Breaking: Delta Air Lines to add Seattle’s Best Coffee

by Chris Owen on

You don’t have to fly first-class to get the best coffee on Delta Air Lines. Starting March 1st, Delta’s brand will be Seattles Best Coffee. That might not sound like a really big deal but it took a lot of work to make that happen.

Coffee is best when brewed with water that is 197 degrees, just shy of boiling. The problem with brewing coffee in flight (you were right, there was a problem) is that at 30,000 feet, the altitude affects barometric pressure and how hot water reacts to coffee. Enter the Green Coffee Quality Team at Seattles Best Coffee.

Coffee expert Kim Giroir from Seattles Best quality team told Gadling they experimented with a bunch of different blends and finally came up with what they call “Level 4” coffee that is just right for brewing in the sky.

When Seattle’s Best says they want to “bring great coffee everywhere” that’s not just a slogan. Back at the Research and Development labs at Seattles Best, they brewed test blends in a barometric chamber, mimicing the conditions of brewing in the air.

It’s been a meticulously tedious process finding the right blend but taste tests in November had all the cabin crew buzzing about the new coffee. That’s nothing new to the coffee company that relaunched it’s brand at Starbucks headquarters in May.

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Seattle’s Best thinks they have come up with the perfect cup of coffee, no matter where it is served. A big hit on Royal Caribbean cruise ships, it just made sense to take to the air too.

Delta is no stranger to fine cuisine either, taking in-flight dining seriously for quite some time now, especially in their BusinessElite product.

As the official airline of the Food Network New York Wine and Food Festival, Delta Air Lines brought along its roster of six consulting chefs to venues throughout the event.

In 2006, Delta revealed an on-board menu created by celerity chef Michelle Bernstein. As Delta’s consulting chef, Bernstein designed entrees and side dishes which became part of Delta’s continued effort to enhance its BusinessElite product, creating a more inviting and entertaining experience.

In 2007, Delta tapped top chef Todd English to create selections for its food-for-purchase menu being developed for customers flying in its Coach Class on flights within the United States.

“The back of the plane is where the real challenge is,” said English, adding that he plans to help Delta devise business-class meals in the future.

In 2009 hand-served entrees and signature dishes created by Miami celebrity chef Michele Bernstein and master sommelier Andrea Robinson, expanded dessert options and improved Japanese meal options created by Delta’s flight kitchen in Tokyo.

After all that, a good cup of coffee just made sense.

Delta Air Lines sends frontline staff back to charm school

by Scott Carmichael on

We’ve all been there – standing face to face with an airline employee that has the customer service skills of a can of beans, completely unwilling to provide any form of assistance in a time of need.

According to the Vice President of Delta, his airline completely fit that description when they so badly failed at customer support last summer.

To fix things, he’s sending 11,000 of his staff to be retrained. Everyone that is directly involved with customers, from gate and baggage agents, to ticket agents and supervisors will be sent to charm school.

One of the driving forces behind this speedy retraining project is the number of complaints about Delta Air Lines sent to the Department of Transportation. Delta beat every other airline in the nation – a first place hardly worth bragging about. Add to that scoring second to last in on-time arrivals and baggage handling, and you see why they are spending $2 billion on improving things.

With role-play games and other hands-on lessons, the staff will be retrained on how to deal with complaints, how to explain baggage fees to customers and tips on how to put the focus back on the customer.

According to the Wall Street Journal, these are the core elements of the retraining plan:

  • Make it personal. Focus on the person in front of you, not the long line of people. Greet each one memorably.
  • Be empathetic. Put yourself on the other side of the counter.
  • Listen, ask, listen again. Customers tune out routine announcements. Agents tune out customers.
  • Solve together. Involve customers in solutions by offering choices.
  • Be there. It’s a lot easier to check out than check in. ‘If you don’t remember your last three customers, you are just processing,’ said Delta facilitator Michael Hazelton.

To me, these are all things staff should have been doing all along, and retraining them in such basic things seems rather odd. Also, retraining staff to greet customers won’t help if the policies at the airline are the bigger issue – and without providing staff available options to be empowered and override rules, customers will still be aggravated when things go sour.

Question is – is this all too little too late? Have you switched carriers because of lousy service from Delta Air Lines?

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[Photo: AP]

Delta Airlines kills another pet: kitten dies of cold in cargo hold

by Scott Carmichael on

After a pet death earlier this month, you’d expect Delta Airlines to inspect and improve its protocols for transporting animals.

Sadly, another pet has died after a flight on one of their jets – Snickers the (hairless) kitten was just eleven weeks old when she made the trip from Utah to Connecticut.

Her owner, Heather Lombardi paid just under $290 for the pet ticket, which included a $50 surcharge to have Snickers removed from the hold immediately upon landing.

Unfortunately, someone screwed up, as Snickers was left in the hold for 50 minutes in 10 degree weather. When she was reunited with her owner, she could not move her head or paws, and was rushed to a vet wrapped in a coat. Upon arrival at the vet, she had passed away. Because of the cold, Snickers was bleeding from the mouth and nose, a symptom of hypothermia.

A Delta Airlines spokeswoman had the following to say:

“We are turning our attention now to offering our condolences and discussing how we can provide some kind of restitution to support her during this time”

Sadly this is just another tragic incident that shows the need for better regulation of pet transport. The US Department of Transportation does track animal deaths, but only of pets that die in transit in the cabin. No numbers are recorded for deaths of pets in the cargo hold.

Click here to learn all about “a day in the life of a pet in airline cargo” from our friends at AOL Travel

[Photo: AP/Heather Lombardini]

Judge blocks Sabre, gives American Airlines a break

by Tom Johansmeyer on

I guess it would make sense for American Airlines to turn to litigation. After all, this approach worked well against Orbitz.

Here’s the situation: the battle between airlines and online travel agencies escalated from the beginning of November – with American’s announcement that it would pull out of Orbitz – through the new year. The latest move was by global distribution system Sabre, which has made it more difficult for American’s fares to be found. Along the way, Expedia dropped American in a defensive move, and Delta pulled out of three smaller booking sites: CheapOair, OneTravel and BookIt.

The decision by Sabre to “demote” American Airlines had obvious business implications for the carrier, which is likely why it sought relief in the courts. As a result of a hearing held yesterday, Sabre has been blocked from limiting the visibility of American Airline flights, but there’s clearly more to come.

In addition to making it more difficult for customers to find American’s flights, Sabre also increased the fees it charges American, which would lead to an annual cost of $157 million for the airline.

Sabre maintains that it was within its contractual rights, according to an Associated Press report, while American believes the move was anti-competitive.

How pro athletes travel: Chick-fil-A sandwiches and 60 inches of legroom

by Scott Carmichael on

Once you make it big in the world of pro-sports, traveling suddenly becomes a much more enjoyable experience. While most of the world stuffs itself into tiny seats hoping for a bag of pretzels, the world of chartered sports flights means a whole different level of luxury.

In the US, one of the largest operators of private sports charters is actually an airline you and I have probably flown in the past year – Delta Air Lines.

Delta flies a fleet of eight Airbus A319s in VIP configuration, capable of seating 54 passengers. Seats have 60 inches of legroom, can swivel and some rows feature private card tables.

The crew members on these planes have cheat sheats telling them the preferences of their athlete passengers – from their favorite snacks to what kind of soda they prefer. In addition to this, they’ll even provide special treats like Dove Ice Cream bars and Chick-fil-A sandwiches. Even the top tier elite members on commerical flights don’t get that kind of treatment.

Then again – with flights costing up to $1.3 million, you really should expect a certain level of luxury. The total bill for a sports team is up to $3 million a season, and most of that goes to Delta Air Lines.

[Photo: Bloomberg]