Ah yes, it’s finally summertime. Time to sit back and unwind. And for many of you, that means jetting off to a sunny locale.  

It’s one of our busiest times of year, so we’re buzzing behind the scenes to ensure your travel experience is as seamless as possible. We’re increasing employee training and resources and also providing you with travel tips to help make your trip through the airport a breeze.

But we realized during last year’s busy holiday travel season that you – our savviest of travelers – hold some of the best tips around. So we’re turning to you again to provide tips that make your journey a day at the beach.

Tell us how you stay cool at the airport (and be sure to include the #DeltaTips hashtag) via Twitter, Facebook or by commenting here on the blog. We’ll select the best of the best (there’s always tough competition) and post them back on our blog on June 6. Plus, we’ll retweet our favorite (or just downright hilarious) tips throughout the week.

So tell us–what helps you fly through the airport during your summer getaway?

Liz G.

Delta Social Media

There’s been a great deal of media activity around two customers who were denied boarding on flight #5452 (MEM-CLT) this past Friday. As you probably already know, Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) who was operating the regional jet for us, offered its apologies to the customers and is following up with the crew to understand circumstances surrounding this event. Atlantic Southeast worked over the weekend to answer questions about the situation, and we want to be sure you hear our perspective on this issue, and help clarify any questions you may have.

As the individuals responsible for the safety and security of their flight and everyone on board, pilots industry-wide do have authority over their aircraft within the parameters set by their individual carrier. Although, following a situation like this it is standard to review the matter with the pilots and talk with them about their decision so we can have our own understanding.

On Friday, once all the follow-up screenings had been completed, Delta ground crew immediately offered our apologies and worked to get these passengers booked on our next available flight and did everything possible to help make the passengers comfortable while they waited.

We want you to know that as a global carrier we transport people from every country of the world, every religion, every ethnicity and every race, and we take very seriously the trust our customers place in us. Our employees represent countries all over the world, and wouldn’t have it any other way.

But most importantly, although we were not the operators of the flight, these passengers are our customers and we would like to join Atlantic Southeast once again in offering an apology for any impact the situation had on both them and their travel.

Toby Broberg

Director, Customer Care

Update:

Thanks to your efforts more than 40 million SkyMiles have been donated to help relief efforts in Japan. Now, we’re working with Gogo Inflight Internet to provide complimentary access to the Red Cross Website so you can help donate money and miles next time you’re flying with us. Plus GoGo is matching your contributions up to $15,000 so this is a great time to give back.

We appreciate your continued support for Japan and those affected.

 ———–

First and foremost we want to share our deepest thoughts and prayers with everyone whose lives have been impacted as a result of today’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan. As you can imagine, this has been a major event for us given our 1,200 employees in Japan and the thousands of customers who count on us to travel to, from and through Tokyo every day. We know there are a lot of questions and concerns about how this event may affect you and your loved ones, and we’ll work to address some of your concerns here.

Our first priority is ensuring our customers and employees in Japan are safe.  As soon as the earthquake hit, our operations team immediately went to work ensuring that all our aircraft were safe.  While in many cases this meant diverting, delaying or cancelling from our original schedule, we are fortunate that no employees or customers were injured at any of our facilities or on any of our flights in Japan.

Our reservations experts are also reaching out to customers to notify them of the impact this has on their travel plans. If you are in need of immediate reservations assistance you can call make changes to your travel without fees at delta.com, call us at 1-800-221-1212 or reach out to our agents in Twitter at @DeltaAssist. You will continue to find the latest updates from us about the status of flights at delta.com at http://bit.ly/DL_updates.

Many of you have also asked how you can help, and we’re proud to say The Red Cross has long been a valued partner of Delta. If you want to help by donating to the relief efforts of the Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami, go to the Redcross Website. You can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation to help those affected by the earthquake in Japan and tsunami throughout the Pacific.

Christina R.

Duty Manager – Customer Focus

Delta Operations Control Center