Delta Airlines Workers Are Being Taught to Play Nice: What to Expect
Travel News — By John Curran on March 24, 2011 at 11:25 amEvidently companywide customer service training is only done in dire circumstances at Delta Airlines. After all, a new training program for all 11,000 customer-facing employees is the first in about 10 years, and only comes as a result of extremely high cancellation rates and very low scores in customer satisfaction.
But the airline is trying to improve its track-record, as JetPacker reports. They’ll be teaching employees how to deal with angry and upset customers over the span of a single, full-day course.
The bigger news may be in the Wall Street Journal’s in-depth coverage of the program. There, it’s noted that Delta is focusing mainly on its high-value customers. Those are the elite level frequent flyers who represent more than a quarter of bookings at the airline. That means the policy training may not trickle down to us regular-folks flying coach at all.
Image: Dean Morley /Flickr
But what stands out is that the consumer complaints aren’t actually being addressed by any action, merely a more deft touch of language. Excessive bag fees are now to be described as “part of an a la carte program” where you pay for what you want. Not sure if that’s going to help much, Delta.
The increased emphasis on customer service is good news for airline passengers, but one wonders whether that will solve any real customer service problems or change customer perception of Delta at all.
2 Comments
I was going to write a letter to Delta and saw this article. I flew from Orlando to Atlanta on March 25th. Sitting outside before my flight, a young lady approached me with two very small children, it was her first time flying and she was clearly nervous. I answered a few questions for her and as she walked away, I asked myself “should I have offered more help?” I was so tired after a long work week, I did not. She should be okay I thought. As I exited security, there she was struggling with a baby in a stroller, three canvas bags, her purse and a young son who was not in the mood to listen to his Mom. She looked a bit lost as she went toward the train to take her to her gate. I helped her get on the train, it was 5:10pm, her plane was leaving at 5:30pm and I knew she had no idea that they were already boarding. I told her she needed to get to the gate right away and offered to help her get there. When we got to her gate, I approached the Delta employee behind the counter and said “I just met this young lady, she has never been on a plane, has two small children and may need assistance” It was close to departure, it was busy but I NEVER expected this response “Well she is pretty much on her own, we don’t have the staff to help”, with the tone of voice and attitude of a Delta employee clearly out of patience for the day, I was shocked. I turned to the young lady and offered her as much advice as I could since she would have to change planes in Atlanta and that is no easy task for anyone, least of all, a young Mom with two children and no experience in ANY airport. I watched as she struggled to get her boarding passes out and ran after her son who had made his way to the window to say he wanted “that plane”. I told him it was his plane and he should stay close to his Mom and that she would need his help to get on the plane. He ran back to her, grabbed the stroller, turned and looked at me and with the most innocent smile and said “bye”. I walked away with an ache in my stomach for her, knowing how nervous she must be. Then it clicked, I was going to Atlanta, I walked back to the counter and asked if there were any open seats, hoping to change my flight so I could offer her more help. I was asked if I was a “member” of some program, I said no and was told there are no seats. I flew back to Milwaukee through Atlanta and hoped she and her children encountered someone else like me, a stranger that could help since Delta “does not have the staff to help”.
I sent pretty much the same message above to Delta and in the box where they ask, “would you like a reply via email?” I checked NO. Well, in my email today Delta sent me a $50 credit voucher, no note, just the voucher. For what? I’m not the one they failed, it was the Mom! Not surprised, since they did not have time to help the single Mom struggling with two kids, why would they actually read the email and address the issue. Just another Delta band-aid. I’m going to print it out, write void on it and send it to the CEO, Richard Anderson.