They may be Olympic champions but the reception the U.S. men’s curling team received from the airline bringing them back home to the U.S. was as cold as ice.
Team USA shocked the world as they were victorious in the rink in Peyongchang as they beat Sweden 10-7 in their first gold medal ever for men’s curling.
With a heroes welcome surely a foregone conclusion for the gold medal winners, a cheeky tweet from the USA Curling Twitter account did not have quite the response the athletes might have expected.
Team USA’s men’s curling team, from left, Tyler George, John Shuster, John Landsteiner and Matt Hamilton of the celebrate after winning gold. They asked for an upgrade for the way home
Delta congratulated the team on their performance but denied their upgrade request
‘Delta our Olympic Curling champions are flying home on Monday. Upgrades?!? #GoldMedalists’ the tweet to Delta Airlines read, hoping that the four man team might secure a bigger and more comfortable seat for the 13 hour ride back to the States.
But Delta’s response was nothing but ice cold in its response: ‘Hi, there. Congratulations, gold medal champions! We are honored to be your ride back home! While we don’t have any upgrades to offer, we look forward to seeing you on board. Thanks for flying with us!’
The move is a surprising one given Delta has recently been promoting its South Korean routes on which it flies a brand new A350 aircraft.
Delta fly to South Korea several times a day on a brand new A350 aircraft but the airline decided to turn down the upgrade request which could have brought some free publicity
Giving the curling team their upgrades would have resulted in some positive publicity for the airline, but critics have said that asking for the upgrade in the first place was nothing but tacky.
One explanation, apart from the a simple lack of space for upgrades on the flight back, is that the majority of Team USA appear to be flying with United Airlines who are the official partner of the U.S. Olympic team.
The United States Olympic Committee works with Untied reservations desk to book seats.
The USOC tells United the number of athletes traveling on particular dates and they are then given the best seats available.
While United Airlines is the official airline for Team USA, there are times when athletes fly on other carriers, for example, depending on an athlete’s schedule or the origin/destination of his or her itinerary.
Meanwhile, Delta have released a statement on the upgrade denial and promise they will do everything they can to celebrate the team’s historic accomplishment.
‘We are excited these Olympic champions have chosen to fly home on Delta, and we are looking forward to welcoming them on board.
‘While there are no seats currently available for upgrades, we are working with our employee teams to celebrate their gold-medal achievement ahead of departure and in flight.’