Don't EVER take Delta anywhere!

[Capt_BJ]

stories like this are why I only fly

TWA and Pan Am ....

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

stories like this are why I only fly

TWA and Pan Am ....

Best response ever.

 

[sam_rogers]

I live in the UK and for the long haul flights I've always preferred delta to virgin Atlantic or British airways. Maybe there are more problems on the internal flights but I've always found there to be more problems with other airlines. Hope your family's trip improves from here!!

 

[BeerMe]

over the past 20 years we've made 62 trips to WDW. Only two of those have been by car. We are going again in the fall and driving then. We live 1,215 miles away and the drive was more than I ever wanted to make. We had one trip by air where we made an overnight stay because of weather, but that's it.

 

[Karl66]

I understand your frustration, however, personally I'll take a flight delay over a sleepy aircrew and a partially broken plane. Getting passengers safely to their destination is the number one priority.

 

[kydisneyfans]

My 1 and only Delta flight was delayed a bit, leaving me with not much of a transfer window in Atlanta. It was a quick grab at McDonalds and a short restroom break, by the time I arrived at the gate the plane was 2/3 boarded already.
I've had many delays on Southwest, one of which was over 5 hours at Midway.
I had a flight cancelled by United for no apparent reason in NYC back to KY-since we had to work the next day and no other flights were available, we rented a car and drove back.
A family we know from the Detroit area booked Frontier, due to a mechanical problem they lost the first 2 days of a 5 day trip. They cancelled the entire trip as a result.
Good friends of ours were scheduled to fly Allegiant from Cincy to Las Vegas to celebrate their 25th anniversary, the plane had a cracked window and their 25th anniversary was at a Marriott in Florence, KY. They never made it to Vegas.

That's the nature of the beast. We never plan anything on arrival day. It's frustrating...and common.

 

[Huff]

I've had similar troubles on various airlines over the years. I mostly fly SW but they are notorious for cancelling dozens of flights on a whim. At Reagan airport they received 1/2" of snow in the area and then clear skies. Airport was fully operational. Because of the 60 minute weather delay SW cancelled nearly all flights. Mostly SW wanted to avoid downstream backlogs the rest of the day and thus did a massive re-positioning of aircraft, many leaving empty. Their view was stranding 100's at one airport was preferable to wide spread delays at other airports around the country.

 

[bumbershoot]

This is why our arrival day has no HDDR, No Party Tickets and no VA. Just too much can happen at the airport.

Yes.

Those types of issues can (and do) happen on any airline. I've flown Delta a couple of times and had no problems.

Yep, any airline!

Our most recent flight was on THE Monday on Delta. First flight rescheduled to the following morning, got on another flight, gates being changed all over the place, the sheer number of people at the airport were overwhelming the LAX air conditioning, etc. Found out our gate had been changed (before they announced it), DH got in line 2 hours prior to re-re-scheduled time to get our seat assignments (we had upgraded to first class the day before, but when we rescheduled they didn't give us assignments though they were to be in First) and he never actually got to the front of the line. I ended up forcing the issue with a roaming CS agent (yep, cut the line, sorry not sorry, especially since most of the people in line were "making sure" their stated seats were still their seats OR they were in line for the NEXT flight to leave that gate after ours...one family monopolized the one agent's time for 40 minutes trying to get their bags off of a plane that had been cancelled...given that we once dropped bags 3 hours prior and voluntarily bumped 2 hours prior to the flight and we could not get our bags off the plane and had to run to Target for that overnight, I was having a hard time feeling bad for those people!)) Did get our correct seats, got onboard, got home.

Took from that day until yesterday to finally get full credit for the flights AND to have the $200-each travel vouchers.

And yet we're not apprehensive at all about flying them in the next week.

Situations like you've described have happened to me on every airline I've ever used, Delta, American, JetBlue, VirginAtlantic, Al Italia, Northwest, US Airways, etc.

Yep.

One year, we hit Florida during a massive forest fire (back in the80's) that made us HOURS late.

Eek!

We hit a huge fog bank going from a Royal cruise to the airport in 2014. The FL Tours driver had had to go very very slow on the drive in to get us; luckily he had left very very early. Weird things happen!

Their view was stranding 100's at one airport was preferable to wide spread delays at other airports around the country.

I can see their point.

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

I'm sorry to hear about your family's flight issues with Delta. I understand it is frustrating and disappointing.

Last year our flight to Orlando on Southwest was delayed twice and then cancelled due to a major malfunction in the system that routes planes in the airspace centered over Washington, DC ("flypocalypse"). It was a Saturday and Southwest wouldn't be able to get us to Orlando until Monday. We ended up flying down to Orlando on Delta instead. Then our Southwest flight home was delayed several times and left many hours behind schedule due to weather.

We just got home last night from our Disney trip and our Southwest flights left on time and arrived early. No problems. But I will say I was worried after last year's fiasco!

 

[Polydweller]

The title of the thread is a bit unfortunate because as others have said it can happen to any airline and shouldn't pick up on one. I've had issues with Air Transat, Air Canada, United, American Airlines, Alaskan, well a lot. It can happen to any airline and is not unique to Delta. My problems include a six hour delay in Las Vegas due to plane and crew problems, 2 hrs sitting on the Tarmac in Halifax due to ground crews not working in thunder storms, delays in Toronto due to deicing backups and do on. Things like this happen so I always build in some leeway in plans on travel days.

 

[KurtC]

I take about 30 business trips every year and most of them are on Delta. I can tell you that all airlines have problems and Delta, right now, is better than most. As IrishNYC stated, fly early and fly direct. And if you must make a connection do NOT do short layovers, give yourself a little time (at least two hours). My in-laws always complained about air travel when they took cruises but that were letting the cruise company book their flights so there were always at least one connection (if not two) and short layovers.

 

[vinotinto]

I hear you OP and share your frustrations! We live 7 hour door-to-door driving distance to Disney. Every single vacation my DH and I argue about flying to MCO vs driving. He always wants to fly, while I always feel like, "why?" You have to get so early these days to get through security and then if there are any delays, you would have gotten there earlier if you just get in your vehicle and drive. But he just hates the drive. We seem to see a really bad accident on most trips.

 

[Shelbizzles]

We've always had trouble with our flights with Delta. My wife is taking the kids on a last minute, quick trip to Disney today.

Flight was supposed to leave at 7:30 AM this morning. Got to the airport early, was notified that there was an hour and half delay, because the flight crew got in late and they couldn't fly because of a 10 hour rule. Hour and a half delay came and went, then they were told that there was a mechanical and they were having to fly parts in. Another period of time passed, they got on the plane, and waited, then they had to de-plane, because they were told they had to change a water filter. They eventually got back on the plane and just sat there on the tarmac and now they're being told that they've got to add additional fuel, because they're expecting turbulent weather. It's 12:45 now and they're still sitting on the tarmac. They missed their original connecting flight and have changed to another flight getting in much later this afternoon. Unfortunately Delta has the best schedule to Orlando out of our home town and unfortunately we've booked them again for another trip to Disney in December. Never again though.

I'm sorry that happened. I hate when things don't go smoothly.

But there really is a chance for delay or problems with ANY Form of travel you take.
My husband and I have only flown delta and we loved it and never have had any issues with them.
Here's hoping it stays that way

 

[MillauFr]

Delta is better than most. Not as good as Alaska or Jet Blue, but still better than most. I wouldn't hesitate to fly Delta if I saved $200 RT over Alaska.

 

[Happy_Haunt999]

I've only really had a problem with delta once connecting in ATL and it delayed us an hour due to technical issues. I fly other airlines now b/c Delta doesn't fly direct anymore from airports near us and there's other better airlines like Jetblue there.

 

[OKW Lover]

No airline is free from bad stories. They've all had their issues. It's just the nature of the beast.

So true Diane. We regularly fly Delta (I'm Platinum on them) and aren't immune from schedule disruptions. However, I know that I wouldn't be any better off with one of the other airlines. Its just a question of when something is going to happen. So, we stay with Delta for the benefits.

 

[DisBuckMan]

Delta is better than most. Not as good as Alaska or Jet Blue, but still better than most. I wouldn't hesitate to fly Delta if I saved $200 RT over Alaska.

I've only really had a problem with delta once connecting in ATL and it delayed us an hour due to technical issues. I fly other airlines now b/c Delta doesn't fly direct anymore from airports near us and there's other better airlines like Jetblue there.

Jet Blue had the worst on time performance of all major North American airlines in 2015.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

For years I traveled every week.

I have been delayed or stuck on all of them! These "don't ever fly" type of threads really are useless venting. If you are only going to fly an airline that's never had one of these type of rants posted someplace you won't be flying.

And the truth is that most Americans even after they say "I'm never flying X again" will them look at airfares next time and go "well X is $10 cheaper, lets go with X anyway" (How do you think Spirit stays in business )

 

[DebbieB]

The thing about air travel is there are many reasons for delays. Each one can cause a domino effect. There are mechanical delays, which the airline is responsible for. There are also weather delays, which they have no control over.

When I was traveling a lot for work, I had more delays for summer travel due to weather. Especially in the northeast where there is so much air traffic. If there are low clouds or storms, air traffic control spaces landings farther apart. I sat in Minneapolis for 3 hours once in perfect weather because air traffic control slowed down landings in Philadelphia due to visibility, where I was connecting. Not the airline's fault. Then if the flights are late, crews will time out, which will cause problems down the line. Then in the morning, flights can be late because the crew needs their required rest time.

 

[karly05]

I flew Delta for the first time this year, and everything went great. BUT - chiming in with a lot of PPs - delays can happen with any airline. I watched my Delta flights every day for months before my trip, and my departure flight from home was rarely delayed/late - but when it was, it was LATE by 3+ hours, connections missed, etc., so I knew it could happen.

You want to talk about a lousy airline, though (oops, here I go again) - don't ever take American Eagle in and out of Dallas. Delay - delay - cancel - delay, switch gates 4 or 5 times (no exageration) - coming home from WDW in 2015, I ended up spending a night in Dallas because of cancellations and delays. There was also one day, several years ago, when an hour-and-a-half flight on AE to Dallas ended up taking about 9 hours, with a cancellation, rebook, and a pit stop for gas in Wichita Falls because weather was keeping us out of DFW and we didn't have enough fuel to wait. Whenever I fly them, I seem to end up with at least some sort of delay/change, even if it doesn't mess me up (I've made a couple of really tight connections in Dallas because of them). I think they really do have a pretty poor record.

Unfortunately, some of us don't have a lot of airline options. Delta is far and away my best option to MCO (times, connections - lots of options from ATL-MCO if I miss a connection - and flying their own proper jets to/from my home airport instead of the American Eagle/United Express commuter subsidiaries. Sadly, SW here is SO limited in service, it's not even a realistic option. So, for now, I'm sticking with Delta to MCO. But next trip is winter, and I'll probably be the unlucky one then.