Delta Air Lines: Expect Long Hold Times Until Fall

Trying to call Delta Air Lines to rebook your flight? Don’t be surprised if you are going to wait for hours. According to its CEO Ed Bastian, don’t expect long hold times to end this summer. Instead, CEO Ed Bastian thinks that long hold times will last until September.

To keep up with the demand, Delta Air Line is currently doing its mass hiring. At least half of the “couple of thousand” reservation employees were already hired recently. Bastian said that “It’s not a question of providing the staffing. We’re doing everything we can”.

It’s no secret that airlines are now overwhelmed by the current demand from travelers. Some airlines are even dealing with a pilot shortage problem. As domestic picks up once again, US airlines also have to deal with a spike in the number of calls. Some calls are even more complicated with questions regarding pandemic travel credits and travel restrictions.

Long Hold tines and No Direct Message Option On Twitter

There were cases where travelers waited for as long as nine hours. Travelers had to deal with missed callbacks and no ability to directly message the airline via Twitter unless you tweet first. According to Delta, they turned off the messaging option last fall.  Some consider Twitter as the quickest way to resolve concerns.

According to Bastian, nine-hour hold time isn’t the norm. He said that the norm should be at around one hour wait time. He added that waiting for an hour is already “way too long”. Unfortunately, travelers will have to wait longer. Bastian said that “By September, we expect to get that back down to normal levels”. He added that “We’ve been providing great service, but the service levels that customers should expect and deserve, you’ll be getting that from Delta in the next couple months”.

Long hold times weren’t a problem before the pandemic. According to Delta spokesperson Morgan Durrant, Delta’s wait time before the pandemic was only a few minutes.