An Open Letter to Delta, Whom I Hate

In response to the laughable question, "How can we help?" on Delta's complaint form:

"You know what?  You can't help.  Or perhaps I should say, you WON'T help.  You never have in the past, and I don't know why you even bother to use that term on your website, or anywhere else in your literature.  Nor do I understand your insistence on using the phrase “customer care”, when it’s so obvious you DON’T.  I chose to stop VOLUNTARILY flying Delta over three years ago, in large part because of how bad your “customer service” had become (also because at least 25% of the time- and I’m being GENEROUS- you seem to be incapable of getting a flight to any given destination on schedule) but there are times when I, or my family members, MUST fly, and Delta is unfortunately the only option.  Such is the current scenario, wherein my husband, who had to go to the east coast for work, is currently stuck in Columbus, Georgia.  Now don't get me wrong- I understand that it's not your fault Atlanta closed due to weather.  I get that.  What I do NOT get is why, even though his flight was diverted and landed in Columbus FIRST, the other two flights that arrived AFTER him were gotten out of there before him (his flight is still trapped there, over three hours later).  Even more than that, I don't understand why you had over 100 people milling around the airport (with only ONE agent) for OVER AN HOUR before ANY sort of announcement was made.  Furthermore, I don't understand why, when a Delta agent FINALLY called my husband back after an hour, the man told him that his system was "locked up" and then HUNG UP ON HIM.  Weather happens, and you have no control over it- but the fact that you tolerate such unprofessional and callous behavior amongst your employees is INEXCUSABLE.

Would you like to hear more?

I expressed my displeasure via a post on FaceBook, and a friend responded by sharing her most recent experience (also from today).  She was flying in to New York from Tennessee: her travel time should have been three hours, according to her tickets, but it turned into eight.  First they sat on the runway for a long, inexplicable while, only to find out there was electric generator failure. So they taxied back to the tarmac and deplaned, waited on another plane, and once it arrived proceeded to wait on the crew. Finally she had the pleasure of circling three turbulent holding patterns.  Again- we understand that mechanical failures aren't REALLY your fault.  But the way you treat passengers while they wait IS.

Another story that was shared with me today was about Delta shafting my 70+ year old grandparents.  I did not hear this from them, of course; they’re too old school to complain about that sort of thing.  I heard this from my mother, who related to me that AFTER she had paid for FIRST CLASS TICKETS for her parents, you guys decided to bump them off their flight, and then pressure them to take coach seats on another flight.  The agent told them that if they took the coach then they'd be reimbursed the difference in price, and since my mother was the one who had paid they went ahead and took the coach seats (the promise of reimbursement is the ONLY reason they even mentioned this heinous treatment to my mother).  Well after three months of your "help", my mother finally gave up trying to get her money back.  And you know what?  It's not even about the money.  It's about the fact that you bullied a pair of senior citizens (one of whom is a WAR VETERAN, if that means anything to you) because YOU overbooked a flight, and then refused to take responsibility for it.  I guess it’s good to know that not even paying more can make you care about your customers.  At least you’re egalitarian in your abuse.

If you want to be the great company you USED to be twenty or more years ago, you need to re-evaluate the kinds of people you let work for you.  These bullies, cowards, and unfeeling louts are representing your brand, and they're doing it poorly.  People HATE your company.  The phrase “I’ve been Delta’d” is commonly understood amongst my social set to mean “I’ve been screwed over.”  Go ahead and google "I hate Delta" or "Delta sucks" or "Delta is evil".  Go on, do it- see how many hits you get.  Why?  Not because of weather delays, I assure you.  It's because of the way your employees are allowed treat people.  Maybe you should take some lessons from SouthWest or Chick-fil-A, two companies I NEVER hesitate to do business with: they treat people not just well but RIGHT.  They have their share of mistakes and delays as well, but they actually APOLOGIZE, and try to MAKE IT RIGHT.  They treat people like PEOPLE, and not like dumb sheep to be herded from one location to the next with kicks and scorn.  It's called taking responsibility for (and pride in) what you do, and maybe it's about time Delta remembered how to do that.

But you know what?  You probably stopped reading this about seven hundred words ago, and I'll probably just get a form letter response saying, "Delta apologizes for you unfortunate experience.  We hope to see you soon!" and that will be the end of it.  If there's still a human being reading this, prove me wrong.  Prove to me that Delta hires more than just bullies, thugs, and sociopaths.  Prove to me that SOMEONE in this company actually gives a damn at how much they’re hated.  I dare you."

EDIT: I got my auto-reply telling me they try to respond within seven business days.  We'll see.