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.
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?
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