Passenger Shares Delta’s “Warm, Empathetic” Apology—With The AI Notes Still Attached

A Delta SkyMiles Diamond member complained about customer service and received an apology that began by announcing how warm and empathetic it was supposed to sound: Here’s a more polished and professional version with a warm, empathetic tone: That’s the opening of the email the passenger shared, flagged by Enilria. Apparently the person offering the apology didn’t have enough warmth and empathy to remove the framing of the note by the AI. Delta just responded to my case with “Here’s a more polished and professional version with a warm, empathetic tone:” by u/TyrannosaurusBeckks in delta Delta’s response goes on: As a valued Diamond Medallion Member, you deserve knowledgeable, attentive, and seamless service, and I regret that we did not meet those expectations. They’ve correctly identified attentive service as something the customer should receive. Reading the first sentence before hitting send would have shown attentiveness. Someone clearly used AI to write the reply, then pasted the introduction along with the answer. Oops. The response continues, I have shared your feedback with our Flight Operations Senior Leadership team for review, and we will work closely with the appropriate departments to address the service shortcomings you described. Why is a complaint about a customer service chat going to Flight Operations Senior Leadership? I’m willing to bet that even though the email said that, it isn’t true. While we’ve seen AIs send emails without authorization, it probably didn’t do that here. One commenter offered this explanation of elite benefits at Delta: Silver medallions get the bots. Diamond medallions get the humans who paste the answers from the expensive bots. See, status still matters! Other commenters defended using AI to help write customer service replies. Airlines have been sending canned apologies for decades. A tool that helps an agent reflect back the customer’s actual concern, look up the right rule, or summarize a dense complaint is great! Hopefully the employee still understands the complaint, checks the answer, and does the thing they’re promising. I covered almost the same thing at Cathay Pacific in June. A passenger dealing with a canceled flight received instructions meant for a writing assistant, including directions to acknowledge feelings and use a positive tone. Delta CEO Ed Bastian, meanwhile, said he discarded an AI draft of his Emory commencement speech because it lacked his voice and warmth. I thought that was cheap applause. Executives frequently use human speechwriters, too. But it’s a little awkward when Bastian virtue signals against using AI for drafting while his airline sends AI-draft apologies that don’t even get reviewed. And Delta is making customers go through more of this technology to get help, having shut down text message support directing customers to the AI Concierge. In August, a Platinum Medallion asked the AI Concierge to cancel her outbound flight while keeping her return. It assured her the return remained booked, but refunded the entire 32,400 mile award ticket. Delta confirmed a bug involving partial trip cancellations and restored her original itinerary. Topics on this page