Delta Air Lines announces Delta Assist for Facebook

Delta Assist on Twitter has been a winning investment for the nation’s largest carrier. By utilizing the social networking site, Delta has been able to cater a niche customer service product to a vociferous audience — a product well lauded by the travel community.

Now, they’re taking that success to Facebook. With the program that launches today, Delta plans to be the world’s first mover in what could one day be a standard in customer service – completely comprehensive customer support without having to leave the social networking site. A special tab will be used within Facebook to allow for customers to communicate their service issues with Delta representatives.

Reached for comment, Allison Ausband, the VP of sales, reservations, and customer service for Delta, said:

“Our Facebook community told us that in addition to listening, we also needed to offer a way for customers to give feedback and get help with any travel issue. This feedback challenged us to reshape our online customer support strategy to establish Delta Assist as a comprehensive social media customer support program operating beyond just Twitter and into other social media channels where our customers are engaged.”

On the surface, this is a small change to a moderately comprehensive customer service approach being pioneered by Delta. But it’s an indicator of the industry movement. More and more people online are using social media as a means to communicate as consumers, and if Delta can see this demand quickly and respond to it then they’re going to quickly have an advantage over the competition.

flickr image via eisenbahner