Delta Sky Club Agents Aren’t Always the Best Option

I’m a big believer in having lounge access with your primary airline. As a result, I take the steps I need to take to ensure I can access the Delta Air Lines Sky Club. You can argue about food, amenities, chairs, and red walls in the bathroom. One thing you can’t argue with is that the agents in the Sky Club can get things done for you. However, I experienced an interesting wrinkle with my Sky Club agent theory tonight.

Previously, I posted that I was pretty far down the upgrade list on my flight. Nonexistent upgrade chances or not, you should not ever give up on improving your coach seating situation. I was stalking the seat map for my flight pretty hard, and just after the flight prior to mine closed, a few choice coach seats had opened up. Specifically, I could move from 15B, a “premium” aisle seat in economy to 11A, an Economy Comfort seat. While I prefer the aisle, I thought this was a good trade so I selected it using the Delta iPhone app. The result – an error message that I couldn’t have the seat. I immediately went to the front desk to ask an agent to grab the seat.

I showed the seat to him on the iPhone app as well as the error message. To my surprise, the agent said he’d have no better luck getting the seat for me, but told me to try the kiosk which was just steps away. He even walked over to the kiosk with me, took me through the steps, and stuck with me until I had the seat I wanted.

Moral of the story – If at first your smartphone app fails, talk to an agent. And if that doesn’t work, try the kiosk. Might be of limited utility, but I found it interesting that Delta’s kiosk could accomplish something a Delta Sky Club agent could not.

-MJ, November 5, 2014