v. Inappropriate is a matter of opinion.
Donate or not to the solicitation / cause; agreed, up to the individual.

Just seems to me to be a bit much the way people perceive this to be an issue.

NotHamSarnie

Don't feel guilty in the slightest, just irritated, as seems to be the case for most people who are complaining about it here.

People are perfectly capable of deciding whether they want to give money to charity on their own time.

Flight area PAs (and plane PAs for that matter) should be restricted to communicating information relevant to the flight.

GRALISTAIR

That is good to know thanks.

Zeeb

I have no doubt that Delta is doing it all above board and they aren't using it as a tax dodge. But that said I get annoyed at these campaigns, not just from Delta but from any business, because at the end they write a big check with their name on it and use it to generate goodwill for the company. When in reality it was their customers that donated the money, not the company.

Plus in general as others have posted I dislike being peer pressured to donate. I donate but prefer to make my own decisions based on what I want to support, not because one charity is more pushy than the other.

RumPatrol

In all honesty, I'm not sure appropriate v inappropriate is even a matter of opinion. This is NOT charity. You are not donating money to the Children's Health Network, you are donating money to Delta, who will donate money to the Children's Health Network. You are donating to the public relations campaign of a company that made $1.2B last quarter.

Delta hounding captive passengers under the guise of charity solely to generate positive press for themselves is not appropriate in the slightest. If this was actually about charity, they'd invite representatives of the charity to set up a booth in the concourse with signs, info and a bucket.

To each their own of course, but having been exposed to this a few times, I'm surprised this hasn't been discussed more here (unless it has and I just missed it).

vincentharris

BINGO!!!

I prefer to donate on my own to organizations I care about. I also will utilize this as a write off come tax season. Why should I help DL have the ability to write off MY donations they are "handing" to the charity instead? Do they not make enough money?

The new thing is this "round up to the next dollar" stuff that annoys me too. Why should I help you get tax write offs? If you (the company) care so much about X initiative then you open up your check book and write a check...

BJM

You should not feel guilty and it's good that you dont.
A few posters did say they felt they were being guilted.
Irritated? why? Because you don't want to be reminded of sick and dying children?

Agreed, people should choose where, how, when, how much to donate.
This campaign gives people an option for donating and raises awareness for the charity.
People are not obligated to donate.

Policy on PAs is for the Airline to decide. All other comments are opinion.

jamesteroh

+1 As a CPA I can tell you that Delta isn't getting a deduction. They would be crediting a liability account and then charging the account when they write the check like an employer does when they withhold united way pledges, etc. from an EE's paycheck.

Personally I'd rather just write a check/pay with a credit card directly to a charity if an organization I support so I know the money is getting to them and I have proof of it for tax purposes.

As far as the collection for Breast Cancer on board, I wish they would stop that practice as well. I think it's a great cause and like the employees can wear jeans if they donate and don't have an issue with the collection bins in the skyclub or even them selling the pink lemonade, I feel guilty when they collect on board and I don't donate. I'd rather just pay the cancer society directly and it can also add up for the frequent flyer.

BJM

You do understand that this is not Delta unilaterally deciding to collect donations?
It is a partnership WITH the charity (perhaps initiated by the charity), and they both enter the partnership because there is benefit to both parties. Having a highly visible corporation doing the solicitation on behalf of the charity gives the charity exposure they might not get orherwise. I don't deny why Delta might be doing it, but I think the reasons are far less nefarious than are being depicted in this thread.

Is it the method you object to? OK, but again other than being solicited, how are you really harmed? Did you miss your connection as a result? We're you denied boarding because you did not donate ? Did the agent skip you over for an upgrade?Did the agent reseat you in the middle of the last row? Was you bag removed from the plane? Did Delta invalidate your Elite status and confiscate your miles?

techie

Call me a cynic, but this feels like nothing than a PR exercise for Delta while making sure that money is not coming from their pockets. Are Delta matching people's contributions? I don't recall hearing anything about that, so I doubt it.

lov2fly

I experienced this last week at Hartsfield in Atlanta.

The reason it stood out to me was that I was standing at the counter (Gate 19B) waiting to ask a single question of the Gate Agent. She saw me and ignored me, so I decided to see just how long it would take to get her to find out what I wanted. Since the Gate House was full with no where to sit, and I knew the flight wouldn't leave without me I was in no rush. It was a long wait...

In the meantime, another GA appeared and instead of dealing with me, she picked up the PA and launched into the previously described CMN pitch. By this time there were now 3 people in line behind me. I found it hard to believe that the fund raising would take priority over playing customers - but it did.

<Side Rant>: Can somebody at Delta please teach the Gate Agents who use a PA to speak proper English? My pet peeve - The word is ASK - NOT AXE!! In this example the GA stated that "Delta was axing it's passengers to donate to the Children's Miracle Network" Not once, not twice, but three times during the announcement! Throw in some mixed verbs ("we was") and it ended up with more than a few raised eyebrows.
Surely, it's not asking (no pun intended) too much to have people who are using the PA to be versed in the proper usage of verbs and tenses? <End of side rant>

Only after the collection basket was passed did the two Gate Agents turn their attention to the paying customers (by now the line was 7 or 8 deep. Total time for me at the counter - over 22 minutes for one question.



As previously stated by numerous posters - count me as preferring to make my charitable contributions directly to the charities of my choice.
And I do NOT want to be subject to solicitations from businesses that I choose to do business with (Grocery stores, restaurants, or airlines).

Mama

If I were you, I would also ask that particular Delta employee if he(she) donate too when I put in my $5. Delta employees get paid decent salaries, they should help out too if they have the gut to be charitable people.

techie

Was the person in question African American by any chance? The reason I ask is because I tend to come across them saying "aks" instead of "ask" and "aks" does sound like "axe". Nothing nefarious behind the question, just simple curiosity.