Originally Posted by
Wasatch Phantom
Sailing,
I'm in complete agreement with you.
I think you're a bit senior to me, but I remember when I was a new hire and I'd meet someone for the first time. In conversation it would come up that I was a Delta pilot, almost without exception they would say: "Good airline".
Now, in the same situation, they tell me their last "customer service horror story" with Delta.
The thing is, we could be soooo much better. I think it was for seventeen straight years we lead the industry in fewest complaints. When an "aw-****" happens, most people don't really ask for the moon, but they would like an acknowledgement that they had a less than optimal experience, that we as a company are sorry for that, and we'd like in some way to make amends. Bringing back the Red Coats is a big step in the right direction (IMHO).
(Sorry for my rant).
+1
Customer service on the most basic level is needed. Like they say a customer will forgive you for a bad flight, but they will not forgive you for bad service.
We have gone the opposite direction of this for many many years. Now that the industry is in effect leveled, and now it is down to service and how your debt is structured, you need to be doing it better than the next guy.
The ticket prices will come up as they need to to make this sustainable, but we need to have the majority of our customers at least not have a negative experience. The bus mentality is what it is, but we need to move our passenger better, provide them with more options with or without added cost, and make them remember Delta for the positive, not the horrible airports terminals, and cramped and oversold flights.
They say that 2010 is the year of customer service. Lets hope so. DAL needs it to compete on the world scale. We all want to be proud of our company and what it has to offer. That is lacking today.