I've always kind of felt bad for airline marketing people. It seems like they would sell their souls just to be able to generate any kind of consumer loyalty. That all changed last night when our flight was delayed causing us to miss our connecting flight. Not that bad right? Well it was the last flight of the night, so we knew we were going to have to spend the night, whatever, it happens...but the ultimate kick in the teeth was when the customer service lady informed us that "since it was an air traffic control problem, it isn't our fault." What that really meant was that because it wasn't "their fault," they pretty much couldn't have cared less about what happened to us in the 12 or 15 hours before we could get on the next flight. We ended up having to book a 150 dollar hotel room and endure the incredible hassle of getting their and back the next morning.
I've heard about stuff like this before, but I figured it was a relic of the 80s and early 90s. Guess not.
So the point is this: they are probably spending upwards of 100 million dollars for some ad agency to build brand loyalty and give people an emotional reason to pick their airline instead of just going by price, but they're missing the point. I now know that they are not really committed to making it happen. They may think they are committed to customers, but they're not.
If you don't take care of your customers after you have them, they will not be returning, no matter if you "know why they fly" or can offer some cleverly named mileage program. I've never felt more abandoned by a company before, and I will not be flying their airline again.
AND THEY LOST OUR LUGGAGE!
Posted by: Krissie | 11/30/2006 at 08:02 PM
Dude...I'm going to have to pretend you didn't post this considering my father was a Delta pilot for 20+ years and I owe my entire life's experience/existence to that company! Ha, next time, consider your audience.
That said, I'm surprised no one has done anything with the tag: "I'll never fly _______ Airline again!"
Funny, how bankruptcy can demolish a brand's equity in a matter of months.
Posted by: david | 11/30/2006 at 08:38 PM
Yep, Delta suck. Made me miss a meeting in LA when they cancelled a flight to LA for 'technical reasons' (ie it wasn't full enough). Never flying them again...
Posted by: Gareth | 12/01/2006 at 08:09 AM
Funny, I am reading this in the JFK airport because my flight is delayed four hours. I was sitting next to a guy whose hotel charged him a cancellation fee because his flight got cancelled and he wouldn't have been able to make it there tonight. Good work, Marriott. I guess a few brands suck at putting themselves in consumers' places and treating them as partners in a time like this. Gah.
Posted by: Johanna | 12/01/2006 at 10:14 PM
oh...this is so cool. i have to write a paper for DJ about brand positioning and im arguing that the good companies have to follow through on their promises. hm...i wonder what would happen if i listed you as a source.....
Posted by: nien | 12/02/2006 at 10:34 PM
Nien, I may be a lot of things, but a credible source is probably not one of them...although it would be hillarious...you know...after you got over getting a D.
It just amazes me that there are still companies out there that haven't figured out the importance of taking care of consumers when things go wrong.
Posted by: kevin r. | 12/04/2006 at 03:35 PM
They don't try because they're federally subsidized. I don't know why they continue to advertise. Come to think of it, the last Delta ad I remember hearing or seeing was that MadTV Ebonics-Delta commercial. That's viral marketing, baby.
"Y'all be goin' on vacation?"
Posted by: Mo | 12/04/2006 at 04:33 PM
What if airlines set lower expectation? That could be Delta's new strategy.
Posted by: Luis Carranza | 12/04/2006 at 09:31 PM
Mo, I forgot about that thing...it was hillarious...I may try to find it and post it.
Posted by: kevin r. | 12/05/2006 at 02:19 PM
haha..I'm an marketing creative working on Delta now. Yeah, everything sucks now but we're working on making it better. I'm even going to start buying some stock in Delta.
We're actually working on something awesome now for Delta so stay tuned.
Posted by: Bryan | 12/06/2006 at 09:59 AM
Bryan...good luck with that...can you please tell them to fix their customer service before they do anything else?
Posted by: Kevin R | 12/13/2006 at 09:27 PM
um....can we get a follow up on how Bryan is doing with Delta?
Posted by: nien | 04/01/2007 at 10:42 PM
Early February 24th 2007 I received a very upsetting call from my mother stating my brother had passed away unexpectedly....first thing I had to do is GET A FLIGHT to get home as I live in NY and they live in TN. I immediately got on the internet and phone to get first available flight. Since Delta was the cheapest for such short notice I HAD to go with them....THEY WERE NO HELP IN BOOKING THIS FLIGHT NOR GETTING ME ON IT OR ANY FOR THAT MATTER!!. THANKS TO DELTA AIRLINES I ALMOST MISSED MY ONLY SIBLINGS FUNERAL~~~~~If I wasn't so determined to get home there would have been NO WAY they would have gotten me there....Let me back up....I first called delta to see about something called a grievance flight.....HAAAA they were like "a what?" I asked "do you help people that have special circumstances that need to get home for a family members funeral?" The reply was "No we don't do that" Ok so, I booked a flight ON MY OWN...online as it was cheaper and less complicated than talking to someone at Delta! My flight was for Sunday evening around 7pm....it was lightly snowing,nothing bad and MOST flights were on time or delayed an hour or so.....ok so no big deal...right? WRONG....every hour there was an announcement flight delayed half an hour, flight delayed an hour etc....ok so I am getting worried as time is going by and frustrated at the fact #1. They were making us wait as they kept delaying and no info and #2 I couldn't get any answer's as to whether they could switch me to another airline that was leaving to Nashville or ANYTHING!!!My fear was...delaying would turn to canceled !! I WAS IN TEARS and being ignored by DELTA STAFF under very stressful circumstances !!! So after WAITING we FINALLY got on the plane only to sit and wait and roast in that HOT plane ....as we are waiting we hear an announcement..."Passengers we apologize but we can not continue our destination to Nashville tonight" NOT because of weather!!! because the pilot had gone over his hours!!! THEY DIDN'T KNOW THAT BEFORE WE GOT ON BOARD?????? My fear had become REALITY......
So, they get us off the plane after we have sat in what felt like a sauna!
We go inside to get bags and by that time it's past MIDNIGHT!! I call for my ride in tears and asked her to please help me....THAT was the WORST experience EVER...nothing has ever come close to that nightmare....it's not over yet!! SO now I go to find my bags...THEY are LOST already!...So I go to the ticket counter and tell the delta agent "my bags are missing and my flight was canceled to Tn could you please help me get on the next flight out tomorrow?" He told me there are no flights tomorrow....I told him my situation and filled him in on the kind of night it had been and he said "your flight was canceled due to bad weather" I said "No my flight was canceled because my pilot's hours were up" So all the sudden he say's I have a 2:30 flight going out tomorrow...hmmm how did THAT happen? It popped out of nowhere!
So OF COURSE I took IT!He said he would somehow see that my bags make it there also!!! I was at the airport the next day, made the flight....arrived in Nashville. BAGS are no where to be found!!! I had no funeral clothes no nothing!!! I called the whole night trying to locate my bag...NO ONE could tell me where my bag was!!! I asked is it in NY or TN??? One would say NY and another TN...then one person said ma'am we don't know where your luggage is!!!!!! Instead of focusing on my brother and my family I have to worry about my luggage and why Delta can not do one thing to help someone!! I stayed on the phone for HOURS calling supervisors of luggage area's ...I called everywhere to get NO WHERE!! First I was supposed to be in TN the day after my brother passed away,which was Sunday to help with arrangements etc...Delta DID NOTHING to assist me in ANY WAY!! The Staff was useless!!! RUDE and acted as though they were there to socialize NOT assist people!!The staff at the gate even had their booth area roped off!! Why is that when they are standing at the booth for the people who need help...not sit and cut up with the other workers....That frustrated me...seeing how I was lost (had only been to that airport once and that was with someone) and I needed HELP!!I would like to see someone else act as calmly as I did in that kind of situation! I was in Tears thanks to Delta! They did nothing but cause me MORE grief! My luggage didn't show up until the 3rd day...clothes and contents inside were SOAKING WET so my stuff was useless to me anyway.
I did not use my return ticket from Delta because I did not want to have a horrible experience like that again!
Posted by: Steph | 05/27/2007 at 10:31 PM
I had a Summer vacation at Cherokkee, North Carolina to see the Smokey Mountains. My family and I and our friends stayed at the hotel. We were at Quality Inn.All their rooms had meldiw in the bathtub. Our friends parents looked for all the open rooms. Nothing was found. They just kicked them out just because there was no clean rooms for them that was open. They had already payed everything and now they'll just kick them out??? Then when my friends family went to another hotel, they called in the morning saying that we called them 5:00 in the morning. Then we saw that in our room dirt came out of the drain and poop stains. Then we saw the manager. He said that he took my dad's word about us that we didn't defraud his hotel. I said why are you bringing up this point if we didn't defraud your hotel? My mom said at the end you can't just kick out someone that already paid. He said oh yes I CAN!!! Then we left. That proves that Quality Inn is the most worst number 1 worst hotel in the whole world.
Posted by: Upal Bose | 08/07/2007 at 10:56 AM
Delta is by far the worst airline, our flights got cancelled so we spent the night in the airport, they kept saying they would get us a flight from ATL to BDL but every hour they just said wait a little longer, so we spent the night in the airport, which is fine, i can deal. delta had no intention of telling us there was renovation construction so i wake up to a delta personel standing with a foreman yelling at me to get up and move. Never flying delta again, they have little to no regaurd for their passengers on or off the ground.
Posted by: Danny D | 04/16/2008 at 09:31 AM
While I admnit your story is horrible, I think I can match that.
I bought an international round trip business class ticket from NY to Amman. I did not get onto the return flight from Amman to NY due to misinformation from Delta. I called Delta upon my return (had to pay at the airport to get onto another flight with another carrier)to make sure I was able to use this ticket in the future and was told I had a year from the return date in which to do so. Now, only two months later, I'm tryng to use that return portion for the same exact destination and I'm being told that that particular ticket has a "30 day stay" and I will now have to pay the full price. How outrageous is that?!?! I don't care if I have to do 6 stops on another airline. I will NEVER FLY DELTA AGAIN. THEY SUCK!!
Posted by: Anique | 01/23/2009 at 03:03 PM
They took money from us when we wanted to cancel a flight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: James Kent | 07/06/2009 at 12:37 AM