Well here’s something you don’t see every day, as flagged by View from the Wing. A Delta flight attendant verbally attacked a Southwest gate agent for her unprofessionalism. And while he may very well have a point (I wasn’t there), the way he expressed himself exemplified the same unprofessionalism he took issue with.
In this post:
Delta flight attendant tells Southwest to “clean it up” in Atlanta
A lot of flight attendants “commute” to work, which is to say that they live in one city, but are based (with their airline) in another city. In those situations, flight attendants are typically able to commute on any airline, assuming there are empty seats. And that brings us to this situation.
In a video posted online, a Delta flight attendant can be seen walking through the terminal at Atlanta Airport (ATL), and he starts directing snide comments at a Southwest gate agent.
It starts with him saying “I’m trying to tell y’all, this is ridiculous, this is the worst airport, and y’all make Southwest look horrible, that customer service is ridiculous.” He then continues with “it’s ghetto, and that’s cause it’s Atlanta, y’all have no respect for customer service, y’all need to clean it up, clean it up, because I’m just trying to take a flight, I don’t have to take Southwest, I can take Delta.”
The gate agent tells him to lower his tone, to which he responds “get your hand out of my face,” and “you are nothing,” “where you name tag at,” “you ghetto,” and “that’s why they told me not to come here.” He basically just says a similar thing over and over, as he continues with “that’s why they told me not to transfer here, because y’all are ridiculous and ghetto, I don’t do that kind of stuff.”
He then says he’s going to take Delta or Frontier over Southwest, because “Atlanta gotta clean it up, cause this supposed to be the black mecca, and y’all can’t even carry yourself with class.”
My take on this flight attendant & gate agent kerfuffle
Let’s give the flight attendant the benefit of the doubt, and assumes that he’s actually very customer service oriented. I mean, he works for Delta, he must be, right? 😉 There are still two (very) major issues with what he said.
First of all, you don’t act this way while in uniform and in view of customers. I mean, I think you should never talk to people this way, but it’s especially unprofessional when you’re an obvious representative of a company. And it’s not just that he’s loudly complaining, but he’s attacking all of Atlanta, and calling everyone ghetto. That’s just not cool. You can’t shout at people calling them ghetto, and claim that they’re the ones who can’t carry themselves with class.
Second of all, the whole basis of this interaction is that he was commuting on another airline, and the conflict seemed to have something to do with his priority on Southwest. When you’re traveling as a commuter on another airline, you’re a guest of that airline, and you should act accordingly. You don’t get something for free from a company, and then turn around and call them all kinds of names. Being able to commute on other airlines is a courtesy and a privilege.
If he has a grievance, there are proper channels through which he can file that (well, I suppose not through his union, since he’s a Delta flight attendant, but…).
Now, I am curious… does Atlanta Airport really have a reputation for such horrible service? I’ve probably traveled through Atlanta once in the past five years, and I’m fine with that. But I can’t say I noticed anything particularly different than at other airports?
Bottom line
A Delta flight attendant wasn’t happy with how he was treated by a Southwest gate agent in Atlanta, so he launched an attack against her, and the whole city. He called her unprofessional and ghetto, and said all of Atlanta has no respect for customer service.
What do you make of this flight attendant and gate agent interaction?
While unprofessional on his part, she should have just ignored him as to try to not escolate the situation.
ATL is one of the best run airports in the WORLD. Why would anyone be on the side of that flight attendant?? What a jerk. Delta has been having issues lately and this guy is definitely one of them
He could have voiced his opinion to SW airlines. Yo place Atlanta on a box is ludicrous. He should be ashamed!
I guess this flight attendant missed the training in which you were told when commuting or non reving to take the seat assigned, shut your mouth, let crew do their job/stay out of their way and never, ever make a fuss about anything.
I travel through Atlanta A Lot.. because I fly Delta a Lot. I also work in a Customer Service Industry Job. I agree that this interaction does not look favorable on the Flight Attendant, but I also know that while Jackson Heartfield is probably the busiest airport on the East coast, their Customer Service is lacking in comparison. THEY represent the Nation, and are the First line on contact for a Great Many internation visitors,...
I travel through Atlanta A Lot.. because I fly Delta a Lot. I also work in a Customer Service Industry Job. I agree that this interaction does not look favorable on the Flight Attendant, but I also know that while Jackson Heartfield is probably the busiest airport on the East coast, their Customer Service is lacking in comparison. THEY represent the Nation, and are the First line on contact for a Great Many internation visitors, so working at the airport dictates a higher degree of, and in, customer service. In the video, the Southwest representative is walking In Front of the Flight Attendant..a role of dominance and authority. If she was actually attepting to deal with a situation, she would engage it, take it out of the main isle, and address the concerns of the guest! Also, she put her hand in his face..how does that De-escalate the interaction??
As for the Flight attendant, He didnt need to act as disrespectful as he did, I agree, but his grievance was being dismissed, so he gave shade back to the Southwest representative. It was a no win, both liable/ at fault interaction.
C: You nailed it. I live in Atlanta and go through the airport often. I fly Delta often and am satisfied with their customer servie. I can't help but think that something triggered this exchange. No question Atlanta airport can be a hell hole under certain circumstances.
Such behavior makes it more difficult for other DL employees to gain a non-revenue seat on WN at ATL.
Lots of ebb and flow in the airline business. No need for this one to make it more difficult.
Patently wrong*.
FFS can we please get an edit button Ben?
Can we change the title of the story:
Former Delta Flight Attendant Attacks Southwest Gate Agent, Calls Her Names
I didn't even wonder about the demographics.
There is the debate about bad customer service - OK I get it.
But the issue here is that this is an AIRLINE EMPLOYEE of a competitor airline IN FULL UNIFORM basically going crazy at a competitor airlines employee.
No. No. NO.
Firstly, generally there are rules you agree to when wearing an airline uniform. Whether or not you are 'on duty' the public view you as a representative of the airline you work...
There is the debate about bad customer service - OK I get it.
But the issue here is that this is an AIRLINE EMPLOYEE of a competitor airline IN FULL UNIFORM basically going crazy at a competitor airlines employee.
No. No. NO.
Firstly, generally there are rules you agree to when wearing an airline uniform. Whether or not you are 'on duty' the public view you as a representative of the airline you work for. So you either get changed out of your uniform (I do when I commute) or you bite your tongue and keep your mouth shut.
Secondly, have some class. Non revving can be AMAZING it can also be the WORST travel experience you will EVER have. And that is the name of the game - you take the good with the bad. If you encounter an issue along the way you raise it via internal channels.
Please do not judge a whole city by one person’s attitude…every city and airport have undesirable visitors and employees… my philosophy is to treat people the way you want to be treated…you did not do that… especially if you are in uniform. Two wrongs will never be right.
My experiences in the entire metro have been similar. Bad attitudes. N one seems to want to work.
This is so petty Ben. You are above this.
@Lucky said:
"Well here’s something you don’t see every day, as flagged by View from the Wing."
You do if you read VFTW every day.
VFTW seems to troll the slimiest nooks and crannies of the travel blogosphere and always manages to find the lowest behaviour imaginable.
"VFTW seems to troll the slimiest nooks and crannies of the travel blogosphere and always manages to find the lowest behaviour imaginable."
That's because, it seems, that Gary doesn't really fly anymore yet still wants the revenue stream that clicks afford him. He's the worst. He's the National Enquirer of travel blogs.
Gary is such a weirdo. In spite of being a 50-something (or 60-something?) sexpat with a wife 30 years younger than him, he lives in Austin (one of the youngest and coolest cities in America) and "travels" like a Boomer in the 90s. I don't see why anyone reads him.
Atlanta IS ghetto and so is Detroit airport. It's all very undesirable employees working there. Very poor customer service and a ton of attitude. I'm glad he's calling them out on it in public. Doesn't matter if he's commuting or not. Commuting is a reciprocal arrangement between the airlines and a job benefit, not a freebie, so anyone in that situation should expect to be treated like a customer.
Why is it that American black people are so incapable and/or unwilling to comport themselves in a professional way? Asking as a European, because we don't really have that problem, even with recent arrivals.
Julia, you are most definitely not a European lol
-- real Julia
Sam and the first Julia to post seem to be huge racists.
One should reflect upon your own posts herein Julia and ask yourself why am I incapable of “Comporting” myself in a “Professional way”?
To Sam's original post, yeesh, that's some 'thinly-vield' bigotry right there (naming *those* two cities and using the word 'ghetto'). Friends, Atlanta and Detroit are just fine. The misbehavior from this story is the problem, and is an outlier, not the norm. Everything else is ragebait and hyperbole.
Oh, it is absolutely the norm. Stereotypes exist for a reason.
Absolutely.
So it sounds like he was nonrevving and didn’t get a seat, and was mad about that?
I love how he literally walks close into the gate agents face and then once he has close physical proximity, tells the gate agent to get her hand out of his face.
The sense of entitlement is just ridiculous.
I am a (non US) based legacy flight attendant and also commute by air between my base in Europe and my home. In a way, I can empathise. You get off a working a long...
I love how he literally walks close into the gate agents face and then once he has close physical proximity, tells the gate agent to get her hand out of his face.
The sense of entitlement is just ridiculous.
I am a (non US) based legacy flight attendant and also commute by air between my base in Europe and my home. In a way, I can empathise. You get off a working a long haul flight having been up all night and you just want to get home and emotions really get heightened when some airlines handle commuting staff poorly. Or sometimes its the reverse - you need to get TO work and are struggling to get on a flight.
However - you remain professional. If you think you are being treated poorly, you quietly and discreetly ask to speak to someone about it. OMG ESPECIALLY in uniform. I am not sure about US carriers but with all European airlines staff travel benefits are a non contractual perk - they can be removed by the airline at any time for any reason and do not form any contractual agreement between an employee and their airline.
I needed Google translate. Looks like he was non- revenue and should be suspended. She came across better IMHO.
You need to not fly too close to the sun; that's what you need, Icarus.
I was pointing out something that you clearly don’t comprehend. It looked like a scene from the film Airplane. Do you speak jive ?
He's not going to attract many women acting like that!
Hey now... don't 'yuck' someone else's 'yum,' sir...
I'm not sure he's interested in women.....
It's called Atlantittude. Yes it's a thing here. Customer Service is basically non-existent here sadly, no matter if it is at ATL, or anywhere else in the City. It's a real shame.
I live in Atlanta, and have been here my entire life. I have never heard the term "Atlantittude" before today. In a lifetime of interactions with customer facing workers in this city, a vast majority were at least pleasant. Few and far between are the times I dealt with anybody who had a visible chip on their shoulder.
But who's surprised, there's plenty of people who will denigrate entire cities and ethnicities from the anonymity...
I live in Atlanta, and have been here my entire life. I have never heard the term "Atlantittude" before today. In a lifetime of interactions with customer facing workers in this city, a vast majority were at least pleasant. Few and far between are the times I dealt with anybody who had a visible chip on their shoulder.
But who's surprised, there's plenty of people who will denigrate entire cities and ethnicities from the anonymity of the internet based on a viral video. Grow up.
I've literally lived here for 3 years now. You wouldn't know what Atlantittude is because you are used to trash customer service cause it's clearly all you know. If you think that you get good customer service here in Atlanta then you must have extraordinarily low standards, or you must not go anywhere. The give an F meter of most people working in customer service here in Atlanta is mostly 0. Even my friends that...
I've literally lived here for 3 years now. You wouldn't know what Atlantittude is because you are used to trash customer service cause it's clearly all you know. If you think that you get good customer service here in Atlanta then you must have extraordinarily low standards, or you must not go anywhere. The give an F meter of most people working in customer service here in Atlanta is mostly 0. Even my friends that come down and visit ask why everyone at restraunts and at retail stores has such attitude. My brother, who also lives here now, describes it as feeling like you are inconveniencing them by making them do their job.
The only surprise is that you can be so uninformed, or simply choose to be ignorant to what is around you, so that you can try to criticize others when you are patiently wrong.
Patently wrong*.
FFS can we please get an edit button Ben?
r/Delta seems to think ATL Delta gate agents are the worst. Having lived in ATL 4 years and frequently flying DL and SW I would disagree.Many situations they have been nice to me and even helped my friend when she lost something.
Yes, ATL is fine. Most places are good. Hardworking, decent people trying their best, everyday. The incident in this story is an outlier, yet, it makes for great ragebait on travel blogs. Hope Ben got some good additional ad revenue from this! *wink*
Sorry, but the average American black person (at least in service roles like this) behaves much more like this person than not. Turn off your white guilt, and put on your thinking cap!
"...put on your thinking cap!"
Clearly you mean "racist cap."
ATL has been my home airport for 25 years. Customer service at the gate is nothing special but definitely better than JFK or EWR. My guess is that Atlanta is middle of the pack when it comes to customer service at the gate.
Ya just had to go there... throwin' shade an NYC airports... probably can't handle anyone being 'direct' with you... you prefer 'passive aggression,' instead, eh? Nah, not NYC. We don't want to be stabbed in the back, pal. We're front-stabbers, here!
I fly through ATL at least once a year. Always on Delta. All my experiences have been great. Delta runs a well oiled hub with excellent employees. Even though the airport is huge, connecting between terminals is pretty smooth.
Not sure what set this flight attendant off. But it is not the level of professionalism Delta is usually known for. Reminds me more like unempowered employees at American and Spirit.
This is why I live in Berlin. I am ashamed to be American. No matter what airline you favor
Americans are by far some of the most socially uninhibited groups of people in the world but this person is not reflective of the vast majority of Americans or of Delta.
the chances are pretty high that he will at least lose his pass privileges and possibly his job.
As Ben notes, this is the kind of thing that you don't do in uniform and certainly not while using travel benefits, esp. on...
Americans are by far some of the most socially uninhibited groups of people in the world but this person is not reflective of the vast majority of Americans or of Delta.
the chances are pretty high that he will at least lose his pass privileges and possibly his job.
As Ben notes, this is the kind of thing that you don't do in uniform and certainly not while using travel benefits, esp. on another carrier.
Actions have consequences. This guy might have learned a hard lesson at the cost of a pretty good job.
Living in Berlin is not the flex you think it is. Berlin is a shit hole, and far past its prime.
Secondly, the privilege of your American passport is why you can so easily “live” in Berlin. So have several seats.
With such a foul mouth on you Julia, please be assured the nobody will ever accuse you of being a Lady. Additionally, take your assessment of Berlin seriously.
Julia, do tell, when was Berlin's 'prime' exactly? Could you give a specific year (or range of years)? ...hmm.
@1990 I would say pre-2005, before American "artists" (who are mostly just bored rich kids funded by their absent parents) starting moving in en masse.
….as you and your fellow Americans should be.
Don't tell us what to do
Don't tell us what to do.
Looks like a Tuesday at Warschauer Straße
Do you think that Julia might ‘strut her stuff’ on the local street corners, RetiredATLATC?
Gilly, people occasionally misbehave in Berlin, too. Don't be ashamed of your native country for this incident. There's so many better things to be ashamed of us for. Like, slavery, the genocide of native Americans, racial segregation and Jim Crow, internment of the Japanese Americans, use of atomic weapons, imperialism and interventionism, and discrimination against immigrants, are the big ones. Would you like me to continues as to what the Germans have done wrong, historically?...
Gilly, people occasionally misbehave in Berlin, too. Don't be ashamed of your native country for this incident. There's so many better things to be ashamed of us for. Like, slavery, the genocide of native Americans, racial segregation and Jim Crow, internment of the Japanese Americans, use of atomic weapons, imperialism and interventionism, and discrimination against immigrants, are the big ones. Would you like me to continues as to what the Germans have done wrong, historically? I think you know better.
No, there aren't "...so many better things to be ashamed of for us."
The people who did these shameful things and those to whom they were done are long gone. Long gone!
The Americans of today did not do these things and the Americans of today did not have them done to them. The things for which today's Americans should be ashamed sure aren't on that list.
It's time for Americans to quit being divided...
No, there aren't "...so many better things to be ashamed of for us."
The people who did these shameful things and those to whom they were done are long gone. Long gone!
The Americans of today did not do these things and the Americans of today did not have them done to them. The things for which today's Americans should be ashamed sure aren't on that list.
It's time for Americans to quit being divided by a select few who try to use the sins of the past to keep today's Americans from working together to solve the problems that America faces TODAY!
@Darby
The reason those things are still shameful is because large swathes of the country still believe the same things the bigots who perpetrated those things believe. The Confederate flag isn't "heritage", it's a dog whistle for white supremacists. States in the south, Georgia especially, intentionally purge voter rolls right before elections to make it harder for people to vote. The redlining of yesteryear that denied non-white people mortgages across the country lives on...
@Darby
The reason those things are still shameful is because large swathes of the country still believe the same things the bigots who perpetrated those things believe. The Confederate flag isn't "heritage", it's a dog whistle for white supremacists. States in the south, Georgia especially, intentionally purge voter rolls right before elections to make it harder for people to vote. The redlining of yesteryear that denied non-white people mortgages across the country lives on today in the form of exclusionary single-family zoning, driving up the cost of home ownership and forcing lower income and predominantly people of color to live far from where they work. American racism didn't end in Reconstruction, it just changed form and found new targets.
You must be fun at parties, ja?
@Lucky - Your bias is showing.
He was 100% wrong. He made a scene because he felt like he should have been a bigger deal. He was wrong.
Granted SW agent didn't help. My guess is she was tired of the attitude from Delta FAs thinking they are better than SW, as he says many times.
He doesn’t like the fact that someone didn’t treat him the way he wanted and then got angry. Obviously drunk, because sober angry people just huff and puff.
BTW- Where was a CSM? Nobody from Southwest was in the picture besides her.
I postulated elsewhere this flight attendant may have worked for AirTran or Southwest and was really disappointed by the agents behavior in Atlanta and how the overweight agents approach was more Spirit in style of passenger service than Southwest.
There is more to the story on both ends I am sure. Both were wrong though.
I'm not surprised. Just another example of the lack of professionalism from Delta employees. Flight attendants picking fights while pilots are wrecking planes.
Nah, not a Delta-thing, nor a Southwest-thang; misbehavior at any airline is not the norm, but it occasionally happens, and can happen anywhere.
It sounds like a diss straight from Compton... Well, a premium diss...
Someone bout to at the very least lose travel privileges
Penile
Penile, I just wanna also add, 'Penile.' Well said, sir.
Comments about to be normal on this one
Say whatever you wanna say; ignore or engage.
And, if you can't handle the heat, get outta the kitchen.
Waxing lyrical about class while berating others? I wonder if he posts on this blog under the names YinDaoYan, (Skadden) Arps, BiggusDickus, IH8GARYLEFF, My annual income is EIGHT FIGURES, TravelinWilly, AeroB13a, Pete, Eskimo, and PENILE?
Oh, so now you've become class-conscious?
Wait, are all those aliases you? Not surprised.
And, quite frankly, you're engagement 'jet fuel' for these sites. Ben, Gary, etc. should be a fan.
"Wait, are all those aliases you? Not surprised."
The aliases are put to use when you can see he gave himself 12 "Helpful" votes. It's very sad. Moms' basements will do that to a person.
Yes ATL (regardless of the airline) does have a reputation of a small amount of gate agents can sometimes show a “I don’t care or don’t have the time to help any non rev”, Regardless if the flight is wide open or when a commuting crewmember or other nonrev has checked in with the gate agent.
He should be fired for his unprofessionalism and verbal assault, regardless of whether or not the service provided was poor. Pretty ironic he continually spoke about class.