Hello Friends,
The new Delta is about connecting with our customers in ways we’ve never done before, and I’d like to officially welcome you to the Delta blog.
Over the last few months we’ve received thousands of ideas at delta.com/change on how we can enhance the travel experience.
So, we decided to add a blog to the site, where you can hear directly from Delta leaders on some of your most passionate and inspiring ideas, as well as some of the changes we’ve got coming.
You’ll also be hearing from Delta employees on some of the fun, quirky, and entertaining subtleties that make the spirit of this company and its people so unique.
We welcome the blogging experience with enthusiasm and are excited to be giving you a peek inside our airline. Join us in the fun!
Lee Macenczak
Executive Vice President
Marketing & Sales
P.S. If you’ve got an idea, topic, or something you’d like for us to write about, drop us a note, we’re all ears!
August 23rd, 2007 at 2:12 pm
What a great idea. It’s going to be nice to be able to communicate with the best domestic airline in the sky’s today! Hopefully, you’ll be able to have meat communications and not just use the blog as a marketing tool, but a true communications medium just like some of the most-read blogs out there do.
August 23rd, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Jeff is absolutely right. As long as this is not a marketing tool, this is a brilliant idea. It’s a more personal way to hear from your customers. That’s what always sets DELTA apart from its counterparts and it always will… Customer Service!
August 23rd, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Congratulations for the initiative.
August 23rd, 2007 at 3:58 pm
This is a gutsy move… One that I admire. I hope it can stay civil, so there can be meaningful discussions.
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Great idea to start a blog.
It would be good to begin de-mystifying some of back-end operations. Behind the scenes decisions that impact travellers - such as upgrades
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Sweet!
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:14 pm
I’m looking forward to ongoing, meaningful dialogue and to honest answers to questions raised by loyal customers. In truth, this good idea sounds more like the ‘old’ Delta from the 80s and 90s that was known for fair, friendly customer service. Oh, that it would be so
August 23rd, 2007 at 7:10 pm
Great idea. Thanks Delta!
August 23rd, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Innovating will indeed get you somewhere in this business during these trying times. Very, very nice idea. I hope what hear will really be considered as it comes to customers and their needs and desires.
I’m proud to be a part of the Delta Family!
August 23rd, 2007 at 8:25 pm
A good means of constructive direct feedback from the consumer. I am sure there will be a fair amount of naysayers but overall this should be a great way of Keeping Delta Our Delta.
Good job, Lee and team.
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:06 pm
This is GREAT!! Best way to hear what customers have to say about different experience they have with delta employees worldwide(good and bad) and can help leadership to act upon. ALL THE BEST!!!
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Yes, something us Airliners.net people will love to reference! I would like to invite the DL executives over to the Airliners.net forums as well. DL all the way, man. Nice fleet, nice livery, etc.
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:49 pm
This is why I love working for this airline. I hope that our customers leave meaningful feedback. And please don’t hesitate to accentuate the positive. GO DELTA!
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:55 pm
I discovered the new blog when searching for, what I thought was a great idea - the change.delta.com site. I had not checked it out in a while, but loved the idea of sharing ideas to make us love Delta even more! So, since that site is gone…how about if I drop this one…..(along the lines of nycank’s post)
How about a way to figure out ONLINE which flights/fares are available for upgrades using miles. While the Delta ticketing employees are great, sometimes I just like to see what is out there without having to pester them with my wishful thinking!
August 24th, 2007 at 1:46 am
Sweet, a place a deltoid can finally call home
August 24th, 2007 at 2:44 am
This is a great idea… I hope a lot of good info comes out of this. Hopefully this won’t turn into the mess that some other traveling blogs are!
August 24th, 2007 at 4:32 am
I’m impressed with this initiative… It’ll be interesting to see exactly ‘who’ from Delta will communicate here. Delta is by far my favorite airline… I’d say that the PM’s here are some of the most loyal customers around. That said, I’d like to kick this off with a ‘hot’ topic/issue that’s definitely on the minds of all the Medallion members (especially Platinum’s)….
WHY HAS DELTA TAKEN THE APPROACH TO DILUTE THE PLATINUM MEDALLION POOL?
If I’m not mistaken, you’re able to earn 65,000 MQM’s without ever stepping on a Delta flight. I’m a diehard DL fan… but I have to admit that this has totally rubbed me the wrong way. I’m just about to make Platinum (yet again) for 2008 the ‘hard’ way… by actually flying. Please, don’t get me started about all of the promotions that I never seem to qualify for… either though Skymiles and/or AMEX. That just irks me!
I think it’s poor form to incent the people who aren’t flying more than ones who are… we stuck by DL through the bankruptcy and what do we get in return? A ton of promotions that we don’t qualify for… At the very least, I believe that all PM’s should qualify for ALL promotions out there. I can honestly say that I plan to spend the rest of the year attaining Platinum status on AA and UAL via their status matches/challenges. I’d love to give all of my business to Delta but at this point… does DELTA really deserve that kind of loyalty? Especially when its not reciprocal? I’ve called SMS to discuss this with DL. I’ve yet to get any response back. Maybe this BLOG will help… who knows?
August 24th, 2007 at 6:41 am
[...] Bloggen zieht immer weitere Kreise, auch in touristischen Unternehmen. Gestern ging der Blog der amerikanischen Fluggesellschaft Delta ins Netz. Wir sind gespannt, das das Management und die [...]
August 24th, 2007 at 7:28 am
This is a new Delta, for sure. Airliners.net and now this blog. Life is awesome and so is the Big “D”. Soar to the top of the aviation world and this blog is going to become huge, really quick.
August 24th, 2007 at 9:01 am
I agree 100% with betcha. I have 82K on my way to 120K+ MQM’s this year and why should I compete for the few upgrade seats with some guy who charges a ton to his AMEX and takes a few flights a year.
Reward us for spending money and filling seats.
August 24th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Need to know why when I try to book a Delta weekend special i.e. St Louis this weekend leave on Sat and come back on Tues, the rate is not what is advertised on the web link I receive
August 24th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
This blog will be interesting. Living in El Paso, I use Southwest for most of my flights, especially in the western states. But I have to go to Atlanta once a month, so Delta’s two daily non-stops are good friends of mine.
Obviously, SWA beat you to the blog world by a year or so. I truly enjoy their blog and hope this one can be as entertaining and exciting.
Mark
August 24th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
I was Platinum in 2005-6 but with all the changes that diluted the Plantinun level I did not even try. This year I am Gold but have only flown Delta once this year and no plans to do so again mainly because I find the fares on my main travel route MIA to EZE to be way out of line with the other carriers. I can normally get a non stop, rather than back tracking to Atlanta, a lot cheaper on the other carriers out of Miami.
I do find it very hard at times to fathom what is going on with your web site, today I was attempting to price a Biz class FLL to JNB, your site would come back with the domestic portion in first and the international in coach. I thought maybe Biz was sold out so I just tried ATL to JNB and got a Biz class quote on the same dates. So what gives?
SAM
August 24th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
Betcha, to clarify “65,000 MQM’s without ever stepping on a Delta flight.”
It’s always been possible to make PM without stepping on a DL flight; just fly AF, KL, AZ, or other skyteam partners and credit your miles to DL. But that wasn’t your point. So to clarify, you can now earn xxx MQM’s without ever stepping on any flight. (I’m not sure the number, this year only it’s 30k for Amex, some for hotel/rental car, but would take a big effort to hit even gold that way).
I’m not sure how much these people really compete with PM’s, since they aren’t flying DL much except on award tix. The bigger dilution for you is folks like me, who get 20k from Amex and 55k from BIS (butt-in-seat) miles. I acknowledge I’m diluting it for the people who fly 120k+ BIS miles, but I’m not taking away very many upgrades. I think the ones who are hurt the most are the Gold medallions who fly 80 or 100 short haul segments a year, earning 500 or 500 MQM’s a crack. I’ll trump them for upgrades, and I agree that isn’t fair (although I’m not complaining!)
Dropping the limit from 100k to 75k probably diluted it a lot more for you, although that also gave me more incentive to book my flights on DL, so from a beancounter standpoint it may balance out.
August 25th, 2007 at 6:52 am
Here in the south I grew up with Delta and truly want you to succeed.
This could be your good way of constructive direct feedback from the consumer.
August 25th, 2007 at 6:54 am
Why does a one way ticket cost more than a round trip?
That seems to many of us to be a fair question.
August 27th, 2007 at 11:02 am
airlinesblog…
Delta Airlines started a corporate blog last week. Their first post got almost 30 comments. David Neeleman, former CEO of JetBlue, is still blogging strong, while the blog of Air France Mexico is not improving at all. Get help! Independent hotels shoul…
August 27th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Contrary to Delta’s advertising campaign, why does it seem that your aircraft are not being replaced or upgraded as advertised? The audio for my seat this summer on a 9 hour flight from Stuttgart to Atlanta was not working. I have witnessed this problem on many of the flights that I have taken between Atlanta and Stuttgart. When I complained, the flight attendants admitted that they had complained about the problem. Delta has know about this problem for at least 2 years. When will you have this resolved?
I am very disappointed because I thought your customer service was improving. My experience this summer and the way the customer service department handled it forces me to look for other carriers to fly with.
August 29th, 2007 at 7:58 am
[...] the first comments submitted to the blog, one reader says: “This is a gutsy move… One that I admire. I hope it [...]
August 29th, 2007 at 8:47 am
It’s great to see other airlines joining us in the blogosphere. On behalf of the Southwest Blog Team, we welcome you to the blogosphere and hope that it will be as rewarding and exciting for you as it has been the past 15 months for us.
Brian
August 29th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
[...] getting into the blogosphere these days, even when it doesn’t entirely make sense. Check out Delta Airline’s new blog, where, according to the first post, Delta leaders and employees will presumably offer [...]
September 3rd, 2007 at 1:39 am
Please consider eliminating the Saturday night stay requirement. Delta is one of very few airlines that still require a Saturday night stay.
Delta’s pricing is really confusing. Recently, I booked a trip for BDL-CHA. Traveling from BDL-ATL was $1100 without a Saturday night stay and $500 with a Saturday night stay. BDL-CHA was $460. The unbelievable part is that I must connect through ATL on the same flights I would have taken with direct flights to and from ATL. Delta would have made a higher profit if I flew BDL-ATL for $460 without the need to now fly me to CHA.
Finally, as a member of the Crown Room Club, I am disappointed to see that Delta does not require free WiFi access to laptop users. T-Mobile’s access is expensive, and for the amount of money paid to be a member of the CRC, it would be a great benefit to see free WiFi access offered to CRC members.
As always, thanks for listening to your customers. I think this is what sets Delta apart from other airlines.
September 5th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Great article in the NY Times today about Delta, here is the link for anyone interested.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/business/05airtraffic.html?ref=technology
Here is a bit of what they say, “Delta……., is demonstrating pieces of the possible future of the nation’s air traffic system” Seems they are utilizing new technology to help speed up departures.
SAM
September 7th, 2007 at 1:51 am
Suggestions for the benefit of all:
Website:
1. Give us a check box to select DELTA ONLY flights. As an elite traveler hoping for upgrades, I don’t want to input flight routes only to get Partner airline flights ineligible for elite upgrades. We also don’t want to have to input via the “select by schedule” method where you have to plug in each leg in order to avoid partner airlines.
2. When you advertise “internet fares or sale fares” give us the chance to see any and all of the days and flights that meet that fare basis over the time period you are offering the discounted fares. If we see available flights, we will be more inclined to immediately book a flight. Typically, your customers have to search and search, and more often than not, can NEVER find the right combination of days that fit the “offer”.
3. Upgrades: show us every Skysaver opportunity for the entire 335+/- future days so we can pick a Skysaver available time and immediately book a trip. Presently, it’s a guessing game or a time consuming search by your customers and your agents to go through all 335 +/- days to find an available Skysaver ticket. Many customers are flexible in their travel choices and just need the visual to “pick a date”.
4. Take a look at Alaska’s website. The ability to pick and choose every flight and fare basis, leg by leg and price by price, allows for great customer freedom of choice.
5. Include Skysaver award seats (coach and first class) you would benefit from promoting in your weekly emails. Typically, it’s too hard to “search” for seats. If you broadcast available seats or markets for SKYSAVER, you would undoubtedly start to alleviate the burden of your miles/flights payable and a lot of seats at the last minute might be utilized.
6. Include first class/business special fares to your last minute web specials offerings. Many customers have the luxury of flying on the spur of the moment, but they are only motivated by the luxury discount seat. Market these through your web specials or directly to your “targeted” customers and you might be more successful in selling instead of giving away the front cabin seats.
7. During the online booking process, allow for changes on each web page -if the customer wants to change any detail of the travel, don’t make the customer “start all over”.
Other Miscellaneous Comments:
1. Re-structure your so called “same day” flight change. Your program name is false and misleading. It ISN’T a same day opportunity when you require the flight change to be made no more than three hours before the “new” DEPARTURE time. It’s really a “three hour flight change” offering. For example, it’s impossible for someone to change their reservation if they want to leave on a 12:15 am flight instead of a 6:00 am flight on the same day. A customer can’t change their flight because they don’t have three hours of the “same day” to reschedule prior to their new preferred flight departure. In reality, the current program only benefits the customer trying to fly earlier than their scheduled departure flight during the Peak flying hours of the day. If a customer is trying to fly later than their scheduled flight, they must miss their flight and then run the risk that when their three hour window arrives in the “same day flight guarantee”, they’ll get a seat on a later flight. Delta should return to the original “24 hours” change for a fee (or complimentary for Platinums).
2. Refrain from hiring employees who don’t speak clear and legible English. Most of us typically hang up and call back if we get someone we cannot understand - a waste of everyone’s time and a reflection on your business.
3. If you must fly commuter jets (and it’s understandable in many routes), then bring on a lot more CRJ 900’s … they are awesome and a great way to appease elite travelers who remain loyal for the perk of 1st class.
4. Create an advisory board consisting of a wide variety of your customers - not just the “super, super elite”. Don’t just hand pick them. Ask for volunteers and put together a broad selection of customers who can bring a fresh, and perhaps “out of the box” perspective to your business.
5. Offer computer plug ins (for battery life) on all planes.
6. Bring back some of the benefits of being Platinum - i.e. Crown Room!
7. Bring back Elite/First Class check in lines. It’s the personal service and smiles we all respond to.
8. All other club rooms have complimentary wireless - it’s time Delta offers it, too.
9. Continue to listen, tweak and show that Delta really does Care.
Things I appreciate:
1. Employee “star” handouts are great. Keep them coming. I love to give them out to deserving employees.
2. Signature Cocktails
3. Food
4. In-flight Entertainment
6. The alliance with NWA & Alaska
7. Crown Room food, beverage, technology and decor enhancements
8. Outstanding Crown Room Personnel
As I understand it, Delta personnel is reviewing this blog. With good faith I submit these items. I trust Delta will distribute them appropriately to the respective departments and personnel.
I am always available by phone or email for further communication.
September 11th, 2007 at 1:49 am
You mention the blog in English, your websites are presently in other languages,spanish,portuguese,etc.
You have or will have the delta blog in the other languages as well?
think would be good forn delta to reach other non-english speaking audiences as well?
September 13th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
response to betcha
I have been PM for the last 7 years, next year and MM. While in principal I agree with you, I think we need to remember that the revenue coming from these agreements has helped keep this airline flying(others too). I would wager a bet that Amex is really DL’s number one customer. As for me…..I believe we have more advantages/perks because of the deal than we would have without it……
October 9th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Great suggestions. I get the impression that there is a way now to book flights using Delta and SkyTeam partners. The only option I see is when you click on SkyTeam and can only view the packaged flights, but cannot book anything.
I am trying to fly from San Diego to Cairo and then back via Kiev and it has been impossible. I can do it like a breeze on NWA.
I like flying Delta, but I wish their online reservation was like NWA or AA.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Thanks for this blog. I’ll hope it turns into a good communication both directions. I’m one of those perennial Gold buys. Lots of short flights. This year, finally long flights. That’s both good and bad. Flying just isn’t fun. I hate the flying. I do like the treatment for Gold and Platinum flyers. Thanks.
Why is it that Delta makes such a big effort to plug having em power jacks, when it almost never works on the planes. I make a special effort to schedule them and only about 10% have working jacks. It used to be about 50%. It hardly makes me feel good about buying a $100 adapter when I can’t use it. When I ask abotu them, most flight attendants just look at me dumbly. They don’t even know what they are.
Things are a better on Song planes — if you get first class. On the Song flight from DCA to SLC you can be PM and end up #15 on the wait list even after the oversized 26 seat first class section is full.
Enough complaining. The flight attendants work hard. I’m generally happy.
October 10th, 2007 at 8:01 am
I am very happy with Delta. I used to fly DL many years ago. Then switched to AA because of my new job. I am now back to DL again.
As a PM, I have not figured out their domestic upgrade policy. They are supposed to upgrade PM’s 5 days in advance. But, it does not happen all the time. For example, I am scheduled to fly JFK to San Diego on Oct 13 (today is Oct 10) and they still have not upgraded me. I have checked and there are 12 empty first class seats out a total of 26 seats.
Does anyone know the real upgrade policy?