Marlee Matlin takes Delta to task on Twitter
Her tweet gained the attention of more than 780,000 fans-- and Delta
Academy Award-winning actress Marlee Matlin lambasted Delta Air Lines on social media Thursday for the challenges she encountered on her flight.
Matlin, known for her role on “Switched at Birth” and her Academy award-winning work on the 1986 film “Children of a Lesser God,” opened up on Twitter about her “preferred airline” and its lack of closed captioning available on its in-flight entertainment system.
"Sad to see that my preferred airline, @Delta flight 1998 has provisions for various languages and audio description for in-flight entertainment but no closed captions for deaf and hard of hearing flyers," Matlin wrote in a Dec. 26 tweet posted with a video of Matlin signing while sitting on the plane.
DELTA SEES STRONG 2020 PROFIT, REVENUE ON BACK OF STRONG AMERICAN CONSUMER
Not only did her post grab the attention of scores of fans, gaining more than 780,000 views and racking up roughly 39,000 likes, it also caught the attention of Delta.
"As an alternative option, you can access closed captioned Delta Studio content via Gogo Entertainment app on your personal electronic device," the airline tweeted in response.
AMERICAN AIRLINES BECOMES SECOND CARRIER TO OFFER NON-BINARY GENDER OPTION
Their swift reply, however, didn't appear to appease the actress.
Although Matlin's flight was not updated to have closed captioning available, the airline told FOX Business that 89 percent of the company's aircraft with embedded seatback screens have the service readily available.
MAJOR US AIRLINES CRIPPLED BY GOOGLE TECH PROBLEM
“Accessibility is important to us and while most of our aircraft with seatback screens have a wide variety of closed captioned content, unfortunately, Ms. Matlin’s flight has not yet been upgraded to include this feature," a spokesperson for Delta told FOX Business on Friday. "We apologize and are working diligently to upgrade our remaining fleet.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP
Delta says the remaining 11 percent of aircraft that do not have the updated system to support closed captioning are scheduled to be modified although the company did not specify when that would be.
The airline also supplies 111 closed-captioned videos and TV shows with their in-flight entertainment system, Delta said.