Delta has issued a statement of apology to the family booted off a flight from Maui to Los Angeles.
Trying to avert a potential media tempest, Delta has taken (almost) full responsibility, shifting blame away from the family:
We are sorry for the unfortunate experience our customers had with Delta, and we’ve reached out to them to refund their travel and provide additional compensation. Delta’s goal is to always work with customers in an attempt to find solutions to their travel issues. That did not happen in this case and we apologize.
Delta doesn’t quite go as far as saying it was wrong, but its gesture of refunding travel plus additional compensation signals a stark change in tone from when the incident occurred. Onboard DL2222, the Delta agent refused to re-accomodate or provide any other assistance to the removed family. This despite the fact that the family made a reasonable mistake in its flawed assumption about its extra purchased seat.
I think Rene gets it exactly right in asserting–
The bottom line on this, and every situation that will come up for years to come, is the airlines are now in fear of the endless news cycle of them treating customers badly again and again and again. They are in fear, not of us, but of the time when there are perhaps new laws that will cost their bottom line and impact the share price.
Just as many inside United Airlines still believe it was right to drag Dr. Dao off the plane, I suspect Delta has little remorse for what occurred. But it has optics to worry about and if it has learned anything from United’s mishaps, it is that small problems can quickly become huge nightmares.
Thus, Delta’s statement was compulsory.
CONCLUSION
I am sure I am not the only once who notices a lot more of these stories lately. The only thing that has changed is that they are now deemed more newsworthy than before. These sorts of events routinely occur and will continue to occur. Sadly for airlines, I believe these occurrences will only proliferate. With knowledge that airlines can now be “blackmailed” through bad press and the fear of regulation, look for “copycats”.
I agree with Rene. Refunding the families’ tickets and providing “compensation” is a drop in the bucket. The airline industry has already consolidated too much for the US3 to be truly concerned about the passenger experience. I mean I wonder how #BoycottUnited is going since United’s stock has rebounded since its situation. Ultimately the government has the control, but I don’t think it has an appetite to regulate as long as airlines minimize bad PR and keep issues out of the news.
Why are the news stations incapable of explaining what the situation is here. It’s all just following a narrative. Hopefully one of the airline CEO’s grows a spine.
Absolutely correct…….they just seem to dig the hole deeper and have now set precedents that will enable every crying, whinging, whining customer to demand something – free tickets, full refunds, upgrades to F-class – 99% of the time due to misunderstandings and unreasonable demands by the customer. Pandora’s box, can of worms……it has all be opened up. I feel sorry for gate agents and airline crews; they will never win the battle.
To add to your comment that agents and crews will never win the battle: what you will start to see is that because of this, employees just won’t deal with these situations at all, allowing everyone to do as they please, which will ultimately lead to a poor experience for everyone. Many times issues arise because airlines have policies and do not adequately train on how to handle exceptions to these policies. Like in the statement issued by Delta, they don’t mention that it’s their own policy as stated on their website, that tickets cannot be transferred. They imply that there should’ve been a solution to the situation, yet I doubt the employees involved had any idea there were any alternatives to what they know and are told are rules to be followed.
Hard for me to believe this guy didn’t realize that his older son would be deemed a n0-show, therefore his seat was forfeited and would be re-assigned. Delta caved in too quickly in my opinion and in doing so will, as you suggest, do nothing but encourage more of this.
Right, and everyone of these passengers who are totally in the wrong (now AA and DL), arrogantly walk away with compensation (refunds, upgrades, free tickets, lawsuits, etc.) and the feeling that they have done no wrong. Airline employees will be living on the edge every time they have to make a decision based on airline and/or government rules and policies – and these decisions most times are made in the heat of the moment, not something you can predict or premeditate on. They are up against valid rules/ company policy and procedure/ fear of reprimand by superiors/ and the passengers. I predict the passengers will have the upper hand and the airlines will give the store away just to shut them up.
So in your opinion kicking off a family of 4 in the middle of the night without transportation or any means of shelter is fine? Why didn’t she just let them hold the baby and let the flight take off. They need to be retrained! Maybe he felt since he paid for his sons ticket his toddler son could use it? She really didn’t explain to him that they overbooked the flight as they usually do. I’m sorry but in my opinion she was just nasty and rude threatening to put his kids in foster care, give me a break he was extremely calm considering the situation.
We have now crossed the line where airlines have taken on the additional titles of Social Workers and Banks. Will there ever be an incident from this point forward where the airline is right and the customer is wrong ?
Right now it is a passenger’s paradise — just complain, jump up and down, cry “bad customer service” and all the other buzzwords and worn-out cliches…….you will still be a lottery winner.