Hello everyone,
My name is Tom Timberlake and I recently travelled to Washington as the nominator for Delta Air Line’s reception of the 2012 Freedom Award.
The Freedom Award, also known as the Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, is the highest recognition given by the U.S. Government to employers for their support of their employees who serve in the Guard and Reserve.
I have been employed by Delta as a pilot for 12 of the 23 years I have served our country in the Marines, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. For Delta, I currently fly the 737 as a First Officer (co-pilot). During my military career I flew the AV-8B during my active duty years and the F-16 while in the Air National Guard while concurrently working for Delta. During my 12 “dual-hatted” years of working for both Delta and serving in the military, there has never been a moment when I doubted that Delta’s response and support for me and my fellow service members would be anything less than one hundred percent. Here is a short list of what I have seen and experienced of Delta supporting those who serve:
My fellow employees wrote six pages of well wishes when I deployed overseas; they thank me day in and day out for my military service; we have our “below wing” Honor Guard giving due respect for those making their final trek home; we have sent thousands of letters to service members deployed overseas; some of us get in small groups and give a cheer for those arriving in the terminal returning from an overseas deployment; many captains offer an upgrade to a nicer seat in the aircraft if it is available; the CEO has made a solid commitment to hire qualified veterans in the future by signing on to the 100,000 jobs program; we volunteer in Delta’s Holiday lounges in various cities we serve and have for 45 years now; and we prepare the food for the military visitors of those lounges, overflowing it with delicious Thanksgiving and Christmas treats.
In short, it is the people at Delta that make the difference. So for all these thoughtful actions, I feel that this award is very well deserved and it was a sincere pleasure and honor for me to nominate our outstanding company. I am sure it will be valued by all of my colleagues here at Delta Air Lines.
Thank you,
Tom
October 26th, 2012 at 8:37 am
Hi Tom (and Faithful DELTA Employee),
I was very touched by your letter and applaud your military service and devotion to Delta. I found your letter during an Internet search because I wanted to voice to the entire world a Delta policy that, in my humble opinion, needs to be changed or at least considered. Before I go on I’d like to mention we have a few things in common: military service, devotion to duty, and deployments. I wish I could share the same enthusiasm that the people of Delta make the difference so here is where my story begins. After his second deployment to Afghanistan in less than two years, my husband had the wonderful idea to recommend that I take a vacation. He wanted to take care of our two little girls while I enjoyed a little “me time”. I packed my bags and spent a wonderful, relaxing week with my sister in Savannah, GA and then planned to spend the rest of my trip in Charleston, SC.
Unfortunately, near the end of my trip a hurricane off the coast threatened to touch ground in Charleston the weekend I was due to fly out. Knowing that my military leave ended that same weekend I called the TRAVEL TRIAD (Delta, Travelocity, and Travel Guard—flight insurance) to get my tickets changed so that I could fly home before the hurricane hit. I LOST COUNT of the phone calls and transfers I made just to get my tickets changed so I could get back to Dayton, Ohio. The end result: I PAID $349 FOR A NEW TICKET!
The TRAVEL GUARD insurance agent commended me for thinking ahead but lamented that the insurance policy couldn’t take affect because the storm had not touched down. Silly me, you can’t make a claim on a pre-imminent situation that has not occurred.
The DELTA agent confirmed what the Travel Guard agent said, but stated there was NOTHING he could do except charge me for a TICKET CHANGE FEE ($150.00) and the DIFFERENCE between the original and new tickets.
The TRAVELOCITY AGENT (Good Samaritan) had compassion on me. He said if he had his way, he’d recommend DELTA give all military personnel traveling on orders an opportunity to CHANGE THEIR TICKETS FOR FREE; he WAIVED the Travelocity fee for changing my ticket.
….which is why I write this post to you DELTA (Not Tom). I already *PAID* for a two-way ticket and it’s MIND-BENDING that you would charge a FEE to change a ticket (especially to beat a HURRICANE, LONG LINES in the airport at your DELTA counter and IMMINENT delays in your flights).
You should REWARD instead of RAKE through the coals your customers for thinking ahead and if I’m able, I’ll choose NOT TO FLY DELTA IN THE FUTURE. Good Day!!
J. J. QUINN