Sunday in the Rearview Mirror

I am a survivor!  I made it through to other side unscathed, for the most part. 

No, I didn’t run a marathon, I didn’t beat a disease and I didn’t even make it through a challenging meeting.  I lived through the Delta Airlines system outage on Sunday night.  While many would want me to complain and yell about it, I’m not going to do that.  I am, however going to talk about what I learned during the event.

1 – Having a TMC that had my back was a life saver.  The minute I knew about the issue, I called CWT to put a back in plan in place.  Delta, couldn’t show me options, which makes sense when systems are down, but the agency was able to cover my behind so I could have a plan to get to my meetings if things went really wrong. 

2 – Having a mobile solution that wasn’t just the airline app, also saved me.  I couldn’t get into my Delta App, so I couldn’t find my confirmation or flight details.  Having another solution made me feel secure about what info I was missing.

3 – Delta employees faced the challenge with the right attitude.  They opened and kept open a Sky Club that has been closed for renovation to meet the demand.  When I checked in, I asked how long they would be open, they said, “Until our travelers are taken care of.”  What a great testament to serving a customer.  (Trust, they were exhausted when I left there at 1:05am, but you wouldn’t know that based on their attitude.)  Outside the club, I saw employees bringing blankets, pizza, drinks and a smile to those in need.  Sure, it sucked for them, but they got it that it sucked more for the travelers. 

4 – Car rental counters don’t say open “just in case a flight comes in” so when your flight lands, you are stuck with options that exist.  At 3:25am, taxis at Sacramento Airport are few and far between.  Uber and Lyft were both at a 100X.  At that point, I didn’t care, I needed to get to my hotel and to bed, so 100X with Lyft was what I paid.  The line at Super Shuttle was VERY long, but from what I could tell, they were working quickly to get people the help they needed. 

5 – I saw the best in people.  The guy who was going around the G concourse making balloon animals for kids who had enough! 

6 – I saw the worst in people.  The lady who would not move her “real Gucci” bag to the floor or hold it in her lap so someone could sit in the seat. 

So, yes it sucked to be a traveler in this.  Yes, it sucked to get in SOOO late and try to function yesterday.  Is Delta going to have to answer to why and how this could happen twice in a year?  Yes.  Did I learn things that I will share with my travelers?  Heck yeah!  Learning, sharing and still, keep going.