40,000-foot-view of Customer Care with Allison Ausband, Executive Vice President, and Chief Customer Experience Officer at Delta Air Lines

Imagine the triumph of human ambition as we glide through the skies, a testament to our enduring quest to conquer the very elements — thirty thousand feet aloft, inside a slender cylinder of steel. Within this confined space, humanity gathers, shoulder to shoulder: a microcosm of society. 

It's under these conditions that our distinguished guest today crafts an oasis of tranquility and impeccable service. How does one orchestrate such a feat of customer care under these conditions? This is the daily challenge for our guest on this edition of the "Distinguished" podcast: Allison Ausband, Executive Vice President, and Chief Customer Experience Officer at Delta Air Lines. Since embarking on her journey with Delta in May 1985 as a flight attendant, fresh from the University of Georgia with a journalism degree in hand, Allison has risen to oversee the vast customer experience network that encompasses the dedicated efforts of over 63,000 team members in Delta's Customer Care divisions. Under Allison's visionary leadership, the team at Delta marries groundbreaking innovation with a heartfelt dedication to hospitality, securing Delta's position as the premier U.S. airline as named by the Wall Street Journal for the second consecutive year.  

With an armory of technology and a top-notch team, excelling at customer experiences starts with being grounded in a singular essential value. Find out how to guide your company to soaring to new heights. 

The “Distinguished” podcast is produced by Boston University School of Hospitality Administration.

Host: Arun Upneja, Dean
Producer: Mara Littman, Director of Corporate and Public Relations
Sound Engineer and Editor: Andrew Hallock
Graphic Design: Rachel Hamlin, Marketing Manager

Music: “Airport Lounge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Transcript

Arun: Imagine the triumph of human ambition as we glide through the skies, a testament to our enduring quest to conquer the very elements, 30,000 feet aloft inside a slender cylinder of steel. It's under these trying conditions that our distinguished guest today crafts an oasis of tranquility and impeccable service. How does one orchestrate such a feat of customer care under these trying conditions? This is the daily challenge for our guest on today's edition of the Distinguished podcast. Broadcasting from Boston University School of Hospitality Administration, I'm your host Arun Upneja, the Dean of the school. It's my great pleasure to introduce Allison Ausband, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Experience Officer at Delta Air Lines. Since embarking on her journey with Delta in May 1985 as a flight attendant, Allison has risen to oversee the vast customer experience network that encompasses the dedicated efforts of over 63,000 team members in Delta's customer care divisions. Under Allison's visionary leadership, the team at Delta marries groundbreaking innovation with a heartfelt dedication to hospitality, securing Delta's position as the premier US airline, as named by the Wall Street Journal for the second consecutive year. Please join me in welcoming a true paragon of the skies, Allison Ausband, as we dive into the art and science of delivering excellence in customer experience at an altitude where the air is rarefied, but the standards of service are anything but. Thank you, Allison, for joining us for the Distinguished podcast.

Allison: No, thank you so much. Great to be here.

Arun: You've had a fascinating career spanning nearly four decades with Delta, starting out as a flight attendant to leadership roles in sales and customer service, and now being the EVP and chief customer experience officer for the airlines. So let's just get your opening thoughts broad. How have you seen the customer service experience evolve over the years?

Allison: Yeah, it has been four decades. It's been an amazing journey through that. When I started, people were smoking on airplanes. You had paper tickets. You had phones on board the airplane and a wall that you could call and make a phone call, but there were two on the airplane and two today. You look at today and mobile apps and the ease of self-service to make your reservations, to get your information on your fingertips. And then I think the biggest change that certainly for me and my lifetime at Delta has certainly been since the pandemic. The pandemic changed everything. It changed the pattern of customers. Customers are, it used to be a clearly defined business traveler and a clearly defined leisure traveler. Now, they're sometimes in many cases one in the same because people have taken their work on the road, so to speak. And there are travel patterns that used to be very predictable. Early Monday morning, late Friday night. That was our huge traffic flow and that has evened out. So we've had to make a lot of adjustments.

And then certainly, the importance of clean on board the airplane since the pandemic. Completely, always focused on clean, but just a whole different lens on that. And then today, being able to have free Wi-Fi on board the airplane and just the connectivity, fast, free Wi-Fi up 30,000 feet up in that cylinder. Our goal is that it works as fast and seamless as it does in your home. So, it's been amazing to watch the journey. But I would say what has not changed is Delta's mission. And it's what brought me to Delta to begin with. And you mentioned it in the opening, but it's about humanity. And I have been there for decades, but I'm still learning about humanity every single second of every day. We serve 200 million customers. And I think with that comes a huge responsibility and accountability to humanity. It's been amazing.

Arun: So you mentioned the things have changed since the pandemic. It's very interesting that a pandemic would have sort of showed us more how to relax and how, but it's actually done the opposite. Things are just moving at hyperspeed and everyone wants to be connected at all the time. And I guess that's why you're putting the Wi-Fi in all your planes.

Allison: It is, you know. And I think we've all gotten that way since the pandemic and the urgency, right, of having things right now. And you know, for us, as you talk about Wi-Fi, our philosophy is we want you to have a great experience and we want it to be the experience that you want. And we realize everybody's different. So we want you to be as stimulated as you want to be, you know, sitting in that Delta seat, whether it's watching, you know, one of our 300 movies or whether it's free Wi-Fi or Delta sync. And it's amazing with free Wi-Fi, you know, we are now pretty much finished on our domestic fleet deploying it. But the average take rate is 1.7. So people are on their phones, they've got their laptop logged into free Wi-Fi. So you know, and they're watching a movie, you know, on the seatback. So it's, you know, for us, we use the mantra, keep climbing, and obviously, as an airline, we want to keep climbing, but it's about how do we continue to innovate and keep up with the trends, you know, that our customers want.

Arun: Right. So you are going to try and like you said, you're going to give us what we want. But the question is, should we want Wi-Fi on two of our things and looking at a screen? Yeah, absolutely. So let's share something about your role at Delta Air Lines and your responsibilities in managing the customer experience. And this role, I've been told, is new. So what is the strategy behind creating a customer experience domain and not have it part of operations or marketing?

Allison: So that is, you know, the role was just created right before the pandemic and thank goodness it was. You know, prior to that, we believe everybody at Delta is responsible for the customer experience. But I think by living throughout the different areas within Delta, we were missing the beauty and the synergies of having one big, you know, customer experience design plan. And so that's the gift of having the role. And, you know, it's I have the end-to-end customer experience and then the people who deliver that. So all of our airport teams in the airport and on the ramp, and then our flight attendant group and the onboard product and then reservations team.

And then we have a CX design group who sits every day and monitors the trends, listens to customers, and making sure that we, you know, as we look at the experience, where are we winning and where do we need to, you know, make improvements for the customer. So it's a great opportunity for the Delta team to really be as focused as we can be when you have so many people and so many demands out there, you know, for us allocating our resources and guiding our people to the places that matter most for the customer.

Arun: That's a big, big role. And I said so many thousands of employees globally that report to you. That's amazing. So Delta Air Lines is often praised for its customer service. Condénez, Crown, Delta as the top airlines in the US for customer service. PointSky, WalletHub, Bounce as reported by CNC, all report Delta very high. JD Powers ranks you very high. So what is the philosophy or approach that you take to ensure positive customer experience in a very highly stressful situation? And how do you differentiate yourself from other airlines?

Allison: It's our people. Without question, 100% the Delta people. And we will be 100 years old in 2025. So a little over a year from now, 100 years old, our founder said two things, which I haven't forgotten since I started. The first one was every airline can buy the same airplane. They can buy the same seat, the same product. So we'll never have a monopoly there. But where we can make a difference is our people. And the other one was, quote, is put yourself on the other side of the counter. So as Delta employees, how do we walk a mile in the shoes of our customers every day and really listen to what they're telling us? So it goes back to humanity. We're about serving humanity. And so that philosophy is how every Delta employee starts out. And it starts with who we hire. We've got to hire the right people.

And then a big part of what we do, certainly, is the recognition of them. And I think as you look at us compared to our competitors, we know what's most important to differentiating Delta is our people and our reliability. We're number one from an on-time perspective. So people can trust us. And it's been difficult the last couple of years. We've all had struggled across all industries, right? 

Getting back to that standard of excellence. But we are well on our way there, but have maintained that reliability, which is getting you there safely, getting you there on time. And oh, by the way, your bag is with you when you land. And that is the cornerstone and the foundation for what separates us. And then we come in with a digital experience and through our app. And certainly Wi-Fi is a part of that. And then the physical space. You know, investing, we are a premium brand, we want to continue to drive to that. And so making investments in our sky clubs, you know, sky clubs with outdoor patios and fireplaces and a place for our customers who are loyal to us to come in and get a little bit out of the hustle bustle of the airport. But it's a combination of all those things. But it starts with people and trust that we're going to get you there safely and on time.

Arun: That's wonderfully said. And I think this focus on people is very important. And at our school, we sort of emphasize this. And so I really appreciate you putting such a great emphasis, particularly since the pandemic. I think we all realize we are all human beings and we need to treat each other as such. How do you stay attuned to changing customer needs and preferences? And how do you adapt your customer experience strategy accordingly? Can you give some examples?

Allison: Yes, we listen. We listen, listen, listen. You know, I get customers ask me all the time, do you really read those surveys that I fill out on your flight? We really do. I, you know, every day I get a report on that, but that's, you know, we, we listen to our customers and, you know, we were talking earlier, you know, we, we also look at what are the customer trends, you know, across the hospitality space and, you know, one of the, the recent ones was plant, you know, relative to our, our food and beverage on board and plant-based, you know, menus, adding more of that, we were hearing a little bit of that from our customers. So we made this, what we thought was a great decision to go with a plant-based burger, but we quickly learned not all 200 million were, were quite there with that customer trend, they wanted their beef burger back. So we tried to get fancy with a chocolate sundae. Our customers said, no, I, I just want a simple, I want simple, good hot fudge sundae. So we, we listen and learn all the time, our, our customers are great guideposts, even for new products. We, on our 321, we just introduced a new first class privacy seat. We let our customers come in and tell us what, how does this feel? Do you like it? Do you want it? Our customers with Disability Council, Advisory Council, you know, helped us design a wheelchair accessible seat on board. So for us, it's a partnership and you can't deliver for the customer and have a good experience if you're not listening. And so it all goes back to, goes, goes back to that.

Arun: So listening is one thing, but what I find very interesting in your answer is that you're able to roll back initiatives that are not working, that are not resonating with the customers. So there was a recent New York Times article on flying restaurants and it did mention Delta One class as well. It's a great way to win customer loyalty, improve customer experience in a meaningful way. So can you talk about your food strategy and how, what, what is in the store? What is in the future for both business and the economy class?

Allison: So food has been, you know, relative to the pandemic. We're so glad to be away from that and, you know, we closed 180 kitchens around the world. So just sharing a little bit of the complexity side of the business, you know, reopening those and establishing those around the world. We're there now. We fully restored all of our food and beverage on board the airplane, which we're very, very proud of. We will have on our international flights an introducing really a new cabin on our international fleet, Delta Premium Select, starting next March and a whole new service design there in food and beverage. And I would say a couple of things on the food front. We go, we like to do regional things. So products and brands that are familiar, for example, out of Seattle, Tillamook Cheese, very, you know, out of on, you know, tapas for our Barcelona flights and other flights.

We John and Vinny's, you know, in LA, very popular chefs on several restaurants there. They actually opened up a flight kitchen just for Delta. They have famous meatballs. So anybody listening, you've got to get on one of our flights and try that. But you know, trying to offer options out there. And I think the other thing in the food and beverage space, customers want choice. So the ability to preselect your, you know, your meal and adding options there is important. It's been a big win for us. And relative to that preselect, we know back to listening to customers, we know the popular menu items because of preselect across, you know, our our aircraft. And then I would say, you know, certainly the beverage side of things, we want that to be a great experience, too. And, you know, coming out of the pandemic just reintroduced our wine, Somalia, Andrea Robinson, and just introduce brand new wines on board because the beverage has to complement the meal, particularly in our premium cabins. And, you know, that's a pretty amazing task.

Andrea comes in, she comes into our headquarters in Atlanta. She has 3,000 wine bottles in one of our conference rooms all lined up and she taste test, you know, 3,000, you know, she and the team to pick out, you know, wine specifically for Delta. And you can imagine we've got to have vineyards who can produce the amount that we need, you know, for customers around the world and that supply chain. So but it's, you know, and I think under with all that said, it's about it's about caring about our people and what our people want and there's a very thoughtful approach, whether it's, you know, our wines that we choose or choosing sweet water, beer out of Atlanta, because we know our Atlanta customers love it, there's a very thoughtful approach to all of that.

Arun: You mentioned Wi-Fi previously, so we live in this age of technology, and we want to be online 24-7, wherever we are. So what are the customers' expectations from the airlines in respect to technology? And obviously you can't satisfy everything, but what are you, what specific technologies that have proven to be attractive to customers and what are you doing in the technology front?

Allison: Yeah, I would say certainly fast free Wi-Fi is one of the biggest, latest technology that we've introduced on board the airplane. It's been wildly successful to what I mentioned earlier. We want you to experience Wi-Fi in the air just like you experience at home and people aren't going to wait for that. They want it and they want it to work well and we're well on our way with our new vendor there. I think along with that, really, it's less about free Wi-Fi, but more about the experience that we can create for you and the personalization that comes through that. So we've introduced what we call Delta Sync and it is on your phone and we'll move to the seatback screen as well. But the more that you interact with us through free Wi-Fi, we will be able to offer up a curated experience for you. So if, you know, one of the things, for example, today we offer is New York Times game Wordle. If you are a Wordle fan, then every time you fly and you log in to Wi-Fi either on your phone or seatback, would you like to play? Have you played Wordle yet today? If you haven't, you know, we've got that for you. And, you know, more and more opportunities there.

And then on the seatback screen, it really will turn into your smart TV. I actually flew up here today on one of our new 321s that had it on the seatback screen. And you can save your favorite shows. So every time you're flying on Delta, it doesn't matter what equipment, but you log in, your favorite shows will pop up and you can choose just like you're sitting at home for your favorite show. If you haven't quite finished your, you know, your show on this flight and you're connecting to another, it'll pick right back up where you left off and ask you if you want to finish. So more and more technology there, I think, you know, on the ground, digital ID. So this concept of seamless speed, we know it's hard getting through, you know, just the hustle and bustle of the airport, the TSA, all of that. So great partnership with the TSA, digital ID. It's all your eyes, biometrics, and you don't have to pull out a thing to go through security. And I was sharing with the class earlier, which I think maybe the audience, as you think about complexity on board, AI, you know, certainly a big part of technology moving forward. And in our largest hub, Atlanta, we touch 100,000 bags there every day. And every bag is touched about between 12 and 14 times, so times 100,000.

So you can, and 30 miles of conveyor belt in that complex. So you can imagine when things go wrong, a little weather, a little delay. What happens? You know, not only to the passengers, but the bags that we want to match. And so the Delta team has created new technology. This is, you know, behind the scenes for the customer, but it goes back to that reliability piece aspect of it. But new AI for our drivers who are carrying those bags, to get them where they need to be in the most expeditious time. So we'll just, we will continue to innovate in that space. It's important to keep up with the trends and to make the experience even better.

Arun: So many things here. Let me pick on one of them. So the screens at the seat back, you're not doing away with them?

Allison: No, it's a matter of fact, some airlines are taking them off completely, but we see them as just a key part of the customer experience. We've got master class on there. So if you want to learn how to cook Mashama Bailey's recipe, who's one of our chefs, you can do that, or writing class. Everything from live TV to at least 300 movies on board. And for us, those are great. And then the more we can come in with personalization for each individual customer, again, it's about having that available if the customer wants to use that as a part of their experience. So we're excited about it.

Arun: The other thing I was very curious to hear was this. You're watching a show or a movie. You go to the next connecting flight, and it's going to start. That has been a pain point. There are so many movies I've left half done, and I don't even remember now which movies I've only seen half of.

Allison: You won't have to worry about that anymore. We're just starting to deploy that, so it's exciting.

Arun: So I want to go back to when I was asking about the difference between you and other, and you talked about employees. So, employee engagement is obviously crucial to delivering excellent customer service because they are the ones who are on the front lines and delivering it. So how do you ensure that employees are aligned with companies' commitment to exceptional customer experience?

Allison: Yeah. Every employee that joins Delta, we bring them together in what we call B-Day. It's their birthday with Delta, but it's their starting date of when they started with Delta, and we bring them together, whether you're a pilot, a flight attendant, a data scientist. We bring everybody in on that birthday to align around the values and mission of Delta. Who are we and what are we all about? We use some of our frontline people come in and tell their stories around Delta. So that's a great centering and beginning and foundation for all of our employees. And then I would tell you, recognition, one of the best parts of my job is I'm responsible for 65,000. They work really, really hard, particularly up here in Boston in the winter or the rain.

But recognition, all of our leaders, we work really, really hard to recognize our team. And then I would also say, we bring in at least 15 times a year, we'll bring in 800 employees with Ed Bashan, who's our CEO, myself and other senior leaders. We bring them together to say, this is what's going on at Delta. This is where we are from a strategy perspective, from an operation, from a safety, from a customer perspective, and that's alignment and keeps people, and we're very transparent with what's going on. So you can imagine in a company with 100,000 people, we don't want people to feel like they're a number, that they can come and hear and know what's going on with, and that's part of the beauty of the job at Delta. As a flight attendant, you can come to work and go home, but we want you to be connected.

So we use those, and I would also say that the biggest aspect though of keeping them motivated is listening. No different than listening to the customer. I think even more important is listening to our people because they're out there with the customer every day. They know exactly what's going on. They know exactly what they need and don't need and what our customers need. So we have what we call an open door and there are employees that email our CEO every day. He reads his email. All of our senior leaders, same here. They know they can email anybody in the company. That's the best way between that and being out with our people is the best way for us to motivate them because we know what matters to them and what they need. So it's the best part of my job.

Arun: Excellent. So now let's move on to customer experience metrics. So how do you know that you're doing well? So what are those metrics that you prioritize and how do you obviously make sure that the entire team is aligned behind those metrics that you're prioritizing?

Allison: So we measure ourselves by net promoter score and that is based on all the surveys that our customers get and we, back to what I said earlier, we really do read those. So we appreciate it. But that makes up our net promoter score and my team, myself, my team, every single day we start out our day with what we call the customer experience dashboard that tells us where we are today with our customers, where are we winning and where do we need to improve. And we call it the customer travel ribbon. So we measure 19 different points of that customer travel ribbon from the time you book your ticket to how's the condition of the cabin, how was your gate experience, how was your boarding, how was the app to bag. And we have scores for all of that. And it's just it's great informative information for us to know what we need to do next or what do we need to improve.

Arun: So for people who don't know what is NPS, the Net Promoter Score, can you dig in a little bit and explain what it is? How do you calculate it?

Allison: So for us, you know, Net Promoter is usually a one to 10 scale. We use one to five, but either way and you've got your detractors, you've got, you know, who are on the bottom end rating you a one, you've got passive who are in the middle, the customers who, you know, don't really have a strong opinion about your experience. And then you have your promoters who rate you a five and they're out there. They're the best brand ambassadors we could have because they love Delta and they love the experience. And so it's basically a calculation of the percentage of detractors subtracted from the percentage of promoters. And that's how we end up with our score.

Arun: And how often do you, is the score updated?

Allison: Every single day, all throughout the day. And we can tell what the net promoter score is for each of our airports. We can tell what our net promoter score is for our food and our sky clubs. We can tell what our net promoter score is by aircraft type, by the type of, you know, where you're sitting on board the airplane. So we are data rich in all of that, but the team synthesizes all that together for us to know what our next step should be.

Arun: So if it is being recalculated on a daily basis or even during the day, if it starts to dip, somebody at corporate headquarters in your team is keeping an eye and instantly do they try to take some action right away?

Allison: If it's something specific to something major at the moment. But for us, it's more of a trending mechanism for us. If there are individual needs underneath that or something that we need to change immediately, I will tell you sometimes that comes into play with menu items back to one of those 19 that we measure as food and beverage. And underneath that, we may know through that survey pretty quickly within two-week timeframe that, you know what, this particular meal we need to change out. So, you know, it just depends on what it is. But for the most part, you can imagine it has its ebbs and flows when the operation and weather situation is bad. It's a really rough time. And, you know, no matter how hard we can't change the weather, no matter how hard we work, right? It's a tough net promoter score for us that day. So, you know, we look at it more on a trending basis.

Arun: So I'm assuming this is what when people are filling out the surveys at the end of the flight, they'll get a survey from Delta and their email saying, OK, rate us.

Allison: That's right.

Arun: I'm just wondering with, you know, if there's a weather-related delay and the flight is on the tarmac for two hours, three hours, three hours and people are just screaming and there are many of them are posting on YouTube or Instagram or sending me an email or sending you an email. So I'm assuming that your team is keeping an eye on the social media to see if any of that is happening.

Allison: Absolutely. And, you know, we have what we call an operations control center and it's where it's the center of what's going on in our operation. Every work group is represented there and they are watching that all those delay situations, you know, every single second of every day. And, you know, delays are going to happen and, you know, and sometimes we can make them better and sometimes we can't. But one of the biggest things that we know is within our control is the way our people respond and are in the moment with our customers. So we like to say we're never going to be perfect. You know, we are number one and on time, but we're never going to be perfect. And so we tell our people flip the trip. You know, when things go bad, we all have the opportunity. Even just listening to the customer can sometimes make right the situation better. So it's our opportunity to show that care and empathy in the moment and flip the trip when things are bad.

Arun: Fantastic. Okay, so let's look ahead. A lot of things have changed, like you mentioned, with the customer experience. Facetiously, you know, for example, seat pitch keeps decreasing. On shorter flights, will the airlines make us stand? Okay, stand up, strap in, it's a 30-minute flight. But on a serious note, there is always some noise about proposed regulations, about seat dimensions. Will that ever come to pass? Where else do you see the customer experience evolving?

Allison: Yeah, and I'm really proud on the seat pitch side. We are better than our competitors and plan to stay there on that front. You know, certainly there was a point in time for all of us, but I think we've realized one of the things we measure is seat comfort. And you opened with you're standing next to a stranger and how close do you want to be? And, you know, the seat has to be comfortable. Part of that is your seat pitch. But, you know, I think for us, you know, what's next for us relative to, I would say, from a customer experience perspective, is really focused on things that, you know, relative to personalization and, you know, to make the experience better. And in the end, you know, we average about 200 people on board, customers on every single flight, and they want to know they matter. They want to know that Delta knows what's happening to them along the way, whether it's good or bad on their journey, and that we will be there for them when something goes wrong. And that all goes back to personalization. And, you know, that is by far our biggest opportunity for the brand. And to take us further is on the personalization front. And then, you know, we're going to continue to innovate back to what I talked about earlier relative to seamless speed. And it's seamless speed in the airport, but it's also just getting to the airport. You have congested airports like LA the traffic, and, you know, New York. And I'd put Atlanta in the mix too. But, you know, we partnered with a company called Joby Aviation. It's an electric vehicle, takeoff and landing vehicle. Looks a little bit bigger than a drone, small helicopter, but it's going to be able to take people in those congested airports and put them right on the airport property. So it takes away some of that stress of just getting to the airport, and then we can handle, you know, inside the airport. And, you know, we are partnering with them, and that vehicle will launch in 20, plan for 2025 right now, and sustainable at that. So there are a lot of great opportunities for Delta moving forward, but the personalization side of it is the biggest. 

Arun: And I've seen that across the hotel industry as well. Personalization across the restaurant industry, we've been trying to do this. So, good to know that you are doing it as well. So to wrap up, what are the key principles or values that you believe are essential for any organization aiming to excel in this new field, this new program that you've created in customer experience management?

Allison: Yeah, I would say, you know, I would say excellence doesn't happen by accident. So for anybody in the hospitality space, it's about having a vision and standards and then hiring the right people to meet those. And then above all, I would say key principles would be around humanity. And, you know, yes, do we offer a service from flying people from Boston to Atlanta? We do. And that's why people, you know, buy a ticket. But why do they buy a ticket on Delta? And for us, it's about the experience and the humanity that we can bring. And, you know, I was sharing with the class. I learned a valuable lesson, you know, four months into the job as a flight attendant. And if I had to go back over all over again, I would start right there, knowing that I would ultimately be in this role, which I didn't know at the time. But, you know, it's there was a female customer. I was working first class as a flight attendant, a female customer sitting in 4B. I remember like it was yesterday. And she was the rudest customer I had met in all of my four months of flying. Did not want to get a customer complaint that would not be good back to standards of performance and excellence. And, you know, I had to go gather my thoughts and went back out and said, I'm going to somehow figure this out with this lady because I had two more hours to go. Well, what I found out that we were carrying her son below. So her son had passed away.

Arun: Oh my goodness.

Allison: And shame on me, this is the worst day of this mother's life. I wasn't going to change it. But I just learned it was just a valuable lesson in humanity and servant leadership that that is a Delta team. We just got a huge responsibility and accountability to humanity. Every single person that walks across the threshold, I don't care what hospitality industry you're in, but for us, every single person walks across the threshold of that door on some type of journey. For her, it was one of the worst days of her life, but others, it's the most exciting. And I'm going for a job interview at Delta or I'm starting as a freshman at Boston University. And it's the things that we can do to serve humanity while they're within our responsibility. I just think that is so key in hospitality and excellence. You have to be intentional about that and you got to hire people who have a heart for that.

Arun: Very well said. Very well said. Thank you. So at the end, for a bit of fun, we wrap up each podcast with a quick round of questions. As someone who travels thousands of miles, perhaps on a weekly basis, I know you came today from Atlanta to Boston as well. So what's your favorite vacation destination?

Allison: That's such a hard question. I would say two things. I'm a beach person, so I would say Hawaii or Longboat Key, Florida.

Arun: To get to either of these two places, you have to fly.

Allison: I do.

Arun: Do you keep your professional hat away when you're going on vacation? Or you're always looking around? 

Allison: I'm always looking around. It's another opportunity for me to connect with the employees, our Delta team along the way. I've gotten some great feedback from customers too. I view it as a privilege for me to be able to do that as a Delta employee to fly. It's a privilege for all of us. That's a great benefit of the job to see the world and meet new people. And so it's awesome.

Arun: So never a relaxing moment even on vacation for Allison. What's that one item, not including devices such as phone, iPad or laptop, that you never leave home without while flying?

Allison: I leave home and drink it on the way to the airport. And then the minute I get in the airport, even though I know Delta thankfully has it on board the airplane, I pick one up at one of our vendors in the airport. It's a hot diet Coke and it travels with me everywhere.

Arun: What's your least favorite word or phrase?

Allison: No.

Arun: What's your favorite word or phrase?

Allison: I think it goes back to what I said earlier. I think excellence is not an accident. And for that, I think every day we define ourselves. And as a Delta employee, we define ourselves and we define Delta as a member of the Delta team. So how do we all continue to focus on what it takes, right, as a Delta team and do our part to showcase Delta? 

Arun: It was much more than a word or a phrase, but I'm going to take that. And with that, it was an absolute delight to talk to you. And I think I have to start flying Delta much more than what I have been doing so far. 

And thank you, everyone, for listening to our Distinguished podcast. If you want to join the conversation and share your thoughts and suggestions, email me at shadean@bu.edu.

Special thanks to the team who produced this podcast, Professor Makran Modi, Mara Littman, Andy Hallock and the entire team at Boston University School of Hospitality Administration. To keep up with Distinguished podcasts, be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. You can also learn more about our undergraduate and graduate programs by visiting bu.edu/hospitality. Thank you, have a wonderful day.