CGNC

Not sure if this is going out to others (did a search prior to posting and nothign came up), but I got an interesting and unsolicited letter today from our friend Jeff Robertson. Enclosed with the letter came three certificates for me to hand out to a...

"Northwest or Delta employee who pulls out all the stops to guarantee you have a seamless travel experience--the flight attendant who makes a place for the last carry-on, the Reservations agent who tracks down a discounted Award seat, a baggage handler who ensures your valuables arrive on time or a gate agent who gets you on the last flight out."

I can't help but to chuckle at some of Jeff's examples, mainly because those scenarios are what seem to have disappeared or now involve the use of some voucher since the merger. I think its a good idea to do this, but there's another catch on the back which I think isn't so good...

"Delta Connection carrier employees (includes ASA, Comair, Chautauqua, Freedom, Mesaba, Pinnacle, Shuttle America, SkyWest, Northwest Airlink, Compass) and Delta Global Service (DGS) employees are not eligible."

My idea, especially if others receive these, I will pool them all and we can send them to Chisholm. Thoughts?

indufan

There are flight attendants finding places for last bags every day. Find somebody and give it to them.

MikeMpls

Wow! 11 companies in that list including 9 regionals (NW Airlink is really Compass + Pinnacle + Mesaba) & one somewhat shared ground services company. Throw in a couple legacy carriers and a 47% (or whatever) interest in YX and you have the makings of ... Delta Airlines. Just what is Delta, anyway?

Meanwhile, back on subject -- I'd suggest you use them as intended. This is an old (and generally well-liked) practice that is being revived. Not every little thing that comes down needs to be turned in an ad hoc protest. It is somewhat dismaying to see the owned regionals (Comair, Mesaba, Compass) & DGS excluded, but a TTU should serve to register that protest.

jcherney

So, what does the Delta employee get when they receive the certs? Can they redeem them for something, or get a bonus check?

mersk862

The employees get 1500 points. These can be turned into rewards - I think some of the employees on the DL forum version of this thread have said rewards start at 6500 points, for a $25 gift card to a variety of retailers.

As for sending them to Chisholm, do as you like with them - it's certainly possible to do. But the one thing I'll say on that is from what we've been told, Chisholm is going nowhere. Yes, you might not always get Chisholm (as you don't always get them now - call real early and you'll probably go to Bloomington; call late nights and you'll probably go to Seattle) - but there are plenty of DL SMS agents that are just as good as getting the job done as the fine NW elite agents in Chisholm, Seattle and Bloomington.

CGNC

I didn't mean to be all-out negative towards these--I will certainly give them out and use them. I referenced Chisholm because more and more our service is on Compass, Pinnacle, etc. out of IND and with so many exclusions, I thought it'd almost be best to give them to people who I know for sure could get some use out of them. I'll likely send one along to a group desk agent who I know well and keep the other two handy with my DL drink certs

avidflyer

I got the letter and certs too. I like the personal signature:Just - Jeff.

tigerguy999

Northwest or Delta employee who pulls out all the stops to guarantee you have a seamless travel experience

--the flight attendant who makes a place for the last carry-on,

the Reservations agent who tracks down a discounted Award seat,

a baggage handler who ensures your valuables arrive on time or

a gate agent who gets you on the last flight out."

_______________
These are all part of their JOB and should be done since I am their Customer who employs them via my $$$. I can easily see this turning into a you want a good travel experience give me a voucher, you want an award seat give me a voucher, you want your bag to arrive ontime give me a voucher, you want your bag to not have stuff stolen from it thats 2 vouchers, you want to spend your money/miles and give us your business and want a last flight out for the day...give me a voucher. oh no voucher, well the guy behind you has one, so i guess you get shafted and I will help him. burn the vouchers...

Spent_All_My_Miles

I've always wondered whether it is appropriate, as a customer, to send a thank-you or otherwise note something very helpful that an employee has done which they "are not supposed to do"

Example: last week, I was flying UA DEN-EWR. I got to the airport a few hours early, and they put me on a DEN-LGA flight. The gate agent said he wasn't supposed to put me on the earlier flight since the cities aren't coterminal any more for that purpose.

If I were to send in something, would that get such an agent in trouble.

Per an above post, many things which employees do are part of the job.
When they go above the call of duty, I think it's appropriate to thank them -- unless it gets them into trouble.

oliver2002

How on earth are you supposed to give the cert to this individual

syrwhizzy

I havent received any of these certs... maybe they're sending them to higher level elites? I'm only Silver.

I do agree that the examples listed are kind of bad, I mean, employees should be doing that stuff anyway as part of their job. However, I think you should understand the spirit of the certs, and that's to hand them out to someone who goes above and beyond.

I'm a vocal complainer when things go wrong, but I have sent compliments via TTU for a job well done. For example, an exceptional F service or meal (ok, so that doesn't happen anymore from what I've read... lol), a good gate agent that helps you score that last second upgrade by coming back to Y and dragging you to F, improvements in service... a few years ago (long before the waitlist was published online) an agent telling your spot, one time I was on an empty LAX-DTW red eye and I was able to get TWO companion F upgrades, I thanked the ticket agent for that and did a TTU. a few years ago when I was Plat, I just missed out on an upgrade MSP-BOI and one of the flight attendants from F came back and found me in the exit row and thanked me for my business, sorry you didn't get an upgrade, we have leftover meals, do you want anything from the F cabin?

Of course, these things probably don't happen anymore.

For those of you who are worried about them getting in "trouble" if you think they broke the rules for you, don't go into detail on how they helped you. Just say they went above and beyond and were very attentive, etc.

I came up with a few humorous ones given the times we are in...

...like that Elite services member who somehow hacks the system to allow you to use a domestic upgrade on a sLUT/KTL fares now that Delta arbitrarily changed that rule.

...like the First Class Flight attendant that brought his or her own eggs to make you an omlette on a flight under 1500 miles so you don't get stuck with cereal, bagels and yogurt.

Too bad we can't rate the executives who are f---ing up NWA in some way, can we send them negative certificates?

CGNC

Part of me wants to send Jeff a note and let him know that I've saved one of these suckers for him, at ransom. If he makes an 'enhancement' by restoring some of our perks or demonstrates how this 'best in class' FF program really is deserving of such a title, the cert is all his.

Lholocherhackett

I found out about the rewards program for the first time yesterday.
A very kind passenger mentioned Jeff Robertson to me early in the flight, and not long before descent he filled out and handed me a coupon.

Neither of us realized that Chautauqua Airlines employees are exempt from this program, but Mr Nice passenger truly meant to bless me and that was the best gift he could ever give me.

I realize that you folks who patronize Delta give us a job, just like any other consumer practice. And that like most of us, as consumers, have been mistreated. . I have been treated poorly too. But the nice and savvy passengers realize that we are people, and that we work long crazy hours, miss meals, miss holidays, miss sleep and our families too. So when one of you goes out of your way to smile at us, ask us how we are, show us empathy it makes our day worthwhile. And reminds us that the investment who have made to the safety comfort and sanity of others has paid off.

I'm really sorry for the hardened passenger who fears giving out these coupons because he seems to feel it is a wrongful bribery to make us do what is already expected of us, and that his presence is our paycheck.

Kindness to us is called the halo effect. If we are kind to you is bounces back on us. I hope you find that one day.

And as for Mr. Thomas Collins, my very thoughtful passenger, I say thank you.
Your sincere desire to help ME, made my day!!!! I cherish the gifts I'm given from wonderful people like you.

bdnyc

This thread is in the Northwest WorldPerks (Discontinued Program) forum. You might consider posting instead in the Delta forum.

Welcome to Flyertalk.