Note: The blog post for this week’s “Hear the Buzz” is from a recent experience of mine with Delta Airlines.
On July 13th, 2007, I left Detroit Metro Airport for Oklahoma City, my hometown, for a flight scheduled at 6:30pm with a connecting flight in Atlanta. The whole check-in process went smoothly and I whizzed through the security check-point. As expected the flight took off on time and arrived to Atlanta with an hour to spare. This gave me enough time to eat and relax a bit before my next flight. As I looked up to the multiple screens to find my departure gate, I noticed that my flight to OKC had been delayed for thirty minutes. This, of course, was not a substantial inconvenience so I just patiently waited to board the plane.
Thirty minutes later, the screen reported another thirty minute delay and then again, an additional thirty minute delay. In total, my flight was delayed for approximately an hour and thirty minutes. This not only aggravated my personal traveling experience with Delta, but also made it an inconvenience for the person designated to pick me up from the airport in OKC. Nonetheless, I safely arrived home and looked forward to a weekend at home with my family.
The truly terrible experience with Delta Airlines did not happen until the returning flight (July 15th) with a layover in Cincinnati scheduled to arrive in Detroit by 8:45pm. The first flight was only delayed about twenty minutes, but this was not a problem considering that I still had enough time to make it to my connecting plane in Cincinnati to Detroit. As I promptly arrived to my gate in Cincinnati, the terminal screen reported a one and a half hour delay. One and a half hours later, the same screen read off: canceled. I was then told to wait in the “customer service” line to be properly informed of upcoming procedures. All passengers were informed that the crew had already worked overtime for the day and were sent home, leaving the plane unable to take off.
For another hour and a half, I waited in line to speak with a Delta representative in order to book my next flight. Apparently, the flight that was canceled was the last plane out to Detroit and so the only option was to catch the next early morning flight. I was issued two seven dollar meal vouchers, a hotel room at the Sheraton, and a boarding pass for tomorrow’s earliest flight to Detroit.
As a result, I arrived to my destination over thirteen hours late and spent over five hours in total waiting to board an aircraft.
Delta Airline’s inability to have a “standby crew” for cases like this cost them a substantial amount of money. That day over fifty passengers were issued the same fourteen dollars in meal vouchers, a hotel room, and a boarding pass for tomorrow. In my prediction, that cost the airline nearly $8,200 ($150/hotel room + $14 meal vouchers) just for that one flight. Keep into consideration that multiple flights that day were canceled due to the same reason.
Rather than the financial loss, what’s more important is the loss of loyal Delta customers. This particular experience casted a negative view for the airline not only for the passengers that experienced the large traveling inconvenience of that day, but also for the ten to twenty people those passengers shared their story with.
These situations can without a doubt be prevented with proper management and preparation. However, many airlines these days fail to recognize the importance of timely traveling from their customer’s point of view. Major airlines seem to be steering away from their core values of providing excellent service for their travelers. In the near future, only a few companies will be left as the choice of air travel.
