After sitting on the tarmac of my house for so long, I finally booked a ticket down to the Peachtree State for four days during fall break. Sunny Atlanta, to be precise! The getaway was really well-spent—I toured a vibrant downtown with a renowned aquarium, park, and classy convention facilities, and I later headed closer to Hartsfield-Jackson Int’l to check off all the items on my bucket list. Aside from a few hotel stumbles, the whole Atlanta experience was seamless. Most of it was due to my choice of transportation: Delta Air Lines.
(By the way, full details of my trip are coming in another blog post soon (I know you can’t wait, ha!), and with any luck, I’ll have the time and energy to start V-logging (v is big for emphasis) on YouTube to detail my thoughts further. Give me a week or so, and please, tell your friends and have them nag me.) Back to Delta, stay focused......Delta was the carrier I chose to fly me from Indianapolis to Atlanta on rainy October 19 and back home on scorching October 23. I currently have no real loyalty status on Delta whatsoever, but that is a concrete goal of mine, because I have consistently valued their approach to running their business from a very young age. They put all people before all else, and this shines through everywhere from call center rep to gate agent to thankless baggage handler. At the VERY least, it overwhelmingly shone through to me on both my travel days. Delta seems to have mastered the ability to resolve any issues of satisfaction in an efficient and, especially as I’ve read and heard accounts of, overall-better manner than its competition. Their early Southern roots as an crop dusting company still embody their spirit today (read about their roots!), because Southern hospitality is a genuine thing! On this trip, however, my situation was different and more of a pressure test on Delta. I brought along my 400-lb power wheelchair. I had never taken it on any plane before in my life. The pressure was no joke. I could only conceive of consequences out of viral news stories and complaints of damaged chairs. No one I knew is 1) disabled the way I am, 2) has had experience with wheelchair travel on airlines, and 3) could reassure me of any positive experience they knew from someone else. So I was very much on my own. I could only book with Delta with the courageous hope they would use their first-rate service and industry knowledge to my benefit. THAT was what prompted me to book with them. As soon as I drove up to the gate (get it?), I spoke with an agent whose confidence, professionalism, and friendliness far exceeded my expectations. She reviewed the loading/handling process with me in great detail and in a tone which made me more comfortable in front of potential negative prospects. Out of concern and care for my experience, she did two major things: tag my chair with a bright, handicap-marked tag to remind handlers of the fragile mobility equipment, and upgrade my seat to spacious Comfort+ to reduce the distance I’d have to walk. How exciting! Already I sensed my needs were prioritized and valued. Throughout my flight (from boarding to taxi/takeoff to landing to deplaning), there was a feeling of dim worry I felt on and off. Wasn’t pleasant, but despite the absolutely awesome flight crew (FAs were so personable and eager to chat), I couldn’t quite eliminate all my ruminative thoughts re my wheelchair. I should note the weather upon landing in Atlanta: torrential rain. The approach, landing, and taxiing was super intense and fun (surprisingly only a few little bumps in the clouds), but as the ATL handlers had to unload the chair in these unfavorable conditions, I didn’t know how wet it would get. Power chairs and rain are not friends! After a grueling twenty-minute wait once all passengers disembarked, a soaked baggage worker arrived, probably exhausted, with my sparkly-clean ride. First though, forgot to say—these flight attendants were the most fun people I ever talked to on a plane. In an airport environment, more accurately. I don’t know why I didn’t jot down their names, because as I waited for my chair, they chatted about connections they had to Bloomington, IN, tips for visiting the Delta Flight Museum, etc. My mind was truly at ease. Not to mention, Delta uniforms are simply THE BEST (look them up online to see what I mean). MOST IMPORTANTLY: My chair worked just the same as it did any other normal day. The relief was unimaginable! Apparently baggage handlers can’t accept tips, but I almost instantly offered, because I was immensely grateful. A funny moment, though, was when I actually assumed it couldn’t start up (i.e. the Permobil start screen didn’t turn on and the joystick wasn’t working). The crews around me began padding down the seat to check if rain caused an issue and flipping manual-automatic switches near the wheels to check their proper positioning. One minute later, the original handler solved the problem comically easily, by flipping a switch I legitimately had NO idea existed until that day. I guess it was a motor on/off switch, but whatever it was, I could just power the chair on normally and speed away as usual. So all in all, Delta did more good than bad: my chair worked, PLUS it got washed and I learned a trick to use on future flights. So folks, I’m actually going to end this here...trust me that the return trip was equally successful. In summary, I just want to commend Delta as much and as genuinely as I possibly can, because they truly eased my anxieties about wheelchair travel and made a huge, positive impact on me. Of course, I chose Delta with very limited knowledge of any sort of reputation or guarantee (other than I did assume Delta’s track record for chairs is better than American and United). Delta COULD HAVE destroyed it, for all I know. Every company has its moments of error and poor reputation, so I encourage my readers to keep that in mind when judging any customer service experience. However, from my Atlanta trip, I came to deeply understand Delta’s care and commitment, and I will now put my chair in their hands rather than any other carrier. If you’re looking for an airline to use for wheelchair travel, my recommendation to you is Delta!!
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