For most people who have access to them, an airport lounge is a place to sit down, take a break, grab a drink or something to eat, and (hopefully) have a bit of quietness before, or sometimes after your flight.
However, for 37-year-old Delta passenger Kyle Philippi and his friend Gary Keylon, a visit to the Delta Sky Club wasn’t about relaxing before their flight. It was about getting even. Or at least trying to.
Flight Delays and Frustrations
Philippi is a DoorDash driver and social media influencer. He was booked onto a flight to Ecuador from Chattanooga a couple of years ago, but, as part of the CrowdStrike meltdown (remember that?), it was canceled.
Philippi and Keylon were offered an alternative flight days later. Delta offered to reimburse them $100 each, but Philippi countered that the combined $200 didn’t even come close to covering the losses they incurred from pre-booked vacation activities.
Revenge at the Sky Club
In what became a viral post that was shared on TikTok, he claimed Delta wouldn’t compensate him for the ‘thousands’ of dollars he ‘lost’ while waiting for his flight, so he attempted to ‘get it back in the Sky Club’.
“POV: Delta doesn’t compensate for thousands of dollars lost from delaying our flights for days so we gonna get it back in the Sky Club. This will set them back.”
With a background soundtrack by AC/DC’s Thunderstruck, Philippi and Keylon with proceeded to consume pretty much everything the Sky Club had to offer. But they didn’t stop at simply eating a lot. They intentionally wasted food, drinks, paper products and toiletries in an effort to “stick it” to Delta.
PC: Kyle Philippi/TikTok
The Sky Club Feast
Footage shows them taking and eating multiple full plates of food – sandwiches, mini pita breads, ribs, salad, rolls, cookies, popcorn, Cheez-Its, you name it. They got cup after cup of coffee and soda. They got glasses of red wine, which they then proceeded to throw out (Philippi says he doesn’t drink). They took every printed Business Traveler magazine on the shelf. They emptied out the hand sanitizer container. They even let the shower run while pumping out every bit of soap, shampoo, etc.
PC: Kyle Philippi/TikTok
Did they recover the thousands of dollars Philippi says they lost? Of course not.
They just consumed—and wasted—a lot more than two people normally would. If that made them feel better, I guess mission accomplished.
@kylephilippi This will set them back! #delta #skymiles #deltamedallionlife #skyclub #microsoftoutage #flightdelay #layover @delta #airport
Regret sets in?
By the end of the binge, even Philippi admitted he “didn’t even want” the cookies anymore, while Keylon joked that he got “Delta’s Revenge” after stuffing himself.
@kylephilippi Replying to @Kelly #delta #skymiles #deltamedallionlife #skyclub #microsoftoutage #flightdelay #layover #airport
Public reaction
Of the thousands of comments left for the video, most were complimentary for Philippi “giving it to the man”:
- This is the level of petty we strive for
— Lauren Gunnell - As someone who has been completely wronged by Delta, thank you for your service! — melimac
- I don’t like to throw around the word “Hero”, but this situation calls for it. — Missy
- Stand on principles my boys. Good job. — GooderLogic
- I approve this pettiness. You do it for the team. Keep it up
— codyvlogtv
And then the frequent flyers showed up. 😄
“They should lose their membership privileges.” “This was childish and wasteful…” “That’s horrible, thinking they are that entitled…” And my favorite, “Class can’t be obtained with miles.”
Defending Their Actions
The duo were featured on Inside Edition a few days later, where they tried to justify their actions.
“I saw some businessmen that drank much more wine than I dumped,” said Philippi. “So I don’t think we went too far.”
However, Philippi must have felt some fear of retribution because one of his replies to his TikTok video was, ““@Delta, please don’t revoke my pass. Love you bye.”
Was it worth it?
Personally? I thought the whole thing was childish.
And in the end, I don’t think Delta was even the real victim here.
The Sky Club employees had extra work to do. Other travelers had to wait for food, drinks and supplies to be replenished. And thousands of people watched two grown men intentionally waste things simply because they were angry.
If Delta had truly treated them unfairly, I understand being frustrated.
But there’s a difference between standing up for yourself and making life harder for people who had absolutely nothing to do with the problem.
That’s why I don’t see this as sticking it to Delta.
I see it as sticking it to everyone except Delta.
But to be honest, it looks as if Philippi was more interested in clicks and working with Delta in the future, than actual revenge.
“We’ve tagged them in the video,” Philippi said in an interview. “Some have said this was a great ad for the Sky Club and I even messaged them on TikTok saying there’s some ideas for a fun collab since the video has gone viral but I’ve not received any response.”
Unless he’s keeping it a secret, it doesn’t appear that Philippi was ever directly contacted by Delta.
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