After receiving heartbreaking news about her mother’s deteriorating health, a Delta Air Lines passenger experienced extraordinary compassion from flight attendants who helped spend last minutes of life with her mom.
The woman’s mother was hospitalized with undiagnosed pneumonia. She initially showed signs of recovery from a surgery, but suddenly went into septic shock. Time was running out, and she got on a plane right away – a Delta connecting flight through Minneapolis.
I got on the first flight out the following day from Dallas with a connection in Minneapolis. I knew if I didn’t make my connecting flight, I wouldn’t see my mom until the following day, and we weren’t sure she’d be alive.
A delay on the outbound flight meant she wasn’t likely to make her connection – and she’d be looking at rebooking for the next day. The passenger “well[ed] up with tears” and the flight attendant cried with her.
The crewmember went to work, and returned with good news: the pilot of her flight was in touch with operations, and the connection would be held. She says she was also upgraded to first class, the pilot of her outbound flight asked passengers to wait and let her disembark first in Minneapolis.
They let me off, and I ran through the airport to make my flight, knowing that they had been waiting for 30 minutes for me. The whole time I was picturing my mom and how she would run across the country for me too.
Crew welcomed her on board, “We’ve been waiting for you, Hannah!” And she made it to see her mom that night. Her mother passed away the following day. And she’s forever grateful to Delta for giving her those last hours with her mother.
I was able to say, ‘I love you’ one last time and provide comfort for her in the final moments that she provided for me my whole life.
American Airlines re-arranged connecting gates to help passengers make it to a funeral on time, after the pilot of their delayed inbound aircraft messaged ahead. The pilot of a Delta flight saw a family through the terminal window that missed their flight and went back to the gate to pick them up – helping them avoid missing a funeral.
Sometimes allowing inflight cell phone calls would be enough. There was this woman who might have been able to stop her husband’s suicide if Southwest Airlines hadn’t made her put her cell phone away as the aircraft pushed back. Inflight calling is a lot more ok than you think.
Over the course of a year, Delta operates a little more reliably than other U.S. airlines. Their employees are happier to be there than at competitors other than Southwest. While there are good crews and bad crews, on the whole their flight attendants are friendlier and more helpful.
That’s the ‘Delta difference’ and it’s modest. Their frequent flyer program is worse than others. The premium seats on their workhorse Boeing 767s across the Atlantic lag competitors. Their P.R. efforts tend to overclaim more than others, and are far more disingenuous. They want you to believe the difference between airlines is much greater than it is.
In the end, it’s the people and it’s the front line people, not the executives that make Delta shine. And it’s at risk. Here’s a great example of the Delta people that made them the right choice for this customer.
Great PR for Delta, BUT she shouldn’t have gotten the first-class upgrade unless she was entitled to receive it. And where do you draw the line on holding connecting flights? There are lots of legitimate reasons to hold connecting flights. Seldom is the connecting flight held.
My mother passed away this year from undiagnosed pneumonia so I can certainly understand where the woman is coming from.
Glad Delta helped out when it could.
Sincere condolences for the woman.
Once flew to LAX on a delayed DL flight. The FA announced there were passengers who were connecting to Hawaii and the pilot called HQ and made sure the Hawaii-bound flight would wait for them.
Now that’s customer service!
That’s Delta I know and fell in love with, about 40 yrs ago…Southern hospitality, smiling flight attendants. I loved their old motto, “Delta is ready when you are” – this was a typical refrain in ATL years ago, when all the northerners (“yanks” for locals) flooded the South…
Very nice to hold the plane! As for the other example, holding for a funeral, that is stupid. The person is dead already. Just come late and say your words at the grave and tell some relatives what you wanted to say.
This is total BS. Planes are most often never held and many other people don’t make connections to see dying loved ones due to airline policies. This should not be celebrated. She should have boarded at the right time or taken a later flight. Did mom die the moment she arrived? Doubtful. People die every day. Airline delays cause folks to miss critical meetings, kid’s special moments, funerals and many other things. I do not celebrate one success when there are thousands of more failures.
I find this to be more the NW culture in DL than the DL culture in DL, but pre-combo DL would do this too. Various airlines have employees who sometimes push the limits to do the right thing by customers when customers most need it, and I certainly appreciate that it’s done for those facing very trying times.
What a wonderful story. I don’t care what airline or industry it is. This demonstrates service at its best
This is another excellent example that Delta Air Lines provides exceptional, thoughtful, and premium customer service.
As someone who “ got the call” and booked the next flight out to be with my mom before she passed, I applaud Delta for their compassion.
It was many years ago that a family’s inbound flight was running late for their connection flight to their mother’s funeral. It was the last flight of the day, too. They got to the gate in time to see the red beacon was on and the tug was pushing. The first officer noted the family at the window frantically waving and crying at the same time. He notified the captain who ordered the tug back to the gate. There were seats available, the gate agent protested a bit but the captain said that he would take “the hit”. That Delta captain and first officer were lauded by the CEO for “doing the right thing”. Sometimes you have to go with your instincts. Mr. Woolman once said, “Delta’s success came not just from good operations and efficiency, but above all from the friendly spirit of Delta and the way Delta employees handled the public.”
Very good move on the part of DL. Obviously, this isn’t something that can be done for each and every individual instance and I think most people understand this. But when it can be done I see no reason to be bent out of shape over another person’s hardship and loss. Nobody wants to be caught in circumstances such as these.
As one who cares full time for a terminally ill parent, being caught up in unforeseen circumstances that might prevent immediate access to my father is a most discomforting thought.
On an unrelated side note, as of 1135 CST, there are ar least 4 people of the 11 commenters here who voted for increased fuel and energy costs, increased taxes, less secure and open borders, continued human trafficking and neverending wars all at our expense. Just thought I’d bring that to light.
Likely they would hold the flight if it was last flight of the day or there was sufficient slack in time to allow for delays without misconnects. Airlines just can’t hold flights like this willy nilly or the operation would immediately become FUBR.
Can’t speak to the upgrade but an open unclaimed first class seat is as rare as an uncrowded lounge.
Having just lost my father and taken more than 8 Delta flights back and forth I can attest hate the front line personnel are wonderful. However as a platinum medallion note that Ed Bastion and Alison Husband never miss an opportunity to stab those personnel in the back. Both of them of forgotten that Delta is an airline where the passengers are the key customers, and it is not a bank offering credit cards
Doesn’t United have a connection saver program to hold connections for passengers, if it’s operational feasible? Lots of factors determine if a connection can be held, but I think they claim great success.
Hey, FNT Delta Diamond, it’s a rare day when I get online and insult a random stranger, but you, FNTDD are a true example of an absolute mean-spirited, selfish jerk. Of all the ugly things. Maybe just shut up. You strike me as a bean counter in middle-management who audits the work habits of every single person you see as “beneath” you so you can suck up to the people who may give you a promotion so your life status will match your DL status. Get a heart muscle that pumps with empathy first.
For the record, I am eligible for upgrades myself, and I absolutely would have stood up and handed her mine for this reason, you jerk.
“Great PR for Delta, BUT she shouldn’t have gotten the first-class upgrade unless she was entitled to receive it. And where do you draw the line on holding connecting flights? There are lots of legitimate reasons to hold connecting flights. Seldom is the connecting flight held.”