Change Is…

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by: David Polinchock

On the subway this morning and my car has one side taken over by the Change Is campaign by Delta airlines. Change Is: The only U.S. airline flying to Capetown or Change Is: Flying to Heathrow. I’m sure you’ve seen the ads. Someone actually pointed out to me that the Greek sign for change is delta, but I guess I never really got that. But the thing is, the changes they listed don’t really seem all that big. I mean, is the airlines such a patriotic industry that we would be excited that Delta is the only US.airline flying to South Africa? Didn’t do that much for me!

I would’ve like to see signs that said Change Is: Getting rid of this inanely stupid pricing system or maybe Change Is: Not Making our Frequent Flyers Go Through Contortions To Use Their Miles. Or maybe Change Is: Taking Care of our Employees so Well That They Can’t Wait to Take Care of You! I could’ve gotten very excited about things like that!

But no, they just put simple things in their ads that frankly no one really cares about. Well, I shouldn’t say no one. But I’m guessing not many people actually think that flying to Heathrow represents much of a change.

And, as it turns out, I’m flying Delta to Chicago tonight, so I can tell you firsthand that Change Is Not: A Significantly Different Flying Experience. Since I’m on a Delta flight handled by Comair, I didn’t come up on the self service kiosk, forcing me to wait on a long line for help. Then, as I came to the front, the woman behind the counter left, leaving about 15 of us to be handled by one guy. And three people, including an employee on personal travel, all cut in front of us. The guy who helped me was nice enough, but it was still a frustrating check in experience. And we’re leaving from gate 23, which at the Delta terminal at JFK is about 3 days away from the security check in. But, it did give me some exercise for the day!

I’m sure the flight will be uneventful and that’s always good. But I can’t stress enough that this is one industry really in need of hearing that the consumer is in control. You’d think that given they were in the hospitality industry, we wouldn’t have to remind them of that!

Sent wirelessly from Nokia 9500 & T-Mobile

Original Post: http://blog.brandexperiencelab.org/experience_manifesto/2008/04/change-is.html