Delta Airlines surprised me a few times today. I was out on business all week and today I flew back from Phoenix to Atlanta. I was originally scheduled for a 3PM flight, but my business got finished early, so I was able to move to the 1PM flight. Flight 1570 was completely full but allowed me to get home earlier, so I sacrificed an upgrade opportunity. Here's what I observed.
Delta has now started allowing passengers in coach to buy premium snacks and meals. Rather than being forced to the Biscoff cookies and Sun Chips routine, for a sum between $5.00 and $8.00 you can purchase full meals and premium snacks. I like this option as it gives choice to the passenger. I appreciated having the option. At least it gave the illusion of freedom of choice in a market where passengers feel like cattle. I thought 8 bucks was a bit much for the offerings but at least I had the option to choose.
The particular Boeing 757 I was on had seat back video screens. Unfortunately this flight didn't have movies working, but its Direct TV access worked fine. So I watched a few things then tuned in the evening news fed live. What struck me as particularly ironic was that I tuned into CNN. CNN anchorman Lou Dobbs was asked whether the Delta/Northwest merger was a good idea. I was very interested because I was somewhere over Arkansas in coach listening to this.
Dobbs ranted that this merger was terrible and that the airline business should be re-regulated back to 1978 status. He made no specific comments about the DAL/NWA deal that showed he knew much about it. Dobbs was generally tired of being treated like cattle on the way to slaughter. (methinks he has flown United lately.) Since Lou Dobbs is a journalist, I consider it irresponsible to make comments based on generic experience as a passenger rather than succinct comments on the economic and social impact of the merger objectively. Lou Dobbs had nothing specific to contribute other than he was unhappy with the general passenger experience.
The recent EU-US Open Skies agreement should provide a lot of freedom relative to the European market. Foreign airlines understand service well beyond what's offered in US domestic transport. Round Two of the Open Skies discussion may allow European airlines competitive access to the US market. I would support that as I believe competition will "right size" the market.
Having gotten home tonight, and settled in to clean up my several email accounts, I had a note from Delta. A very surprising note. They sent me a message that they noted that I had a middle seat in coach for my outbound flight on Monday from Atlanta. The note said that they work hard to give Platinum flyers like me either an upgrade or at least an aisle or window seat. However, since I got the middle seat, they were giving me 500 more frequent flyer miles as a way to "reduce my middle seat memory". This is BRILLIANT marketing.
I have said several times that positive reinforcement could cure many passenger related issues that would improve airline operations. Specifically, what if the same 500 miles were given because I check my bag every week instead of bringing it on board? This would have HUGE fuel economy and aircraft turn time implications if Delta or another airline did this. Get the business frequent flyer to check his back instead of putting it in the overhead bin and airlines will save major bucks.
Dear Delta marketing team. Your email to me tonight on the extra FF miles based on the middle seat was EXACTLY the right message. The flight was full and I was thinking I was in steerage on the Titanic. Good job in surprising me with a nice little perk. Surprise your customers often and the passengers will follow. At least my 100K miles a year will.
Eric
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