Delta’s Ausband: “Customer service is the core of what we do”

I met Allison Ausband, Delta Air Lines’ vice president for reservations sales and customer care, earlier this year in Atlanta after she’d taken over for Perry Cantarutti. I followed up with her earlier this week to see how her new job was going. Here’s our interview.

The Transportation Department is considering an ambitious set of new rules that would, among other things, require airlines to disclose fees and strengthen consumer protections. Do you think new rules or legislation is necessary to ensure good customer service, or is this something that airlines can provide without prompting from the government?

Delta’s fees are clearly outlined on delta.com. If you simply type fees into the search function you pull up a page that summarizes our fees. That’s pretty transparent, and we opted to make that information easily accessible because we knew it would be beneficial to our customers.

How do you think Delta is doing, when it comes to customer service?

Customer service is the core of what we do. We’re proud of the Delta culture of customer service and are always working to improve it every single day.

Since you’ve started in your position, how has the customer service experienced changed for the average passenger?

Probably one of the most positive steps we have taken over the last few months is the creation of two new options for our customers to get their feedback to us in a faster, easier way. We’ve launched @DeltaAssist, a customer service focused Twitter handle, and recently revamped the delta.com homepage to allow customers to address travel issues and offer suggestions with a link directly from the landing page.

How about your elite-level customers?

We’ve introduced a “one call concept” for our elite customers. This direct line will connect our Sky Priority customers to Reservation Agents that can provide assistance before, during and after travel. This concept launched in the spring of this year and we are continuing to introduce new options and tools to support our elite customers.

Last year, when I interviewed your predecessor, he mentioned several customer-service programs that were being phased in. They included the reintroduction of “First Point of Contact” which allows flight crews, airport staff and reservations agents to compensate passengers on the spot. How is that going, and how to you measure the effectiveness of such a program?

As customer service professionals, Delta fight crews, airport staff and Reservation Agents want to be able to resolve issues for our customers as quickly as possible. The “First Point of Contact” program is working well, although we aren’t perfect. As a result, we are fine tuning the program and will continue to gauge success through customer feedback.

Ultimately, our belief is that addressing issues on the spot, and understanding that there are circumstances that call for flexibility and unique solutions will put Delta and its employees at the head of the pack when it comes to customer service.

One of the other things Perry told me about was the introduction of Delta’s “Red Coats” who can offer assistance in airports. How is the deployment of the Red Coats going, and again, how can you measure the effectiveness of this initiative?

Customers tell us the reintroduction of Delta’s Red Coats has improved their travel experience. To support this, we are continuing to invest in resources to share best practices from a variety of industries and are offering both Red Coats and our Airport Customer Service Agents frequent training. We have also recently introduced a similar concept with our Reservations team.

Are there any new customer-service initiatives that you have planned for the future?

We’re developing new performance measurement tools for agents to track their success in resolving customer issues. We’re also enhancing technology related to our Customer Notification System, which alerts customers of unscheduled changes to their travel plans.

We’re introducing a system that allows customers to request a call back instead of remaining on hold when we are experiencing high call volume. And we’re continuing upgrades to delta.com, aimed at making the travel booking process seamless.

I want to ask you a hypothetical question, since this subject has come up a few times in recent weeks. I know many of your call center conversations are recorded. Have you ever considered sending an MP3 recording of the conversation back to the customer after a transaction is over, as a courtesy? Do you think customers should be able to hear their call-center conversation, or do you feel that’s proprietary information?

A certain percentage of calls with customers are recorded for training purposes. Offering these recordings to customers would be time consuming and extremely costly. As a matter of practice, agents’ transactions during a call are maintained in our customers’ travel records, so customers that need information regarding their reservation can ask any agent.

I’ve had no recent complaints about Delta’s call centers, which is kind of surprising. Have you changed anything? Are you still using overseas call centers?

As a global company, Delta has call centers all over the world including locations in Singapore, Moscow, and Tokyo. Many of these call centers support those customers whose first language might not be English. Over the last year, we have shifted our efforts towards strengthening our assets and a number of reservation jobs have been created as a result. Today, we are using outside companies on a very limited basis.

What can air travelers do to get the best possible customer experience from an airline like Delta?

Whether they are planning travel, in the middle of a trip or arriving at their destination, customers have many tools available to them some of which include up to the minute information on delta.com, text message flight status alerts and our new iPhone app. Delta continues to invest in technology to support our customers’ travel experience, and our Reservations, @DeltaAssist and Customer Care team is always here to assist.

(Photo: Frisco cali/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • Charles

    I really appreciate interviews such as this, since they provide a path from your advocacy queries to the real people responsible. I know you are not a fan of frequent flier programs, but I wish you would ask about the Skymiles program. Delta has an availability of awards seats near the bottom (only better than US Airways) and much lower than most other airlines (13% vs. the next highest, American, at 58%, IdeaWorks study). The term Skypesos has started to be bandied about a lot when describing the program online. There have been claims they are turning this around, and I found availability on some flights I was looking for opened up a bit recently, though still with premium costs (42,500 miles instead of 35,000 for the Caribbean for example).

  • MVFlyer

    If Delta’s fees were REALLY transparent, you wouldn’t have to search for them. They would be available from a prominent link on the home page, and in a check off table when you actually start purchasing the flight.

  • Jeanne in NE

    Two comments about the interview:
    1) As MVFlyer said, why aren’t fees on the same page as the flight purchasing page?

    2) I’m unclear about the overseas call centers. Are they “outside companies”, or owned by Delta? Did they establish a call center in the U.S. (or even Canada – those are some nice people!) for their North American customers?

  • Steve

    @MVFlyer: I disagree. I think Delta’s fees are transparent. When you search for a flight, the list of results has a link at the top of the page that says “Additional baggage charges may apply,” and clicking the link takes you to a page where the fees are fully disclosed. Also, the price quoted on the search results includes the taxes/fees attached to the base fare, so that’s disclosed well before you make your purchase.

    Anyway, you have to laugh at the non-answers given in this interview. When Chris asked her if Delta considered the recordings to be proprietary, she basically dodged the question and rambled on about how customers don’t need access to the recordings because the transactions the employee makes during the call are recorded. (Gee, now why didn’t I think of that? It’s not like Delta ever makes mistakes or has situations where the customer disputes what Delta says happened. :rolls eyes:)

    I appreciate Chris’s effort to get answers…I just wish he’d get more than corporate doublespeak in return. Though I guess that speaks volumes about a company, too…

  • Raven

    So…when am I ever going to get a reply from Delta on that picture I took of ONE gate agent trying to rebook an entire flight in PVD because Delta decided to change the inbound aircraft at the last moment, then realized they didn’t have a crew cleared on said aircraft? The entire 3 hour delay was spent standing in a long, cantankerous line.
    Oh, and when I called customer service, the rep (probably in INDIA) said his computer showed us as being in the air and therefore I did not need a rebooking of my connection?

    I sent the email three times over a six month period last year.Got the form “we got your complaint” response and nothing else.

  • Deborah

    How is Alison Ausband defining customer service? Call centers? What about the actual travel experience? A friend just flew Delta to Europe and was treated horribly on board by a surly flight attendant. Her companion got a spoiled dinner, and the flight attendant said he would remove it when he picked up the food later. No service there.

  • Brad Jankowski

    I used to be a Platinum Medallion member but got so fed up by the lack of service and “I don’t care” attitude that I moved by status over to Continental. It was the best decision I ever made.
    From rude flight attendants, to uncaring reservation agents I just got tired of being mistreated at Delta. Several of my co-workers have done the same (after the merger with NW).
    During one frustrating conversation I asked for a supervisor. At the end of the call (situation still not resolved) I asked for her name and call center in case I need to call back. She gave it to me and when I called back to the same call center, I asked for her. They said there is nobody here by that name. I was actually told by the new agent that the supervisors actually make up names just to get people off their backs. This is not the kind of customer service that I would expect and is not in line with what Ausband inferred. Maybe it is improving, but not according to my recent experiences, or my USUAL experiences in flying Continental.

  • joseph deni

    Customer Service? My Family and I were almost bumped off a flight in Buffalo,N.Y. because I didn’t have my Amex Credit card I charged my flight on at the airport with me.I Had Our Confirmation #’s and even called Delta the day before to ask why I could not Check In Online? They told me my Trip Was ok. They recharged another credit card I had ,to Rebook us and had to wait over 2 months to get my refund on my AMEX. We got at the airport at 4AM,With our Daughters,which are 3 & 6 Years old and had to Complain Over 3 hours before we got onboard the plane,3 minutes before take off. I call that TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE.

  • MCGJr

    I guess everyone just likes to complain or bash a vendor. But, honestly, I’m quite happy with my overall Delta experiences. (I have over a million miles on Delta.)

    Yes, I’ve had some delay problems, usually attributable to weather or when the equipment is coming from the NY area or similar congested locales. [Which does raise the question about why Delta has tried to concentrate so many flights at JFK and/or LGA while gutting the hub at CVG which has excess capacity.] And, yes, there have been some equipment delays. But, I’d rather a delay than a failure in flight.

    I did have one very significant problem with their reservation system earlier this year. And, while it did not take only one phone call, once the problem was understood and escalated, the people in Ms. Ausband’s office got to the technical people who could address the problem and fixed it. It was a rather technical problem that could, in no way, be fixed by any ‘administrative’ or help desk rep; it required some code changes! But, they worked the problem and resolved it.

    And, just to address the ‘fee’ issue: I’ve never been surprised by an unexpected fee on Delta. I can’t say that about many hotel chains. Their Web site, IMHO, displays the fees quite clearly for those who are willing to READ what is there. I have little patience with people who don’t read what’s provided and then act surprised and indignant. I put this in the same category with people who sign mortgage agreements and then complain that the bank screwed them. Sorry, it is a CONTRACT. If you don’t understand, ASK questions! This applies to airfare, mortgages, auto purchases, credit cards, etc.

    If all the vendors I have dealt with were more like Delta, I would have a lot more spare time. But, then, I DO read what’s on the screen; what’s in contracts; etc.

  • Michelle M

    Officials can claim to be committed to customer service all day long, but until they make a sincere effort to ensure that all employees practice that commitment every day in every interaction, it means nothing. To read a Delta official claiming such things borders on ridiculous. At first I thought it was written as satire.

    For my last Delta trip, I was charged $220 for the privilege of redeeming 50,000 miles for 2 domestic tickets. I had no idea there were any fees for redeeming miles, so I was completely aghast, but the agent said it was not possible to waive them (believe me, I asked), and we were already committed to the trip, so I paid the fees. Then, during that very trip, I received an e-mail from Delta stating that they had eliminated all redemption fees. So apparently it was possible to waive those fees after all! To add insult to injury, we were charged baggage fees that should not have been charged. Prior to the trip, I received e-mail from Delta announcing that Delta SkyMiles credit card members could check their first bag for free. However, upon check-in at the airport, we were charged first bag fees anyway. The gate agent said he was aware of the new policy, but he had no way to remove the fees, and that we would have to contact Delta after our trip to have the fees refunded.

    I of course wrote Delta after my trip to request a refund of both sets of fees I had been charged, and received a typical brush-off response. They claimed that the new policies did not go into effect until 2 days after our trip began, despite the fact that their web page about the baggage fee waiver, which I printed out before our trip, makes no mention of any implementation date and contains no indication whatsoever that the policy may not yet have gone into effect. (Am I wrong to think that if a web page stating a policy is on a company’s web site, that that policy is in effect? Should customers be required to contact companies and ask if the policies posted on their web sites have gone into effect yet?) So I then contacted Toby Broberg, who you list as the primary contact for Delta customer service issues, and told her that I felt the initial response I got was unsatisfactory and that I wanted to give Delta another chance to respond. The response I got, from someone other than Ms. Broberg by the way, was another brush-off, containing the sentences “Respectfully, there is not much more I can add” (to the initial brush-off) and “I trust you understand that there is no refund due.” Is that the kind of customer service that Ms. Ausband is so proud of?

    Delta’s brand of customer service has turned me into a customer of another brand.

  • wasim

    Hi,
    I want a job as passenger service agent in air line.
    25 years experience in ground and handling the passenger and all type aircrafts.
    Thanks.
    Wasim