He pulled out the red Delta policy manual, read it to himself, then told the guy next to me how wrong he was.  He said it is not in his authority to give any wine away on trips to North America.  The Canadians were upset and somewhat befuddled.  Then my passenger friend went on Delta.com and found the policy stating that alcohol is complimentary on all international flights.

He got is wine and laughed at the victory.  It was a battle of wills and he won it in his mind.

Two questions:  Is a $7 bottle of wine worth the disagreement?  I mean, what?s the point unless just ?being right? is the object.  No it wasn?t, but he was going to get his free bottle.  I pitied the flight attendant who was just following orders.  Regardless of how those orders were coming across.  I am sure Richard Anderson is proud that his people adhere to the rules more than the customers? or the website.

That brings me to the other question:  If the customer wants something that won?t break your business, why risk the poor reputation?  Does Delta train their people to observe the rule book first and damn the customers?  Sorry, but it comes across that way more than not. 

I have said for years that Delta?s motto is:  ?Shut up, you?re lucky we?re even taking you there!?

United?s policy is: ?Shut up, you?re lucky we?re still going there!?

American Airlines (just merged with US Airways) motto is: ?Just shut up!?

But Southwest Airlines? motto appears to be: ?Hey, we?re having fun. Come on board and have fun with us.?  Southwest doesn?t charge for luggage checked. They have no preferred seating, so you aren?t walking past First Class, crawling over premiere boarding to get to your seat in the back.

Note that Southwest leads almost every customer satisfaction survey over the past 10 years, while the aforementioned big carriers are struggling to break even (and they aren?t). The only exception is Hawaiian Airlines.  They have been up there with Southwest for several years, but I think you know why? they?re taking people to Hawaii, so almost anyone would be satisfied with that!

Next time you know the rules better than the customer service representative, ask yourself if it is worth it to get what you want, or is it worth it for them to deny it to you?

If you allow rules to be in charge, you will always make and have more rules.  There is no denying that.  But if you allow the customers to have some perks instead of policies, you will almost always have more customers.  It will go viral!