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Delta passengers wait for long hours to reach call centers

Due to thousands of jobs being cut during the pandemic, Delta Air Lines is facing staff shortages in its call centers, resulting in long wait times.

ATLANTA — As Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport braces for a busy Memorial Day weekend, many Delta Air Lines passengers are experiencing long delays while trying to reach the airline's customer service call centers.

Some customers who are frustrated with the delays reached out to 11Alive and said the wait times can be as long as 8 hours.

When 11Alive called Delta's customer service lines, we were met with a pre-recorded message with instructions on how to request a callback. We followed the instructions and faced the same hours-long delay.

Delta says this is due to massive cutbacks of about 17,000 jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As COVID restrictions ease and travelers return to the skies, some are having trouble with getting answers from Delta about their flights and making changes to their itineraries.

Delta passenger Don Stein said he tried calling the customer service center to cancel a trip.

"I could not get through at all. Wait times ranged from 6 hours to 8 hours. So, I finally got up at 3:30 in the morning to make an appointment to call them,” Stein said.

He also said one pre-recorded Delta message told him to go to the Delta website. But when he visited the site in an attempt to reach a service representative, he ran into more trouble.

“I got a message: 'Whoops. We are sorry, you cannot use this website,'” he said.

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After getting nowhere and out of frustration, Stein reached out to Delta’s corporate offices and was able to get someone to help resolve his issue.

Stein is not alone. Delta Million Mile passenger Jonathan Zufi also tried to reach a customer service representative as he was traveling in Utah. Zufi was surprised by the long wait times.

The pre-recorded message told him the lines were busy, and he expected a callback in a few minutes with his Delta medallion status.

Instead, he was told he’d get a callback in 5 hours and his only reaction was: “Like... wow." So Zufi decided to head over to the Delta mobile app.

“I tried that approach and actually did not get a response at all. I kept checking for 24 hours and did not get any response,” he said.

Eventually, the Delta frequent flyer just gave up and waited until he finally got to the airport to resolve his issue.

When 11Alive's Bill Liss called Delta to change a flight that couldn't be modified on the Delta website due to a required fare adjustment, the estimated wait time was 5 hours.

Almost 9 hours later, Liss got the callback. It was 1:30 a.m.

But Delta said positive changes are on the way. The airline said the wait times are indeed unacceptable, and it's trying to quickly increase staff and hours, hire temporary summer workers and fast-track technology upgrades to restore its pre-pandemic level of customer service.

Delta said it hopes to significantly reduced wait times before the long overdue summer travel rush returns.

If you are having trouble reaching a Delta customer service representative by phone, you can also try sending them a direct message on Twitter as an alternative.

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