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July 27, 2009 6:57 PM

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There is nothing worse then getting an \"I dont work here\" after asking someone for help.

14 replies

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Syntania

July 28, 2009 8:43 AM

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@parad0x360:
I'm one of those types who seems to resemble your average everyday retail employee. I'll get asked all the time, \"Do you work here?\" when I'm out shopping.

By the way, \"That's not my job/department.\" is a feasable answer. Most employees are usually only trained in one area of knowledge, not the entire store. However, the correct follow-up sentence to that should be, \"...but let me find someone who is from that department for you.\"

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catastrophegirl chooses not to fly

July 27, 2009 9:53 PM

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@parad0x360: i get asked for help when i'm not in uniform of any kind and have no affiliation with the place i'm shopping at.
there's nothing like being pushing a shopping cart around a grocery store and being asked 'where's the scotch tape?' and upon the reply of 'i really don't know, i don't work here' getting screamed at by an angry stranger.

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XTC46

July 27, 2009 9:52 PM

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@parad0x360: I think people who have worked in retail have a particular swagger about them when in a retail enviroment, and this bodylanguage just gets attention from customers.

I worked in retail for years in high school, and now i still get asked for help in stores when I am wearing nothing even like the uniform, it also doesnt help that I have OCD like tendancy to properly line up product and pull product forward if its back...

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dee1313

July 28, 2009 6:16 PM

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@xtc46 - thinksmarter on twitter:

I also line up stuff and what not. I've only been cashiers and tellers, so its not from habit, but because I shop at Walmart around 2 am when they're stocking and feel terrible when I ruin a perfect isle. I do it most of the time now, and it really irritates me when people decide they don't want an item and just drop it where they happen to be instead of put it back. Same with carts in the parking lot, except in the back. There are no cart holders in the back of the parking lot.

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wonkable

July 27, 2009 9:27 PM

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What else are you supposed to tell them if you really don't work there?

/Gets asked alot b/c of the keys on my belt.
/Also once when I was vacation because I look like a parking lot attendant?

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July 27, 2009 8:21 PM

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@parad0x360: Especially if they're off the clock, out of uniform, or don't even work in the store.

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wrjohnston19283

July 27, 2009 7:19 PM

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Why? If you are walking around a store and someone asks you to check to see if they have something in stock, do you go do it for them?

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July 27, 2009 7:33 PM

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@wrjohnston19283: I was asked that last week at Petsmart. I was wearing a sundress and holding my seven month old, and I just gave her the o_O face. Seriously, use your brain, people!

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July 27, 2009 8:50 PM

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@coolteamblt: ohmigosh, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I'm an avid gardener, and for some reason, no matter what I wear, people always think I work at my local nursery when I'm out shopping. It's become a running joke with the folks that do work there. Since I am fairly knowledgeable about plants, I have helped random people anyway. But one time I had no idea a lady was talking to me and she got all uppity because I didn't help her. Shoulda seen the look on her face when I pointed to the fact that I was wearing a TiVo shirt, not a nursery shirt.

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July 27, 2009 10:34 PM

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@starbreiz: People - mostly elderly ladies - ask me for help in the supermarket. I tend to do my shopping on Friday early afternoons, so there are a lot of retired folk. People have asked me for help removing things from the top of a shelf, if I thought the seasoned breadcrumbs would be too salty, which type of pasta is better (linguine vs. spaghetti), and one sweet Spanish speaking lady was extremely confused by new packaging on the powdered coffee creamer. She wanted to know if it was still the same product.

I'm new here, so I chalk it up to the local color. Maybe people are just more chatty. But they are pretty insistent about getting help, even if it means I have to remove my headphones or show them that I'm on the phone.

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dee1313

July 28, 2009 6:49 PM

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I've only been asked once for help with something (by a guy in a wheelchair for help getting milk, not a big deal), but I did overhear a customer ask where the toys were and the employees didn't know so I pointed them in the right direction. I really hope that was a new employee.

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Englishee Teacher

July 28, 2009 6:17 AM

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@oneandone: Those aren't things I personally would search out an employee for... If I need the graham cracker crumbs from the top shelf and I'm standing next to a 6 foot 2 guy, I'm not going to go wandering off looking for a stockboy who would have to go find a stepstool to get it down before I just ask the tall guy if he can help me. 99% of the time he will.

The rest of the stuff sounds like supermarket small talk... do you happen to be incredibly attractive?

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July 28, 2009 10:01 PM

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@Englishee Teacher: ha - no. But I probably look like a harmless 20-something 'young lady' to all the retirees. Which I am. Maybe they know that I am listening to NPR on my headphones.

Supermarket small-talk startles me. I'm not used to it!

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July 27, 2009 10:28 PM

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@starbreiz: Not to start an Apple fanboy flamewar, but never wear a black t-shirt in an Apple store because the same will happen to you. Happens to me every now and then, and since I'm kind of a Mac nerd anyway, I'll help 'em out.

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Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!)

July 27, 2009 7:53 PM

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@coolteamblt: I just had something similar happen at Kroger, and the lady got really shirty when I said I didn't work there. (And I've never worked retail in this city, so it's not like I was on my day off and she recognized me from somewhere!)

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Andrew Charron

July 27, 2009 7:18 PM

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@parad0x360: Why? I work at the local mall and frequently go to shop in other stores on breaks. I get people asking me for help all the time in these stores because they think I work there, even though I am not wearing a nametag or wearing the same clothes as the employees there. What would you like me to do? Sometimes \"I don't work here\" IS the correct answer.

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ken2148

July 27, 2009 10:36 PM

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@Andrew Charron: Agreed. But \"Not my job\" and \"I don't work here\" are not the same thing. If it's \"not my job\" but it's someone's job at the company you work for, then the correct answer is \"I'm not able to help you with that but let me help you find the person who can help you\". Of course this is what it sounds like employee #1 & employee #2 were trying to do. The real issue is that Delta/NWA merger wasn't going too smoothly and was adding extra complications and delays for customers trying to seek help.

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July 27, 2009 7:31 PM

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@Andrew Charron: I used to work at Target. People would expect me to help them when I was there on my day off, shopping, not in a Target uniform, chatting on my cell phone. They would be so pissed that I wouldn't go to the backroom and restock the front.

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July 27, 2009 9:59 PM

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@coolteamblt: I've never worked at Target, but one day I went there wearing a red T-shirt and the cashier gave me an employee discount when I checked out! I didn't catch it until after the transaction was done and when I brought it to her attention, she said just to \"forget it.\" So, cosmically, I think all these things even out.

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July 27, 2009 8:53 PM

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@coolteamblt: Those people aren't the customers though.. thats your manager.

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July 27, 2009 9:11 PM

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@Scuba Steve: Nah, I'm fairly sure they recognised me. I was the only female cart attendant at my store, and I worked there for several years, so I think a lot of people remembered me.

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tbax929

July 27, 2009 7:01 PM

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@parad0x360:
I hate that. I also hate, \"That's not my job\". Grrrr. If everyone is wearing the same uniform, how am I supposed to know whose job is what?

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Rectilinear Propagation

July 27, 2009 7:10 PM

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@tbax929: [en.wikipedia.org]
Jobsworth, Jobsworth, It's more than me job's worth,
I don't care, rain or snow,
whatever you want the answer's no

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TechnoDestructo

July 27, 2009 7:00 PM

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No, what's worse is when you get someone who DOES work there, but they expect you to know their job and generally have insider knowledge of how their organization works.

One of the main things that separates man from almost all other animals is the ability to predict what other individuals know or could be thinking.

However, in many people, this ability is not well developed. They act on the assumption that other people know what they know.

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12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich

July 27, 2009 7:05 PM

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At the Orlando, Las Vegas, and Atlanta airports (and I thought this was everywhere), the self-serve kiosks screen gives you two options when you want to check in: Northwest and Delta. You pick the one that your flight is on and go from there.

It sounds like this may not be the case everywhere, but it's not a complete disconnect between the two. (Although, all 3 of those airports I mentioned were larger Delta airports before anyways, so that may have something to do with it)

I did notice that the websites are weird about that though. Delta would show some of the Northwest flights I was on, but I couldn't change seats. I had to go to the Northwest site to do that. That was back in February though.

2 replies

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July 27, 2009 8:34 PM

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@12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich: I booked through Expedia for NWA. I get to the airport and find that everything I've set up and had confirmations on were being serviced by Delta, the flight I had specifically been trying to avoid as it was crazy full was the one I got shuttled on to. And I had to get my seat changed for both legs. I was not a happy camper. At all. I complained to Delta and Northwest and got a $50 voucher.

The whole flight was a disaster, minus the actual disaster like qualities of crashing thank goodness, but was a fairly unpleasant experience all around.

At least the Atlanta gate crew was nice. I mean, really nice. Excellent service there, unlike at the Tucson airport. Bunch of surly bastards.

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devnevot

July 27, 2009 7:16 PM

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@12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich: MSP has the same options at the kiosk, and it was an NWA hub until the merger. There are no signs anywhere that say 'Northwest' anywhere at the airport anymore (everything is Delta), so the OP's confusion is understandable if this is his first time there since the merger. I'm baffled at the employees being different, though - I've flown out of MSP about a dozen times since spring and I go to the same line whether I'm booked on NWA or Delta.

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July 27, 2009 7:09 PM

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Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Eazy-E have an airline?

3 replies

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johnmc

July 27, 2009 8:50 PM

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@JustinSane07: I thought they missed a trick by not calling their online check in \"Easy E Check in\".

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thegirls

July 27, 2009 8:28 PM

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@JustinSane07: Don't forget MC Wren!

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July 27, 2009 7:23 PM

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@JustinSane07: They do. And all their flights are comin' straight outta Compton.

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July 27, 2009 7:11 PM

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Living in Cincinnati we used to be fine with paying a *little* more to fly out of CVG on Delta because they had some great non-stops and great service. Then they jacked their rates so we started going to Indianapolis, IN or Dayton, OH for more same rates.

Now Delta has come back down on their prices but their service is still abysmal. Lost/damaged luggage, fewer flights. We've gone back to not flying out of CVG and have had good experience with Air-Tran. I just wish we could have more competition but this economy doesn't make that seem likely.

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cabjf

July 27, 2009 7:13 PM

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It's like an inversion of the classic \"I'm Sparticus\" scene.

1 replies

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doctor_cos wants you to remain calm

July 27, 2009 9:21 PM

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@cabjf: The one from Whose Line?

at 3:15...

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Skater009

July 27, 2009 7:16 PM

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Asshole Airline

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July 27, 2009 7:19 PM

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it can be 'worse'

Just went on a trip, that was sold as a 'midwest' flight (YX airline), the was actually a Northwest Flight, that was actually flown by delta, but on the lest leg, it was a delta flight that was operated by some other regional airport.

1 replies

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July 27, 2009 11:33 PM

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@LabanDenter: It sounds absurd, but it's pretty common. Codeshares and regionals rule the skies. Here's a list of the airlines that actually operate under the regional Northwest Airlink/Delta Connection name: [en.wikipedia.org]

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Mobius

July 27, 2009 7:22 PM

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I don't know why you chose to fly that monster at all. With Sun Country and Southwest offering flights out of MSP, why did you even bother? They are almost always a nightmare to fly. (Not to blame the victim. Northwest/Delta suck.)

1 replies

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July 27, 2009 7:47 PM

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@Mobius: And for those who say that the above examples don't offer international service, I'll say that there are plenty of full-service airlines on either side of America that have the same wonderful service. For Asia, fly ANA/JAL/Korean (pick one depending on your airline alliance), and for Europe, fly Lufthansa/British/KLM (though KLM is tied very closely to Northwest they're loads better).

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Anonymous

July 27, 2009 7:25 PM

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I'll never fly Northwest again and when the merger is completed, I'll carefully watch Delta. I flew Northwest last week, had to make 3 connections on them and maintenance prob delayed the first and second connections for over an hour, then arriving in Memphis to get the 3rd connection, no one at the gate to meet the plane - result? 20 mins waiting and missed the last connection by 2 mins (and they wouldn't hold the plane). Then returning home, I upgraded to first class (again via Northwest) to ENSURE I'd have a seat, NW put me on Delta flights and charged me an extra $200. Guess what? The first flight didn't have a first class cabin - though NW swears to this day it did. (turns out Delta changed the aircraft type from one that had a first class cabin to one that didn't and according to Delta - no refund to me as the first class upgrade was \"complimentary\".) WTF? $200 is complimentary??? and obviously NW doesn't know what Delta does and vice versa.

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Doug Aamoth

July 27, 2009 7:26 PM

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Oh man, same thing at the Boston airport but worse.

The wife and I show up for a flight we booked on Northwest's own website and are told that our flight is actually operated by Delta, which is located in an entirely different terminal. The guy points to our printout sheet (which is covered in Northwest logos) and says, \"See, you can tell because your confirmation code starts with the letter D, which signifies that it's a Delta flight.\"

He then happily charged us $100 to switch to a Northwest flight that was leaving around the same time as the Delta flight we would have missed had we taken the time to walk all the way over to the correct terminal.

6 replies

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Daniel Suslavich

July 28, 2009 3:19 AM

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Woah,, like someone else said, that must have been awhile ago.

I am a Boston based Medallion on Delta (67,000 miles this year alone) and everything is under one roof. Worse case, NWA used to fly out of Terminal E and Delta A. The two terminals are literally a 5 minute walk via covered sky-bridge with moving walkways, so, you could have made your flight easily (only if you were already running late to begin with would you have missed it)

Anyways, ALL Kiosks should have been updated with the new software now allowing you to choose NWA or Delta before you begin the whole check-in process. Yes,, its slightly confusing,, but, not life changing as some people make it out to be.

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mermaidshoes

July 28, 2009 2:44 AM

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@Doug Aamoth: that's a bummer, but i also just flew out of logan through delta/northwest and had no problems.... sounds like they must have changed things for the better. improving stuff? in boston? unheard of!!

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July 27, 2009 7:54 PM

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@Doug Aamoth: Simply ridiculous. Please tell us you wrote to them afterward to get the charge rescinded.

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acknight

July 27, 2009 7:46 PM

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@Doug Aamoth: Wouldn't they have put the gate/terminal information on the sheet?

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July 28, 2009 1:14 AM

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@acknight: In my experience, they don't list those until pretty close to flight time; if you just print out your itinerary when you buy the ticket weeks before, it won't have gate info.

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ChristopherDavis

July 27, 2009 7:36 PM

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@Doug Aamoth: That must have been either last year or early this year, since they moved all of the NW flights into Terminal A at the end of March. (There should have been a note about \"Operated by Delta\" on your ticket/BP/etc, which it sounds like there wasn't.)

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July 27, 2009 8:53 PM

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It would be nice to see some pictures of said look-alike uniforms.

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Tigerman_McCool

July 27, 2009 9:09 PM

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I learned the hard way not to wear a red polo in Target. I had about 3 people as me a question, and I had to say I didn't work there. When the fourth person did it, I just helped them.

3 replies

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Stephanie Khuu

July 27, 2009 9:55 PM

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@Tigerman_McCool: I remember seeing a video about a group of people playing a prank on Best Buy. They got a bunch of people to meet up at a Best Buy in NY all wearing blue polo shirts and pretend to work at Best Buy. When customers asked them for help, they were supposed to help them as best they could.

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chef855

July 27, 2009 10:57 PM

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@Stephanie Khuu: This one?

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knyghtryda

July 27, 2009 9:24 PM

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@Tigerman_McCool:
You should have told them to piss off, and then we could have had a consumerist moment on our hands :)

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July 27, 2009 9:45 PM

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As a Northwest Airlines employee (who's actually at work right now!) I have to say this is indeed very true. There's still so much negotiation going on between the two companies that the official merger hasn't even happened outside of what the public sees. Northwest employees are still fighting for union rights, but at the moment we've been forced to wear Delta uniforms and answer to the Delta name, though we're still using the Northwest systems. There *is* a large difference between the Northwest system (PARS/WorldFlight) and the Delta system (Deltamatic), and cross-trainnig has been an absolute nightmare. Unfortunately, Delta brought this onto themselves -- the moment that the merger was approved, Delta came in and removed everything that said Northwest on it and replaced it with Delta logos, then told everyone they'd be wearing the new Delta uniforms and answering to the Delta name from that point on.

Nightmare, indeed.

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Nathan Shepherd

July 27, 2009 9:47 PM

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I found the opposite, I had a flight from Michigan to L.A and I was booked in with NWA but did all my checking in through Delta without a hassle.

1 replies

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Mark Cappelletty

July 27, 2009 10:33 PM

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@Nathan Shepherd:

I'm flying LAX to Detroit on the redeye on Wednesday night and am now duly terrified. I did find out that we're flying out of Delta's terminal in LA (thanks to Orbitz, which at least keeps me informed about where and when I'm going).

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July 27, 2009 10:06 PM

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Heh... I can do one better: flight on Northwest that connected to a flight on Delta. I had issues because I was going to use a car seat on the plane and they kept trying to seat me on an aisle and neighboring seat (thereby trapping the person sitting at the window or middle seats for the duration of the 9 hour flight). On the way out, Northwest gave me the run around until I \"kindly\" pointed out their own policy of window seats. The informed me they couldn't do anything on my connecting flight -- \"That's Delta, you'll have to deal with that in Atlanta.\" (but I thought YOU were Delta?) So, I tried to get them to fix my return flight, but \"it's a codeshare with Delta\" so they couldn't... even though it was a NWA flight.

Fast forward to two weeks later: Checked-in with Delta and they told me to fix my seats at the gate. Gate agent said she could only fix my seats on the first flight: \"You'll have to talk to Northwest when you get to Atlanta.\" Even when I finally found the right person to talk to in each of the airports, I was told there were no rules regarding car seat placement on the plane (which is untrue - both websites list restrictions). Even the actual flight crews knew the rules and policies and were eternally grateful I took the time to run around and make sure our seats worked out -- they spend a lot of time shuffling around once on the plane.

It's annoying enough to fly 5,000 miles with a toddler... I don't understand why the \"same\" company can't help me even with their own flights?! The whole merger has become an excuse for even crappier customer service and ambivalence toward the fliers.

I spent a total of 2 hours at various airports, as well as over an hour on the phone during my trip trying to get everything sorted out and all I got was the run-around and total snottiness (two gate agents were downright rude). I wrote to Delta-west to advise them of the situation (and that most of their employees are unaware of policy) but haven't heard anything. I know it might sound trivial, but if you were the person sitting at the window, you might think differently.

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Anonymous

July 27, 2009 10:43 PM

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I am a Delta employee. I know the merge is frustrating for customers and the \"Northwest\" agent in the Delta uniform should've been more helpful. The kiosks display the option on the main screen to select whether you have a Northwest or a Delta flight. As far as I know, this is currently system-wide. If you select the wrong one, it won't work. The agent helping customers with the kiosks should be able to tell just by looking at your flight number. Basic rule is that if the flight goes through MSP (Minneapolis) or DTW (Detroit), its Northwest; Delta would be ATL (Atlanta), CVG (Cincinnati), or SLC (Salt Lake City). This is just a general guideline since Delta or Northwest may also service those locations...works most of the time though.

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Anonymous

July 27, 2009 10:54 PM

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Delta and NW have serious issues still. I was flying a flight connecting in syracuse, that was delta to start and nw to end. Checked in at newark nj no problem for both flights, get to syracuse and ask the friendly delta people where my gate is. They tell me right here, just wait two hours, after looking at my ticket. An hour 15 later I asked again since no where had my flight listed. They look at the ticket again, oh, we don't know, we're delta, that's NW. A janitor had to tell me I had to switch terminals. Run across and get to TSA, and they won't let me through even though it says a NW flight because it's on delta paper, so i had to run and recheck in. The NW employee told me they couldn't recheck me in, and couldn't get me to the gate, because delta was their competitor. A continental rep came over and said she could do it for me as a codeshare. That worked, and by some miracle, I caught the flight. Delta and NW, can't work together, and think they're competitiors. Continental, no problems at all.

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arl84

July 28, 2009 4:12 AM

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Bank of America LOVES doing this. In fact, in the 3 years I have been working here, every merger we've done has been like this. We bought a local bank in Illinois, and rebranded all of their local branches before the accounts could even come up in our computers. People would call us, wait for up to half an hour sometimes, just to be told we can't help them, and to call somewhere else. I got yelled at more times than I care to remember. Freakin sucks.

I guess the only thing we as consumers can learn from it all is that when a company announces a merger, its often a long, arduous process and you should just treat both companies like they are seperate companies until a customer service rep says its ok.

Though really, if you're gonna merge with another company, you should just shut the hell up about it until you really have merged.

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Anonymous

July 28, 2009 5:08 AM

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Unfortunately it seems that these are still the \"growing pains\" of the transition from two airlines to one. They both had two *completely* different computer networks setup. Each one had been developed over the last 30 years, still accessing OLD database centers. With companies this massive it will take time before everything is streamlined under one of the old systems, completely new systems, or some combination of both.

Could they be doing things smoother for the consumer experience, yeah probably.

But speaking as a professional pilot, the industry is facing a worse situation than before the recession first hit. Now Legacy Airlines (the big 4) are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Meaning they have low demand (lack of general consumer spending), high operating costs (Oil -> Jet fuel prices steadily increasing) and low fare pressure from LCC airlines. (Low cost / low frills airlines: Southwest, AirTran, Spirit, etc...)

Before deregulation (circa 1970) airline ticket prices were set by the government based on the actual cost of providing the air travel service.

If you want to stop being nickel & dimed by airlines, consumers will have to support one of 2 actions:
1) Fly only airlines who have the lowest or no fees, &/or choose airline tickets based on the company who is providing the travel.
or
2) Support &/or influence elected officials to re-regulate (partially or fully) domestic air travel fares to prevent competing airlines to offer fares BELOW COST in order to kill competition on routes.

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Carlee

July 28, 2009 5:38 AM

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I'm flying out of LAX in a couple of months, Delta outbound, Northwest inbound. I'm pretty sure that's correct (as to who is operating which flight) - I'll be mad if it's not, because they are in opposite terminals...

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Mark48180

July 28, 2009 4:20 PM

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Carlee,

Actually NW has moved over to the Delta Terminal (T5) at LAX so you will be flying into and out of the same Terminal. Only KLM has stayed over at Northwest's old T2.

And dimdngal1, I'm sorry you had those problems with the whole car seat/window rule! EVERYONE should know that in the airline business, CSRs as well as inflight. It's just as important as the psychological reason why some memebers of the same family cannot sit in an exit row while other members of the family are scattered elsewhere on the plane: if it actually came to an emergency situation, the family member in the exit row is going to be more focused on getting to his/her family than actually opening the emergency exit.

Almost all airports have been integrated into one airport checkin area, but NWA has a link on its website to help customers figure out where to check-in:

www.nwa.com/merger/airports/

You just have to make sure you check your itinerary closely. Sometimes on a codeshare itinerary you will see, for example, \"DL3501 Operated by Northwest Airlines\" or \"NW9005 Operated by Delta Air Lines\".

When in doubt, check online under \"My Reservations\" or contact Northwest at 1-800-225-2525 or Delta at 1-800-221-1212.

Kind regards,
Mark

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Kevin411

July 28, 2009 7:27 PM

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The main \"logic\" behind all these DL/NW issues is that they are still, legally, two separate companies. Delta just owns NW, much like Disney owns ABC. Eventually they will be fully merged into one, but all that is happening now is window dressing and preparations for that day.

Further confusing things are two factors: Delta and NW keep swapping routes, just as any two \"separate\" companies can do with their own items. On top of that, more and more NW planes are painted in the DL livery, but they are still NW planes on NW routes. Add to this codesharing by the two, just as they do with many other airlines such as Air France, and you have a recipe for confusion.

The last line of defense against confusion is the front-line employees, and it is becoming obvious that they have not been empowered to help as much as they should, plus there is strife over unionization and other factors such as size 18 uniforms...LOL

It's not been a smooth merger, but it's the largest in history and mistakes will happen. Plan a little extra time with them for the next 6 months and all will be back to \"normal.\"

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