Like most airlines, Delta overbooks its flights. The Department of Transportation fined Delta $750,00 for violating rules on overbooking — specifically for complaints that it bumped passengers without first asking for volunteers, and also failed to offer compensation for those who got bumped.
WASHINGTON, June 25 (UPI) — A mother’s Facebook post said the head of Delta airlines gave up his seat on a flight in Washington to allow her to pick up her diabetic daughter from camp.
Jessie Frank’s Facebook post, which she labeled “An Open Letter to Delta CEO [Chief Executive Officer] Richard Anderson,” said she was on the standby list for an overbooked Delta flight from Washington to Atlanta when someone with a “vaguely familiar face” told her she would be given a seat and helped her with her bag, ABC News reported Tuesday.
Frank said she was grateful to the man, who then sat in a jump seat, for surrendering her seat so she could make it to pick-up day at her 12-year-old daughter’s summer camp, which caters to children with type 1 diabetes.
The mother said she finally recognized the man when a flight attendant introduced the “special guest,” the company’s chief executive officer, to the passengers.
“You, Richard Anderson, the CEO of Delta, did all that for me, just an average, middle-aged, woman with, as far as anyone at Delta knew, no special reason to get home,” Frank wrote.
She said she admires Anderson because he “leads by example, and does not set himself above all those who allow this airline to exist.”
Frank said being able to see her daughter at camp was an important part of her year.
“Camp Kudzu gives my daughter 5 days a year when she feels ‘normal.’ Pick-up day gives me a glimpse into that special world where she’s just like everyone else, and she’s a little bit of a different person for the rest of the day. By the next day, it’s back to the harsh realities of managing a difficult, deadly, incurable disease that kills 1 in 20 before the age of 18. Most people just don’t understand how different it is from regular diabetes,” she wrote.
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A Delta Airlines flight departing from Reagan National Airport for Minneapolis got stuck in a grassy area after going off the runway Monday afternoon.
Passengers were removed from Delta Flight 1763 and the airport remains open, according to airport officials.
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority officials are working to get the plane back on the runway.
Baggage from the cargo area has been offloaded.
No injuries have been reported and passengers will be put on another plane, said a Delta spokesman.
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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
News now, of another airline agreement, that’s been approved by regulators. This latest deal sees Delta Airlines and Britain’s Virgin Atlantic partnering on flights and marketing.
NPR’s Wendy Kaufman reports.
WENDY KAUFMAN, BYLINE: Beginning early next month, the two airlines will jointly sell tickets on more than 100 routes. In addition, passengers can earn and redeem miles on either carrier, and passengers with elite status on one airline will be offered the same benefits on the other. Those with airport lounge privileges can use the facilities of both airlines.
The partial integration of flights and services, stems from Delta’s purchase of a 49 percent stake in Virgin Atlantic.
Industry analyst Richard Aboulafia says the deal – first announced in December, but just finalized – gives Delta something it had long sought.
RICHARD ABOULAFIA: Delta gets to grow its market share of the North Atlantic market, particularly to the U.K. and especially to Heathrow Airport; they get more passengers -particularly hi-end business passengers – that account for the majority of profits on these routes.
KAUFMAN: At the same time, Virgin Atlantic will be able to seamlessly funnel its passengers onto Delta’s huge domestic network. Together, the two airlines hope to become a formidable competitor. American Airlines and British Airways already have a similar agreement.
Virgin – which is owned by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, is seen as a luxury brand, and yesterday, the airline’s chief executive insisted that Virgin’s brand identity would not be subsumed by Delta, and that Virgin would remain true to its roots.
Wendy Kaufman, NPR News.
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NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.
Delta Airlines CEO Richard Anderson has been praised for giving up his seat on a plane so that a mum could get home to her daughter. Picture: Karen Bleier / AFP
Source: AFP
Delta Airlines CEO Richard Anderson. Picture: Delta Airlines
Source: Supplied
AN AIRLINE boss has given his seat to a tired, stressed mum who needed to get home to her daughter.
Delta Airlines CEO Richard Anderson was booked on a flight from Washington D.C. to Atlanta on a day where the airline faced numerous delays and cancellations.
Jessie Frank was also trying to get to Atlanta, and had been waiting all day to get on a flight. Ms Frank was desperate to get home to pick up her diabetic daughter from summer camp.
At 9.30pm, she was eighth on the list of standby passengers waiting to fly to Atlanta before the D.C. curfew hit at 10pm.
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Seven names went by. The system showed zero seats left.
Ms Frank was about to give up when the flight attendant from Delta airlines rushed her down the jetway and shook her head.
But then something wonderful happened.
The flight attendant paused, talked to someone and then waved her down to the plane.
“A vaguely familiar face met me at the doorway, not in uniform so probably an off-duty pilot I had seen before. He quickly grabbed my roll-aboard, helped clear a space in the overhead, and showed me to my seat.”
As the flight descended into Atlanta the flight attendant announced that the plane had a special guest on board flying in the jump seat – the spare seat behind the pilots in the cockpit. He was riding in that seat because he had given up his place to allow one more person on the flight.
That man was Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta Airlines.
Overwhelmed with emotion Ms Frank took to Facebook to pen an open letter to Mr Anderson.
In it she writes: “You, Richard Anderson, the CEO of Delta, did all that for me, just an average, middle-aged, woman with, as far as anyone at Delta knew, no special reason to get home. But more importantly, it was all of your employees that day that did so much helping me to get home – and now I know why. Because Delta is led by you, Richard Anderson, a dedicated and inspiring leader who so clearly demonstrates, at his very core, that he leads by example, and does not set himself above all those who allow this airline to exist.
“Thank you, Richard Anderson. As a result of your leadership and the actions of yourself and your employees, I had my special day with my special child. You and your employees gave us both one more day of happiness, and for that, we are both very grateful. I have always been a loyal Delta customer, but Thursday solidified that loyalty for life! To all Delta employees who helped me on Thursday: thank you again.”
Delta Airlines have confirmed the incident occurred but have so far declined to comment.
Ms Frank’s letter has since been shared 1697 times. Proof that good customer service may be the best PR of all.
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Delta Airlines Embraer E170 heading from San Antonio, Texas to Minneapolis was diverted to Kansas City International Airport just before 8:00 p.m. Monday.
Delta flight 5789, which landed without incident, suffered a cabin depressurization during the flight, prompting the diverted landing at KCI, according to an airport spokesman.
The plane landed without incident and was able to taxi to the gate under its own power.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the plane, which is capable of flying up to 80 passengers, to lose cabin pressure.
Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Federal Aviation Authority is investigating a near mid-air collision by two passenger airliners above New York City, it said on Friday.
A Delta Airlines Boeing 747, coming in to land at New York’s JFK airport, came within half a mile of a Shuttle America flight which was taking off from La Guardia, the FAA said in a statement.
The aircraft had “lost the required separation” that aeroplanes must have from one another in the air, the agency said. Both planes ultimately landed safely.
“The FAA is investigating an incident on June 13 at 2.40pm, in which Delta Airlines Boeing 747 arriving at JFK’s Runway 4L lost the required amount of separation with a Shuttle America Embraer E170 departing from LaGuardia’s Runway 13,” the FAA said.
“The two aircraft were turning away from each other at the point where they lost the required separation. Both aircraft landed safely.”
An FAA source said that in the airspace where the incident occurred the required separation for aircraft is 1,000ft above or below one another and 1,000ft from wingtip to wingtip.
The “nose to tail” required separation between aircraft is three miles, the source said.
The situation arose when the pilot of the Delta flight made a decision not to complete his landing on runway 4L at JFK. This is a standard procedure known as a “missed approach”.
NYC Aviation, a trusted aviation news website which reconstructed the near miss from flight radar data and control tower audio, said that normally in that situation the pilot would bank to the right and circle back for another attempt.
In this case the pilot of a flight just ahead of the Delta Boeing 747 had also aborted his landing. This meant the Delta flight could not also bank right, for fear of coming too close to the aircraft ahead.
Instead the Delta flight was ordered left by the JFK control tower, before then banking right.
This brought the Delta flight into the path of the Shuttle America Embraer E170, which had just taken off from La Guardia.
NYC Aviation told the story of the briefly dramatic exchange between the pilot of the Delta Boeing 747 and the JFK control tower.
JFK tower asks Delta 172, “Are you turning?” Delta 172 responds “Uh, yes sir, we’re almost at 040 now.” Immediately after, the JFK tower controller gets back on the radio and states “Delta 172 heavy, traffic 12 o’clock, 1400 feet, Embraer at 1600 feet,” with a tone of important in his voice. Delta 172 replies “Ok, we got them on the fish finder here,” referring to the traffic collision avoidance system.
“OK, he’s eastbound at 1800 feet climbing out of ZULAV.” At this moment, the two aircraft were at virtually the same altitude, headed for each other. However, all parties involved knew of the conflicting traffic, and both aircraft were actively turning to avoid each other. Delta turning to the right, Shuttle America to the left.
With the TCAS alarm sounding in the background, Delta 172 gets back on the radio and says “OK, we’re turning right to 060.” JFK tower then assigns a heading of 180, and Delta 172 is heading south to re-enter the approach pattern. Just like that, it’s over. Shuttle America 5981 continues on to Jacksonville, and Delta 172 circles back to JFK and lands safely.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a near-miss by two airplanes over New York City.
The FAA said in a statement Friday that a Delta Airlines Boeing 747 arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport came close to a Shuttle America Embraer E170 departing from LaGuardia Airport around 3:45 p.m. June 13.
The aircraft were “turning away from each other at the point where they lost the required separation,” the FAA said. Both aircraft landed safely.
NEW YORK – The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a near-miss by two airplanes over New York City.
The FAA said in a statement Friday that a Delta Airlines Boeing 747 arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport came close to a Shuttle America Embraer E170 departing from LaGuardia Airport around 3:45 p.m. June 13.
The aircraft were “turning away from each other at the point where they lost the required separation,” the FAA said. Both aircraft landed safely.
