Delta Monitors Twitter to Remedy Customer Complaints

(page 2 of 2)

Delta began monitoring Twitter and Facebook earlier this year, after JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU) and Southwest started accounts in 2007 and UAL Corp.'s (UAUA) United jumped in last year. Delta's main account has 74,000 followers. DeltaAssist has fewer than 2,000.

Listening to Travelers

JetBlue and Southwest, which have 1.6 million and 1.04 million Twitter followers, respectively, say they use the service mainly to listen to passengers and that they refer many travelers to call centers or websites to settle issues such as a missed flight. Public-relations specialists, not customer-service agents, manage their Twitter accounts.

"Our channel is definitely different than Delta's," Southwest's Day said. "Customer service is a piece of it, but it isn't the whole puzzle. Our primary goal is to watch for evolving, up-and-coming issues."

Morgan Johnston, who runs JetBlue's account, said he often learns of operational snags from passengers' postings before hearing from the New York-based airline's employees.

"We can reach out to our operations people and say 'Heads-up, customers want more info,' " Johnston said. "Chances are if there's one person at a gate area asking about a delay, there are 140 more people in the boarding area who have the same question."

JetBlue and Dallas-based Southwest said fewer than 10 percent of the Twitter feeds citing the airlines are complaints, and that most are queries about fare sales or new destinations. Delta declined to say how many Twitter messages are complaints.

Holtz, the consultant, said Delta earns goodwill by being able to respond when passengers feel powerless in the face of airport delays, misdirected luggage, or canceled flights. The airline also got a payoff after rebooking stranded passenger Brice. He wrote about the results on Twitter.

"Having that immediate attention from Delta on Twitter is one of the reasons I select them," Brice said.

His only complaint: that DeltaAssist isn't staffed on weekends. He posted that observation, too.

Credeur is a reporter for Bloomberg News in New York.

Business Exchange

Track and share business topics across the Web.