Tales abound of passengers, and sometimes employees, misbehaving on flights. The media even publishes an annual survey of the year’s worst travel moments. What you will rarely read, however, is how an airline employee or fellow traveler went above and beyond to help out someone in need. Part 4 of our Stories from the Front Line is below. Hope you enjoy!
A reservations agent in the Dallas office received a frantic call from the wife of a passenger in transit. Her husband was on his way to say farewell to his brother who was in hospice. It was a race against time, and his originating flight had been delayed by several hours due to weather. He was on his way to Cincinnati to catch the flight to Michigan, where his brother lay dying, and he only had four minutes to make the connection. His wife, who had been tracking his flight, called Delta Reservations and begged the agent to do everything possible to help him make his connection. There was not another flight to Michigan until the next day if he missed the flight. The agent made several quick calls to the Cincinnati gate and flight operations, and the last flight to Michigan was held so the passenger could pay his final respects to his brother.
Nancy
Senior Analyst
Customer Care
October 9th, 2008 at 10:06 am
I flew late in September from Atlanta to Dallas. I have a bunch of medical problems, suffice it to say. One is Diabetes. THe stewardess put me in the front of the plane. I don’t fly first class, but she took good care of me.
I remember admiring a plane on the field in Atlanta. I love to fly. That’s it though. When we landed in Dallas I had passed out. I wasn’t really present as they put me in the ambulance, but my oldest son remembers. He threatened to send the women who called him a thank you note! THat’s really something for one of my socially unconscous kids. Wanda Hamil must have been that sweet women. I can’t thank her enough. If you see her tell her Cyndl is grateful.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:08 am
I simply cannot say enough about Delta’s care of my DH on his flight from Denver to Charleston, SC and back this week.
My Hubby has a metal hip and 9 inches of titanium in his back. He can walk with a cane, very slowly, and can climb stairs if he has two banisters with which to pull himself along. Of course this does not lend itself well to functioning in an airport environment. I made sure that the layover times between flights were at least two hours, to give him time to get from gate to gate on his own if necessary. He is also on time-release morphine which makes his mental acuity not the best; he often falls asleep at a moment’s notice, and can stay that way for an hour or more. My biggest fear (after his being unable to make his way through the Denver and Atlanta mazes) was that he would sit down somewhere, fall asleep, and miss his flights. However, once the folks at Delta at either end were apprised of his difficulties, they ensured that he made his flights, and even escorted him through security (where he was searched) and out the door to meet his shuttle and my ending pickup. All along the way the people were unfailingly polite and even gently humorous.
Thank you for making what could have been a seriously horrendous experience tolerable for my husband.
August 28th, 2009 at 9:23 am
To start with, I would like to commend the effort and concern of Mr. Jason M. Parker and the rest of the Delta Customer Care and Passenger Refund for refunding our money. We are set to travel from Cincinnati to San Francisco last June 2009 but unfortunately my wife suffered a miscarriage a day before our flight. So I contacted the Refunds Dept. so we can have our money back. So after several exchanges of phone call and emails and letters thru fax, they denied our request because they said that our ticket is non-refundable. On the other hand, a letter came to us from Customer Care, Mr. Jason Parker, that he need some detailed information on my request. So I immediately fax it and mailed a copy addressed to him.weeks of waiting had passed, as i want to check my refund status, the ladies I talked to from customer care and refunds said that my request is denied. Then I told them that i received a letterindicating this. But they were very strong that the decision has already been made and it was inputed in the system. So, well, I gave up and just wait for the right time for my wife to recover so we can travel again using that money. But good this is, after a month of really not expecting anything, my wife found out a amount of money credited to her account from Delta. I tell you, we were very happy. then a letter came from Mr. Jason Parker advising us of the refund. One thing different for this man is his concern about our current situation at that time. He was very eager to help us and very much concerned about us. We did not even able to speak with him to at least heard our voice of desperation and begging at that time. But yet, he was there patiently waiting and writing and processing our request unconciously with so much concern. Im writing this to spread the the good deeds this man has done. Not just to us but by simply living to the true meaning of customer care. Again, can’t thank you enough for what you did. and you may continue to pass the hat.