Delta and poor, poor service!

[Charleyann]

Was suppose to leave Orlando after a 15 night fabulous vacation. Get to the airport and am told I can't get home today, due to mechanical problems and delayed plane coming into Orlando. Delta puts me in Best Western Airport. Gives me meal vouchers that are USELESS cause there is no restaurants in this hotel! I'm going to miss two days of work now, cause i work in a hospital. I paid tips to drivers and bag carrier and then tip again to get to this hotel. My dog is with a sitter and I'm paying them to watch him. So many dollars lost here. I now have two more days of meal to pay and DELTA OFFERED ME 100.00 dollars in travel vouchers which don't even cover the cost of missing work for two days and meals and dog sitter.

Inaddition, my son requires treatment. We have to vacate the hotel by 11am, flight doesn't leave till 5pm. Explained that to DElta customer service too.....ask me to plug him into a plug in at the airport for everyone to see! JERKS!!! Told them that was unexceptable. Hung up on them out of frustration.....What next?

I was waiting for the other shoe to fall. We had so much magic given to us. I knew we would come crashing down hard....Waht should I do?

Charleyann

 

[nordkin]

Have you asked to talk to a supervisor? We had a medical emergency last May that resulted in us not knowing when we would be able to depart to return home. When I first called customer service I got the run around. After several requests to talk to a supervisor, I finally got connected to a wonderful woman that changed our non refundable tickets to open tickets with no change fees. Be insistant about talking to a supervisor and talk to them calmly. Remember you get more with honey than vinegar.

 

[seashoreCM]

Glad you enjoyed all of your vacation.

Somehow I don't think what you described was all that bad. Sometimes it takes awhile to rebook everyone after a flight is cancelled.

While waiting for a flight I would feel free to go ahead and use airport facilities like electric outlets to plug my laptop in, etc.

I greatly dislike bellhops and others who race me to my bag and grab it when I want to take care of things myself. I give them a hearty thank you and nothing more. Sometimes I interrupt him back as he heads for the hotel elevator saying I am not "ready yet". Then I dilly dally for awhile before taking the bag up myself if that is what I wanted to do all along.

About the meal vouchers I would write asking for something out of them, even revalidation for future use.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[Charleyann]

Not bad when Delta tells you to do your child's medical treatment in an airport? Gosh, that sounds as insensitive as the man I spoke with!


I called delta back and ask to speak with head office and people with disabilities. They agrees 100 percent, what was said was wrong. They are calling the hotel and paying an extra day. they too agreed to reimburse me for meals and will give travel vouchers.


Disney was so good. Wish we could have stayed in a dream!

Charleyann

 

[seashoreCM]

Not bad when Delta tells you to do your child's medical treatment in an airport? Gosh, that sounds as insensitive as the man I spoke with!
n

I would have no problem with the treatment (if it is doable there without being too cumbersome for you), although I would not go out of my way to not hog space or time and would not take time out to talk to strangers.

 

[Charleyann]

I would have no problem with the treatment (if it is doable there without being too cumbersome for you), although I would not go out of my way to not hog space or time and would not take time out to talk to strangers.

Hog Space or time? What does that have to do with this?



Forget it!

 

[CarolA]

Well I would now change your post title. Sounds to me like the outcome is the best you can expect. (Remember you do NOT want DL to fly the plane with mechanical problems... do you?)

 

[kylara]

Glad to see they are trying to make it right for you. When you have special needs always ask for a supervisor since non of the airlines seem to give their front line Customer Service reps the power to do anything more than the minimum.

I agree that you should not have to do medical treatments in the open airport, if they couldn't accomodate you another way, they should have at least suggested that you be given access to the lounge they have for their first class passengers and frequent flyers. But it sounds like they did one better by agreeing to let you stay at the hotel to do it.

 

[2Princes2Princesses]

I think the fact that you did not elaborate on the treatment may have caused the percieved insensitivity. I immediately thought something like a nebulizer, since my little guy uses one. Personally, I would not have an issue giving a neb treatment in the airport. However, I work in the medical field and am aware that there are MANY treatments that I would not want to give in an airport.

Glad you got some satisfaction from Delta as far as the treatment, and also that you had a great vacation despite the snag on the way home.

 

[Charleyann]

I think the fact that you did not elaborate on the treatment may have caused the percieved insensitivity. I immediately thought something like a nebulizer, since my little guy uses one. Personally, I would not have an issue giving a neb treatment in the airport. However, I work in the medical field and am aware that there are MANY treatments that I would not want to give in an airport.

Glad you got some satisfaction from Delta as far as the treatment, and also that you had a great vacation despite the snag on the way home.

I did elaborate. This guy I spoke with was just plan ignorant! There is more then just plugging him into an aresol. I too work in the medical field, and children also have the right to their privacy.....My son would have been horrified he I did his treatments in an airport....he has his treatments at school in a private room, just as you people go into a private room to seek treament or doctor care!

Why should I defend my child's illness and treatments and lack of not wanting it done in fornt of strangers? It was DELTA whom is at fault here.


I will not change my title either. DELTA did wrong in this case. They left my son to also to push himself in a wheelchair. This child has severe arthritis in his hands, fingers, feet and knees. I was pushing a cart with 4 very large bags. Trying to get to the shuttle service a floor down. Delta employees wathced him struggle and offered no help. I requested assistance!

With the hotel....It was me who went and talk with the hotel, Delta, only after I asked to speak to headquaters and persons who look after disibilites, did things change. THEY admitted they were wrong and at fault. The man I spoke with will be dealt with and given more training. Delta apologized. Compensation will not cover my expenses and time missed from work. My accomplishment was getting DELTA to see the problem and start fixing it before it happens to someone else!

Charleyann

 

[bicker]

I don't think what the treatment is is really relevant, one way or the other.

Charleyann: You surely don't want to fly in a faulty aircraft, and it is unreasonable to expect an airline to reroute heaven and Earth to accommodate one passenger. The airline is responsible for providing transportation, nothing more. Anything else you need, even if you need it because the airline couldn't provide you transportation on time, is your own responsibility. That's especially the case given how little we pay for airfare. There is a down-side to low fares, and this is one of them.

Delta has offered you several courtesies, commensurate with what is reasonable and customary in the industry. Anything more you need must be paid for from your own resources. For folks who find that distasteful, there are companies that offer travel insurance, and there are even various levels of insurance. You can basically pay someone to guarantee that they will make up for any extra cost you incur due to a schedule irregularity, if you want. However, the vast majority of travelers don't want that, so if you want it you have to pay separately for it.

Stuff happens. It is unfortunate that it happened to you, but that's the extent of it.

 

[bicker]

I did elaborate. This guy I spoke with was just plan ignorant!

It isn't that guy's responsibility to know about your medical issues. As I mentioned in the message above, they're job is limited to providing transportation. If you need anything else, even if it is because they couldn't provide you transportation on time, you need to address it yourself. That's normal, reasonable and customary.

Why should I defend my child's illness and treatments and lack of not wanting it done in fornt of strangers? It was DELTA was is at fault here.

No. There doesn't have to be any fault, and in the case of a schedule irregularity it is well-established that there is no fault. Stuff happens. I think you wouldn't have gotten so much of a negative response to your messages if you weren't trying to assign fault.

I will not change my title either. DELTA did wrong in this case.

No, they didn't. They did what is proper. You wanted more. You're not a bad person for wanting more. They're not bad people for not giving you more.

It is great that Delta tried to make you feel better by convincing you that they were contrite about the incident. Don't be deceived. That's good customer service -- making the customer feel better about a difficult circumstance. There simply isn't enough revenue being generated to actually make the kind of changes that would definitively prevent the kind of circumstances you encountered. It is better to be prepared for what is the reality of the situation than to get your hopes up that something actually will change. As long as we're paying so little for airline travel, the vast majority of the responsibility for handling what goes wrong will remain on the passenger.

 

[Charleyann]

I have travel insurance ! It wasn't about compensation it was about the treatment of a disabled passenger!

Why not move this thread to disabilites....let others take on some of this ignorance! I am certainly glad I was not on that plane with it's problems, but it wasn't about the dare plane . It was about Ignorance on the part of some DELTA employees and treatment. Delta admitted they had to meet the needs of the disabled! They admitted that it wasn't done! THAT was my main concern! This is poor service on their part!


charleyann

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Was suppose to leave Orlando after a 15 night fabulous vacation. Get to the airport and am told I can't get home today, due to mechanical problems and delayed plane coming into Orlando.

Didn't you call or look on the internet to make sure your flight was going as scheduled BEFORE leaving for the airport? If this information was available before you left for the airport, you could have made arrangements to avoid this entire mess.

It's not as if an airline purposely breaks their planes so they can inconvenience passengers.

They left my son to also to push himself in a wheelchair. This child has severe arthritis in his hands, fingers, feet and knees. I was pushing a cart with 4 very large bags.

Why was this Delta's fault? They aren't the ones who left your son in a wheelchair and made you pack 4 bags. You could have easily gotten help. Did you even ask, or do you prefer to complain?

While I sympathize with all the problems you had and agree that customer service by the airlines generally isn't very good, as an adult, taking care of your luggage and your child is your responsibility, not the airline's. It sounds as if they provided reasonable accommodations. I also agree that it is completely unreasonable for airline employees to understand what is involved with your child's disabilities.

 

[DebbieB]

Was there another airline they could have put you on?

Delays happen, but it sounds like in this case they could not get you out for 24 hours (5PM next day). We're not talking about 2 or 3 hours here. Or being put on the first flight in the morning. It's different when it's a weather emergency, but this was mechanical and it was a long delay. You have every right to be upset.

Are you home now?

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Of course OP has every right to be upset, but anyone who flies will eventually have the same problem.

It's too bad she wasted so much time complaining and being upset, instead of pursuing her options. She could have asked Delta to book her on another airline with a flight leaving sooner, she could have asked for a refund, she could have re-booked herself on another airline, etc. If she lost so much money due to this delay, even paying for additional tickets on another airline might have been less expensive.

 

[Charleyann]

Again it wasn't the issue of mechanical problems or having to stay a extra night....please read deeper, it was the poor service given to my disabled child. WHY assume things? DELTA admitted they were at fault for the bad service why can't you?


Charleyann

 

[Charleyann]

Didn't you call or look on the internet to make sure your flight was going as scheduled BEFORE leaving for the airport? If this information was available before you left for the airport, you could have made arrangements to avoid this entire mess.

It's not as if an airline purposely breaks their planes so they can inconvenience passengers.



Why was this Delta's fault? They aren't the ones who left your son in a wheelchair and made you pack 4 bags. You could have easily gotten help. Did you even ask, or do you prefer to complain?

While I sympathize with all the problems you had and agree that customer service by the airlines generally isn't very good, as an adult, taking care of your luggage and your child is your responsibility, not the airline's. It sounds as if they provided reasonable accommodations. I also agree that it is completely unreasonable for airline employees to understand what is involved with your child's disabilities.

I aksed for help and Delta said none was available. I look after my child well have doing it alone for years now....Airlines are suppose to offer assistance and to have it available to disabled passenagers. IT IS LAW ! THEY did not do it. IT is ignorance that prevent things from changing for the better for the disabled!


We are still in Orlando, waiting for our plane at 5pm.


Charleyann

 

[epcotfan]

I don't think what the treatment is is really relevant, one way or the other.

Charleyann: You surely don't want to fly in a faulty aircraft, and it is unreasonable to expect an airline to reroute heaven and Earth to accommodate one passenger. The airline is responsible for providing transportation, nothing more. Anything else you need, even if you need it because the airline couldn't provide you transportation on time, is your own responsibility. That's especially the case given how little we pay for airfare. There is a down-side to low fares, and this is one of them.

Delta has offered you several courtesies, commensurate with what is reasonable and customary in the industry. Anything more you need must be paid for from your own resources. For folks who find that distasteful, there are companies that offer travel insurance, and there are even various levels of insurance. You can basically pay someone to guarantee that they will make up for any extra cost you incur due to a schedule irregularity, if you want. However, the vast majority of travelers don't want that, so if you want it you have to pay separately for it.

Stuff happens. It is unfortunate that it happened to you, but that's the extent of it.

Everything Bicker said
I sure as heck wouldn't want to fly in a plane with mechanical problems. This is one reason we always ensure we have travel insurance and a few days off after the holiday in case of travel delays.

 

[Charleyann]

There was no issue on my part with regards to the mechanical problems. The problems are with services for the disable or lack of with Delta. Problems began after that....No I would not like t oride on a sick plane. That was not the issue here.

Charleyann