Delta says its Early Valet service is a hit with passengers. (Image: Delta)
Delta is claiming early success for its new “Early Valet” service, in which the airline’s staff will pre-load carry-on bags into overhead bins for customers on some domestic routes.
After initial testing in Los Angeles and Atlanta, Delta said the service has now been in place for a month on “select routes” of narrow-body aircraft out of its U.S. hubs, also including Seattle, New York JFK and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Initial analysis of the program determined that Early Valet cuts about 90 seconds off the average boarding time for affected aircraft, Delta said. On a typical Early Valet flight, six to nine bags are pre-loaded in overheads 45 minutes before departure.
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The program targets families with children, passengers with disabilities, and “high-value customers,” Delta said, adding that customer satisfaction scores on the affected flights have gone up as much as eight percent compared to those that didn’t offer the service.
“Our goal is to transform the gate experience from a ‘hold room’ to a friendly and interactive space where Early Valet agents engage with customers, welcoming and assisting them on the spot,” a Delta official said.
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Perhaps since oil prices have gone down, the amount of the tickets should go down. Personally, I am tired and so is my corporation of being nickel and dimed to death on each kind of cost that the airline can dream up.
What constitutes high value customers and no it did not work in Charleston, SC
Taken from an article but I have seen these numbers elsewhere. Delta has say 5400 flights if you shaved 90 seconds each plane that would be close to $90 million. Add that to it also helping your on time rate etc it all adds up. $30 at a time.
Although Dr Steffen admits that the airline industry has shown no interest in his method so far, he points out that, in principle, there should be no barriers to its adoption. Though directing airline passengers on to a plane is a little like herding cats some airlines, such as Southwest, already try to get their passengers to line up in a certain order before boarding. If travellers believed that complying with the new arrangements really would make their lives easier, they would probably do so. And by Dr Steffen’s calculations, airlines have a pretty strong incentive to persuade them. Previous work has shown that every minute a plane spends at the terminal costs $30. Assuming the average carrier runs 1,500 flights a day, saving as little as six minutes per flight would add up to $100m a year.
And upon arrival, who helps mom get down her heavy bag she cannot reach? I guess the Delta manager who prompted this was more interested in his seeing mom leave than arrive! 😉
perhaps! We have heard knocked around the idea of charging for overhead bin space while allowing checked bags to fly free. Thoughts? –Chris
Could this be a precursor to charging for the
valet service or charging for reserved overhead space? Everything always seems to boil down to
revenue.
Airlines have constantly tinkered with ways to speed the boarding process. From priority boarding for first/business class passengers, to rear to front of aircraft for all passengers, to window to aisle….and more. All sorts of mechanisms have been tried. As to Mr. Black’s question: researchers at Northern Illinois University once estimated that every minute an aircraft sits idle at the gate adds $30 in costs. Approximately 1 in 4 U.S. flights runs at least 15 minutes late, the threshold metric for on-time performance. According to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, there are over 28,500 commercial flights in the U.S. daily. Multiplied on that scale, the costs of delays adds up quickly. Time is money. In slightly simpler terms: for passengers, it’s about the stress of wondering whether there’s going to be room for their bag(s) by the time they board an aircraft. For a given carrier, it’s about the cost of missed connections, re-booking and dealing with unhappy passengers, and so on and so forth.
As a spouse of an airline crew employee. I have seen it all. Being on time benefits everyone.
Could you describe how it saves money?
90 seconds is significant and saves a lot of money.
90 Seconds. Really? Labor costs? Delta PR is working overtime on this.
90 seconds is considered a success? Perhaps if it was 90 seconds per passenger. Though I suppose every second helps.