Delta adding niffty new interiors

[Heathen]

Cat ranchers.... Now that is funny!

Not only funny but, sadly true.
BTW Frac dad, the Slea-Stack used to scare the sh1t out of me as kid.
Thanks for the wonderful memories...

 

[Ganja60Heavy]

In order for DL to survive, they have to create a product that will give them a yield premium over the LCC's. Right now, the LCC's have new planes with new interiors and in some cases top-notch in-flight entertainment. Meanwhile, DL is flying around with dirty, worn out planes that offer little or no inflight entertainment. How do you expect carriers like DL to earn a premium over JetBlue and other carriers, when they offer an inferior product???

If DL doesn't invest in customer service, DL will fail....it's a guarantee.

Dude:

You don't "invest" in customer service. Your employees will provide top-notch service, attention, and attitude toward customers WHEN THEY ARE HAPPY.

How can 30-year-veteran flight-hags, their abused new-hire underlings, and disgruntled pilots and gate agents be trained to provide customer service??

Will they just add a new chapter to a manual and think it's done?

It's not about the LED reading lamps and bright interiors. Delta is just flailing wildly....trying to find something which will work. Everything EXCEPT OVERHAULING THE ENTIRE MANAGEMENT.

LCC's provide good customer service because:

1) Their employees are happy.

2) Their employees are not unhappy.

Delta is in an unfixable rut, in my opinion.

 

[MedFlyer]

Dude:

Everything EXCEPT OVERHAULING THE ENTIRE MANAGEMENT.

DL has overhauled management in the past six months....there's no one in senior management left from the old team.

You can have all the happy, smiling employees you want, but if the plane is filthy, worn out and the seat is broken (much of DL's fleet falls into this category), it won't matter. Would you pay a premium for that?

Most of DL's frontline employees aren't the problem....that's just an easy place to put the blame. There's some bad apples, but every company has those. However, as DL's product has deteriorated so has its customer service.

 

[rogerroger]

Agree with the General

Medflyer,


I have a serious question. How do you invest in customer service when your frontline employees (Gate people and stews) are most old and jaded? I nonrev quite a bit and I see our frontline employees, and it makes me wonder-----often.



Bye Bye--General Lee

For once i agree with you general...just kidding. but really, i used to work for co-ex before asa, and their gate agents, flight attendents, everyone you come in contact with were on average, much, much friendlier than delta's. just on a non-reving point of view, you can go ask a gate agent a question, and not be giving the f... U look, don't bother me. I think it is also publicly known that delta's cutomer service is below par in the industry!! nothin we can do about that!!!

 

[On Your Six]

Why would they want to leave? It is a fairly easy job with a few days of reccurent each year, and they get free food on a lot of the flights. On the longer INTL flights, they get to fly to Europe once a week and go shopping with their friends---the ones they have known at Delta for 30+ years. I have heard more than one say "Hey Alice, let's bid Madrid on Tuesdays next month--we can go shopping and eat more tapas at that great Spanish restaurant....." And, what are they when they return home to their condo? They return as Cat ranchers. (growing/breeding multiple cats in their condos)


Now I have to be careful, because there are some good ones out there. But, there are more out of shape jaded ones than great ones these days....



Bye Bye--General Lee

The General speaketh the truth... That hit the nail dead on. I am sure being an F/A is not always an easy job, but for the Senior Mamas out there who basically sit and chat throughout their international flights, it's not very taxing... Sure the pay stinks, but you basically get a job for life - I've seen many 70+ year old bags on the international flights. Makes you wonder if they could even lead a potential evacuation.... Scary!

Delta better invest money in retraining front-line employees too because the jaded, bossy crap just won't cut it with passengers who appreciate the customer service they get at SWA and JetBlue. New interiors and wage cuts won't solve Delta's problems - customer service must improve as well.

 

[Long Time Gone]

....And what are they when they return home to their condo? They return as Cat ranchers (growing/breeding multiple cats in their condos).

Bye Bye--General Lee

Awesome, GL. I've gotta remember that one. Even my 10 year old says that the only good purpose for a cat is target practice.

LTG

 

[canyonblue]

Commute home 99% of the time on my own company, SWA, but every once and awhile I go offline if it works better. My commute is only a :39 minute flight, so I realize that it is short. However, week in and week out, I watch as our SWA F/A's work their butts of providing a full beverage service to 137 passengers, and sometimes even give seconds. Last week I flew on a unnamed Legacy carrier and could not believe that on a morning flight with 16 passengers and 2 F/A's that the one working coach came back with a tray of cups and a Big bottle of water. I felt like I was on Aeroflot. What an embarrassment for that airline, but I felt better knowing that at SWA that would have never happened.

 

[General Lee]

When it comes to flying airplanes, experience does mean something. But, when it comes to customer service, very rarely does it matter. Sure, there are times when flights cancel and people need to be rerouted---and that does take some expertise. When it comes to flight attendants and experience, that becomes questionable. Do older, out of shape flight attendants perform better under stress---like an emergency evac? I don't know. If they can remember the procedures and actually see the emergency door (thru their "cheaters" (glasses) )-----can they then squeeze out of it? Look, I know there are some out of shape pilots too---but not as many because we have to take medicals once or twice a year. We also have a mandatory retirement age. The legacy carriers will have to understand that the LCCs have an advantage in this part of the workforce---they have younger, cheaper, more enthusiastic front line employees who still love the glamour of the job and still think pilots are studs.(joking) On one of my recent transcons---an LA based stew was blended in with a NYC crew and came up to me after the flight landed in JFK. She apologized for not offering us food upfront, even though I told her that was ok since I bought some in SFO. She then stated that there was plenty available to offer, but the lead stew (a NYC woman) ordered her to dump the rest and not offer any to us. If she does that to us, how does she treat the average coach passenger? These stews told me in the past how they used to offer full meal services on the DC-8 from ATL to MCO on 1 hour flights back in the '70s. The problem here is that THEY ARE STILL AROUND. Customer service is something we need to improve......



Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[ATR-DRIVR]

I think I might have had a closed-curtain chat with the lead then...depends on what the manual says about food distribution.

 

[klhoard]

Marshall, Will and Holley. . .

. . .<snip>. . . .
BTW Frac dad, the Slea-Stack used to scare the sh1t out of me as kid.
Thanks for the wonderful memories...

They sure weren't very good with their bow and arrows!!

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