As you saw on the blog last week, I was invited to spend the night with Delta to chronicle the airline’s move from Terminals 5/6 at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) over to Terminal 2/3. It was a massive effort that spanned three nights, and now that it’s done, we can
definitively say that it was a success. But there’s more to the story that I wasn’t able to tell in print, and that’s why I’ve put together this podcast.
My original plan was to just take photos and write it up as I did last week. But as I was driving to the airport Friday night, I was listening to NPR and thought that cobbling together short interviews with the people I encountered that night might be a lot of fun. I knew Delta’s communications team would love me springing that idea on them at the last minute (yeah, right), so I went into it thinking… “if I can get enough material I’ll do it. If not, oh well.”
While I wasn’t able to get much at the end of the night, Delta did find a way to quickly line up several people for me including Bruce (member of the Delta aircraft tow team), Paul (project manager for Delta at LAX) and Ranjan (VP Sales-West for Delta). I found a passenger named Suzanne who had arrived very, very early for her flight and added in time with communications people from both Delta and LA World Airports. After putting it all together, I thought it made for a great 20 minute and 44 second listen. We’ll see if you agree.
Oh, and one last note. You probably noticed the sound on my interview with Bruce was pretty bad, and that’s because it was incredibly loud on the ramp where we were. I was able to filter out the aircraft noise to make it better, but that left it sounding a bit tinny. Still, it’s better than it was unfiltered.
Thanks to Delta for helping me put this together so late in the game.
13 comments on “The Cranky Flier Interview: Those Who Made the Delta Move at LAX Happen”
Do you have a transcript to read instead ? I haven’t got the time to listen for the audio to play…
David – No transcripts. Sorry.
Will this flow over to the podcast?
Not sure what you mean. This is the podcast.
Didn’t show up in pocket casts app until a few minutes ago.
JohnBom – How odd. Glad it’s there now.
I can appreciate the filtering you had to do on Bruce, but it does sound like he’s demanding a ransom… :)
Delta, Delta, Delta.
Can I help ya, help ya, help ya?
We had to fly last weekend with delta and it was chaos. Lines super long. No one to answer questions or guide us. We found it very stressful and delta failed its customers again.
Gate number is on your boarding pass. You know if you’re premium or not. Follow the signs for the gate. Be self sufficient.
Great podcast and great coverage on the move in general. Any chance there was someone filming the activity for a documentary? Combined with all the planning in the months leading up, that would have made for a fascinating piece.
FBKSan – Not that I know of. There were camera crews there from media but it wasn’t for documentary purposes. Delta had a crew there as well, but I’m sure that was more for promotional work.