StayingHomeIsBetter

Did the topic of the increasingly prevalent use of regional carriers, especially between major cities (such as ATL and IAH) come up in the discussions?

sxf24

The management of FFP is balanced by revenue - rather than cash - management.

Major corporations budget and manage cash by how it will be used. For an airline, that would mean allocations to fixed and variable operational uses, such as salaries, fuel, and leases. Outside of the minimal variable costs of handling an additional passenger, the redemption of FFP does require a use of cash. As such, a declining cash balance does not directly impact the viability of a FFP, though it certainly raises concern about the airline continuing as a going concern.

Nevertheless, you're (casually) right that managing FFP, with tighter expiration dates and higher redemption levels, benefits the cash balance. However, its because reducing accrued mileage balances facilitates the sale of additional miles.

atl runner

Actually it did last quite a bit longer than scheduled, and I agree with others that the tone from both sides was open and constructive.

Thanks for the great note taking, me4yankees.

me4yankees

Thanks!

And I agree, I thought the session went well.

Buster CT1K

Thanks for the notes. I appreciate Jeff and Josh spending time with FT'ers and said FT'ers sharing info with us. I hope Delta announces fourth tier soon. I have a lot of travel to book for 3Q and 4Q and would like to have certainty that booking on Delta will take me to fourth tier. Otherwise, I might as well get some status on CO in anticipation of their switch to Star. Living in Manhattan, I do have a choice between EWR and CO on the one hand, and LGA/JFK and DL on the other.

DlRes

I just read an internal memo and they referred to the 4th tier as Diamond ( FT is good), so I'm guessing it will not be long until the official release.

And No I don't have details on the requirements....before anyone asks

AndyTLe

Now being Platinum feels so inadequate.

DlRes

Only until your status updates to Diamond.....

syrwhizzy

Yeah, well, while that might seem like a good strategy to some, it's really a bad strategy. Does that mean, when they get comments they deem a 'rant' they just ignore the customer? Really?

If they encourage tossing something they consider a 'rant' this is BAD MANAGEMENT from the top.

Let me share a story with you:

I had some issues with a previous flight, flown SYR-JFK, on Delta metal, shortly after the NW and DL counters and gate areas merged. They dropped the elite line in SYR, didn't add any kiosks, and yelled at me for going into unstaffed the Bag Drop lane even though that's all I had to do. Huge lines, only 3 agents (what Delta had before the merger) and 4 kiosks (what they had before the merger). So, they added more morning flights to an area that's slightly smaller than NW, didn't add any more kiosks or people. And dropped the Elite line that NW had. Bad planning on their part. They totally botched the counter/gate merger here in SYR.

Best part is someone in back loaded my bag in a pile for the wrong plane... the story gets worse... It makes it on the next JFK flight, gets in at 1:20pm instead of 11:29AM because of weather delay. And it sits at JFK from 1:20pm... for hours... no status updates on the website... I call at 6pm, they have no clue where it's at, they try to call JFK baggage and JFK baggage doesn't answer. Tell me to call back later. I call back at 9:45pm, they have no updates, call JFK baggage office, still no answer (you know its bad when their own internal people can't get ahold of the JFK baggage office.. one of their HUBS!)... No clue where it's at, the agent at Baggage Service is nice enough to call the delivery company to see if they know more info. They haven't seen it. An hour goes by, it's delivered to my hotel room at 11PM, some 13 hours late. When I sent my complaint in July 1, (about 2 weeks after travel) delta.com still said my bag was sitting in JFK.

Heck, I bet I could file a lost luggage reimbursement claim they're so disorganized there. Oh, and this makes about the 6th or 7th time I've had a baggage issue from since they started the SYR-JFK service about 3 years ago.

I submitted the letter via hardcopy complaint on July 1 to Delta Customer Care... and via electronic Delta website email and, for giggles, on the NWA.COM TTU.

No response from Delta on either the hard copy or the Delta website email.

NW replied back within 24 hours, apologized, forwarded the comments and related to my frustrations, and gave me 2K bonus points and said sorry they couldn't do more but it wasn't on NW metal. I think it's hilarious, Delta won't even respond, and NW care did what they could to take care of me given the situation.

I'm still waiting, no response from Delta. I think their new tactic is to ignore me. Great customer service. Maybe someone classified my detailed letter outlining problems and suggesting change as a rant.

I have a brilliant idea. Let's encourage our employees to toss out anything they don't like instead of addressing the problem. This will instill a sense of ownership in our company and allow us to excel.

If this is what becomes to my Delta complaint, sent via two diverse paths, it will speak volumes about how NW was run, and how DL is run. And speaking about running, that's what I'm going to end up doing if they play that game.

In your job you need to face criticism square on. You need to constantly ask "how can we do this better." Northwest could do that. Continental could do that. Larry Kellner once personally responded to my issues with CO at one point. He didn't agree with me, but he responded and dealt with me as a valued customer. Delta just seems to hide behind the bureaucracy it's created to handle customer complaints.

atldlff

Just as a point of clarification here. The quote you are responding to, was NOT what was said. There were a lot of others at that session, so if I have misstated this, I am sure others will correct me.

The Delta team at the Q&A never actually indicated that they toss anything out. What they said was, it was helpful to post problems that have specifics so that they can respond to it or take action. Posts like "the service sucks" without any specifics to back that that up, are, what I would call, judgment statements and I suspect those would not be responded to.

Now, with that said, it looks like you did have a specific problem that should have gotten a timely reply, and I can't explain why you haven't received a response from Delta. Everytime I have sent an on-line request to Delta I have gotten a response within days, if not within hours.

syrwhizzy

Thanks for the clarification. Well, maybe they're just really slow... maybe it's on Richard's desk awaiting action! (haha)

I too have found the website and mail responses to be, well, responsive. In April, I complained via Delta channels about the US Bank Visa issue, and the AMEX issues and suggestions. I got very timely replies (and even a phone call to reply back to my letter of which one of Richard Anderson's "assistants" spoke with me at great length on the transition).

It's been eerily silent on this one. Maybe I've used up my quota on complaints. Or, maybe I'm just too impatient. I mean, it's been 15 days.

Just for grins, I checked on my "bag status"... which I haven't done since July 1. The flight was on June 18th, so its been almost a month with it being the 15th now.

I'm so glad my bag got to me. I'm not so glad that they still have no idea it got to me, and that's even after sending them a letter on July 1 telling them of this (and other) related problems with travelling that day.

ADLFO

I shared similar frustrations with Jeff and Josh at the Q&A. My experience is that DL Customer Care often times submits a form "cut and paste" email that is, in many cases, less than responsive to your inquiry. NW TTU generally provides a succinct and timely response that always leaves me believing that the concern was understood and addressed. I heard others around me at the DO concur about their frustrations with dismissive responses from DL Customer Care.

From my recollection of Jeff's response, he acknowledged that NW generally treats their elites very well and that DL will be headed further in that direction in the future. I take him at his word that changes are and will be made at DL to rectify these types of issues. However, I also realize that DL is a large company and direction changes can happen, but generally happen very slowly. I would think it would be somewhat analagous to a large ocean liner. Sure, the direction of the ship can and should sometimes change, but it can't and won't turn on a dime.

syrwhizzy

Well, that's promising. I just hope DL isn't making these changes in the vacuum of upper management and completely out of touch from the customers. The DO is a good start. I hope that he has more. In fact, I think he should devise a customer advisory board which could conviene online, and perhaps periodic meetings in person somwehere.

When management isn't arms length away from the customer, the company is doomed to make mistakes.

I know this because I was part of a transition team as our company bought another large peer in our industry, doubling the size of our company. They were good at having layers of management, politics and getting nothing done. Our company, luckily the one doing the buying, was lean at the top and we get things done. Luckily, we were in the driver's seat. My department, IT had did more work with 5 people than their 40. Needless to say, many of their people read the writing on the wall and left for other opportunities. This was a great way to find out ahead of time who the workers were. Those who stayed either had to perform or get out. We had a very aggressive conversion IT systems conversion schedule and exceeded our benchmarks and timelines. Had their IT department been in the drivers seat, we'd still be talking about systems conversion Unfortunately, other parts of the old company still exist, they're slowly and surely improving. Thankfully my department by need to get the conversion schedule done rapidly was one of the first ones to go through the transition. And, those at the bottom of that department, the IT people in each city, all quickly adapted to our lean, quick acting, results oriented way of doing business.

But, culture is hard to change. And it doesn't help that the culture that's doing the buying and in the drivers' seat is the one that needs the improvement. It starts at the top, and the upper level management needs to set the priorities and do the right thing. Here's an observation: When Mr. Anderson was the head of NW, things were great, they were just as awesome as the day before the DL merger. Yet, from a customer's point of view, what has Mr. Anderson done to re-create that culture at Delta? I've never met the guy and never worked with him, but that sounds very hands off -- which in this case might be a bad idea.

With all the problems, I'm questioning alot of those decisions at DL related to the merger. I didn't attend the DO, but, the notes on this thread sound alot more like excuses to me, and the things the other half of my company would say to delay projects and do things substandard and poor.

Taking things away from your customers (both internal and external) is a huge mistake and I'm getting a little tired of the excuses and looking for results.

EasternTraveler

That was not a rant. It appears to me that you received a response. You state that it came from NW but NW does not exist anymore. You received a response from DL. Now I am not trying to be dismissive or argumentative, but.... What more do you want. You got your bags and an apology and 2000 bonus miles.

EasternTraveler

Just for kicks I looked up one of my baggage claims from a few months ago. The bag was delayed, I knew it would be, because of the routing. It arrived on a flight later that evening and was transferred to CSG and then delivered to my home.

(I have never figured out why they send my bag to an out station that is farther away from my home to have it delivered by courier, but that is another story.)

The bag shows arrived at CSG and will be delivered within 12 hours. That leads me to believe that they do not update records to indicate when it reaches your home. What is the need? You got your bag, case closed.............. At least it should be....right?