Delta: We need more humans in customer service

by Janice Hough on June 23, 2010


No traveler hopes they’ll have to meet a customer service agent face-to-face during a trip. On the other hand, a human is generally much preferable to one of the airlines’ much touted kiosks.

While carriers say that these kiosks can handle rebooking canceled and delayed flights, the fact is that the “skills” of these machines are pretty basic. If the next flight has space, the machine puts you on it with some caveats — assuming the flight is operated by your original carrier, is going to the identical airport, etc, etc.

In short, if there is any kind of a complicated itinerary involved or a bad travel day with weather or a lot of other delays, the kiosks get overwhelmed pretty fast.

Since airlines have cut airport staff because they expected the machines to take over much of their jobs, overwhelmed kiosks turn into overwhelmed customer service agents and airport chaos develops pretty fast. (As a “brick and mortar” travel agent I must say that the silver lining in all this is a number of clients calling agencies again because they have “had it” with the online-automated world.)

But now it appears as if Delta at least is realizing that the savings in personnel costs may be costing them more in the long run. How else to explain the report in a newsletter for retail travel agents this morning that the airline is adding 700 airport customer service employees, and 300 additional reservations agents, primarily to deal with flight disruptions.

Delta will primarily fill these jobs from current part-time and reserve employees, but may actually hire new employees to fill the rest of them if needed.

What’s less important here are the details than the fact that Delta has acknowledged a problem and is now spending actual money to fix it. Whether it’s proactive customer service, or some management report telling them they are losing more money in the current situation, it’s hard to believe this could make things worse for travelers.

In fact, years ago, Delta was famous for their “Red Coats,” customer service agents empowered to fix issues on the spot. They canceled the program in 2005, and brought it back in a more limited capacity a few years ago. Whether these new agents will be “Red Coats” or not, it means more humans in case of a problem.

And while anyone who travels frequently has “stupid human stories,” overall, I think most of us agree, they are far better and more creative when problems develop than mindless machines.

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Tagged as: airport kiosks, customer service, Delta Air Lines, Delta Airlines

  • SpaceCadet51

    As a furloughed DL employee who several times worked IROPS at ATL’s Gate A-18 for 56 consecutive days of overtime without a single day off I have only one remark for DL’s Mismanagement: “DUH”. Why did it take you so many years to figure out that a creative human touch is needed in times of IROPS and machines can’t do everything! It’s going to take you at least double the 5 years you have been without Red Jackets to come back to breaking even … and probably you won’t be able to come close, because some “management” type is going to short-circuit the program once again to save a few dollars, because it’s “not working fast enough”. I got news for you bubbas … you took a great airline and gutted it completely. Just putting the pieces back isn’t going to be enough. The Old Delta is ruined, and you will never recover.

  • Dominick

    Some pencil pusher sitting behind a desk somewhere figures out that by cutting people the company can save money. Then the real life sets in and now it is costing them more then money, they are losing customers.Also the airlines are being run by people who are not airline people. They have no idea what it takes to run an airline, and how to treat their employees. I worked for two airlines and have seen how bad judgements lead to workers losing their jobs. The bottom line to them is money and what thaey can get out of it.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    I hope that other airlines will follow the lead of Delta.

    Over 80% of the time, I will check in for my flights and print my boarding passes before I get to the airport. However, there are times that I need to speak with an agent at the ticket counter when checking in because the kiosk can’t handle my requess, issues, problems, etc. It is frustrating.

  • John M

    I hope that they train these people better than most of their most recent hires. Many of the experienced agents are gone and they took with them years of knowledge and experience. Many of the counter agents today, don’t know how to do anything beyond the most basic things and have to rely upon calling someone else.

  • David Z

    Just a pessimistic thought.

    Will this result in Delta increasing their airfares to, say, give incentives to customer service agents to do their job?

    Are people willing to pay more to get that kind of service if others are able to seemingly do so at lower prices?

    Stay tuned…

  • Dave E

    Survived 3 down sizes and took the transfer to Tampa from Boston when that office closed. Worked reservations on the SMS (Medalian) desk. Even when the phone banks were put in at the terminals we still got calls because it was quicker. We could affect changes while the pax was still in line and seemed to have more info available. Even going on the web would prove invaluable since the info required was not available on the internal system. When the merger came in view I realized it was time to get out. Having started with Northeast Airlines back in school, I have always had aviation in my blood. It carried me thrue the air force and back into Delta. It’s a shame to see what was built up by Chicago & Southern, Northeast, and Western has turned into. There is no such thing as loyalty any more. John M; You’re right. The knowledge that we took with us can not be replaced and there is no way to teach the new people what we learned over the years. I think that within a few years we’ll see three major US international carriers with the LCC’s covering most of the country and feeding the major connecting points for the long haul flights. Flying just is not he fun it used to be.

  • Ed

    I agree that if there are problems or complicated itineraries, that a human agent can more than likely get the job done to the satisfaction of the customer, but I for one prefer the automation over the human factor almost every time…but then again, I’m a technologist. I have a firm belief in technology and embrace all technology. Whether it’s an ATM or a self checkout at the grocery store (I *LOVE* those grocery stores that give you a scanner so you can scan your purchases while you walk around the store…then all you have to do is pay when you leave! I get to pack the bags, the way I want and only unpack when I get home…that’s great!)
    Remember the saying…”to err is human…”

  • Enb

    Maybe they should spend more money on software development to get kiosks to do more. My husband swears that after last night’s 18-hour debacle, during which Delta employees treated himand other customers like trash, he will never fly Delta again. At least a terminal can’t scream at you. In fact I thought that this article’s headline meant “humans” as opposed to some lower and more aggressive form of life!

  • Patti Anderson

    When I ran into a problem a Delta “human” I encountered at the airport couldn’t solve anything and laughed that Delta Vacations had told me to talk to them. When there’s a problem Delta blames Delta Vacations and Delta Vacations blames Delta. In the long run nothing gets solved.

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