Putting Some Personal Contact Back Into Flying (NYTimes.com)

"... some airlines, stung by a wave of negative publicity about their treatment of customers, are reversing course. One is Delta Air Lines, now the world’s largest carrier after its merger with Northwest. It is reviving a service program known as the “Red Coats,” for the crimson-jacketed airport service people who assist passengers in need. Delta has already brought the agents back to Kennedy Airport, and last month it added more than 100 at its biggest airport hub, Atlanta. As of Aug. 1, about 500 of these agents will be in circulation at more than a dozen airports, including terminals in Washington, Los Angeles, Boston, Cincinnati, Memphis, Newark and New York.

The Red Coats program, which dates back to the 1960s, “was one of our better-known services,” Gil West, Delta’s senior vice president of airport customer service, said in an interview. The decision to disband the program in 2005, while the airline reorganized under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was viewed as a mistake by some employees, he said. He said the new agents were being drawn from within Delta’s ranks but that they would be selected through a “highly competitive” process and would be paid more than other airport agents.

The new Red Coats will be able to use hand-held devices to print boarding passes and issue vouchers to airport clubs."

Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/business/28service.html