Boddington123

I’ve been Diamond for 13 years now and since COVID, the service has dramatically dropped Delta needs to revamp their new hire process as many of the new flight attendants are incredibly lazy, compared to pre COVID Delta. I’ve spoken to a few flight attendants lately and they agree that the Standards now have significantly dropped. I’m currently on a 3 hour flight, zero turbulence and more importantly zero service. No water, no head phones, nothing. I’ve unfortunately had the the luxury of war this rapid decline in the last 1.5 years and it is on my getting worst. Will
begin a status match with United
this week as at this point their flights are cheaper aMd their service no worse.

msglsmo

To be fair, I think many airlines and businesses have used the pandemic to cut back on services and customer service. I don't think Delta is any different, but that in and of itself is a problem when you're higher priced and market your service as a differentiator.

Goodoldflyer

I feel like Delta and United have pretty similar offerings.

So for me, it's whichever one gets you there the most directly.

emma dog

Embarrassed? Nah. Delta feels nothing.

As long as people pack the planes at a fare premium, the service will remain the same.

TechMarauder

I do agree with the OPs sentiment. I am also a long term DM and used to look forward to flying with Delta. For reasons that we all know, all airlines had to cut people and service during COVID and then had to quickly hire back. Their issue has been twofold and it impacts both things that differentiated DL before:
1) The people the hired back are not the same
caliber, service oriented folks that left. Service in all
areas (DM line, on ground, inflight) has all suffered and even after training, hasn’t improved
2) The service offerings and ‘extras’ that you received on with DL never came back

The frustrating part to me is that DL is still generally charging a premium for a mediocre product.

At the end of the day, all of this is cyclical and it’s not like UA and AA make me excited to fly them… and there are still good DL people out there, but its clear that the culture has suffered.

rylan

The thing is, pre-Covid DL could command a fare premium and had justification for it - their network and operations were rock solid. If you booked a flight, you were almost certain to get there on time with no issues. They also had a solid customer service organization, superior soft product, and good hard product on board.

Much different now... and I don't see how they can expect any kind of premium when they're just the same as other airlines for operations mess and mediocre service.

Adam1222

If OP was truly on a 3-hour flight with zero service, that would not reflect Delta's "current service offering" but rather something that went wrong on this particular flight.

Goodoldflyer

I think the problem is that this is an industry problem, not just a Delta one.

You've got the bulk of the plane who aren't even paying what their seats cost to profitably fly them, and then some folks up front who pay a premium for mediocre service offerings, but they're happy to have a bigger seat.

Inflation isn't helping.

sydneyracquelle

DL doesn’t have to be better than the Almighty. Just better than the alternative. And all of the alternatives are also mediocre.

Repooc17

Oh, United can be a lot worse. I don't even know where to start...so many customer unfriendly items.

If you have choices at your home airport(s), why not just be a free agent?

Adelphos

In-flight service soft offerings, in most ways, are worse than they were pre-pandemic. However, some areas of the offering are better - WiFi is faster and often free, for example, and SkyClub quality has increased, excluding meaningfully crowded clubs like ATL. The hard product is mixed, with some better planes, but a decline in reliability.

I don't know of a US airline that has held its in-flight "soft" service the same during the Covid era, so doing to United, American, whatever will lead to the same frustrations

indufan

It's kind of cute when the same complaints since this board was founded get recycled for the current environment.

emma dog

People are willing to pay the price, therefore, that's what they're charged. There is only a loose association between the cost of service sold and the price charged to any given passenger. If prices were the same across airlines, how would you decide which airline to fly on? My likely decision order:
1) Flight times
2) Nonstop
3) FF Program
4) Access to E+ equivalent
5) IFE
6) Club access
7) Food/beverage offering

Now throw ticket price into this. How much does it take to make you change your order? For business travel, it would take a fair amount of money to get me to select money over bad flight times. For personal travel, I'd guess:
<$25 - I'd take the cheaper option for anything below 4
$100-150 - I'd be willing to not have FF program benefits and no E+
$150 - I'd be willing to take a connection
$250 - I'd be willing to take a non-redeye that has undesirable flight times
$750 - I'd consider a redeye... but maybe not even then.

So, back to your premium question... If you live in ATL, MSP, DTW, or SLC, you are captive and pay a premium because you get #1-6 on DL all the time. Even if you live in SEA and travel to the East, you probably choose DL over AS because of flight frequencies. If you live in the SE but not in CLT or MIA, DL has great connections and is still attractive. There are also fewer seats available today, with reasonable demand... so prices are generally higher overall.

WillBarrett_68

load factors are higher than ever

sullim4

It's the same at Alaska. Just be glad you weren't given the boxed water that tastes like wet cardboard in first class.

Domestic air travel has turned into glorified bus service. Buy the cheapest ticket on any of the majors that gives you the things you want - aisle/window seat, baggage, etc.