Just back, good and bad stuff

[Lisa in Pa]

We just got back from 1 week at WL. We had the trip from heck down, bad weather, delays, missed flights. Orginal arrival time:5:18, actual 1:30 am next morning. Delta was horrible. NO SERVICE, Rude service, yuck! Tiffany Town Car was awesome! We called them several times to update them on our progress. We landed around 12:30 am and they were still picking up the phone with a smile! We love them!
Lines for rides?? No way! The worst was Test Track, everything else was a walk on! Only one night of fireworks but what the heck it's off season. The only complaints I have are the guests. I don't know what it is, but there was so much rudeness from other guests. I wish everyone would catch the magic a bit and learn to relax. Disney transport was a bit slow in the begining of the week but they got better as the week went on. Questions? lwright@fast.net

 

[jennymouse]

I know what you mean about some of the guest. I had one guy literally run over top of my 6yr old DGD last April trying to get to the Dumbo ride at the rope drop. He stepped on her heel, her shoe came off and she went down to the ground....and he just walked over top of her! Did he stop and appologise? Heck no! He didn't even look back! Let me tell you. This was one ticked off Fairy Hen Mother Nana! If I wasn't where I was and with my DGD I would've flogged him, big time. You have no idea, what it took to stop me.

Sorry I got off on that tangent. Glad you had a good time and welcome back!

 

[Epcotgal]

Originally posted by jennymouse
You have no idea, what it took to stop me.

I do! We were once walking through Fantasyland and it was getting crowded. My 4 year old son was walking right next to me when this older man (notice I didn't say "gentleman") literally shoved my son aside so he could catch up to his wife who was walking at a faster pace. Mind you, we weren't stopping to smell the roses or trying to be slow, just caught a traffic jam and were moving at their pace. If I hadn't been holding his hand, my son would have fallen. It took great self control not to follow and chastise him. I've seen the rudest people I have ever seen in WDW. BUT I have also met some of the nicest I have ever met and they are the majority. One parade this man saw that since one child was on my dh's shoulders and that I was having a hard time holding up our other son to see, he asked if it was ok for my son to sit on his back / shoulders. He held him up the whole parade and couldn't have been nicer to him. That to me is Disney spirit.

 

[chris1gill]

Lisa in PA, what happened with your flights? We absolutely hate Delta after what they did to us last September (same thing, delayed, cancelled flights & lost luggage....) We are unfortunately flying them in November to use up the credit they gave us for our pathetic trip... I'm convinced they are the worst airline in business...

 

[cindala]

JFYI:

In the most recent issue of Consumer Reports, they list the airlines and how they are rated since 9/11. Generally, they said that less flights meant more on time departures and take offs, and less problems with luggage.
They were rated as follows, from what I recall:
1. Delta
2. Southwest
3. don't remember
4. Continental

I will have to look at the issue again, but I do remember that American was at the bottom, and Spirit too I believe. It was in the first few pages of the issue.

We have never had a problem with Delta, (knock wood , but we always take early morning flights, and from what I can tell, there are more delays and weather problems the later you fly.

 

[GeorgeG]

I have to echo the sour grapes on Delta. We have used them for years and never had any problems until last year. We checked our luggage with the Delta curbside checking to fly to Fort Lauderdale for a cruise. Anyone who's ever been on a cruise knows you need clothes... Our luggage contained two completely new wardrobes and brand new snorkel equipment.

Our luggage never caught up to us, not even after returning home from a ruined cruise. These bags were new, sturdy, quality luggage. They had the Delta tags (we watched them being put on and go down the conveyer), the cruise line tags, our own tags, and a photocopy of our passports in each one. had they been misplaced or misdirected, they would have eventually turned up. Not a trace! That can only lead us to believe it was all stolen by Delta employees in the baggage handling area.

The Delta tags are bar-coded and scanned for tracking. The lost bags were never scanned into the system. One representative actually tried to tell us they don't scan them until they reach their destination (it's not good to anger someone who's already upset).

Delta eventually made good on our lost property. Of course they adjusted from the "new value" for "normal depreciation." Trust me that the only depreciation that took place was after they lost/stole it. They also gave us two vouchers for $125 each towards tickets (I guess they wanted to see what else they could steal). I tried to hold them accountable for the ruined cruise, but they wouldn't accept responsibility. Luckily, travel insurance covered the balance of the property loss.

So, what can I say about Delta that's good? Let me think about that for a few more decades and get back to you...

 

[Mickymark]

In January of 2000, we flew down to Orlando from NJ on Spirit Airlines. On the return flight we were delayed for 4 hours because the battery on the plane we were about to fly on went dead. I havent flown since, and probably wont again.

 

[chris1gill]

Hi GeorgeG,

I just wanted to ask what kinds of things the travel insurance covered for you? My specific concern right now, is that I am bringing my powerchair down with us to Florida.... it's the airlines responsibility to get it there safely & they have to pay if they break it... course I'm afraid they will break it & then claim it was already broken! I absolutely plan to bring the chair into our local dealer to get a clean bill of health, but I just wonder exactly how much trouble Delta will give us & then of course secondarily what kinds of things the travel insurance covers, Thanks!

We just flew American in February & indeed they did break the chair, they paid 100% for the damage & the rental of another chair, so indeed American has earned our business in this circumstance....

 

[Lisa in Pa]

Our delays were weather related but Delta did nothing to try and help us out. We were greeted with bad attitudes, long walks from concorce to concroce, not to mention a wet peice of luggage that leaked thru to the clothes. The sunniest part of that trip was Tiffany Town Car. They greeted us with a smile at 1:30 in the morning, followed us around the airport to find our bags, and took us to Wilderness Lodge. I truely beleive their attitude and customer service it what put us back on track to having a Magical week. If anyone ever uses anyone but them, your nuts! They are awesome.
I will be hard pressed to fly Delta again.

 

[disney queen]

i agree! tiffany towncar is fabulous!! we have used them several times and will again in july/december.

 

[MaggieMouse]

I'm flying Delta with my two children in June. I hope all goes well. I've flown them before and other than the normal delays, I haven't experienced any problems.

 

[kimmar067]

I sent you a pm...

 

[NCRedding]

Ok my Delta story--not as bad as misplaced/lost luggage but still annoying (you all have given me a perfect opportunity to vent). I booked for Sept/Oct trip. 10 days ago. Today I was searching the Web site for someone else who may be traveling with us. Surprise: My flights no longer exist (including the Sunday flight that was completely booked except for 2 seats) Called customer service: my afternoon flights had both been moved over 5 hours earlier in the day: now morning flights instead of afternoon flights> Problem: dd is in school, so we can't take an early am flight without taking her out all day. Other problem, our Sunday flight is following our cruise, so I think the 7am flight is just a little impossible. Was going to just transfer to later flights, and got attitude from the transfer person. They did let me cancel and refund my money, since the flights were no longer available. Now, I get to start all over.

 

[chris1gill]

NCRedding, That is AWFUL!!! Thank goodness you realized what happened!! I've also experienced Delta changing my flight times & the only way I knew about it was that I was surfing on the net & put in my dates & VOILA! Changed :-( I'm glad you got your money back!

 

[wdwnutze]

Delta is the worst. A few years ago we went to WDW with my the 4yo dd, 12yo ds and 12yo nephew. We arrived at Logan at 4:30am for a 6:30am flight. We got there and discovered our flight had been changed to 8:30am and even worse, my nephew was assigned to a different flight altogether!! They had a hard time figuring out what we were so upset about. They did give us $75 vouchers for all the trouble we went through but I don't think it was worth it.

 

[AllyandJack]

I always fly Delta and so far, so good. In fact, we were leaving from Boston going to Disney the day before Thanksgiving. After all the disruption with 9/11, I was having a fit wondering how this was going to work! I mean, bad enough flying the day after Thanksgiving, but with the added confusion of 9/11, I was prepared for the worst.

Delta couldn't have been better about it. They called my house twice to inform me of the flight changes....same day, just 2 hours earlier. No biggie. Maybe it's more to do with the particular airport and not the actual airline? Maybe Logan just has really good Delta employees?? I don't know.....my friend is one of the people who puts the bags on the planes at Logan, so I she meets me at the check-in desk and takes my bags personally. I always panic if my bags aren't the first ones down the tunnel!! This cuts down a bit on the anxiety!

A funny story about my friend: he did curbside check-in for an airline I won't name (not Delta). He tipped the guy $3.00 for his 2 bags. The guy made no secret that he thought he was being lowballed on his tip. My friend didn't think anything about it. He gets to Florida.....no luggage. No record of the luggage anywhere at all. It was never found. So, I completely believe that luggage is tampered with and even stolen by the baggage people. For my honeymoon in 3 months, I'm sending all of my stuff UPS!!!

 

[Terk-1]

Sorry you had some rough spots on your trip. Have flown USAir and will never fly them again (neither will my family). On one trip to WDW, I called the morning I was supposed to leave and was told everything was on time. Got to the airport & checked in my bags, no delays told. Went to the counter and was told that the plane was stuck in PA and would be delayed an hour. Then it was 2 hours, then it was not coming at all. They could/would not find a hotel to put me up at and I was told I would have to sleep in the airport until the next day and hopefully I could get on a flight then. This was on a Sunday night and I had to get to work the next day. When I asked about getting on another airline, I was told to go to guest service. When I got there I was told that they were not affiliated with any other airlines and if I wanted to fly something other than USAir, I would be paying out of my own pocket. I told them that since they cancelled the flight, they needed to help me find another one. There was a group of people who were arguing with USAir and demanding money back. One of them was on his cell phone and found another flight at the same time we were given credit for the unused portion of the USAir flight. They even paid for my portion!! After the recent experiences my family has had with them, we will not fly USAir again. I have yet to have a bad experience with Southwest and plan on using them for my next trip.

 

[Dagny]

Ok, you guys are making me nervous - stop !!!! We are leaving on Friday for Orlando and are flying Delta!!! I can't even imagine not finding your luggage - what a nightmare!!!! I think I will pack more carry-on's this trip!!

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

My only flight with Delta was to WDW in Feb and I was not impressed. The flight down went fine. The return trip to Detroit had a layover in Atlanta. We received all of our boarding passes at MCO, When we got to Atlanta we went to the gate for our next leg only to find that they had changed the gate and hadnt told us. The gate we needed to be at was 100ft from the one we just landed at. We then had to check in again since the gate was changed and found out that the aircraft type had been changed and my really good seats were now way in the back.
We were pushed out from the gate and sat for 1 1/2 hrs before they decided that the plane had a malfunction that couldnt be repaired. We eventually ended up having to go back to the gate and go through the whole boarding process again and get on a plane that had just arrived form New Orleans.
A lot of frustration, some not Deltas fault but a lot was.
I have never had any trouble with Spirit, Norhtwest or Airtrans

 

[ILuvOKW]

Everyone Love Tiffany Towne Car...