Oh, Delta Airlines. You are the most beloved airlines in the world…or wait, no. Scratch that. You’re one of the least-respected brands in the world, because of, as Yahoo! Finance reported back in August, the sizable gap between how well you’re known and how you’re perceived. This item in the news is not going to help you win the hearts of Americans.
(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Last week The Washington Post reported on passenger Jeff White. He had booked a flight from Pensacola, Florida to Albany, New York via Atlanta. All seemed normal until he noticed the glaring confirmation code: H8GAYS. Whoops.
The University of West Florida student told The Post, “At first I didn’t think I read it right. I was worried that another customer might think I somehow picked that code. If I were a gay male, I might have thought that a Delta worker purposely gave me that code, and that would have made me extremely uncomfortable.”
(Steve Grayson/WireImage)
Delta has apologized for the incident. Spokesman Russell Cason told the Washington Post, “These confirmation codes are computer-generated and are completely random. We will make every effort to ensure that a similar combination does not occur in the future.”
(f8 Imaging/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
It’s funny he should mention the computer-generated thing, because Mr. White happens to be an IT major and knows a thing or two about computers,“….what surprises me is that they didn’t block [his confirmation code] as a possibility of the string of random numbers and letters in the software they use to…I’m sure they removed many four-letter words that would be seen as offensive. I’m surprised that ‘gays’ and ‘H8’ weren’t blocked as well.”
It’s been a rough week for the airline company. As WMTV NBC 15 News reports, yesterday one of their jets slid off a taxiway at Dane County Regional Airport in Wisconsin. Fortunately, nobody was injured.
More info: The Washington Post
- Delta Airlines
- Jeff White