fannin

Are family medical emergencies (undocumented and unverifiable) enough to waive the fee?

Is a system-crippling storm system due at 5 pm in the Northeast a rationale for letting me board a 1 pm BOS-ATL flight with empty seats?

Would the SFO gate agent who let me fly home early last week because my home had been broken into face reprisals? Will I need a faxed police report?

Discretionary planning lapses are impossible to distinguish from legitimate needs. Some frontline airline representatives on this board think hell isn't half full with whining Medallions.

diesel33

I've said before that rules can and should be broken when the situation warrants. It just that the travelling public doesn't like it when a gate or ticket agent uses their own judgement and it still doesn't agree with what you want.

zrs70

2 questions:

1) Will the gates only be able to handle credit cards?

2) The smile on your faces... Is that typical defiance or is it relief?

In my experience, DL has always had the nicest employees in the US airline system. So I am assuming this remark is "tongue and cheek," (as was my post). But if not, does DL want its customers, or does DL want to "win" in spite of its customers?



[This message has been edited by zrs70 (edited 09-09-2002).]

diesel33

My answeres are only in defiance of your light hearted attempt to "stick it to us" by trying to get 100 people to standby for a flight. You want to cause problems, fine. You will be dealt with accordingly.

Personally, I handle each customer encounter seperately and make my decisions based on the merit of each situation. My family and I appreciate the revenue that all of you generate for DL (a miniscule part of which makes up my paycheck).

We like any success driven company want to win with you, not in spite of you.

warmsnickers

Then work with us, not against us.

We all understand that DL is a business and as such has to be profitable. But this business is not just about the pure exchange of money for a good/service. Like it or not, there is a relationship involved between the customer and the seller/service provider, and a lot us feel increasingly dissatisfied with the way we’re treated in that relationship. Let me give you an example.

A couple of weeks ago, I happened to stop in at a candle store I’d never visited before. While shopping, I accidentally dropped a candle that smashed some ceramic dishes on the shelf below. Now, what should the clerk have done? Insisted that I cough up the money to pay for the damaged merchandise and lectured me about being more careful? Well, maybe. I should have been more careful. I should pay for my mistakes. I would have accepted my responsibility, written a check, walked out the door, and never returned. Why? Because I’d rather not patronize a business that treats its customers this way. Life is hard enough, and I don’t need to voluntarily subject myself to hard-nosed, legalistic treatment. There are plenty of places to buy candles, and I’d rather give my money to one that makes me feel more like a valued customer and less like an opponent or an annoyance. But here’s what actually happened in my story. When I apologized and offered to pay (about $30), the clerk laughed it off and told me not to worry about it. She came over to help me clean up the mess and reassured me that I was not a clumsy dork. I ended up spending $119 that day, and I will return in the future. Why? Because I liked the merchandise, and I appreciated the way I was treated under stressful circumstances. The clerk established a relationship of trust and cooperation with me, and that is more powerful (and potentially more profitable) than any ordinary economic exchange.

When DL’s computer system went down on a Friday afternoon in July, I was greatly inconvenienced. Both my flights left late, and I got home about 90 minutes after I had expected to. I didn’t pitch a fit. I didn’t demand some sort of compensation. I recognized that the employees were just as (if not more) stressed as I was by this problem, so I just kept my mouth shut and coped. Mistakes happen. Nothing/no one is perfect. I wish the airlines would appreciate this and cut us some slack. Isn’t that what a relationship is all about—recognizing each other’s needs, helping each other out, making a few sacrifices? It seems less and less like DL really honors its relationship with its customers, and in the long run, I doubt that can be good for business.

zrs70

Once upon a time I, too, was a DL agent. Processing standby's was a headache. I just can't imagine any airline wanting to compound the standby process.

There's got to be a middle ground. Full Y tickets are unreasonably high. The cheap fares are unreasonably low. Perhaps DL should create an umbrella of fares that would allow free standby. Truth is, on a full Y, it isn't standby anyway... On a full Y, you can just change the ticket.

A Delta CUSTOMER!

Re-read any of my prior posts. I have never, ever commented on the tone or quality of an individual's personal views. This one causes me to break prior practice. Apologies to the others here for being goaded.

Your post is so short-sighted it is sickening. Go ahead, continue to make life difficult for your customers. And try and keep that smile on your face when the next round of layoffs occur.

Instead of "gladly" taking our money, why don't you try to "gladly" accommodate, not bite, the hand that feeds you. I would suggest that you leave the travel industry for another industry, but I wouldn't want to, by the comparison, offend those in that industry.

diesel33

Then just buy the super low fare and pay the $100 fee for standby when you schedule dictates. In most cases your low fare plus the standby fee will still be much lower than the unrestricted fares.

Example:

lowest published roundtrip fare from ATL-LAX is $268.00 plus taxes and fees. The full Y fare is $1151 each way plus taxes and fees.

So $268 plus $100 is $368. that is much lower than the $2302 Y fare. Seems like simple math to me!

diesel33

Again, I have never stated that I haet customers. I will gladly give you everything you have paid for, with a sincere smile on my face. If you want the ability to begin with then buy a full fare, if your company prevents Y fares , which I certainly would do, then buy the lower fare and pay the standby fee when your meeting ends early on Friday afternoon.

goldmedallionflyer

So I guess this (and similar new anti-consumer/anti-business traveller policies) are the majors way of saying
Sad to say, but currently Aeroflot and the other international carriers are acting a whole lot more patriotic than the US majors. And for this sole reason, today I am beginning to become ashamed that I am an American.

Living in the land where taxpayer support entities fleece the very taxpayers who are keeping them alive ... and then demand even more,

GMF

mikey1003

I would swear that diesel works directly for Uncle Leo. Maybe in RPU. Maybe he is really his Nephew. In every attempt to "feel our pain" he sure comes out stronger and stronger with the company line.

Others have been here from Delta (and subsequently thrown off by their bosses)at least they were a help.

As for "planning"....who planned that we would have to be at the airport earlier the last year? Not I. I arrived several times for a "planned" flight only to be told that I am early enoug for another..."why not stand by?"

Or, who "planned" for the 8AM departure to be still at the gate at 1-2PM and arriving for a later "planned" flight, Iwe are offered to board the LATE one?

Sure I "plan" my flights but **** happens and things cancel or finish early. Why not take AN EMPTY SEAT ON AN EARLIER FLIGHT.... why I even dont ***** if it is coach instead of FC when lucky enough not to be bitten by Uncle Leo's LUser fares

Yep, I even "plan" 4 and 5 day weeks. Sometimes **** happens again and I get the chance to be with Mrs. Mikey1003 a day or two earlier. Yes I am more than willing to pay the 100.00 change fee for an earlier day if the gate agents seem fit to charge me... used to be occasionally...now because of fear of Uncle Leo, it is (or I should have said was) all the time. Now I guess that privelege of being away 250 nights a year is gone.

Diesel, I hope you have your retirement "planned" and I hope that DL is still around when you are ready. I know that I will do anything to "plan" my trips on another airline. Even though Uncle Leo has made that a real challange for those of us in CVG.

diesel33

Dear GMF,

You can't have it both ways. The public wanted deregulation to get lower fares. Now, you want to rgulate us in everyway possible, except for the lower fares of course. This is called free enterprise. The strongest and smartest will no doubt survive. My money is on Delta!

CoMooter

As we would say to Pat Sajak...give me a vowel. There are only so many letters left in the alphabet, it might take as long as 3-4 days to agree on a new duragatory term for the lousy DL non-standby fare codes if they merely add another consonant to the list.

[This message has been edited by CoMooter (edited 09-09-2002).]

andymo99

OK, then the next time I buy an international J ticket for $5K, the FAs had better be on their knees in front of my B/E seat.

[regrets for the crassness, but diesel has really begun to tick me off]

diesel33

I think that's only legal in Nevada!


[This message has been edited by diesel33 (edited 09-09-2002).]