Good-Bye Blue & Red - Let's Try Purple

You might remember that last year I had some fun with Delta Airlines and Big, Fat, Stinky Leroy. Well, I took some of the color out of my blog post and submitted an official complaint with Delta. This is what they had to say:

Dear Mrs. Beery,

Thank you for your e-mail to Delta Air Lines.

I appreciate your comments concerning your recent experience with our Reservations department. We treat any report of customer dissatisfaction very seriously and regret your disappointment with His reply. The airline industry is very competitive, and the goodwill of our customers is important to the lasting success of our company. Your feedback is important to us and we incorporate customers' views and opinions as we make decisions.
Please accept our apology for the unfavorable impression you received in this instance. We appreciate your selection of Delta and will always consider it a privilege to be of service.

Polite and to the point, but it really doesn't mean anything to me. In fact, they did a nice job of making this response all about themselves - our industry is competitive, you make us successful, feedback is important to us because we can use it later. By the time I finished reading it I didn't feel like they cared about my experience as much as they appreciated that I told them about it. Of course, by the time I read this my opinion of Delta was already pretty low, so it would have taken something exceptionally generous and personal to make an impact. This didn't quite cut it.

Still, I had high hopes, but not anymore. My flights were okay. Nothing spectacular. I had to pay for everything: luggage, food, headphones (I refused to pay for those, and am glad - people kept complaining that they could hear the video anyway). Sure, Delta's rates were originally the cheapest, but by the time I tacked on everything else, I barely saved anything. I'm not sure I want to save $50 to be treated as if I'm as important as a piece of luggage.

And I never did get a travel voucher from anyone.

It may not be a lot of money to Delta, but flying 2-4 times a year adds up for me. Even when I use points programs for free tickets, someone is getting that money, and I refuse to continue to pay people to treat me like crap - as if I owe them something for flying with them. I'm sorry, but my $500 should be enough for them. It obviously isn't enough for Delta.

That's why my next trip is booked with Southwest. My sister has never had a problem with them, and they actually compensate travelers if they change/cancel flights (unlike Delta, who told me to make the change of cancel my ticket). Yes, I have to drive four hours (instead of 40 minutes) to get to the airport, but it'll be worth it to be treated like a human passenger and not just a revenue-earning piece of cargo.

Okay, Southwest - show me whatcha got.