Customer Service Comeback? Delta’s “Red Coats” Revival

July 28, 2009 | Posted in: Ask Rick,Delta

The Red Coats are coming, the Red Coats are coming!

Clearly, I don’t make a very good Paul Revere – but Delta is trying to make a very good impression on its customers by reviving its old Red Coats program, as reported in the NY Times.

For those of you who can remember back to the days of “airline customer service”, the Red Coats were roving employees who looked for passengers with problems, and were the airline’s visible symbols (you could spot that red jackets from miles away) – ready to answer questions with a smile. Then came bankruptcy. Then came kiosks. The Red Coats went the way of an onboard airline meal.

But now the Red Coats are back – in JFK and Atlanta – and more are coming, to airports in Washington, Los Angeles, Boston, Cincinnati, Memphis, and Newark. Keep reading for more!

They will have hand-held devices to print out boarding passes, and meal vouchers if necessary. I hope they can make things run more smoothly when problems occur. Sometimes, it’s just nice to have someone to talk to – face-to-face.

Share|

One Response to “Customer Service Comeback? Delta’s “Red Coats” Revival”

1. Jayasimha Buddiga says:

   July 29, 2009 at 12:33 pm

   Customer Service in the Airline Industry?
   It is a thing of the past. There is no such thing anymore. Even Airlines
   outside the United States have cut back on services. I have flown more than
   16 international trips (on 6 airlines) and more than 30 domestic flights in the past 3 years.
   The service in 2009 has reached the bottom. I don’t think it can go any further.
   America based Airline employees have become: Grumpy Old People.
   No smile, no enthusiasm, they work for a living, want fly, it is your problem attitude.
   Compare that to Asia based Airline employees: Young, Enthusiastic, Eager, Efficient and they smile.

   The Air service has become a Bus service. The airport is more like a Bus Station.

   Have you flown through the new $1.5 Billion Terminal 5 at Heathrow, London (LHR)?
   It is a glorified Bus Station.
   I have been bussed on 6 of the 8 flights. And due to this bussing I nearly missed a connecting flight, even though I had 90 minutes between flights, lost 15 minutes of bussing each way.