Delta Ad Cyclist
Delta is running an airport kiosk ad with a happy cyclist who rides through the country, arrives at home, and books a flight. He’s in a good mood and the well-produced ad exemplifies how easy it is too fly with Delta.
The ad doesn’t show the shock that cyclist will get when he checks that bike at the airport – his beeming smile will quickly dissolve to a pissed-off grimace. I know many good people at Delta (well the NWA peeps), and the marketing group that produced this ad is totally unaware of how mad cyclists are at airlines.
During the talk with Livestrong CEO Doug Ulman at SXSW, I was asked about traveling with bikes and many in the room had stories of airlines ripping them off. Doug tweeted a request to Southwest, Lance Armstrong retweeted it, and lots more tweeting ocurred.
Following up with Doug today, he told me in email:
SWA says they do ship bikes for free but the problem is that their size limits don’t fit most bikes. If the bike is too big they charge 50.00. I think they could change their policy with enough pressure.
Oversize is a reason I travel with folders or coupled bikes. I agree with Doug. We should put the pressure on. Event to the point of reasonable fees. $175.00 one way is inexusable.
Hey Delta, us cyclists want to ride happy and book flights like your kiosk ad. Fix your fees and keep us happy.