Delta- Any good experiences/Bad?

[TinkerbellRules]

Well, I'm a little more nervous about flying with Delta now. Anyone have any good experiences with Delta? What about the bad ones? We already have reservations, but I'd like to go prepared.

Thanks

 

[Momof2]

We flew Delta at end of August. No probs at all. Flights were pretty close to on-time and no probs with luggage. We've been very lucky with Delta. Also used Delta last year with no problems at all.

 

[Scott43449]

Have flown with Delta 4 times out of Columbus, OH, and have never had any problems. Always on time, and luggage gets to where it is suppose to get.

 

[Gary M]

We fly Delta Express out of Ind to MCO 3 to 5 times a year. We have had nothing, but good experiences with them. Weather can affect any airline, so that can't be held against them or any airline.

ATA, Southwest and Delta Express all fly non-stop from IND to MCO and I like Delta Express more than the two other airlines. We have flown on Delta Express at least 20 times over the last few years. I fly 15 to 20 times per year and if I would not fly on an airlines that I've had a bad experience with, I would be out of airlines.

 

[ripleysmom]

The bad-Equipment changes caused a change in our seating assignments. So the family wound up 3 seats together and 1 apart.

The good-That seat apart got upgraded to First Class, so guess who got to sit there while DH stayed with the kids.....

 

[CarolA]

One thing you can see by reading these boards is that almost EVERY airline gets an occasional bad post. However, if you consider the volume of travelers vs. the number of complaints I think you are pretty safe flying most major airlines. Just remember that as long as you want $100 round trips, you don't get a lot of perks like lots of extra flight attendants, meals, seat room etc...

 

[GoldenOldie]

I love Delta. I fly them often on the same flights and from the same airport as chris1gill's recently posted horror story. I have never had a problem flying with them either as Delta or as Delta Express.

CarolA is correct. ALL airlines will have some horror stories. The determining thing should be whether these stories are the exception or the norm.

 

[lookingforward]

I know that Delta is a favorite with business people, but I did not find them very family friendly. We flew them from Hartford to Florida this winter and I was surprised to find out that they no longer pre-board families traveling with small children. When I approached the gate with my two year old daughter, car seat, stroller and two other children I was told rather rudely that "we have not pre-boarded like that in three years, get in LINE!". Now I know that some people do not like when children get to pre-board, but I think this was a big mistake. It took me ten minutes to set up her car seat, stow my carry on bags and get everyone safely in their seats. That was ten minutes that people were left standing in the aisles behind me, fuming at us. I did my absolute best to hurry, but many,many people were left standing. If they had let me pre-board a few minutes early we would have been safely in our seats and out of the way of everyone. I don't know why they don't since seats are pre-assigned anyway, but they refused. It made it harder on everyone, and we were not the only family blocking traffic either!

 

[imgoingtodisney]

My 9 yr son and I are using Delta in 28 days! Im hoping we have a good experience. This will be my first time flying alone with him. In 1996 my husband flew with us both ways but this year he is driving down with my MIL to her winter home a few days before my son and I fly down.
Then in Dec I am flying to Orlando alone for a cruise with my MIL.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Tinkerbell,
If I don't fly SWA I fly Delta. I really like Delta and really have never had a bad experience with them. The one and only time you could call anything trouble was when my suitcase was misdirected. It was on the return trip home, so, it was not a huge issue. They found the bag, delivered it to my home and sent me two vouchers for 50.00 each. The customer service on this issue was a ok with me.
Every business has complaints, it is impossible to please everyone and you also have bad employees regardless of where you go. Tis the nature of being human.
So, relax, enjoy your planning. Delta is fine.
Not sure why they don't preboard people with children, but, if I were flying with children and could not preboard, out of courtesy I would wait until the end of the line so I would not hold up others.

 

[lookingforward]

I am as considerate as anyone and I thought of boarding last, but ...When you are trying to install a toddler's car seat into a seat, store two carry-ons for three other people, and seat, settle and strap three children into the three of the middle four seats of a large, packed aircraft, believe me, you don't want to wait until everyone is already seated. There would be no room for your carry on bags and it would be very stressful to have to do this all while the plane was waiting for you to taxi out to the runway. Factor that by a few more families and it would significantly delay departure.

 

[TinkerbellRules]

Thanks for all the encouragement. I've only flown a few times, so I was getting nervous.

I, too, can't understand why in the world they won't allow preboarding. That only makes sense to me! I don't know which would be worse, making people wait til I was settled (which you didn't have a choice) or waiting til the end and worrying about holding up the take-off I think everyone loses in both situations. Either way, it holds up the whole plane.

I don't think Gail meant you were inconsiderate. You were thrown off by not being able to preboard and didn't know what to do. I think Delta is being inconsiderate for ALL passengers, for that matter, by not allowing preboarding. I'll try and remember that when "you" are in front of me in a couple months

Oh, do they board from the back to the front or the other way around based on seat assignment?

 

[SeaSpray]

I'm glad to read the mostly good reports about Delta. We'll be flying them down to Orlando in December for the first time. We used USAir in May, and they were fine, too.

 

[lookingforward]

When I flew they boarded from the back to the forward. I know Gail was not calling me inconsiderate, I hope I did not sound snotty about that. I was just trying to explain how either way it is such a pain in the you know what.

 

[seashoreCM]

(copied from another post)

No sweat, or rather don't sweat when getting your little 'uns settled in the plane. Do it normally instead of hurrying. If you want to, if there are people breathing down your neck trying to step to the rear, move out of the aisle, catch your breath, let them overtake, and when everyone has passed, resume settling your kids normally. If enough people act normally maybe they will re-instate pre-boarding with small kids, hint, hint.

More Disney tips:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[TinkerbellRules]

Looking: It's so hard to tell what type of "tone" people are using on here. I've said things that later I read and think it didn't sound like I meant it.

I wish they boarded from the front to back considering I'm in row 6 Have you ever had someone put their stuff in your overhead? What do you do if that happens and there isn't any room for your stuff?

 

[GoldenOldie]

You look for a bin that there is room in and if you can't find one, you get a flight attendant to assist you. The worst case scenario is some of your items may have to be gate checked into the luggage compartment but that rarely happens. You'd be amazed what an experienced flight attendant can jam into an overhead bin.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

We always fly Delta from Providence, RI, to Orlando, and have had very good experiences.

 

[karylrocks]

We have flown Delta a few times, most recently last month. I did notice that they did not pre-board families with young children, but didn't think about it since I was flying alone this time. Is it just Delta or have other airlines stopped doing this? I have not had any problems with Delta - flights have been on-time, no lost luggage, and attendants are friendly (not overly nice, but friendly enough).

 

[hercamore]

We flew American last month to Orlando. They pre-board families with children on flights to Orlando, but not out of Orlando. They made an announcement that most of their flights out of Orlando are filled with families and it doesn't make sense to let them pre-board.