remyontheroad

You all know the story:
Was on a flight this week and wanted to SDC to a flight that was full - watched inventory in air and saw a seat come open so I tweeted. Of course 38 mins later the response was - nothing available.


I just got a request for feed back and it occurred to me that it couldn't be too hard to accept and #urgent or #immediate or even #inflight tag and fast track it - I'm picturing something like the way that RR stations in Europe often have Same Day Tickets windows and Future Travel Windows.

Can anyone familiar with the technology behind it think of a reason it wouldn't work?
I'm sure people would abuse it, but guess whatever CRM tool they're using could presumably let an agent look at it and toss it back into the regular pool if doesn't qualify - just like they won't sell future tickets and the Same Day window.

I don't find myself in this situation often, but I imagine it couldn't be too hard and would really help some of you guys who do this week in an week out.

Widgets

Everyone would use #urgent if they found out their requests would come first. Something that verifies day-of-departure status could be useful.

gooselee

Probably better for DL to somehow implement filtering and triage on their side. Twitter handles are tied to SM accounts so they already have all the data.

Also would incentivize pax to link their Twitter and DL accounts.

Often1

Problem is that Twitter is overwhelmed as a channel for routine needs which can and should be handled in due course online or by phone.

Everybody thinks that they are important and that their problem is urgent and the only problem that needs to be handled. Just look at the number of whines on FT about delays in discussing the ingredients in special meal for a trip 6 months from, now dealt with during a massive weather event which strands 10's of thousands of passengers in a region.

Maybe a filter so that you get one priority handling a year. If you want to use it to find out how much wheat germ goes in some chicken dish, that's fine. But, then you wait in the queue when you are stranded somewhere.

mrn0363

I say that they should allow SDC online or via the app.

CPMaverick

A SDC request isn't urgent though. Maybe twitter was handling cancellations, missed connections, missing luggage, etc.

You would use the hashtag #nicetohave

gooselee

SDC is possible online, with some limitations (doesn't always show all options, often borks for connections, etc.). But if you're on a nonstop and are just trying to grab an earlier flight, the online version actually works quite well.

remyontheroad

All good points - and that's why I thought of #inflight rather than #urgent , because it's the place that you are clearly more limited to from other options - thinking maybe a live read of your SM#/PNR (which I know the do get along with your DM) could verify that you are indeed in flight.

Ultimately it's not a question of importance or emergency but I'd argue it is urgent. In an industry that's very familiar with Spoilage of their commodity, that should have some meaning.
In this case I was on an RUC so I couldn't do anything online - but that would be an even better solution - of course^

I guess the cynical side of me says that if someone else gets the seat before me it's no different to the airline, and there's no reason to build this out...so there's that too.
:/

AdamATL

Because y'all are so self important... even if you didn't use #urgent (don't you always think your situation is urgent?) , you would use #inflight even if you were ABOUT to board a plane and about to take off. And, by the way, when I worked for DL, we could already tell when you messaged us if you were in the middle of a trip or actually in the air. So, this has already been taken care of.

krazykanuck

Last time I tweeted to Delta with an urgent issue they told me to call them, saying they couldn't deal with it over twitter DM. Slight issue was I was in Australia. So I did call them and they still effed the whole thing up.

readywhenyouare

It would be meaningless. Everyone thinks their problem is urgent.

Bowgie

I agree with gooselee. In no way minimizing the OP's grief, which I fully understand and have been there myself, I will offer a counter example of what is REALLY a priority Twitter request:

Two days ago, I went to NBO airport for the first leg of NBO-AMS-SEA-SNA. When I get to the lounge, the KLM-operated departure posts a 4.5 hour delay to 4:30am, which blows my next flight connection from AMS to SEA. By now, I have a horrible sinking feeling of sleeping in the Nairobi airport and getting home a whole day later. (Kenya Airways' lounge is not open all night.)

I DM'd @Delta on Twitter. First word was "Help!" Next sentence was my reservation number (Delta-ticketed in Z), and an explanation of my problem. Within one-half hour, a Delta Twitter agent rebooked and ticketed me NBO-CDG-LAX on Kenya Airways + Air France still in biz-class. (Routing was per my suggestion.) Arrived home same time as originally booked, happy and eternally grateful to Delta.

That is an emergency recovery, and is why I continue to fly Delta despite the never-ending Skymiles devaluations.

AANYC1981

DL Twitter is underwhelming and too late to the fact.

rylan

If SDC actually worked correctly online then maybe there would be a little less demand on twitter. Or if it was available on the app... but if its just the same broken functionality of the website then putting it on the app won't help any.

I think I've only been able to successfully do an SDC online one time. Normally I get zero flight results or limited flights in coach even when on paid first class tickets.

inthecloud

What about a chat feature built directly into the app? Could 100% verify that you are flying and also SM status.....not to mention they already figured it out on the website. Pops up once youve been looking at flight results for 0.5 seconds. App chat would be free for all customers on gogo. The problem with twitter is that they have to filter through a million tweets that have nothing to do with paying customers.