‘The volumes are beyond anything we have ever seen’: Delta hold times won’t improve until fall
long hold times?
Don’t expect much relief this summer.
CEO Ed Bastian said Wednesday that the airline expects to return to normal wait times by September.
Bastian said Delta has hired at least half of the “couple thousand” reservation employees it pledged to bring on to help with record call volumes and adds more every week.
“It’s not a question of providing the staffing. We’re doing everything we can,” he said on the airline’s quarterly earnings conference call.
As travel roars back from pandemic lows, the airline and its competitors have seen an unprecedented spike in calls, which take longer to handle because passengers sometimes have complicated questions over pandemic travel credits and ever-changing restrictions around the globe.
Please hold: Airline customer service hold times skyrocket
Travelers report waits of as long as nine hours on Delta, missed callbacks and no ability to directly message the airline on Twitter without tweeting first. (The airline says it suspended the message option in the fall; other airlines still offer it, and it’s often the quickest way to get help.)
strong brand reputation is “incredibly sensitive” to the issue.Federal mandate extended into September for airports, planes, trains
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