LegalTender

Explain to me why Guadalajara rates a CTO with two flights a day and not ATL.

Do Mexicans not have phones or internet? The DL CTO is in a upscale, premium-rent neighborhood and is probably maintained to keep up appearances adjacent to rival carriers.

avflyer

While I am close to the center of the universe, our local CTO in White Plains, NY, closed several years ago. It was a multi-airline CTO (six at one time) and DL was the last one operating out of that office. I remember the staff there every time we booked award travel. They were a joy to work with. Now they are long gone. Sorry to here that the shut downs are spreading but frankly, I am not at all surprised.

sxf24

The GDL CTO is primarily to handle cash transactions.

Cholula

Los Angeles for one. My CTO's in Anaheim and Rowland Heights closed at least 10 years ago. And I used to use them extensively. But with the ease of buying ticket online, I can't imagine why I'd use one today.

Correct. Credit cards and checks are not as widespread in Mexico as they are in the US. And neither are computers or internet access for the average person.

And the DL flights to/from GDL were always packed so I'm guessing this is a profitable enough route to justify keeping a CTO open.

jbatl

So, if the CTO is a relic of the past, why keep one open in NYC?

The good thing about the CTO, as I mentioned in my original post, is that you can pretty much always count on the agents there being experts in the more complicated transactions. Would be nice if there were a way to identify agents with similar expertise at the airport. Maybe a gold pin or a special reissue desk ...

sxf24

Because there continue to be sizable traveling populations who need to pay in cash. Plus, its the largest travel market in the US and the visibility will help in developing the customer base.

NYBanker

I suspect it is a number of business reasons, not some charitable view towards New Yorkers. The first reason is similar to why DL is keeping CTOs outside the USA, there are often many non-US based pax using the NYC CTO - paying cash, changing paper tickets, etc.

2d - It is fairly tough to get to the NYC airports from Manhattan. Unlike most other cities in the US, getting to the airport is not something most people do in a personal car in NYC. A R/T to any of the three main FTOs in NYC via mass transit from Manhattan would take between 2.5 and 4 hours. Compare to places like CVG, ATL, MEM, LAX or LEX, where if you really need to do it, you could get to the FTO from the CBD without spending half a day. In NYC Cab would be 1.5 hours (to LGA, only), if you were lucky.

3d - Utilization. While I recognize not everyone is close to their home field, in no other city in this country do you get such density as at the corner of Park Avenue and 42d Street. If you don't get to this CTO right at the open, it could be a 30 minute wait to be served. I've seen 10+ people waiting (I leave when this is the case).

4th - DL is trying to further build it's NYC presence. DL has been spending a lot to make NYC a as close to a DL/CO (CO via EWR) duopoly as possible. A couple of small examples:

--We've got that silly store up on 6th Avenue. (NB: That a spot that has had 4 failed restaurants in 15 years - there were signs in the window offering for someone to take the space with "no key money" - meaning a no-money-down rental was offered. To attract a corporate tenant like DL, I'm sure the rent paid, while high for most cities' standards, ended up being fairly low for the neighborhood. The space was too big to support the low-end restaurants that tried it in that spot.)
--Red Coats are back at JFK, and there's finally a full-time F/BE/Medallion checkin terminal and private security passage area (this is incredibly valuable)
--Dominant position at LGA

I use the last remaining CTO a few times a year (NYC used to have a few, but we're down to one now), and like most/all CTOs, the res agents are the absolute tops. I often book corporate discount tickets there - fairly complex when not booked through the corporate travel department (enough to stump half the SMS reps I get) - never a problem.

Airport special reissue desk would be great - except if you went to the airport on a rainy night and there were hundreds of people trying to use this service.

There are very few things that can't be done over the phone ... so these CTOs are a relic of a bygone era. The NYC CTOs used to be multi-carrier facilities. As recently as 2000, all the majors, and several foreign carriers, were in the same facility at Grand Central as DL. Now, nearly everyone has pulled out.

For the remaining life of the DL NYC CTO, I'd say the over/under is about 3 years. I will miss it when it's gone.

joshua3

I think that the above remarks are a wee bit ignorant. does DL have the same infrastructure & support to it's pax in mexico (or elsewhere worldwide) as they do in the US?!?!?!? I don't think so.

DL has a whole corps of CS & Res. agents available thru the internet & phone in the US w/several 800 numbers. the extensive infrastructure you have available to you here in the US, is not as readily accessible to customers in foreign lands. or do you expect that when I in Jerusalem I should make a TATL telephone call to DL so deal with whatever issues I might need?

if you'd like to argue that the internet is equally accessible in most countries, well yes it is. however firstly,not everything can be done on the website. and secondly, if any problems arise w/the online transaction, the customer would need to have someone to call.

as DL needs to maintain an offices in various countries to facilitate these needs, making them storefront locations only makes them more accessible & shows a presence, making the local population aware of DL's service.

closing CTO's in the US makes a lot of sense, especially since (I believe) IATA has decreed that from June/08 ticketing will go completely paperless (only eTickets will be used). as such there is even less need of CTO's in the US, whereas outside the US the above reasons still apply.

GUWonder

Given that I've had to do ticketing changes and some paper/coupon submissions at the airport because CTOs in the US have been wiped out to a large degree, I feel the OP's pain -- the ticketing treatment at airports is too often substantially worse than it has ever been at the CTOs for me.

Even having top-tier status with AA, NW and DL, I have been told by airport agents of all three of these airlines that ticketing is a lower priority than checking in persons and tagging bags and so I will have to wait and wait and wait until a slow moment.

coz

Wow, sounds like I am the anomaly here. I never have and never plan on using a CTO. Of course I live 5 min from LAX, but still, I have never gone to the airport other than to get on an airplane.

NYBanker

You are in the majority of pax. The vast majority. You are only in the minority of posters on this thread.

ClipperDelta

Actually, the new DL NYC CTO is located on 46th Street (can't remember whether it's between Lex. and Third, or between Third and Second.) The Airlines Ticket Office on 42nd and Park is history now (for all airlines).

mon82

This is so sad and bad. The Lenox office has an agent who is extremely SO helpful and nice. She is such a great help. If I don't get something resolved over the phone, I usually go there and she takes care of it without any problems - unlike the ignorant phone agents.

silverthief2

According to Delta's website (https://www.delta.com/help/contact_u...rica/index.jsp), it's between Lexington and 3rd, but on 45th St.

I've never used a CTO but can certainly see their advantages. I've passed by the Lenox location in ATL and think the visibility is great for the "hometown" airline.

bvanderhorst

I ran across this article today on the Aero-News Network:

Delta To Close Ticket Offices Worldwide

Mon, 03 Dec '07
Online-Only Tickets To Save $3 Million Annually

If you want to buy a paper ticket from Delta Air Lines, in person you may have to fly to New York -- on another airline -- to do it.

Delta plans to close its 16 free-standing ticketing outlets worldwide, with the exception of the Manhattan office on East 45th Street, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Atlanta-based airline's decision includes offices in Atlanta, one in Cincinnati and 10 in Europe and Latin America. The ticket offices will close their doors on December 15, according to company officials.

Booking online tickets -- a move most airlines have promoted to cut agent fees -- is the reason, according to Delta officials.

As more customers booked online, Delta began closing ticket offices to cut costs, spokeswoman Chris Kelly said. "It's just not the way people buy their tickets anymore," Kelly said.

The move should save Delta about $3 million annually, according to Kelly. The closures affect about 60 employees who generally will be offered other positions, she said.

The airline is keeping the Manhattan office to maintain "brand presence" in that city, Kelly said.

But, a retired personal shopper who has used Atlanta's Perimeter Mall Delta ticket office three or four times a year, isn't happy about the change.

"I'm mad ... about it," Kay Holt, 62, said. "I prefer to go in and hand my credit card to a person. I don't think that's unreasonable."

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?C...6-6820d64f8b12