Recent pathetic decisions/culture of Delta partners KE, GA
Jul 16, 2019, 10:17 am
#1
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Recent pathetic decisions/culture of Delta partners KE, GA
I am shocked by recent incidents involving KE and GA, two Delta partners I heavily rely upon when traveling in Asia.
First KE demoted cabin crew who refused to serve alcohol to captain of first offer and the latter only got warning.
Now GA is trying to sentence video blogger who blogged about less than ideal flight between DPS and SYD when menus were hand written and business class ran out of champaign and wine. From what I am reading GA issued a service directive that effectively bans any filming or photos inside cabin besides selfies. W
Will these airlines also silence mechanics or pilots who bring up maintenance and safety issues?
Both incidents are very concerning and I already altered travel plans to avoid KE on my next trip. I also refused to fly mainland China carriers in the past , but maybe it's time to reconsider, otherwise it would be very difficult to stay loyal when traveling between US and Asia. I wish Delta had NH, JA or CX....
First KE demoted cabin crew who refused to serve alcohol to captain of first offer and the latter only got warning.
Now GA is trying to sentence video blogger who blogged about less than ideal flight between DPS and SYD when menus were hand written and business class ran out of champaign and wine. From what I am reading GA issued a service directive that effectively bans any filming or photos inside cabin besides selfies. W
Will these airlines also silence mechanics or pilots who bring up maintenance and safety issues?
Both incidents are very concerning and I already altered travel plans to avoid KE on my next trip. I also refused to fly mainland China carriers in the past , but maybe it's time to reconsider, otherwise it would be very difficult to stay loyal when traveling between US and Asia. I wish Delta had NH, JA or CX....
Jul 16, 2019, 11:01 am
#3
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While KE is currently in the news and certainly has some issues with the family ownership, they are on a path to changing that with the new CEO; he’s still part of the Cho family, but is widely regarded as actually experienced and competent as well. Many of the issues that crop up are common regional aviation culture issues - certainly something to be awareness of, but something that is changing rapidly as a result of incidents like the Asiana runway excursion, with first officers and cabin crew feeling more empowered to speak up. We saw the effects of that change here because the cabin crew did step up to prevent a safety issue, but the company needed to stand behind them and did not. Hopefully this will be a catalyst for the new leadership to make some changes at the institutional level, and perhaps Delta can even lean on them a bit to do so.
Jul 16, 2019, 2:24 pm
#4
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I think this may be why Delta is slowly increasing their ownership stake in KE. They recognize the issues, and are trying to gain more influence in the operations. KE has tremendous potential right now. Koreans are fiercely loyal to their national brands, and Asiana is really down. If Korean can get their act together, they could really capitalize on Asiana's troubles.
Jul 16, 2019, 2:38 pm
#6
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The cabin crew issue is far beyond "how a company treats employees." It is a huge safety issue that needs to be addressed. It's absolutely embarrassing that it happened - both that the captain tried to drink (which implies a culture which is accepting of that behavior) and then the lack of support for the flight attendant that tried to do the right thing.
Jul 17, 2019, 12:33 am
#7
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So consider China Airlines (CI) which is a Taiwanese airline, I've had some really good flights lately with them and look forward to another to BKK!
Jul 17, 2019, 1:31 am
#8
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Two unrelated incidents, which DL had nothing to do with, and you post them here?
GA isn't even a close partner with DL. DL has almost nothing to do with them.
FWIW the FA was demoted for unprofessional behavior, not because they refused to serve drinks. Not excusing KE but there is definitely more to the story. Korean Air pilot asks for alcoholic beverage but let off with warning
GA isn't even a close partner with DL. DL has almost nothing to do with them.
FWIW the FA was demoted for unprofessional behavior, not because they refused to serve drinks. Not excusing KE but there is definitely more to the story. Korean Air pilot asks for alcoholic beverage but let off with warning
Jul 17, 2019, 1:51 am
#9
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Two unrelated incidents, which DL had nothing to do with, and you post them here?
GA isn't even a close partner with DL. DL has almost nothing to do with them.
FWIW the FA was demoted for unprofessional behavior, not because they refused to serve drinks. Not excusing KE but there is definitely more to the story. Korean Air pilot asks for alcoholic beverage but let off with warning
GA isn't even a close partner with DL. DL has almost nothing to do with them.
FWIW the FA was demoted for unprofessional behavior, not because they refused to serve drinks. Not excusing KE but there is definitely more to the story. Korean Air pilot asks for alcoholic beverage but let off with warning
Insofar as GA banning photography is concerned, that seems a little over the top, but it's their company, and they can make their own rules.
Jul 17, 2019, 2:06 am
#10
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The FA was a he. I agree with your sentiment, but at the same time drinks could likely be refused without a blow-up. If there was a row in front of the customers then I could see why that was an issue. We basically don't have all the details.
Jul 17, 2019, 7:29 am
#12
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Btw, I didn’t notice this until now, but the one who got demoted wasn’t the FA from whom the drink was requested, correct? The article says the FA reported it to the crew manager, who filed the formal complaint (and also told the first officer but requested he not bring it up during the flight, which led to the argument when he did so anyway).
FWIW, I’m of the mindset that this is relevant to Delta. The partnership is an implicit endorsement of the partners, and when any of them have incidents like this, it reflects poorly on all the companies in the alliance in the eyes of consumers.
Jul 17, 2019, 8:04 am
#13
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That having been said, my gut tells me that doing the unprofessional thing (i.e. not relying on internal resolution protocols) probably benefited the greater good in the grand scheme. Sure, she caused her company to lose face (a big deal in East Asia), but if she hadn't stepped out of line, I'm guessing the entire incident would have been suppressed. I also do feel that KE functions a little too much like a monarchy (the nut rage episode also lends credence to this).
Jul 17, 2019, 8:16 am
#14
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GA is an impressive worst-to-first story. Not too many years ago Garuda was the sad, shabby red-headed stepchild of Asian airlines.
KE, to quote another FTer whose summation impressed me some years ago, is a very feudal carrier. My family no longer books KE, even for award redemptions, after my (Caucasian) wife was treated appallingly by KE female flight attendants on a SYD-ICN. They made clear they did not want my wife in business class, taking up space better occupied by single Korean men they might snare.
None of this, like nothing else in this thread, has anything to do with Delta Air Lines.
KE, to quote another FTer whose summation impressed me some years ago, is a very feudal carrier. My family no longer books KE, even for award redemptions, after my (Caucasian) wife was treated appallingly by KE female flight attendants on a SYD-ICN. They made clear they did not want my wife in business class, taking up space better occupied by single Korean men they might snare.
None of this, like nothing else in this thread, has anything to do with Delta Air Lines.
Jul 17, 2019, 8:30 am
#15
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If Delta's strategy to expand in APAC is to leverage KE as their partner to deliver passengers to secondary (or dare I say, primary) APAC destinations, issues with KE are highly relevant to any Delta flyer that has to travel to APAC.
As an extreme example, I believe an AF-KLM bankruptcy would be headline news in this forum for the same reason.