WE WON! Tell Delta: Don’t Violate Our Privacy

UPDATE: WE WON!

Together, our voices have power. 

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.”

This is a big win, but even their apology makes it clear that management really needs to interface with our Flight Attendant union. In his note, Delta SVP of Customer Service Ranjan Goswami says “We had thought that Memorial Day Weekend would have garnered so much grateful customer feedback that we did not want to miss the opportunity of sharing that with you.” Really?

Holiday weekends are not the time to test new programs. And at no time is it ok to make a decision to share our information with the public. Memorial Day weekend is some of the busiest and most challenging summer flying of the year for Delta Flight Attendants. Management clearly doesn’t know and doesn’t care about what it’s like to work the line. 

We won by taking action together. And we’ll keep it up because this “pause" must  be permanent for our safety. 

Delta management never should have rolled this program out WITHOUT our input. Right now, Delta management has unilateral control. But with the power of collective bargaining and a union contract, we’ll have a say in our working conditions—including stopping bad ideas like this one. 

This whole incident is one more example of why we need our Flight Attendant union at Delta. 

Let’s make this the year that we lock in our voice at Delta. If you're a Delta Flight Attendants, sign your card now, then sign up as an activist with our campaign. If you're not a Delta Flight Attendant but want to help, you can sign up to support our campaign here. 

(Read the original post about our campaign below.)

Delta management is violating our privacy and potentially increasing risk to crews. Under the “New Recognition Tool” program, crew members’ names will be emailed to passengers 24 hours ahead of their flight.

Flight Attendants immediately objected to this program. In response, management added an opt-out — if you don’t want your name sent to customers in advance, you have to take complicated steps to opt out with HR and wait 5 to 7 days for a response. This is insufficient and insulting. (See the timestamps on official posts below and highlighted sections.)

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.

Sharing our names with passengers in advance of a flight is unnecessary and frankly creepy. Many Flight Attendants have at least one story about a passenger who gets a little too “friendly.” For those who have dealt with harassment, intimidation and even assault, the violation of our privacy is deeply concerning.

Flight Attendants have unique roles and real concerns about how this new policy is violating our privacy and potentially creating new risks both on the planes and before and after flights.

No other airline does anything like this. It is outrageous that our names are being sent to passengers in advance.

Join us in demanding that Delta end this program immediately and work with us to ensure our privacy is protected and our workplaces are safe and free from harassment.