Privacy Breach in Customer Feedback Tool Sparks Outrage Among Delta Flight Attendants

The flight attendant union of Delta Air Lines is celebrating victory after the airline paused its planned Customer Recognition Tool which flight attendants have objected to.

The Customer Recognition Tool was planned to prompt passengers to provide customer service feedback on a flight.

Under the program, crew members’ names will be emailed to passengers 24 hours ahead of their flight.

When flight attendants objected to this immediately, the airline provided an option that the union found “insufficient and insulting”.

Airline management gave an opt-out that was “complicated” and would take 5-7 days from an HR response.

“Sharing names with passengers in advance of a flight is unnecessary and frankly creepy. Many FAs have at least one story about a passenger who gets a little too ‘friendly’. For those who have dealt with harassment, intimidation & assault, violation of our privacy is deeply concerning,” the flight attendant union wrote on its Twitter account.

The union created a campaign against the tool, encouraging members to sign and rally.

“Delta management claims that this program is a way for customers to recognize great service. The reality is that this is a thinly-veiled attempt to manage us without being on the aircraft, implemented without our knowledge or input,” the union said in its campaign.

On May 26, 2023, the union jubilantly announced on its website that it had won the campaign after the airline announced that it was ‘pausing’ its Customer Recognition Tool program.

“After thousands of us signed our petition, spoke to our flying partners on the line, and posted on social media, Delta management announced they will “pause” the Customer Recognition Tool and apologized “for any undue stress that the rollout of this tool may have caused,” the union said.