Delta to close all area ticket offices

Dec. 3, 2007

If you still like to buy tickets from Delta Air Lines in person, you'll soon have to go to the airport or New York to do it.

The Atlanta airline plans to close all its 16 free-standing ticket offices worldwide, except for one on East 45th Street in Manhattan.

The closures include four offices in Atlanta, one in Cincinnati and 10 in Europe and Latin America. Most will close by Dec. 15.

As more customers book online, Delta began closing ticket offices years ago to cut costs, spokeswoman Chris Kelly said. "It's just not the way people buy their tickets anymore," Kelly said. She said the move should save about $3 million annually. It affects about 60 employees who generally will be offered other positions, she said.

The airline is keeping the Manhattan office to maintain "brand presence" in that city, Kelly said.

Kay Holt, 62, a retired personal shopper who has used Delta's Perimeter Mall ticket office three or four times a year, isn't happy about the change.

"I'm mad ... about it," she said. "I prefer to go in and hand my credit card to a person. I don't think that's unreasonable."

The other local ticket offices are at Delta's headquarters near Hapeville and at Lenox and Greenbrier malls.

Delta tried to close the Greenbrier office in 2000 but shelved the plan when City Council members and community leaders protested.