Delta throws party for staff member after customer accidentally leaves bad review

Everyone has accidentally clicked the wrong thing at some point in their life, and one traveller felt particularly guilty about it.

Samantha Brown is known on TikTok for her travel videos, but one day she accidentally left a one-star review for a Delta customer service representative and took to the platform in the hopes of changing it.

“Okay Delta, you have to help me,” she started off her video. “I gave one of your customer service representatives a one when I meant five.”

Brown explained that she couldn’t stop thinking about her mistake given her high membership status with the airline, and was worried about the staff member’s managers viewing the low review as a possible reason to fire her.

Brown provided every detail of the phone call to help her search. “Her name is Julie. She helped me at 6.45am,” she said. “She has this soft Southern accent. Please, please can I take it back? She’s a five. She’s definitely a five.”

At first Brown attempted to call Delta back and a second customer service representative told her they couldn’t retract a rating, but they could leave a note detailing the mistake.

Since first being posted on 3 October, Brown’s TikTok has received over nine million views and finally ended up reaching the right people. One of the comments on the video was from Julie’s husband. He wrote, “That was my wife you spoke with this morning. She’s definitely a five!! She’s glad she was able to help. She understands as well, mistakes happen.”

The video also made its way to Delta, Julie’s employer who also left a comment. “Love that you want to recognise Julie, so do we! DM us,” the company wrote.

Both Brown and Delta then got together to “hatch a plan.” On Brown’s way home from traveling she took a detour in Atlanta and was brought to Delta’s headquarters where Julie’s managers and coworkers were throwing a surprise party for her.

At the party, Brown was able to surprise Julie and tell her in-person how good she is at her job. “She’s been at Delta for 25 years,” Brown said in a follow-up TikTok. “And in her spare time she fosters abused and abandoned dogs.” She also made sure to hand her a giant balloon with the number five on it along with star balloons to let Julie know she deserved five stars.

Following the party, Julie left Brown a message that read, “Samantha, this is Julie..I wanted to tell you again thank you SO MUCH for coming to Atlanta yesterday! It was the most surreal moment of my life..my head just stopped spinning! You are a very kind and amazing lady! Thank you so much for the amazing ride I have had the last two weeks!”

Many people turned to the comments section after seeing Julie’s surprise to gush over how kind the entire gesture was. “Why am I crying about Delta customer service?” one commenter gushed.

“I was expecting a vid from Delta showing Julie doing good. I didn’t expect a whole surprise party w u!! she’s awesome, you’re awesome, deltas awesome!!” another person wrote.

The Independent has reached out to Brown for comment.