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Delta Air Lines - E-Commerce Customer Service

How to EnterCompany: Delta Air Lines, Atlanta, GA
Company Description: Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year. With its unsurpassed global network, Delta and the Delta Connection® carriers offer service to more than 330 destinations in 65 countries on six continents. The Reservation Sales and Customer Care division handles an average of 50 million customer contacts each year and generates approximately $2B in annual revenue.
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: e-Commerce Customer Service Award

Nomination Title: Delta Air Lines, Inc. Reservations Twitter (Social Media) Team

1.Tell the story about your e-commerce-based customer service initiatives since the beginning of July 2012 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

In addition to our @Delta Twitter handle, we wanted a way through social media for our customers to have quick access to us for questions or issues related to their travel on us. So, @DeltaAssist was created in 2009 as a new way to connect and engage with customers via Twitter. By offering real time assistance to customers who need help before, during and after their travel experience, we’re always available to assist our customers.

What started with one person, quickly grew to a team of four working Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. However, with its instant popularity and proven success, @DeltaAssist is now supported by a team of 15 dedicated and empowered Reservations specialists, providing 24/7 assistance. Today, we support our customers in four languages- English, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese. To ensure the channel can support the many needs of our customers, we staff the team with specialists who have experience in Reservation Sales, with many of them bringing additional industry experiences as well, such as Cargo, Airport Customer Service and Customer Care. This allows the team to be able to assist customers just as specialists in our call centers would, except in the purchase of a new ticket (since credit cards information can’t be accepted via Twitter).

In addition to providing real-time assistance, the @DeltaAssist team acts as a voice of the customer, capturing feedback and sentiment and sharing that with divisional leaders and cross-divisional teams. When a policy changes or a new product is launched, @DeltaAssist is the first to hear from customers about it. This immediate “pulse check” provides leaders with instant feedback, which can be used to confirm and/or drive necessary business changes forward. Also, as potential large-scale customer issues are brought to light, the team works closely with Corporate Communications and Marketing to ensure our company is prepared and positioned well for responding.

While the team is trained and empowered to handle customer situations at the first point of contact, sometimes our customers need immediate assistance or resolution while in travel that requires the action of airport or in-flight personnel. The @DeltaAssist team facilitates this process using an alert system that notifies and calls the appropriate divisional leadership into action. While this process allows for real-time, in-person assistance, it’s also used to engage our airport and in-flight teams for “surprise and delight” events and customer recognitions.

Milestones and Accolades:

•With @DeltaAssist, Delta became the first US carrier to offer a Twitter-based social support channel.

•Won the 2013 Social Media in Travel + Tourism Award for Top U.S. Airline for Best Overall Use of Social Media

•Customers continually express their appreciation for real-time assistance in the channel of their choice:

o“Thank you again, @DeltaAssist. It's great knowing you're always there and so proactive in helping me.”
o“So impressed with @DeltaAssist right now & there impeccable customer service. This one occurrence has made me a lifelong customer!”
o“Shout out to @DeltaAssist and WG for helping me out. Flight delayed, got booked on an even earlier one. Awesome customer service!”
o“Customer service via Twitter, thanks to @DeltaAssist. We live in the future.”

 
 

Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated customer service organization:

Jonathan Garner is the strategic communications manager for the Reservation Sales division at Delta. With a degree in Education from Louisiana State University, Jonathan began his career with Delta 16 years ago, starting as a frontline specialist in Reservations. But his passion for learning and writing quickly led him into Delta’s Field Support and Learning organization, where he now has responsibility for all divisional communications, including oversight of the @DeltaAssist team and how they communicate to customers in social channels. When Jonathan isn’t focused on communications at Delta, he enjoys spending time with his wife and sons, usually on the golf course or cheering on his beloved LSU Tigers.