Welcome speech - attendant discretion or driven by analytics?
 

On a flight this morning, an agent went through a pretty long drawn out (45 seconds+) speech thanking the military (even though it appeared that there were no active duty military on the flight) and even asked the passengers to clap to show their appreciation.

I am not a fan of this sort of spectacle at all and don't understand the societal fascination with thanking a specific profession - but that's not the point of this post.

My question is whether or not Delta FAs have full discretion (within the bounds of a minimum speech) or if the speech is prompted based on analytics? I ask because I have never once heard an FA do this speech on a Monday AM business traveler heavy flight - but this particular flight was chock full (at least 60-70 people) of older folks on some sort of group excursion.

Is this a case of Delta prompting the FA to say something based on flight demographics (older people = more likely to be pro-military = build positive emotional connection to Delta through transference of emotions) or is this purely an FA making a judgement call about the same? I'm pretty sure I've had this FA before on the same route and she did not make this speech before so I don't think it's just something she normally does.

I'm genuinely curious as I do notice different thanks (whether million miles are included, Diamonds are referenced explicitly, and so on). Just curious how much of it is agent discretion/personalization versus Delta prompted based on demographics.

Does anyone know?

It's based on statistical fact. Seems like post-Vietnam there was a cultural realignment due to the harsh treatment of Vietnam veterans that has created more of a pro-military culture. Support for the military is almost twice as high among 55+ than 18-34 for example. Example Gallup survey.

Does anyone know the answer to the question at hand? I don't want this thread to focus on the rightness of the military appreciation thank you, rather whether it is FA discretion or if FAs are prompted to do it based on their devices.

To answer OP's question: I don't know for certain, but I highly doubt that they have any sort of analytics that indicate what kind of welcome message to recite in the cabin. I would guess that this was just a member of the cabin crew going outside of their normal spiel, whether acceptable/permitted by DL or not.

I dont think soliciting applause is appropriate whether sanctioned by DL or not. I have friends who have done tours of service and I can say ALL hated and loathed having to travel in uniform because everybody wanted to thank them and make it a big deal.



Nobody says are there any sales people on board??? Everybody let's take a moment to thank them for their service. Are there any doctors on board who have participated in doctors without borders? Lets take a moment to thank them for their service. Any CIA agents on board.... I could keep going on :) (nobody take offense all of these were meant to be tongue in cheek)

Yes, I've noticed this too - FAs are definitely prompted to do things for certain passengers (and it seems to vary between flights). I've personally never once been thanked for being a Diamond Medallion but I have been thanked for being a corporate customer twice (which I think is funny). It was clear the FA was going down a short list on her app (far shorter than the list of corporate travelers almost certainly on that flight). I doubt attendants are expected to do that every flight so something must have triggered her to do that.

On the SMF upgrade - that is Interesting.. and unless you were flying at a very off hour (e.g., Saturday flight) that is the only reasonable explanation for getting an upgrade on that flight as a PM. I'm a Diamond that usually flies that route on M fares and have never once cleared except once due to some IRROPS (and when in an especially bad Y seat I've even applied RUCs a few times). Suppose it could be a fluke but that is a hard upgrade and does seem likely to be a surprise/delight thing.

Umm, did it not occur to you that perhaps the 60-70 people you identified as travelling as a group were going to some kind of war memorial event? Groups are often organized to go and attend some kind of memorial for a specific battle or to a certain place, etc. That would have been my first and I think obvious guess. Even if the flight were domestic (you don't say) it could have been a bunch of veterans and spouses headed for their 'Annual Regimental Re-Union' for example.

I'm not sure how that's relevant to my question. Either it was Delta prompted or it was flight attendant discretion. Presumably if it was a group that she found out was for a memorial service then it would be FA discretion (I doubt Delta's system would have picked up on it whereas I could see it using demographic data).

To answer your question, though, I don't think this is the case. The nametags the folks are wearing are for a company that seems to specialize in leisure tours.

It was to Portland - and as mentioned the nametags imply a tour group that specializes in leisure tour events.

And the implication you're proposing is that the FA was made aware of the purpose of the trip and is emblematic of FA discretion and not driven by analytics? Whether or not the tour group was going to a memorial service or not is not super relevant otherwise.

Back to the question -

Yes, Delta collects whole lot of segmentation data about its passengers - enough to surprise you.
I tend to believe that they have now taken this to next level and are trying to use this insight to encourage positive behavior i.e spend more on Delta