Larry’s Log

Another couple of weeks have gone by with me sitting in the Hartsfield-Jackson Intl. Airport. Last week my flight to Philly was diverted due to ground fog to Newark. This week I get to the airport and my flight is cancelled. I’m waiting on my later flight now.

I got into a conversation about customer satisfaction with a fellow employee while waiting for this flight. I was explaining to him why I had switched from Delta to Airtran for my flights. Basically it boiled down to the fact that after flying week after week for the last half of the year to and from Philadelphia I still hadn’t amassed enough Medallion Qualifier Miles to make Silver Medallion. I had 21,000 and the Delta requires 25,000 to get there. The advantage of getting Silver Medallion for me was the earlier boarding time which would help ensure that there was space in the overhead bin for my carryon bag. I was constantly being one of the last groups loaded and the overhead bins were full by the time I was allowed on the plane.

I understand, on a rational level, that I just didn’t meet their requirements. Emotions, though, aren’t rational and I wasn’t happy with the fact that after all those trips I was still going to be stuck loading last and having to stick my bag under my seat where my feet needed to go to fit my 6′3″ frame comfortably in my seat. He insisted that I shouldn’t hold the airline responsible for my unhappiness. I contend that I don’t need to be rational, as a customer, about who to hold responsible. If I’m not happy with my experience with Delta, regardless of whether or not they are following their policy that I know about and are aware of, I need to find an airline I’m happy with.

It seems that weather is mainly responsible for my delays the last two weeks but again I’m unhappy. I’m also unhappy that the seats on Airtran appear to be about two inches closer together than I’ve found on other airlines. Maybe my next tickets will be purchased for USAir.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS