Delta, Delta, Delta Airlines…

I travel a lot.  I have some good experiences with airlines and some very bad experiences.  Today, I had a bad experience and I’ll tell you why.

I got on a flight to Seattle from JFK Airport.  It was a direct flight on Delta #DL1743. I was sitting in row 31.  I usually like to be in the front of the plane but when I booked the reservation, this was the only row available.

I was last to board the plane and had my carry on luggage taken away and put underneath the plane, which bothered me because there wasn’t enough room in the overhead. (Since the airlines started charging people for their luggage, everyone seems to have scaled back and have carry on luggage.)

Now, typically I wouldn’t be last on the plane.  I always arrive at the airport with plenty of time to spare so that I can at least get a water bottle and some food for the flight. But, since the security line was exceptionally long, it took what felt like forever to get through to the gate and I was unable to purchase anything.

On the plane, I quickly took my seat. It was boiling hot.  I tried to turn on the air units above the seat but that didn’t work. Suddenly an announcer came on the overhead:

“We’re sorry but there is no air conditioning on this plane because the auxiliary motor was broken. It needs to be fixed and will be about a 20 minute delay,” the pilot said.

The twenty minutes became an hour with no air and lots of cranky passengers. I fell asleep.  When I woke up, the flight attendant handed me a menu to purchase food.  I was glad that there was something to buy because I was starving.

I turned on the call button to alert the flight attendant that I wanted to order something as soon as possible.  But, no one came around until the beverage cart came.

“I’m so sorry but there is no food left on the plane,” the flight attendant said. “Here are some biscotti’s and pretzels.”

“But this is a 5 1/2 hour flight,” I said. “You have nothing? I can’t even purchase anything from first class?”

“Sorry, no,” she said.

I started to think about it. Why wouldn’t the airlines ask you when you check in if you want food so that there is enough on the plane?

And why didn’t they stock up on food while we were at the gate?

Lastly, why are the lines so long in security?  With so many people unemployed, can’t they hire more people to get the lines moving faster?

I’m all for running a cost effective and efficient operation but when customer service is no longer a priority, there’s a big problem.

While the corporate executives are eating their lunch, I’m sure there are some big ideas out there which can keep the airlines profitable while still providing customer service.

Do you have any ideas?