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Letter to the editor

Pay extra to talk to an American? Delta says forget it

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published July 31, 2004

Delta Air Lines won't charge customers to speak with a reservation agent in America after all.

The nation's No. 3 airline acknowledged this week that it asked frequent fliers in an e-mail survey whether they'd be willing to pay a small fee to be connected to a U.S.-based center instead of one operated by a Delta contractor in India.

On Friday, Delta declared the idea officially dead. "The question never should have been asked on a survey," said spokeswoman Meaghan Glynn. "That's not what we're about, and we're not going to do that."

The airline is reviewing how the question ended up in one of its routine customer surveys, she said. Some Delta travelers have complained that contract agents in India lack the training, language skills or knowledge of U.S. geography to handle certain transactions.

Delta began directing a small percentage of reservations calls last year to outsourced centers in India with about 1,000 workers. The move saves Delta about $25-million a year, the company says.

The airline has lost more than $5-billion and laid off 16,000 employees in the last three years. It has been hit hard by high fuel costs and competition from low-fare carriers.

On Friday, Delta chief executive Gerald Grinstein told the airline's pilots that the survival of the company depends on a minimum of $1-billion in concessions from them, insisting their proposal for up to $705-million in cuts is inadequate.

Delta's management has said in the past that without deep wage concessions it would need to file for bankruptcy court protection. Analysts say the airline, which had $2-billion in unrestricted cash at the end of the second quarter, has until the fall to get the cuts it needs, or enter Chapter 11.

Union spokesman Chris Renkel, in a telephone message to pilots, said the union was disappointed by the airline's counterproposal and its refusal to give details of its comprehensive plan beyond wage cuts.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or 813 226-3384.

[Last modified July 30, 2004, 23:53:25]