Perry Cantarutti is the vice president for sales and customer care at Delta Air Lines, the airline’s top customer-service position. I wanted to find out his tips for getting better customer service from an airline — particularly his. So I asked.
Delta used to have a sterling reputation for customer service among legacy carriers. In recent years, you’ve tried to recapture that with internal programs like “First Point of Contact”. How is the customer experience now, in your opinion?
Delta employees are extremely proud of the fact that for a generation we were known as the industry leader in customer service. That’s why our focus today is on delivering a high level of service for customers, but one that is adapted to 21st century expectations.
Deregulation and technology completely changed our industry. Fares are at all-time lows, fuller planes have been required to achieve profitability and customers expect speed and quality that far exceeds what the industry delivered in its early years.
Some of the recent changes we’ve made at Delta to address our current reality have included reintroducing “First Point of Contact” service recovery to allow our flight crews, airport staff and reservations agents to compensate passengers on the spot. We have also reintroduced “Red Coats” to provide assistance in our airports and have added self-service automation to our Web site and airports to eliminate lines and waits during delays.
What areas of customer service are you happy with? And which areas are you working on?
Since joining Delta from Northwest almost a year ago, I have come to appreciate the passion Delta people share with their Northwest counterparts in providing our customers with the highest level of service possible. So the will is there and that is always the hardest part in creating a successful customer service program.
Our challenge now is to ensure that our employees have the tools and programs in place to live up to their potential and provide a consistent experience for our customers. Technology is helping in this area and we are continuing to identify solutions that can advance these efforts and further support our employees’ efforts.
Speaking of technology, what’s the best way of contacting Delta when you have a problem with a flight?
It depends on where the customer is during the travel experience. Prior to travel, you should contact our reservations line at 800-221-1212 and ask for a customer service representative. If the customer is at the airport, they should seek assistance from the nearest customer service agent. If travel has been completed, contact customer care via delta.com by selecting “contact us”.
Can you offer any tips for getting a speedy resolution to a customer service problem, in the unlikely event that one occurs with Delta?
The best thing a passenger can do is to have all of their information on hand when they contact us. This includes date of travel, SkyMiles membership information, confirmation and ticket numbers, passengers’ full names and flight schedule.
Summarizing concerns in a clear and concise manner will allow our employees to effectively and efficiently handle concerns. We train our agents to work with customers dealing with extenuating circumstances, as well as those that haven’t received the level of customer service we are committed to providing. Each situation is unique and we ask our customer service agents to treat it as such.
There’s been a lot of recent discussion among airline passengers about H1N1 and change fees. It’s my understanding that Delta has taken a flexible attitude toward changes, even on nonrefundable tickets. Can you describe your current policy?
We do work to offer some flexibility. In situations where a passenger is unable to travel because of an illness, a doctor’s note may be required to waive change fees for non-refundable tickets.
I get an average of two or three requests a day from Delta passengers, asking me to intervene with the airline to bend a rule for refunds or changes. Can you help my readers understand why airlines like Delta have rules regarding ticket changes and refunds?
When purchasing a ticket, similar to other airlines, a passenger enters into an agreement with us to provide them with travel services. We refer to this as the contract of carriage and make it available at delta.com for review by our passengers. The contract of carriage establishes guidelines to ensure that we live up to our end of the contract and helps to establish the expectations the passenger should have in terms of our service.
These rules are important because the product we sell is a perishable one, meaning that once a flight has taken off we can no longer sell those specific seats to that destination. As a result, for each flight we offer variety of fare classes that provide a mix of cost and level of flexibility for changes and refunds.
The various types of fare classes allow passengers to determine what kind of flexibility they require for their travel at what price. The amount of risk the passenger is comfortable with in the unfortunate event that their plans change needs to be considered when they purchase various fare types.
How has the merger with Northwest Airlines affected service?
The merger with Northwest has made Delta a stronger carrier in a number of areas, but particularly in some of our customer facing functions. Combined we have created a best-in-class frequent flyer program and leveraged many customer related benefits. These benefits include information technology applications to further improve Delta’s customer experience from the time they check-in until they arrive at their final destination.
Some examples include enhanced meal services, check-in technology improvements, online itinerary change options during inclement weather and the introduction of Delta signature Red Coats at former Northwest hubs.
What can air travelers do to get the best possible customer experience from an airline like Delta?
As the head of Delta’s customer service efforts, I’m sure you can imagine I get asked this quite often. I always tell customers that the best thing they can do is report an issue as soon as possible. Track down one of our agents and explain your situation at the airport. Our newly introduced Red Coats are also a great resource for customer service related issues and can be easily identified by their signature Red Coat.
For baggage issues, although occurrences of delayed and damaged baggage are extremely rare, I encourage passengers to report such occurrences at the airport if possible and to do so within 24 hours. This gives us the best chance of returning their luggage. Otherwise, we do offer the option of the customer filing a claim using a form that is available online at delta.com.
Here’s a question I try to ask of all airlines: Is it possible to run a profitable airline and have happy customers? Or does an airline have to choose one over the other?
The answer is that we don’t have to choose to be profitable versus having happy customers at Delta we know we can do both.
First, we are uniquely positioned as a result of our merger with Northwest and have the benefit of looking at two network carriers and adopting policies and procedures from each to create an award-winning customer service program.
Over the last year or so, even in a weakened economy Delta has continued to reinvest in our customers in both technology upgrades making the check-in process easier, as well as our onboard products making the in-flight experience more comfortable. Along with this, we are working to identify ways to streamline the process for the occasions when our operations are disrupted and passengers are inconvenienced to get them reaccomodated and on their way to their final destinations as soon as possible.
I get a lot of complaints about fees, from luggage fees to change fees. Is there any scenario under which you see Delta eliminating a a la carte fees and charging a price for the entire air travel experience? Or are ancillary revenues too important now to the overall revenue picture?
The entire industry has moved towards these “a la carte fees” and Delta will continue to remain competitive with other carriers. In fact, our most loyal customers don’t incur these fees as they typically apply to customers that choose to fly Delta on a less consistent basis.
Ancillary revenues have been critical in the current economic environment. At Delta, fees are a source; however, we also rely on revenue from both our cargo and maintenance, repair and overhaul operations.
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Nice job by a talking head. He gave all of the correct canned responses without any substance. Time will tell if the combined DL/NW will be strong in customer service.
I usually fly Delta (not because I seek them out, but because I live in Atlanta and don’t have much choice). Overwhelmingly, my experiences with them are positive. And I was so impressed with the Delta leg on a recent trip to Europe that I was disappointed that the other half of the trip was a codeshare on a different airline (a good airline, KLM, but not as good as Delta).
This is only tangentially related to customer service, but I want to get the comment out there, especially in the hope that Mr. Cantarutti or someone in his office will read it. As a customer, and as a decent human being, I want Delta and its employees to do well. And with regards to the employees, I want Delta to retain good people by giving fair good cost-of-living increases every year to every employee, and to reward superb employees with merit increases over and above the cost-of-living adjustment. I want them to have good vacation time. And for those that have to spend time in hotels as part of their jobs, I want those hotels to be pleasant environments in enjoyable neighborhoods. (By the way, I’m not affiliated with Delta in any way, nor is any member of my family; this is genuinely from the perspective of a customer. I want to deal with happy, satisfied people.) I understand that such quality-of-life issues on the other side of the counter cost money, and that it will be reflected in my ticket cost. Which brings me around to my point: I would be happy to pay more for my ticket, perhaps even $100-$200 more UNDER ONE CONDITION: I want to be absolutely, 100% certain that NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON on that plane paid less than me to be there. So I’m going to keep looking for the bargains, checking fare histories, and returning to the website every day to make sure I get the lowest fare. But what I really want is for that lowest fare to go up for EVERYBODY so that Delta can return to viability, reward its employees, and establish new technological initiatives (and not just those that keep down costs, but also those that enhance the passenger’s experience).
The airlines are playing a game with fare sales that the Internet makes it impossible for them to win. And I don’t think most customers like the game any more than the airlines do. I know it’s hard to walk away from the game when the competitors are still playing. And I assume anti-trust regulations make it impossible for the industry to act together. But somehow Delta (and every other airlines) needs to find a way out of the gimmickry of wildly fluctuating airfares.
Three weeks ago my wife, 91 year old father in law, and I arrived at RSW for a Delta flight to ATL connecting with another flight to SEA. We were scheduled to depart RSW at 6:55 pm with a 44 minute layover in ATL. At the time we made the reservation the flight was the best option because we had no way of knowing when we would be finished with work and weren’t sure we could make an earlier flight. Anyone who flies in and out of ATL knows how stressful the short layover can be because Delta gates are spread across about 6 terminals and sometimes the trek from one to another can be quite lengthy. We arrived at our RSW gate shortly after 4pm and learned another Delta flight headed for Atlanta was departing around 5:25pm. I asked the gate agent for that flight if any space was available so we could get to ATL earlier and have a leisurely transition to the next flight. She said the only way we could get onboard the 5:25pm flight was if we paid $50 each. We had no checked baggage. About a dozen other passengers waiting for the 6:55 pm departure, most without checked luggage, were also at the gate area with us. Some of the people I spoke with had tried to change their tickets to ATL as well but were told the change fee plus the difference between what they had originally paid for their ticket and the going price for the ticket to be sold on that date would have to be paid as well. In some cases the difference was well over $100. None of us opted to fork over more money and board the 5:25 flight. This aircraft left the gate with 55 empty seats and we waited another 90 minutes to get to ATL. I wrote to Delta’s customer service center explaining the situation and in their email reply apologized for “not living up to our expectations”. The email also said we would receive another email which contained $50 vouchers for each of us to be used on a future flight. I was shocked that I had even received a reply because in the past Delta customer service has been totally unresponsive to my enquiries and observations. The prospect of being given the $50 vouchers led me to believe Delta was making progress in their lame approach to taking care of their passengers. Alas, it’s been three weeks and we have not received the second email with the voucher numbers. This is customer service? I think Mr. Cantarutti is not walking the talk.
cAN ANYONE EXPLAIN WHY PASSENGERS ARE FORCED TO UNLOAD AND LOAD SUITCASES AT THE AIRPORT FOR MINOR VARIATIONS IN SUITCASE WEIGHT. iF ONE OF MY SUITCASES WEIGHS 54 POUNDS AND THE OTHER WEIGHS 45 POUNDS CAN’T COMMON SENSE PREVAIL AND THE AVERAGE USED.
Though the above comment has nothing to do with this article, please keep in mind: No one is ever FORCED to do anything.
Airlines have policies, you are aware of them, it is your choice how you want to arrive at the airport and deal with them. If you have a 54-pound bag, the agent is offering you the opportunity to meet the bag limit to avoid the fee. You are NEVER FORCED to do that. You may pay the overweight fee, it is entirely up to you.
The policy is a 50-pound bag limit, not an average of 50 pounds. And please keep in mind that corporate executives set those policies, not the people you take out your frustrations on at the airport. Those people are simply doing their jobs. The extension of this problem is not a 52/48, but how about 70/30, or 80/20 bags? Do you want to lift that 70 or 80 pound bag? And who pays for the injury cost when someone is injured lifting that extremely heavy bag? Ah yes, thus overweight fees.
Delta customer service was non existence Friday night February 5, 2010. We had made an unscheduled landing due to mechanical problems at the Detroit airport. The ground employees were rude and gave no assistance to the passengers of this unexpected landing. No assistance was given to us as to what the intent was of getting us to Boston on flight 3972 or what was going to happen.
We were finally given some information and we secured another plane (hours later) and completed our trip to the original destination, Boston. Upon arriving in Boston there was no luggage. I filed a claim and was told that my luggage was in Detroit and then given an overnight kit. A passenger from our flight was walking through baggage claim, and found unclaimed luggage and determined that it was ours (me and four other passengers). You folks didn’t even know where my luggage was and I had to pay you extra to mishandle it as well.
The service and lack of attention form the Delta employees was not acceptable.
This is exactly the kind of complaint you should post on http://airconsumer.dot.gov/.
Do it. They get action.
Caren Shedd
A passenger from our flight was walking through baggage claim, and found unclaimed luggage and determined that it was ours (me and four other passengers). You folks didn’t even know where my luggage was and I had to pay you extra to mishandle it as well.
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Your bags arrived with YOU, but, YOU failed to see them in the baggage claim area, and YOU blame the airline?????
ROTL