A Delta Air Lines flight attendant and a Southwest Airlines gate agent went head to head in an Atlanta airport, then viral online. Last week, footage hit Instagram showing the flight attendant accusing the Southwest workers at that particular hub of lacking good customer service.
The gate agent had little interest in his critiques, and whoever was filming just wanted his digits.
Delta vs. Southwest: FIGHT
It’s nothing new to see a passenger complaining to a gate agent, even to the point of being insulting. When it’s a flight attendant who’s griping, that gets people’s attention.
Last Thursday, aviation news account @thecrewroom_ on Instagram posted footage of the altercation. In it, the Delta flight attendant is seen approaching the gate to dress down the Southwest agents.
“I’m trying to tell y’all, this is ridiculous, this is the worst airport, and y’all make Southwest look horrible,” he said. “That customer service is ridiculous.”
He went on to call the entire Southwest team in Atlanta “ghetto,” claiming they have a poor reputation.
“Y’all have no respect for customer service, y’all need to clean it up, clean it up, because I’m just trying to take a flight,” he continued.
“I don’t have to take Southwest, I can take Delta.”
The gate agent accused him of calling another Southwest worker “the B word” and told him to lower his tone. He didn’t.
“You ain’t nothing,” he spat. “Where your name tag at?”
“I carry myself with professionalism.”
The gate agent took it all calmly and with arguably more professionalism than the Delta guy displayed that day, eventually walking away from him. The woman filming then called him cute and tried to get his Instagram information, but he was a bit too upset for that.
“No more nonrev privilege for you”
Though plenty agreed with the Delta flight attendant that Atlanta’s customer service is not great, others pointed out that publicly insulting a competing airline isn’t the most professional way to handle a situation. It’s unclear if his job has outlasted public interest in this video.
“I wouldn’t call this exchange in front of customers professional,” said @april_atl.
“BUH BYE!” declared @where_monkey01. “No union no rep and this video all over social media. No more nonrev privilege for you on any airline.”
“Someone at Delta is getting promoted to customer,” joked @juankenobe78.
“Baby! I know Delta done clipped those wings!” wrote @keith.archangel.
Gary Leff, a self-described expert on air travel, agreed with those who assumed the flight attendant’s job is at risk thanks to this footage. He reported that Delta is notorious for cracking down on workers who might damage the company reputation, including anyone who had something less than nice to say about Charlie Kirk after the shooting.
“Ultimately when you’re nonrevving on another airline (let alone your own!) you need to be polite to agents, let their operations run, and escalate any issues via internal channels,” he wrote.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Southwest airlines for comment via email.
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