I don’t want to underestimate the difficulties that the major airlines face. However, I am very frustrated with Delta. I fly about 6 segments a week on them. Just about every customer of theirs I have spoken to perceives the quality of their basic service (delays, cancellations, etc…) to have significantly worsened.

To add insult to injury, Delta is advertising the “New Delta” experience. It includes things like the availability of Signature Cocktails and other such superfluous “window dressing.” As a student of consumer psychology, I expect that when active customers hearing these advertisements as the foundational elements of the customer experience continue to worsen… the effect is producing a lot of anger!!

I think a lot of companies need to realize that adding “nonfunctional decorations” to a poor basic experience tends to make things worse in the mind of the customer.

I read a book many years ago by Albert S. Hirschman called Exit, Voice and Loyalty (abstracted nicely in Wikipedia) that postulates that customers (or employees) can respond to unsatisfactory experiences by “exit” (withdraw from the relationship), “voice” (speak up about the experience), or “loyalty” (shut up and try to enjoy being a customer or exmployee). I’ve tried to live by that maxim.

As a fellow Atlantan who flies into and out of Atlanta at least once per week, mostly on Delta, I fully agree with your comments about our home based airline (and many other horrendous customer experiences inflicted daily by both Delta and by Hartsfield-Jackson Airport). I have to travel, so “exit” is not an option in either case. I occasionally resort to “voice” to find that compounds the dreadful customer experience. My last letter to Delta’s CEO complaining about several major disasters in customer experience, and raising key questions about the airline’s policies and procedures was replied with a boilerplate, “Sorry you were disappointed, here’s a $100 voucher.” As if that would make me feel better!

For all the times when we cannot “exit” the relationship, and when “voice” creates as negative a customer experience as the lapse that led to it, I just wish that companies read and act on your blog. Keep it coming!