Death of customer service: Delta Airlines
Some Delta's customer service personnel should be fired. In this economy, I'm sure there are may other competent folks out there who'd love to have a job and have at least basic customer service skills. Some of the current employees (especially the ones manning the SFO terminal 1 desk around 2 pm on Sunday, March 15) have obviously become too complacent. Their attitude needs a major readjustment -- if not total replacement.
As we were walking to the terminal we were informed via telephone alerts that our flight from SFO to SLC would be late. Seems like at least the Delta automated system is effective and polite. As is their affiliate of Skywest Airlines. But I can't say the same about the Delta personnel. Maybe Skywest personnel should replace them all?
So here's what happpend. The airport was mostly deserted and the line for Delta had only one person ahead of us checking in with three Delta employees hovering over that one customer. Yes, one could come up with a joke about it -- how may Delta employees does it take to check in one passenger? Three. One to actually do the job and two to waste their time while other passengers look on.
Once they'd made us wait. Quite deliberately because, hey, we needed to be put in our place as customers. One of the guys finally decided to help us with the following question first: "Is it quick?" I'm sorry but did the bozo behind the counter just first check with us whether we'd be wasting his time? Why, because he was 007 in disguse about to head off to fight the enemy? Because he needed to go pee? Actually, not our problem but obnoxious as hell.
And the excuse for the delay? The SFO Air Traffic Control isn't letting their planes land because there's a little bit of fog. SFO is used to fog. And there's not that much fog. Plus, if they knew that the plane was still sitting on the tarmac in Salt Lake City, it would have been nice to let us know about it as soon as they knew about the delay. Rather than making us sit around at SFO for three or four hours...for a one-hour and fifteen minute flight.
Time for a makeover, Delta, if you want to get out of this recession alive...rather than becoming the GM of the airlines.