A Day in the Life of a Traveling Salesman

Traveling is second nature to me. I’m on the road more than I am at home. I have flown on an airplane at least 20 times per month. This year alone I’ve rented a car 65 times, and stayed in over 80 hotels. So you could call me an “expert” when it comes to customer service and traveling. There’s nothing I haven’t experienced.

My most recent experience begins like this.

Oh no, another delayed flight. I quickly look at my trusted Delta app on my iPhone. Yikes a weather delay but, no biggie it's just an hour.

Ding. Now what?

Another delay, this time air traffic control, my new flight gets in at 11pm.

Oh forget it, I'm rescheduling. I go back to my Delta app once again and decide I’ll leave the next morning. I book my hotel and schedule a quick breakfast meeting. Things were looking good, until I remembered I checked my bags.

Back to the convenient app once again, which connects me to the gate agent. I told her that I just moved my flight and I’d love it if my bags were moved to the same flight. She assured me that my bags would be at Carousel 1 in 15 min, thanked me for being a Diamond member and apologized for the delays. It’s nice when I have the feeling like the agent knows me.

Now at the carousel, after five minutes pass, there is my one bag, but the problem is I have two. Oh no!

At this point I can't find a human to help anywhere. I pull out my iPhone once again, but this time I go to a different app, Twitter. I tweet "@delta, I need some help! My second bag is lost and I've been sitting around for a while.”

I immediately receive a response on Twitter with a status update and the airline social support representative stayed with me the whole time, virtually. Once I received my bag, they made a call to me to ensure my travel experience was going well.

It’s amazing how this is where technology has taken us in travel. I'm still a happy Delta customer using omnichannel functionality and web applications. Even if I run into a frustrating experience when I travel, the convenient, always-on support is what keeps me sane through all the flights, hotels, and car rentals. It’s the life of the modern consumer who’s always on the go.