Delta CEO Gives Up Seat For Mom Late To Camp, Yeah OK, That’s Nice

COMMENTARY — The “Delta CEO gives up his seat” to a mom who was late to pick-up her kid from camp story broke last week, and the publicity just won’t go away. Delta CEO Richard Anderson’s staff has said he doesn’t want the spotlight and yet, somehow, the stories keep on coming.

On Friday, CNN reported that Delta CEO Richard Anderson gave up his own seat and flew in a jump seat to Atlanta. Jessie Frank, the woman who got the seat then posted an effusive letter about what a god among men he was on her Facebook page.

When I was first tweeted the story, I’ll admit it. I just shrugged it off for what it was — a tale that may or may not be exactly as described.

I am willing to believe that there was an overbooked plane and that Anderson would rather travel in the jump seat than wedged in among the hoi polloi. If I was a Delta CEO or any other Delta employee, I’d likely do the same.

I am also willing to believe that Frank was delighted to be the last standby allowed on the flight.

But you-know-what on a cracker, I hardly think this episode is worth the telling not just by CNN on Friday but repeatedly everywhere. USA Today finally got around to covering the story on Tuesday afternoon so, heck, maybe they were hoping it would go away too.

Some of the letter is almost too good to be true. There’s this:

“You, Richard Anderson, the CEO of Delta, did all that for me, just an average, middle-aged, woman with, as far as anyone at Delta knew, no special reason to get home. But more importantly, it was all of your employees that day that did so much helping me to get home – and now I know why. Because Delta is led by you, Richard Anderson, a dedicated and inspiring leader who so clearly demonstrates, at his very core, that he leads by example, and does not set himself above all those who allow this airline to exist.”

Nicely written for a supposed letter by a middle-aged middle-class mother with a special-needs child.

And there isn’t much else on the Facebook page other than a few items raising awareness for that child’s cause, type 1 diabetes.

Far be it from me to throw rotten tomatoes at somebody’s attempt to get more awareness for the growing diabetes epidemic.

But to portray Delta CEO Richard Anderson’s policies as family friendly for average middle-class Americans is fairly over-the-top.

He has helmed numerous policies at Delta that make travel significantly more expensive and significantly more difficult for budget travelers. Some of the policies have really been painful, like charging most flyers for checked bags unless they have Delta’s American Express credit card.

They have also changed their frequent flyer rules to make it difficult or impossible for budget travelers to qualify for frequent flyer elite status benefits, no matter how often or how far they fly.

Delta has even apparently implemented a code in their computers where they rate you so that employees can decide how far they should bother to go to help you with a problem. (Yes, I’ve seen my own rating, and no, I can’t get in and get yours. Ask Edward Snowden.)

Jessie Frank’s Facebook page said that she’s the president of Werner Frank.

I’m going to suggest that I’m an actual frequent flyer on a budget who is not a president of anything. I’m guessing I’m a far better judge of Delta’s day-to-day treatment of actual average travelers than she is.

Yes, I think it’s all nice and all that Anderson gave up his seat for Frank. But I also think it’s a publicity stunt that doesn’t change anything for real frequent flyers.

What do you think? Feel free to fire away in the comments below. It won’t hurt my feelings if you think I’m a witch for not falling at the feet of a Delta CEO who gave up his seat.

[Delta jet photo by InSapphoWeTrust via Flickr and Creative Commons]