Kudos to Delta

[maxiesmom]

I wanted to post a positive airline experience, as it seems that people mostly post about the negative ones.

Yesterday we flew Delta from Orlando to Grand Rapids, with a connection in Cincinnati. Our flight leaving Orlando was late. As in the automated announcements were telling us how to board the plane, but the plane was not there yet kind of late. I know from talking to a few people that there were many of us with short connection times, so many of us were worried about making our next flights.

To give Delta credit, we ended up leaving Orlando only about 15 minutes late. And still we landed in Cincinnati 10 minutes early.We were all happy, even though it felt like we slammed into the runway when we landed. I swear, I have never heard such a lound BANG on landing before.

I just wanted to give Delta props for getting our plane serviced and on the way so quickly. They may seem to mess with their flight times more than most airlines, but in my experience they also do a good job of getting people where they need to be, even when something messes up the flight schedule.

 

[Tara]

I wanted to post a positive airline experience, as it seems that people mostly post about the negative ones.

Yesterday we flew Delta from Orlando to Grand Rapids, with a connection in Cincinnati. Our flight leaving Orlando was late. As in the automated announcements were telling us how to board the plane, but the plane was not there yet kind of late. I know from talking to a few people that there were many of us with short connection times, so many of us were worried about making our next flights.

To give Delta credit, we ended up leaving Orlando only about 15 minutes late. And still we landed in Cincinnati 10 minutes early.We were all happy, even though it felt like we slammed into the runway when we landed. I swear, I have never heard such a lound BANG on landing before.

I just wanted to give Delta props for getting our plane serviced and on the way so quickly. They may seem to mess with their flight times more than most airlines, but in my experience they also do a good job of getting people where they need to be, even when something messes up the flight schedule.

Glad to hear they turned the plane around swiftly for you. People usually don't take the time to post the satisfaction stories, so thanks for sharing.

IME, flight times are often padded to allow for delays. For several years I flew regularly to Atlanta and sometimes I'd be as much as 30 minutes early because there was no air traffic delay or hold.

There was something on a new show (20/20 maybe?) about a Continental flight from Newark to Dayton that had the worst on-time performance of any flight in the country. The reporter took the flight and they were delayed in boarding, backed out from the gate late, sat on the ground due to a hold, then had a long line up for take-off. It was an hour after original departure time when they took off, but they still only arrived a few minutes late.

 

[DebbieB]

They do pad the schedules. I have a Delta flight in December PIT-ATL and they added 8minutes to it, cutting down our connecting time in ATL. Same model plane, same departure time. I've been watching this flight and it is typically early.