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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It sounds like a diss straight from Compton... Well, a premium diss...
Someone bout to at the very least lose travel privileges
Penile
Comments about to be normal on this one
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?
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.