Delta Staff on the Ground and in the Air

[jewitts]

Delta have a 12 point customer commitment for domestic travel. Recently travelling from Logan to Brussels National via JFK I found that their attitude towards international travellers leaves a lot to be desired. It certainly did not meet their advertised levels of care. After many years of international travelling, I found Delta's employees, almost without exception, surly, unhelpful and on occasion downright rude. Is this a measure of the morale in this ailing giant? It certainly isn't what one expects from an American organisation. I will try British or (god forbid) French carriers next time!

[BRUpax]

Although I generalise, which is not fair to those who do make the effort, many of the AA, UA, and now DL staff are suffering from poor morale and little hope of improvement. Motivation is therefore nil and the result is felt/seen by the (few) customers they have left. The poor attitude turns more and more customers away and, I'm sad to say, the writing is on the wall. Up until a few years ago I regularly flew these three. Don't touch them now! NW isn't that much better but OK. Top US international now has to be CO, although there's still plenty of room for improvement there too.

[Gouabafla]

Just flew to and from Atlanta from LGW with Delta. I found the FA's to be friendly and curteous. One of them even cracked a joke about how Delta staff are looking for jobs elsewhere.

However, if the staff were fine, I found the experience as a whole less than positive. The IFE was poor (no seat back setup and the video rewound itself to the start when the captain made an announcement).

I was shocked to be asked to pay for booze. Even wine with a meal had to be paid for. I'm used to alcohol not being complementary on domestic flights in the US, but I've never seen this on trans-Atlantic ones.

Perhaps my biggest complaint however, was the seats. They were the sort of bus type seats that you get on short haul flights. No head rests or anything to make you comfy. It was a long nine hours on the way out.

[Romeo Delta]

After my first international experience on Delta, I swore I would never fly them again. Then I got a job with a company that used Delta almost exclusively. Go figure.

I must say on the whole that Delta employees are pretty down about their situation (I remember way back when Eastern employees felt the same way). Most flights I've been on domestically with Delta have been packed to the gills, and yet they're still losing money.

Since that poor international flight, I've only flown Delta partners overseas (CSA and Korean), and their service seems to be reasonable.

And if you're looking for some of the best that Delta has to offer, service-wise, the best I've met in all the Delta route system has to be in my US home of Fort Myers, FL. Helpful, outgoing, willing to share a joke or story with you (when they're not swamped). Everywhere else has been pretty bad, with the worst being in Boston and Minneapolis.

RD

[Final 3 Greens]

They dumped me in Richmond VA last year, due wx divert, at 10pm, with no ground support - not even to find a hotel.

Now that CO have joined Skyteam, it's a no brainer if I need to use a US SKyteam member.

Not up to BA/VS/LH standards, but okay.

[Gouabafla]

Just saw this on the BBC site. Tells you everything you need to know about Delta management.

http://queenofsky.journalspace.com/