Delta CEO Listens To This Frequent Flyer's Plea

Chris didn’t really have a serious consumer “problem,” but he had an issue that regular customer service channels couldn’t help him with. He’s a very frequent flyer, but had been accumulating miles through Alaska Airlines, even though he now does all of his flying with Delta. He sent off concise and businesslike executive e-mail carpet bomb explaining his dilemma, and promising Delta all of his business if they’d match his l33t MVP Gold status.

I just wanted to pass on an amazing experience I just had with Delta.
I’ve been an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan member for years, but last
year ended up flying over 65,000 miles on Delta alone. I wanted to see
if Delta would match my MVP Gold status with their Skymiles Gold
Status. I called the Skymiles helpline, but was shut down pretty
quick, so I decided an email might be the best route. A Google search
for Delta’s executives brought me to the Consumerist Website with an
article about reaching Delta’s executives via email. It was from 2007,
but I decided I’d still give it a shot. I was immediately notified
that seven emails were undeliverable, so I just figured I’d done my
best, and laid the issue to rest. That is until this morning when I
received a call from the personal secretary of Delta’s CEO Richard
Anderson, notifying me that he received my email and would be happy to
match my status! Delta just earned a loyal customer for life.

Here’s a copy of the email blast I sent out to the execs, even though
most were undeliverable:

Delta Executives:

Good afternoon. My name is Chris [Last Name], and I am a frequent flyer with
over 125,000 miles flown in 2010, and over 68,000 miles logged
exclusively on Delta. I’m from Portland, Oregon and use your direct
service from PDX to Tokyo to connect get to Shanghai. I’m writing
today hoping that Delta will be able to match my Alaska Airlines
Mileage Plan MVP Gold Status with the Skymiles Gold Status for the
year 2011. The problem I face is that if I start using my Skymiles
account, I will not have any status or the ability to use Sky
Priority, which is what I receive as a MVP Gold with Alaska.

At the start of 2010 I learned that I would be doing extensive amounts
of travel overseas. At the time, I was told that it would be on a mix
of airlines; so I had thought it best to use my Alaska Airlines
Mileage Plan to accumulate miles when flying on Delta. Had I known
this would have been the case, I would have been using my Delta
Skymiles from the very beginning.

Any help that you can offer would be greatly appreciated. I’m very
happy with the service that I receive at Delta as an Alaska Airlines
Mileage Plan member, and I would really like the opportunity to switch
all my business over to Delta.

Please see the attached PDF file. It contains a scan of my Alaska
Airlines MVP Gold membership card, as well as a screenshot of all my
flight activity on Alaska Airlines and their partners for 2010. I’ve
highlighted all of my 2010 Delta Flights. I am really hoping that you
can help me with this problem. I’m a regular in the Flyertalk forums,
and I would really like the chance to rave (even more!) about the
great service that I receive with Delta.

Very Best Regards,

Christopher

Need to contact Delta about a problem of your own? Here’s some more current information, including contact info for the company CEO.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.