One of our favorite ways to contact Delta customer support – and avoid lengthy call wait times – is no more: Delta has officially sunset its text message customer support feature, which allowed flyers to message with an agent via text message on your phone.
We’ve used this feature repeatedly since it was introduced years ago, whether there were long lines at the airport or hours-long delays to reach an agent by phone. Delta sped up the service over the years; often had incredibly adept agents to help with rebooking flights, cancellations, and other issues; and even estimated how long it would take to reach an agent.
But now, that text line has been shut down in favor of the airline’s new, AI-powered “Delta Concierge” service in the app, which is clearly branded as still in beta testing. While you can still reach a live agent via Delta Concierge, it often takes longer to connect … with mixed results when you finally reach a human being, in our experience so far.
It’s unclear exactly know when this feature was taken offline, but here’s the response several members of the Thrifty Traveler got Monday afternoon when texting Delta for a support request.
“Please note that support through this messaging channel is no longer available. For the fastest assistance, please use Delta Concierge in the Fly Delta app or click on the link to visit the Delta Help Center. We look forward to assisting you there,” a message reply read, along with a link to Delta’s Help Center page.
I think this is a loss for travelers who have come to rely on the text message feature when you can’t tackle problems online or to circumvent long waits for Delta’s phone lines. While you had to chat with a bot back and forth a few times in order to get a live representative to message with you, it was still almost always easier than calling the airline. And because everything was text based, there was no room for interpretation or misunderstandings, either.
Plus, by communicating via text, you could get text message alerts when the bot or the Delta agent replied – allowing you to do several things at once and not requiring you to stay on the app.
Instead, you are now directed to “Delta Concierge,” an AI chatbot through the Delta app. It’s nowhere near as fast nor as helpful, in my experience.
You can still connect with a Delta agent if you ask the AI bot to do so, but once I finally got the AI to connect us, the representative introduced themselves … and when I replied, the chat ended with a request to rate our interaction on a scale from 1 to 5.
I was just trying to add a lap infant after check-in – something you cannot do online. Ultimately, a 30-minute hold on Delta’s customer service line was my only option.
Previously, you could reach this “Message” feature through a link in the Delta app that looked like this. Click it and it’d open a text message window.
Now, the same button keeps you in the app and connects you with the “Concierge” instead.
Years ago, you could contact Delta customer service through Twitter or Facebook. Both of those platforms were sunset way back in 2020.
Bottom Line
The best way to contact Delta to get customer service is gone as the airline is pushing travelers to use the AI-powered Delta Concierge chatbot through the airline’s mobile app instead.
This is a major blow to Delta flyers used to beating long phone line waits with the efficient and convenient chat feature.
