Delta Good, Bad and Ugly please?

[Hockeychic]

We are flying out to Seattle next year and Delta, has awesome prices. However, I have never flown with Delta before.

ANy experiences please....good, bad and the ugly

Thank you

 

[Michael623]

What exactly are you looking for here? You walk down a jetway into a large flying tube. Then you (most likely) repeat the same process in ATL. When you exit the flying tube for the last time you'll be at MCO. I've had the same experience on every airline I've ever flown.

 

[beccasmom]

We used them once to get to WDW. It was fine; nothing spectacular in terms of service, but certainly okay. IMHO, the best customer service is generally at SWA and JetBlue, but that has just been my experience. The others are okay - serviceable and safe.

 

[dis_guy]

They're all pretty much the same these days. You pays your money and...

Got stuck in Salt Lake once because they screwed up on my flights, but that's a too long story. I was on my way within 24 hours.

Lately, I've flown United a lot. No problems, but others love to bash them. Same with Air Canada here in Canada. Everyone knows someone who... well, you know.

Give 'em a try and see what your experience is like.

 

[brentalex]

We fly Delta a lot and have had no problems with them. On many of the east west flights they now have individual tvs on the seats which makes the time go by. We have found that they often have great prices.

 

[robinb]

What exactly are you looking for here? You walk down a jetway into a large flying tube. Then you (most likely) repeat the same process in ATL. When you exit the flying tube for the last time you'll be at MCO. I've had the same experience on every airline I've ever flown.

*snork* I was kinda thinking the same thing. Delta is the same as any of the Legacy carriers. I flew them to/from Hawaii (using my DH's old NWA miles) and they were fine. Since you will have a long flight I would recommend that you bring some money onboard for an in-flight meal or make sure you eat before you get onboard. They have little snacks (peanuts and biscotti) but it's not enough for a long flight. Make sure that you get your seating assignments as soon as you can so you don't get stuck back near the toilets.

 

[blissventure]

We fly Delta a lot and have had no problems with them. On many of the east west flights they now have individual tvs on the seats which makes the time go by. We have found that they often have great prices.

We like the TV's, but we really like playing the trivia games. We have been surprised how fast the time flies when we're involved in these.

 

[PolyPineapple]

I've flown Delta from Boston to Seattle and it wasn't great, but that was mostly because they made me go through Atlanta - the stopover from hell. If you have a direct flight, it shouldn't be too bad. Maybe you'll luck out and get one of their old "Song" planes - sigh, I loved Song - these planes have seatback video. The video makes a difference, it's a long trip without it.

I usually only do JetBlue to Seattle now. Besides Alaska they are the only direct flight between BOS and SEA.

In general though, I haven't had any problems with Delta. If I can't get a JetBlue flight, they are usually my second choice carrier. Good luck and enjoy Seattle!

 

[Hockeychic]

What exactly are you looking for here? You walk down a jetway into a large flying tube. Then you (most likely) repeat the same process in ATL. When you exit the flying tube for the last time you'll be at MCO. I've had the same experience on every airline I've ever flown.

Thanks that was helpful Why did you bother to post?

What I was looking for was....are you usually on time, do they tend to change up the schedule? Do they have a higher then normal lost luggage issue?

I have flown on quite a few airlines and I don't find them at all alike. I don't like Jetblue and don't like Air Canada so tend to avoid those but love SW and they are always my first choice but Deltas price is almost too good to be true.

Everyone else!!! Thanks for the input. It would be a flight from Buffalo to Ohio on a small plane then change to a 737 for the Ohio to Seattle portion.

Thanks again

 

[clkelley]

Delta is NOTORIOUS for changing their schedule. So make sure you block out your entire travel day both directions, as you can't make plans as your flight each day could be much earlier and/or much later than you originally booked.

 

[QT Pooh]

Since you are out a year, I would check the schedules every month and then at shorter intervals when the schedule gets closer. They are still consolidating and eliminating flights. These flight changes could be just little schedule changes by minutes that may cause your seat assignments to go away. If that's the case, just call them and you'll be able to get your seats back. Or they could be massive schedule changes, as when they consolidate two flights out on smaller planes to one flight out on a larger plane.

Delta's notorious changes have been due to restructuring OUT of bankruptcy and they were necessary changes. They are also consolidating similar or duplicate flights from their merger with Northwest. I've seen the smaller changes happen much more often than the larger ones. We fly almost exclusively on Delta on frequent flyer miles, and we have not had any problems with them - not ones that couldn't be easily fixed with a phone call anyway.

Everyone will have different tolerances and experiences with travel so it's probably best if you just try them out yourself. If you like them, maybe they'll have a long term customer...if not, you'll never have to fly them again if you don't want to.

 

[jana616]

We are flying Delta for the first time in September. I booked our tickets at the end of March. We are taking a 50 minute flight from Indy to Cincy, and then a 2 hour flight from Cincy to Orlando. So far, they have changed the schedule on us 6-7 times. Most of these have been very minor (equipment change, or the first flight has changed carriers like 3 times). Even those minor changes, however, have resulted in us losing the seats we picked (a big deal to me since our layover is very short and I want to be as close to the front as possible). I just keep checking every week or so and calling to reassign seats-a pain, but no big deal. They changed our return flights on NWA a few weeks ago and those were a bigger deal. I tried to call and see about being assigned different flights since we made the minimum layover time by one minute. They wouldn't let me (but I didn't push too hard!). In this case the constant changes has worked in my favor a little, since their has been another more recent change and the layover is a little longer again.

We still have 85 days til we fly, and I am planning for there to be many more changes still to come. I wouldn't say I've been impressed with Delta, but they haven't been terrible either. If the price is best by far, I'd risk it. HTH!

 

[blissventure]

We fly Delta almost exclusively. In 2009 we'll make 8 round trip flights. I can think of one flight time change in the past two years. I called them, they moved me onto a non stop, no problem, no charge.
I can book our seats when I purchase, which is a huge plus for me.

Overall, we're happy with them.

Occasionally (maybe 1-2X a year) we fly with SW, if they beat the price. I'm not a fan of the getta seat shuffle...which is why I love choosing my seat way ahead on Delta. On the other hand--money is money. I won't pay more if I don't have to.

 

[robinb]

We fly Delta almost exclusively. In 2009 we'll make 8 round trip flights. I can think of one flight time change in the past two years. I called them, they moved me onto a non stop, no problem, no charge.
I can book our seats when I purchase, which is a huge plus for me.

Yes, that's when changing flight times is an advantage! If your flight arrives more that an hour (I think) later then you can call and change to another flight. This is especially good when you have booked a cheap off-peak flight and you can then change to much better flight at no charge. So ... schedule changes are NOT all the bad.

 

[safetymom]

I have had nothing but great experiences with Delta. I found their customer service better than the other legacy carriers.

 

[francie57]

We have always flown Delta and have never had a problem. We have always been on time and have never had a luggage problem. Our schedule has only changed slightly (about a 10 min. difference). We like that we can reserve our seats when booking. There is the possibility that the flight could be changed from a Delta flight to a NWA flight since they have merged (ours has - not a big deal, same time, same gate, etc.). The only difference is that if the flight is through NWA you cannot reserve seats until 90 days before but that wasn't a problem either. We actually got the first 4 reserved seats on our flights each way. Wouldn't be worried, we have always had a great trip with Delta. The TVs and trivia game are a lot of fun.

 

[Michael623]

Thanks that was helpful Why did you bother to post?

Ever heard of the search function? Why did you bother to post?

 

[Hockeychic]

Thanks all for the info. I think we will book but will wait a little longer just to be a bit more sure of the schedules. This one just worked perfect so if they change it we might have to look at another carrier.

Michael623: Yes I have heard of search button, if you check my post counts I have been around here for awhile, however, my search did not show me any recent info on Delta, lots of stuff that was over a year old but nothing more recent. As for why I posted....I was asking a question which is what the boards are for, and disboards are always helpful but I have never received such a condesending response on these boards. Maybe I was being a bit sensitive but did not appreciate your response.

 

[LadyBeBop]

It would be a flight from Buffalo to Ohio on a small plane then change to a 737 for the Ohio to Seattle portion.

I'm assuming you're flying into Greater Cincinnati Airport (which is a major Delta hub).

You aren't going to set foot in Ohio whatsoever.

The airport is about a half hour south of Cincinnati...in Northern Kentucky.

I've flown from CVG to California a couple of times (although never to Seattle). We didn't have the old Song airplanes flying to California, but we had them coming home. However, you should get a movie both ways. Headphones are cheap ($2), or you could bring your own. Even if you don't get one of the Song airplanes, the in-flight audio is pretty good.

Now, flying from Buffalo to CVG and CVG to Buffalo...at least you'll only be in the air an hour. You may have time for a pop and a bag of peanuts and that's it.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about flying Delta.

 

[Hockeychic]

Thank you for the info.