This year, Delta Air Lines celebrates its 100th anniversary, a singular accomplishment among airlines, and though I wasn’t invited to the party, my colleague Zachary Hansen reported that Atlanta’s high society was in high spirits during a weekend gala held at the Delta Flight Museum.
This milestone celebration occurred a few weeks after a Delta regional jet crash-landed and flipped over at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Fortunately, all passengers and crew survived. The airline offered $30,000 in compensation but has also been hit with lawsuits.
Weeks earlier, a midair collision between a U.S. Army helicopter and an American Airlines flight resulted in the deaths of all 67 people aboard both aircraft.
Commercial airliners rarely crash, but the two incidents left the public concerned about air travel safety.
Delta officials cited the drop in domestic consumer confidence and a decline in corporate spending as reasons for cutting their profit and revenue growth projections in half for the first quarter.
Other airlines have taken similar measures, including Southwest Airlines which predicted lower quarterly revenue growth. The airline also upset its core customers by dropping its 50-year policy of allowing two free checked bags. The policy change will take place this summer as the Dallas-based, low-cost carrier looks for ways to boost revenue.
Last year, Delta was named the top airline in customer satisfaction but two months later was slammed for slow recovery from a global technology outage.
The constant ups and downs of the industry might lead you to think air travel is in trouble but I have always felt that airlines are a lot like casinos — somehow, the house always wins.
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
My experience with Delta has been a tale of highs and lows.
In January 2019, I booked a last-minute flight from Atlanta to Chicago for a funeral. It happened to be during the two-day Polar Vortex snap in the Windy City, the coldest recorded temperature Chicago had seen in 34 years. The wind chill was below zero, temperatures were minus 23 degrees, then it snowed.
Flights were canceled as fast as the temperature was dropping but somehow, Delta defied the odds and got me to Chicago. I was the only out-of-town guest.
I have exclusively flown Delta since 2014 — mostly out of convenience — but after that experience, my loyalty was driven by respect.
That feeling lasted until 2023 when I was preparing to board a flight to Tampa, Florida, and was summoned by a gate agent, not once but twice.
The first time, she asked me to give up my seat and move to a row in the back of the plane. When I declined, she called me again. “I need your seat,” she said. Why had she first presented it as a question?
I filed a complaint and got 4,000 bonus rewards but my respect for Delta had been tarnished.
I fly less than I did years ago and I wonder if infrequent flyers like myself could ever feel like they’re winning — or at least feel like they’re not at the mercy of whatever experience the airline throws at us.
Brian Kelly, founder of The Points Guy, a travel website, recently wrote about the topic so I consulted him. His book “How to Win at Travel” is his attempt to help everyone understand the travel industry and use that knowledge to their advantage.
“I think airlines can be beaten at their own game. The first step is understanding what you are agreeing to when you fly,” Kelly said when we talked by phone. “The biggest reason people feel like they are losing against the airline is they are losing at a game they don’t even know.”
One of the easiest things consumers can do is read the airline’s contract of carriage. This is what you are agreeing to when you buy a ticket. When you don’t understand this, you set yourself up for disappointment, he said.
Had I read that before my trip in 2023, I would have known that airlines have the right to move your seat. Delta is one of the few airlines that will compensate you for the inconvenience, Kelly said. Most other carriers will tell you to kick rocks.
It is also important, he said, to reassess what loyalty means in 2025. Loyalty to an airline is not as lucrative as loyalty to bank-issued credit cards with transferable reward programs.
“It is OK to be loyal to an airline but it is not advisable to just get Delta miles because they are among the most devalued of currencies,” Kelly said. “They have monetized their loyalty program which is great for Delta but not as great for the consumer.”
Consumers, more than ever, need to ask if loyalty is going both ways and should be ready to make a different choice when it isn’t.
“As the economy tightens consumers will be aware of the brands they align themselves with,” Kelly said.
Delta officials have said the next 100 years will bring more global travel, the only real growth opportunity for an airline that already covers most domestic locations. Kelly warned the future will also include AI predictive pricing, which is good for shareholders but not so much for airfares.
Most of us are not premium flyers. For average consumers to win at air travel, Kelly said we have to reframe our view by understanding the industry and reducing our risk for the factors that are within our control.
I hope Delta spends the next 100 years tuning in to customer wants. And I hope more of us learn to take advantage of whatever they offer.
Read more on the Real Life blog (AJC.com/opinion/real-life-blog), find Nedra on Facebook (facebook.com/AJCRealLifeColumn) and X (@nrhoneajc) or email her at nedra.rhone@ajc.com.
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