I blogged recently about my trashy experience with Delta on my last flight with them here. The crux of the issue on hand was that I complied with their guidelines, and the outdated Delta IT systems did not pick up my Flying Blue status and honour the priveleges.

After the flight, I tweeted this to @DeltaAssist. I had asked them to fix this beforehand but I guess I got on with the wrong agent who did not fix the problem. The agents at Delta sent me a direct message back on Twitter asking me for my ticket details and the problem. After a brief conversation on these direct messages, they accepted that they had made a mistake and offered to refund the fee that was charged to me for checked bags. Further, they put in a note on the ticket to ensure that the problem did not recur on the trip back to JFK from SEA and all Elite+ privileges were honored. I am not a sucker for status privileges, but this one time I am pushing it because I want to see how the Delta system reacts to an alien frequent flyer landing up into their net.

I had heard good things about this social media channel for Delta, and also that they had put up a good crack team on the job here who were empowered to take decisions. After a day, I wrote back asking for compensation. Delta offered me a travel voucher. I am quite sure I was not going to use it, so I asked for an upgrade instead. I was informed that upgrading me was not in his powers. After some Q&A, he came back to saying that the best he could do was offer me a travel voucher. I accepted and I closed the matter there.

I would give a good rating to the Delta Twitter initiative, and hope it grows bigger and better. Not many other travel and hospitality companies have figured it out yet, but they are sure on their way. On hotels, I like the IHG’s PriorityClub twitter handles which is pretty helpful.

What are your favourite social media initiatives from the travel/hospitality sector? Let me know by posting in the comments.