Dive Brief:
- Delta Air Lines touted its customer experience accomplishments, including a new lounge and expanded free in-flight Wi-Fi, on a Q3 2024 earnings call Thursday. Over 90% of Delta’s domestic mainline network offers fast, free Wi-Fi.
- Delta opened a new Delta One Lounge, spanning more than 10,000 square feet, in Los Angeles Thursday. The first Delta One Lounge, which opened in New York’s JFK International Airport, has seen high customer satisfaction, according to CEO Ed Bastian.
- “The combination of our industry-leading reliability and best-in-class service from our people has firmly established Delta as the premium airline of choice [and] empowers our brand momentum,” Bastian said during the call.
Dive Insight:
Delta touted a series of CX initiatives, even as it suffered declining revenue from the CrowdStrike outage.
Delta spent about $170 million on customer expense reimbursements and crew-related costs after the CrowdStrike outage, the company said in an earnings report Thursday. Overall, the CrowdStrike outage, which led to 3,500 canceled flights in the first two days alone, cost the company $380 million.
Still, the company leads in multiple performance metrics among airlines for the past year, according to Bastian.
“Year-to-date, our on-time performance is best in the industry, and our completion factor leads the network carriers even when including the impact of the outage,” Bastian said.
The airline highlighted its efforts to court more business flyers with premium experiences as well. In addition to its lounges, the carrier began rolling out Delta Premium Select on some transcontinental flights in September. It also launched Delta Business Traveler, which provides business travelers with exclusive offers from the airline and its partners.
“Consumers are continuing to prioritize premium experiences, and our core customer base is in a healthy financial position with travel remaining a top spend category,” Bastian said. “Corporate travel continues to improve and Delta is well-positioned as the business carrier of choice.”
Delta is leaning into personalization, equipping more than 330 aircrafts with Delta Sync, which offers SkyMiles members a smart TV on the seatback screen with a personalized experience, according to the earnings statement.
But when asked if Delta would follow United’s lead in launching a retail media network, Bastian questioned the value to customers.
“We're very comfortable with where we sit in that space with the free Wi-Fi, Delta Sync and the continued investment in personalization,” Bastian said. “We're not looking to push ads or try to monetize our customers as much as provide greater value to them. And I think that's the sustainable strategy over time.”
