If Delta Air Lines is in your travel plans over the Independence Day holiday weekend, you may want to consider delaying your travel — or, at least, keep yourself updated as to the latest information pertaining to the operations of that airline, as it is proactively providing greater flexibility to customers who change their flight schedules ahead of the busy holiday weekend in anticipation of volumes of passengers which have not been seen since prior to the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic.
Travel Alert Independence Day Weekend 2022: Delta Air Lines Operations; Apology From Chief Executive Officer
Delta Air Lines has issued this travel alert for tomorrow, Friday, July 1, 2022 through Monday, July 4, 2022; and Friday, July 8, 2022 is the last day on which tickets must be reissued and rebooked travel must begin. You may rebook your trip either before or after these peak holiday travel days with no fare difference or change fees for all tickets which are issued by Delta Air Lines — including Basic Economy fares — as long as you travel between the same origin and destination and remain in the same cabin of service as originally booked.
Meanwhile, a letter of apology from Edward Bastian — who is the chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines — was sent earlier today, Thursday, June 30, 2022 to members of the Delta Air Lines SkyMiles frequent flier loyalty program. I received a copy of the letter in my e-mail message account; but the letter can also be accessed publicly at Delta News Hub. The letter is posted in its entirety after the conclusion of this article below.
This is not the first time a letter of apology was issued from the chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines, as an e-mail message from Delta Air Lines was sent out to customers on Tuesday, July 27, 2021 in which Edward Bastian publicly apologized for the long times in which customers waited for service both via telephone and at airports as a result of failing to adequately staff both the reservation center and customer service center of the airline as demand for travel unexpectedly returned with a vengeance.
Final Boarding Call
Frequently check the status of your flight for the latest information about your flight plans; or get updates sent directly to your mobile device or by e-mail message with One-Time Flight Notification.
The people of Delta Air Lines prided themselves on service being the main differentiator when compared to competing airlines — but that sadly has not been the case in recent months even though Delta Air Lines seems to be charging premium dollars for their flights…
…and if the poor performance continues, no amount of apologies from the chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines will stop the reputation of the airline from being compromised and tarnished — and thus potentially giving customers more of an option to take their business elsewhere…
Photograph ©2016 by Brian Cohen.
Dear Brian,
The summer travel season is well underway, and I share the excitement of so many of you who are returning to the skies as restrictions lift and entire regions of the world reopen. At the same time, I know many of you may have experienced disruptions, sometimes significant, in your travels as we build our operation back from the depths of 2020 while accommodating a record level of demand.
If you’ve encountered delays and cancellations recently, I apologize. We’ve spent years establishing Delta as the industry leader in reliability, and though the majority of our flights continue to operate on time, this level of disruption and uncertainty is unacceptable. You choose to invest your time, resources and loyalty with Delta and you’ve rightly come to expect a world-class experience on every flight, and that includes the best reliability in the business.
Despite the historic challenges facing our industry, Delta’s team of 75,000+ professionals around the globe remain focused on providing the very best care for you and your loved ones. I want to thank them for their continued professionalism, resilience and the truly outstanding service they continue to deliver on a daily basis. Thanks to their efforts, so far in June we’ve flown over 96% of our scheduled departures, with more than 80% of our flights arriving within 14 minutes of their scheduled arrival time. I’m proud of the work of our team in the face of the many obstacles we’re up against as air travel re-emerges and even prouder of our determination to reduce cancellations and further minimize delays.
RESTORING RELIABILITY
Things won’t change overnight, but we’re on a path towards a steady recovery. Steps we’ve taken include offering more flexibility for your travel plans and adjusting our summer schedule so that when challenges do occur, we can bounce back faster. Crews are being scheduled with more buffer room to help us absorb and adjust when factors like summer thunderstorms disrupt the operation. And as always, we’re issuing travel waivers ahead of inclement weather, enabling you to easily rebook travel if needed without worry.
At the same time, airport procedures are being updated, including earlier boarding to help ensure on-time departures and schedule changes at our largest connecting hub in Atlanta to help manage the volume of customers at the airport. And we’ve activated our Peach Corps, a program that brings in hundreds of employees from our corporate offices to the airports in Atlanta and New York to assist with check-in, baggage drop-off, airport wayfinding, using kiosks, serving you at our Delta Sky Clubs and other helpful tasks.
We’ve accelerated our hiring as well, bringing on around 15,000 new employees since the start of 2021. That includes a record number of Reservations and Care specialists, pilots, flight attendants, aircraft maintenance technicians and more – overall we’re hiring several hundred new Delta team members every week to assist you and help ensure a reliable, comfortable experience on Delta when you fly.
And we’re continuing to engage with the Federal Aviation Administration on improving processes for air traffic management, which will help minimize delays and cancellations due to inclement weather.
The environment we’re navigating today is unlike anything we’ve ever faced, but Delta is no stranger to challenging times, and our commitment to you is as strong as ever. We won’t stop until we’ve made things right, and we’ll never stop improving for you.
INVESTING IN YOUR TRAVELS
Delta has also been investing in digital tools to help you conveniently manage your travel if plans change. You can save time by adjusting your flight directly in the Fly Delta app or on Delta.com, or by using our Messaging feature for more assistance.
The Fly Delta app is also a valuable, time-saving tool for checking in, tracking bags, navigating the airport and receiving real-time alerts for boarding as well as any changes to flight schedules.
And Delta’s airport transformation projects, which accelerated during the pandemic, are helping to ensure more convenient check-in and security, smoother connections, new and expanded Delta Sky Clubs, and an elevated experience in cities including Los Angeles, Seattle, New York and Salt Lake City.
We’re excited to see you returning to the skies, and every flight is an opportunity to earn your loyalty and trust anew. On behalf of our global team, I want to thank you for your patience and understanding as we work throughout the summer and beyond to get you to your destination safely and restore the world-class reliability that you deserve and have come to expect from Delta.
Sincerely,
Ed Bastian
CEO
