Passenger Trains > Richard Anderson and Delta

I'm a frequent Delta customer. Mostly overseas flights with Platinum status. I have never had a serious issue on a Delta flight regarding customer service. I attribute much of this to the culture Richard Anderson (no relation) installed at the airline. The difference after he took over was noticeable. I just flew Air France this week from Paris to Detroit and the Delta wins hands down. Simple little things like "welcome aboard" when you board the aircraft can make such a difference. And rewarding customers with more miles when something does go wrong (like having water dumped on me during takeoff from the above AC system on an old NWA 747.) Hopefully in addition to fixing Amtrak's infrastructure problems, he can instill the same corporate values and customer service and get rid of the few remaining on board and on the ground employees who won't go along with the plan. When I call the Delta premium line I always feel recognized and welcome. A call to Amtrak, not so much. To borrow a phrase from our President, maybe he can make Amtrak great again.

andersonb109 Wrote:
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"...maybe he can make Amtrak great again."

Again?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/17 05:10 by knotch8.

Maybe some of the wild variations in OBS behavior from train to train can be corrected, though it will be hard.

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> I'm a frequent Delta customer. Mostly overseas
> flights with Platinum status. I have never had a
> serious issue on a Delta flight regarding customer
> service. I attribute much of this to the culture
> Richard Anderson (no relation) installed at the
> airline. The difference after he took over was
> noticeable. I just flew Air France this week from
> Paris to Detroit and the Delta wins hands down.
> Simple little things like "welcome aboard" when
> you board the aircraft can make such a difference.
> And rewarding customers with more miles when
> something does go wrong (like having water dumped
> on me during takeoff from the above AC system on
> an old NWA 747.) Hopefully in addition to fixing
> Amtrak's infrastructure problems, he can instill
> the same corporate values and customer service and
> get rid of the few remaining on board and on the
> ground employees who won't go along with the plan.
> When I call the Delta premium line I always feel
> recognized and welcome. A call to Amtrak, not so
> much. To borrow a phrase from our President,
> maybe he can make Amtrak great again.

I was a very frequent flyer on Delta and I agree with the above Anderson. Richard Anderson instilled excellent customer service with Delta, and it remains there today.
There is no CUSTOMER service with UA or AA.

Hope he can make some improvements with Amtrak, but it's very tough to move mountains.

Right. Maybe he should talk to Tom Downs about who "wins" when you play hardball with Amtrak's unions. With Amtrak, there's also no bankruptcy court waiting in the wings to re-write union contracts. Bankruptcy is not a credible threat with a quasi-governmental entity such as Amtrak.

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/17 06:01 by Dcmcrider.

I'll remember this the next time I fly to Paris. Its the little thing that count like the space between the seats.

Tom Downs was universally regarded as too incompetent to make any demands of any sort, having checked his brains to Mercer Consulting as to which trains to run, how often, and what the consist should be.

This fellow may have a more hard-line tact - do it, or I'll take the train off.

railwaybaron Wrote:
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> I'll remember this the next time I fly to Paris.
> Its the little thing that count like the space
> between the seats.

Just returned from Paris on Delta last week. Service was very good and the extra legroom was an added plus.

No matter how wonderful he was at Delta - or how terrific he was in the Insurance Industry - he is coming to a company that is seriously underfunded, with political enemies.

Because of it's under funding, Amtrak cannot fix any of it's problems - and Mr. Anderson's hands will be tied, just like all past Amtrak CEO's.

But, hope springs eternal. He will be great if he can--get Pres. Trump to admit he was wrong in asking for cuts to Amtrak funding -- or gets the freight railroads to willingly expand passenger trains on their lines -- or get the Republican Congress to give Amtrak hundreds of millions for new equipment.

I wonder what the Las Vegas odds makers would give him (or any Amtrak CEO) --one in ten million chance of making Amtrak better??

Most people forget Congress actually got slightly less Republican in Nov 2016. 3 Amtrak foes in the House, including MICA, are gone. The Dems picked up 2 Senate seats.

Many customer service issues have nothing to do with money:
- Gate Dragon commandments,
- unnecessary bureaucracy of Boarding Passes,
- e-ticket scanning on the platform while freight waits,
- unnecessary Canadian check-in and coded baggage stickers and lines at NYPS, (CBSA would laugh if they saw such theatre)
- diners opening and closing whenever they want,
- conflicting infor on whether or not there are reservations for a given meal (i.e Crescent out of NY),
- anal-retentive seat assignments by coach attendants and conductors,
- filling bulkhead seats first and also when the car is to be half empty.

All correctable, if anyone in management had the detail orientation to focus rather than play victim.
Sending out written up equipment without even a look from Chicago I hope will stop.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/17 07:37 by joemvcnj.

ronald321 Wrote:
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> No matter how wonderful he was at Delta - or how
> terrific he was in the Insurance Industry - he is
> coming to a company that is seriously underfunded,
> with political enemies.
>
> Because of it's under funding, Amtrak cannot fix
> any of it's problems - and Mr. Anderson's hands
> will be tied, just like all past Amtrak CEO's.
>

Under funding, or not spending the funds it has wisely at times, plays a role in equipment and operations. BUT, the customer service culture, or lack thereof from numerous employees, is something that can be fixed without additional funding. It takes a LEADER that lays down the law as to what he expects from the front line employees on up, and has the testicular fortitude to back up his expectations day in and day out. There are way too many employees at Amtrak, front line and management, that simply skate by collecting a paycheck because they know they can get away with whatever. As others have stated, I can't recall a bad customer service interaction on any of my previous Delta flights. Front line personnel at Delta have been without fail professional and courteous in my experiences.

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Most people forget Congress actually got slightly
> less Republican in Nov 2016. 3 Amtrak foes in the
> House, including MICA, are gone. The Dems picked
> up 2 Senate seats.
>
> Many customer service issues have nothing to do
> with money:
> - Gate Dragon commandments,
> - unnecessary bureaucracy of Boarding Passes,
> - e-ticket scanning on the platform while freight
> waits, -
> - unnecessary Canadian check-in and coded baggage
> stickers and lines at NYPS,
> - diners opening and closing whenever they want,
> - conflicting infor on whether or not there are
> reservations for a given meal (i.e Crescent out of
> NY),
> - anal-retentive seat assignments by coach
> attendants and conductors,
> - filling bulkhead seats first and also when the
> car is to be half empty.
>
> All correctable, if anyone in management had the
> detail orientation to focus rather than play
> victim.
> Sending out written up equipment without even a
> look from Chicago I hope will stop.

Some very outstanding points, imho. Hopefully at the very least Mr. Anderson can change some of these issues you addressed with common sense skills and good leadership which obviously has lacked in the past.

Just contrasting Delta's gate agents and gate process at DCA to Amtrak's at WUS gives a pretty clear of the picture of the problem.

Gordon

"Make Amtrak Great Again"
-Can't 'Ya feel the love?

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> All correctable, if anyone in management had the
> detail orientation to focus rather than play
> victim.
> Sending out written up equipment without even a
> look from Chicago I hope will stop.

Sounds good, but to me, it's too early to think about what will get fixed.

When Moorman was hired, I expressed caution regarding the entrenched people within Amtrak who might push back. Except for a handful of publicized "resignations," I was disappointed, although I'm not blaming Moorman here.

I think Richard Anderson might be the hatchet man who's willing to do a real reorganization. In order to succeed, he has to bring "his people" to institute changes, instead of relying on entrenched backstabbers who will defend their self-interests they've "earned" throughout the years. Mr. Anderson can still "lose" this fight, so I'm going to wait to see how things will transpire. Good luck, Amtrak.

cchan006 Wrote:
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> I think Richard Anderson might be the hatchet man
> who's willing to do a real reorganization.

This might be the ticket for Amtrak to get Congressional support for the next few years.

He'll need to contract out/privatize some function. It's music to a right-winger's ears. The contractor may actually pay some Citizen's United campaign contributions. It may also be the only way to Performance Manage some bad apples out the door.

He also needs to look for more passenger fare revenue, not just jacking up PRIAA fees.

VIA Rail has always been in more political dire straits with both major political parties, yet they have exemplary customer service, maintain old equipment well, seldom read of CN power leading a stalled VIA train in God's Country, and never hear of customer service horror shows in the stations or on the trains.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/17 10:49 by joemvcnj.

Who knows? Maybe the Canadians are just in general more pleasant and less abrasive people? ;)

The one problem I have with VIA is that they don't let people use the down escalator in Montreal, unless you are sitting in the special needs section.

But that is beatable, and nothing compared to the Philly Gate Dragons I yelled at. I am too mature to put up with elementary school lunchroom aide attitude for not standing in line like a good little youngster and not in a seat for an hour next to the stairs while they formed the line on the opposite side of the seats.

RayH Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> andersonb109 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I'm a frequent Delta customer. Mostly overseas
> > flights with Platinum status. I have never had
> a
> > serious issue on a Delta flight regarding
> customer
> > service. I attribute much of this to the
> culture
> > Richard Anderson (no relation) installed at the
> > airline. The difference after he took over was
> > noticeable. I just flew Air France this week
> from
> > Paris to Detroit and the Delta wins hands down.

>
> I was a very frequent flyer on Delta and I agree
> with the above Anderson. Richard Anderson
> instilled excellent customer service with Delta,
> and it remains there today.
> There is no CUSTOMER service with UA or AA.
>

I used Delta regularly in my frequent trips between Seattle and South Africa. Even coach at the back of the plane (the folks I was working for were good at forgetting to line up my trip until just before leaving time) on the 17 hour trip between Atlanta and Joburg was relatively pleasant. When an Air France A380 I was scheduled to leave Joburg on went bad order, AF dumped 500 of us on the street in Joburg so that they could close for the night, telling us to check with the ticket office in the morning. I was on a Delta code share ticket to Paris and Delta to Seattle. In the morning, there were 500 angry passengers at the closed and locked AF ticket office. I checked that night's Joburg-Atlanta job on the web. No space. I called Delta in Atlanta long distance (US 800 numbers don't work in South Africa), gave the agent the whole saga and asked if he could find a way for me to get home. He told me to hang while he did a little off the phone work. He came back on the phone and told me that he found an empty first class seat on that night's job to Atlanta and another from there to Seattle, with a couple of hours in Atlanta to connect to that specific flight. A had a coach ticket!

I don't use any other airline, except Alaska occasionally. That is pretty much why. UAL and AA - I don't want to put myself in the position of being in a plane with a crew that hates coming to work.

If Richard Anderson can make that kind of customer service change at Amtrak, I'm guessing that it will show up in ridership, the lack of capital part notwithstanding.

TAW