As a frequent business travelers with "elite" status on a major carrier, we are wooed with ever more alluring bids for our business. For the longest time I had looked at such "perks" as empty and shallow ploys at getting my loyalty (read dollar) into the coffers of this airline or that.
However, recently I have seen the light.
Elite status is nice; access to lounges, upgrades to business (on domestic flights mostly but that's a different topic), free bags, etc. The perk that has meant the most is getting to know some of the professionals that keep the airline running. Most recently this was reinforced for me when i recieved a call from my friendly neighborhood "Red Coat" (disclosure: I fly Delta) on a Sunday afternoon as I raced through Costco.
He wanted to see if I could drop by the airport a speak to the other Delta service reps at DTW about my experiences as a Diamond Medallion member. Give my feedback directly to the team and share my experiences, expectations, and otherwise be a guset speaker at one of their team meetings.
What's so extraordinary about that? He called me from his own cell; not the Delta customer service call center, not from a list of other Delta Medallion member numbers. Somebody asked him and the other red coats to see if they could ask a medallion member to stop by and speak at their meeting and he pulled a name and contact from his mind and called me. I am not even that frequent a traveler, once or twice a month for a hop across the pond. But when he had to think of a person he knew he could call me, directly.
I am embarrassed to say that I let him down (I am only in town a few weeks a month and couldn't swing the date), but he showed me just what great customer service can and should be. PERSONAL. Delta, I appreciate the lounge, the upgrades, the awards, the miles and everything just fine; but what really makes the loyalty engine go for me is that my friends work for you, and that keeps me in you planes.
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| Customer service superstars from Delta |
Elite status is nice; access to lounges, upgrades to business (on domestic flights mostly but that's a different topic), free bags, etc. The perk that has meant the most is getting to know some of the professionals that keep the airline running. Most recently this was reinforced for me when i recieved a call from my friendly neighborhood "Red Coat" (disclosure: I fly Delta) on a Sunday afternoon as I raced through Costco.
He wanted to see if I could drop by the airport a speak to the other Delta service reps at DTW about my experiences as a Diamond Medallion member. Give my feedback directly to the team and share my experiences, expectations, and otherwise be a guset speaker at one of their team meetings.
What's so extraordinary about that? He called me from his own cell; not the Delta customer service call center, not from a list of other Delta Medallion member numbers. Somebody asked him and the other red coats to see if they could ask a medallion member to stop by and speak at their meeting and he pulled a name and contact from his mind and called me. I am not even that frequent a traveler, once or twice a month for a hop across the pond. But when he had to think of a person he knew he could call me, directly.
I am embarrassed to say that I let him down (I am only in town a few weeks a month and couldn't swing the date), but he showed me just what great customer service can and should be. PERSONAL. Delta, I appreciate the lounge, the upgrades, the awards, the miles and everything just fine; but what really makes the loyalty engine go for me is that my friends work for you, and that keeps me in you planes.
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