“A leisure traveler that travelers once every couple of years - they’re going to remember for a long time that last experience,” he said. But it’s more difficult to fix long-held negative perceptions among those who fly less often. Last week, Anderson said the airline’s past two years of high unit revenue compared with other airlines are “the coalescence of a great operation, great customer service by our employees, a phenomenal job by our sales and distribution organization and a great job by our network planning.”įixing delays can bring frequent business travelers back pretty quickly, Beakley said. “We’re really doing a great job of running the airline, which means we have higher passenger revenues,” Anderson told employees. “If you compete with somebody who’s really good at what they do, you’re going to have to up your game,” Schonland said.ĭelta doles out “Shared Rewards” incentive payments to employees when the airline meets goals for on-time performance and other factors each month, and Anderson has been outlining to employees operational statistics and their influence on financial results. Southwest ranked 7th in on-time performance for the first 11 months of 2012 and has long had a reputation for good service despite a relatively bare-bones approach. The overall goal: Get the plane away from the gate on time, boosting the chances of an on-time arrival at the destination.Īddison Schonland, partner at, said Southwest Airlines’ entry into Atlanta last year may have prompted Delta to sharpen its focus on service. For instance, it set a target of closing airplane cargo doors three minutes before departure time. In the past couple of years, Delta has added maintenance stations to reduce flight cancellations, added computers in jetways to gate check bags with scannable tags and speed passenger boarding, and fine-tuned the dozens of steps taken in the countdown before the departure of each flight by flight attendants, pilots, ground workers and gate agents. And Delta management decided to make cutting costly delays and other glitches part of the financial strategy as well. Back then, Delta downplayed the consequences, instead boasting of its international route network, amenities for first class travelers and competitive fares.īut while Atlanta travelers have limited options to flying Delta, low rankings hurt in the competition for fliers elsewhere. carriers ranked by on-time performance - the worst among the big network airlines. In 2010, Delta ranked 15th out of 18 U.S.

He said he hasn’t noticed any significant improvement in Delta’s on-time rate over the past couple of years. “I’ve had quite a few delays on Delta over the years, but for the most part they do a pretty good job,” said Taylor, who travels two to three times a month. To frequent flier Jeff Taylor of Johns Creek, on-time performance may depend less on the airline than on things such as weather, time of day or other factors that slow operations. “It only takes one or two misconnected flights, one or two lost bags, or one or two dissatisfied customer situations, that customer is going to look for an alternative.” “If you’ve got bad operational performance, your top-dollar customers are going to steer away from you,” said Brad Beakley, head of consulting for Sabre Airline Solutions, which sells technology to help airlines manage operations. Many simply search for the best fares and schedules and assume service is about the same at all carriers.Īn airline’s most valuable customers - business travelers who fly often and and usually pay higher fares for shorter-notice, more flexible itineraries - are more particular about service. How much such yardsticks matter to fliers depends on the customer, airline industry experts say.

With more to brag about, Delta CEO Richard Anderson has been touting the importance of on-time performance and service not only in attracting customers but also in holding down costs. End-of-year statistics are due in coming weeks. It also has reduced mishandled baggage, consumer complaints and cancellation rates. That means it was first among big network carriers. airlines for on-time performance, behind Hawaiian, Alaska and AirTran. In 2012 through November, Delta ranked fourth among 15 U.S. Just a few years ago, Delta Air Lines languished near the bottom of on-time performance rankings.īut after undertaking a far-reaching effort to reduce delays, cancellations and lost bags, Delta has improved its operations, boosting its performance while rivals such as American and United have been preoccupied by bankruptcy or mergers.

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