A loyal Platinum Delta business pass speaks up

[RJPilott]

Ben, try Independence Air. We have several flights a day out of ATL and our RJ's have been fitted with a new comfortable interior. Give us a shot, you may like the experience (especially the price). All reservations are made via our website at www.flyi.com. We are also getting the Airbus with TV's in the seat backs and you will get a smile. One of our core values is, "I am about the customer first". We do everything we can to get to a yes.

 

[vclean]

Commercial aviation has changed. The flying public demands Greyhound/AmTrak prices to fly coast to coast. As in most things in life, you get what you pay for.
There are no more Cadillacs in the sky, we're all Chevys and Fords.

If you feel the need for cheerful personal service, catered meals, and point to point schedules that agree with yours, call NetJets. I'm sure your 3.6B company can justify the addional expense.

http://www.netjets.com
http://www.flightoptions.com
http://www.citationshares.com

 

[benjakes]

Stuck at LGA because of weather in ATL. Not sure if that is pissing me off the most, or the attacks I am weathering.

I stick by my challenge. Go fly JetBlue and tell me why Delta is better/will survive?

Maybe WSJ was right, Darwin is alive and well......

Finally, no, my company cannot afford private flights. Secondly, it is/would only be at the CEO/Board level. I am no where close to that...

 

[SpiffAV8]

benjakes


I honestly have empathy for you.


Years ago I started in the aviation biz working line service at a local FBO in Salt Lake City. A short time later I moved over to the airline world and went to work for Delta. I was with them for several years and held various positions ranging from baggage handler to lavatory service, ticket agent to baggage claim. Now days, I am a Capitan for a large 135 cargo company and waiting for the call from the airlines. I can honestly say I have seen a great deal of what you are talking about.



It is sad that more individuals don’t know what it takes to be a true professional. Honestly, the customer doesn’t care about labor problems or your personal gripes. The customer is only interested in a good experience and is usually willing to pay for it.



I have found some of the best service at the smaller stations. Delta in Colorado Spring, Co is one of my favorite. From the time you check in at the counter till the time you board at the gate you are greeted with a smile and thanked by name.



The type of equipment you fly on is a tuff one but I understand that it comes down to personal preferences. The crews are (or should be) doing there best regardless.



As for booking with one airline and ending up on another…your right. The level of service and accommodations should be up to or better than that of the airline you bought your ticket from.



Fees for ticket changes should be paid for by the customer regardless of there status. It’s a real pain and a lot of work. Seats should be given to FFs based on there status. Every company counts on the return customer and they should be given perks. Anyone who was ever a bartender or waitress understands that!



I will never work for DL, UA or AA or any of there commuters. But I will always remember the pilots and FAs who have left a good impression. Like the 767 Capitan who helped load baggage in a down pour so we could block out on time. Or the crew of a sold out 727, that spoke with each and every passenger after a mechanical on the last flight out. Walking the lines and answering questions, freeing three ticket agents to rebook everyone and find hotels for them.



It’s sad to see crew members of any type bag on a passenger who has just given us all there honest opinion. Most people just go some place else after a bad experience, never saying a word, never to return, no one knowing why they lost the income. Every airline out there needs more people like this you.



Sir you are correct and justified! I can only hope that some one will start to listen and make the changes needed to serve the customer with the respect they deserve. I sincerely hope you find not only what you pay for but for what you deserve.



Spiff

 

[benjakes]

Thanks Spiff

 

[pilotyip]

Pilot vs Doctor get serious

"Flight crews are as skilled as a physician and are asked give up the moon. I don't remember anyone asking their Dr. to take a pay cut before they went into surgery".

A high school drop out can make a living flying an airplane and have a skill level equal to anyone out there driving airplanes, in fact I know one at a major. Doctors can not. Doctor's are trained in unique specialties; they have an elimination process with many obstacles to overcome to get to their profession operating level. When you need a heart transplant, or have cancer, you make sure you have best available in that field and you pay whatever he wants. Pilots on the other hand are a commodity, a company or an airline needs a COM/INST/MEL rated pilot, there are 1,000's to chose from, and the job goes to the lowest bidder. Skill above a minimum level means little to the employer. In fact the skill level above the minimum has little to do with the hiring process, personality, work ethic, etc, play more into the pilot hiring process than hours and ratings. Anyone with a certain level of skill and some desire can become a pilot. Doctors become pilots all the time, and any doctor with the desire can become a pilot. (I know, I know they kill themselves in airplanes, but that is more a personality fault, than a skill short fall) The reverse is not true very few professional pilots have the skill to become doctors. I love flying, do it as much as I can, and I enjoy flying anything with wings, and that is reason I came back to aviation. But I think sometimes pilots have a misplaced why they fly, if you are in it because you like flying, you will not be disappointed. If you are in for the money, you may be disappointed. If you want money become a doctor.

 

[:-)]

I decided to comment because I think that Delta/ASA/Comair and it's pilot's have lost perspective.

Ben, couple of notes. First, you fired the first shot and the responses could hardly be characterized as "attacks". Had you claimed to be a Freedom pilot, or Captain Dan Ford, then you might have been attacked.

You didn't state how long you had been reading this bbs. If you've read it very long, you would know that it sometimes takes a few days to get a broad range of opinions. We pilots don't all carry laptops, so when the senior boys who work during the week read your string the tone will change.

Ref: the above quote. How do you know that the pilots have lost perspective? You have two friends, that doesn't really give you complete knowledge of the situation. We sit behind a locked and armoured door. The problems you address are not pilot problems, they are customer service problems, so why log on here and state that pilots have lost perspective? If you get defensive answers, that would be because you are dealing with people who are defensive. Generally speaking, in the last few years airline pilots have suffered: loss of pay, loss of seniority, reduced pay, increased duty, loss of retirement, etc, and we have to get strip searched every time we go to work because the TSA needs to make a show of "security"

We didn't create the problems you identify. We don't make decisions on aircraft utilization. We don't decide how much it costs to change a ticket. We don't keep you from having a beer during a two hour wait. We're with on the anti-rj rant, with rare exceptions, we also would rather be flying a 777.

Do you realize that the attitude problem you think you have identified is possessed mainly by the flight attendents? Do you realize that the longest reply you have received came not from a pilot but from a flight attendent?


Remember, we sit behind the locked door and most importantly remember this. If we the pilots gave up our contractual working conditions and worked for free, the carriers would still be having problems.

So why do you assume that the industry's problems are the result of our "being worried about ourselves"? For that matter, why do we not get to be worried about ourselves? Are you not worried about yourself? What have you seen a JetBlue pilot do that you have not seen the rest of us do?

I don't doubt that the overall B6 experience is better than DCI/DAL, I just don't see how pilots are any large part of the problem or solution.

 

[benjakes]

Calvin,

You are right about me becoming defensive. Writing is difficult sometimes, because the wrong emotion is sometimes read into a statement.

My apologies. I will wait until all read and or post to get more perspective.

Ben,

PS-I read the board for about 3 weeks.... But I can allways learn

 

[bafanguy]

Benjakes,


There 's little I can add to the excellent posts by BlueBlood, ATL2CDG, and . They've very accurately expressed the frustration felt on the "inside". But, by now, I'd hope you've gotten the message that you're expressing your frustrations to the WRONG group. We have very little control over the issues you mention. Your experience of getting back some form letter in reply to your letter to senior DL management tells you all you need to know, doesn't it ? I quit writing to them because I too got tired of Form Letter #6 from their word processor.

The only angle I can add is that the whole airline world has changed; all the forces impacting what airlines do have changed. DL is not immmune to these influences. Employees can only "hang on". You experience your frustration only when riding on DL; employees live it every day in their attempt to deal with it all.

When I signed on as a DL pilot 30+ years ago ( I bailed 4 years early, 9 months ago), the airline actually lived up to its reputation on the street, both as a place to work and a provider of a service...and it showed in the pax eyes. If you think YOU are irritated and frustrated at what DL has become, try watching the slide from the inside !! DL is now just another airline and no one I know who has spent the majority of his adult life there is happy about it. The company no longer has the soul that made it "Delta" because the management isn't "Delta" but just a bunch of carpetbaggers who came in to profit from misfortune and move on ( witness the recent, and on-going exodus from the G.O ).

If you are not pleased with your face-to-face experiences with DL, I don't know what to tell you other than, "...get in line...". People are just people ( and extremely complicated ) and will eventually display the unpleasant effects of years of frustration, negative influences, and in a lot of cases, fear for their careers. We can talk all day about what "should" be; it would be a waste of breath. Human nature rules.

Personally, I've avoided getting mad as it would only punish ME. But, my circumstances are considerably more fortunate ( through no doing of mine ) than a lot of DL employees. I can, however, imagine myself in their postion and get the idea. Maybe you can too.

I wish I could tell you something more encouraging. Maybe someone will offer a different view. Ask them if they spent 30 years, 6 months there...

 

[benjakes]

Great Post Bafanguy. Thank you. It is your attitude and professional demeanor I remember from past days.

I was thinking that their was still hope yet.... I don't want to see Delta go away.

I am starting to believe the parties are too injured to recover.