My DELTA Flying Experience from ... Hell-o everyone!!

[CarolA]

Thanks. It was rough for sure! As I sit here it feels like it was soo long ago yet it just happened this morning/last night. Its been a long day to say the least. DS3 took a good long nap this afternoon and DS7 was in bed early early - and thats not his usual MO - he likes to fight tooth and nail to stay up late, especially on vacation week! DH is still at work and should be in rare shape by the weekend, not sure which is worse, and overtired child or an overtired hubby???

I vote for hubby. Good luck!

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

And exactly why is all of this ordeal Delta's fault?

Blame the TSA, blame your fellow rude passengers, blame the hotel shuttle driver, blame the sanitation workers at ATL.

Sorry you had a bad night. Delta has never left me stranded but Northwest has as well as American who in my opinion has the absolute worst customer service of all commercial airlines!

I would bet that every airline employee that had to deal with customers in ATL no matter what airline they worked for were stressed beyond belief that day. Delta just has the largest presence in ATL so there were more stressed out Delta employees there.

Honestly that 10 minutes wouldnt have made a difference since they close the doors of the plane 15 minutes before takeoff. You dont show up at the gate and board a 9pm flight at 9pm - that door shuts at 845pm. You wouldn't have made it anyway.

Frequent biz travelers learn to carry basic necessities in their carry-ons. I carry my medication, vital toiletries and an extra change of clothes. I even carry a lightweight fleece blanket in my roll-aboard bag.

Sorry you had a bad experience. Being pregnant, tired and dealing with cranky kids is never any fun.

 

[seashoreCM]

What would have happened if you and your family and a bunch of others refused to get off the hotel shuttle?

I'm not sure whether Delta has any liability in this matter. Had you flown into Pittsburgh on US Air and the problem happened there, or flown into Dallsa Fort Worth on American and the problem happened there, the result would have been the same.

Probably OT with respect to this thread.

from Delta many times " I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do"

Keep in mind that more than 90% of the time that sentence is false.

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

 

[Esmerelda]

I'm so sorry to hear of your Delta experience. I'm sure your entire family was quite fed up. I've had many many bad experiences with Delta in the past. I have flown a lot on business on many carriers but Delta has to be the worst for me. Between being bumped, flights being delay with no explanations..split up from my kids,etc..I have not booked them in over 4 years and have had no major complaints about any other airlines since that time.

I'm glad that your family made it home safely and I hope your next trip goes much much better.

good day,
Esmerelda

 

[wdwfamilyinIL]

I remember those pregnant days, what a way to end such a great vacation!!

We to are flying DL in June, with 5 small children and a sil who will be 7 months. Did I mention the connecting flight in ATL? I sure hope things go a little bit smoother then. Sorry you had all of those troubles.

 

[westjones]

Wow! We go through the Fly or Drive debate every trip, and so far we have been picking flying because of low airfares. If this happened to us, we would probably never fly to Orlando again. I hate the drive, but it would be better than this. What an awful experience. I can't believe Delta did not have someone there to offer help in finding hotels for people. That is just terrible!
DJ

 

[DebbieB]

No, its not just DELTA - I agree. But that is who we had the bad experience with. We flew down via US Air and had great flights and communication. A far better experience all around. I just feel that with all that DELTA is dealing with these days, they should compensate in the Customer Service Department at least. The article listed below mentions that Delta was the one to miss several hundred flights... seems to me for an airline that is striking for more money, they should offer a better service if they want more people to use their airline! But thats just my opinion!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/19/airport.package.ap/index.html
and
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/20/atlanta.airport/index.html

Delta had the most flights delayed because they are the major carrier in Atlanta. Their number of flights outnumber the other airlines by far.

Sorry to hear about your experience but most of this was out of their control.

 

[chris1gill]

I'm so sorry you went through this I hope you have had a night of rest and are feeling better.... If it helps, I think there are at least some of us who have been where you were... I can't get over the cleaning crew That is completely unbelievable Are they crazy?? We've spent the night at the Chicago airport & we were never bothered Crazy, just crazy...

Can I make a couple of suggestions that may or may not help others who find themselves in a similar situation? The one thing I have found at night, is to NEVER wait for the hotel shuttle, we once waited more than an hour at night for the **** shuttle to the hotel we were headed to... Anyhow, grab a cab, you'll get there far quicker.... the other thing we have found, when we've had to re-schedule a connecting flight at night like this, we don't grab the first plane out in the morning because we know we will be exhausted... so we go for a mid day flight...

Even with these suggestions, we all may have really bad luck & find ourselves sleeping in a terminal & I would hope that the cleaning crew would leave us alone You should contact the airport authority & let them know of your disgust with their airport... As well as writing Delta....

 

[kaytieeldr]

Can I make a couple of suggestions that may or may not help others who find themselves in a similar situation? The one thing I have found at night, is to NEVER wait for the hotel shuttle, we once waited more than an hour at night for the **** shuttle to the hotel we were headed to... Anyhow, grab a cab, you'll get there far quicker....

Excellent advice! I once got stuck in Raleigh-Durham overnight, due to a snowstorm in Boston. Midway wouldn't pay for hotel rooms - they can't control the weather - but the Gate Agents DID make the reservations for everyone. I picked the least expensive hotel, along with several other passengers - and we must have just missed a shuttle because despite several phone calls, we waited almost an hour. Get to the hotel, it's all of 3/4 of a mile from the airport! @@

To the OP: I generally read posts like yours and play Devil's Advocate... but the more I read, I just couldn't do that. Granted, the situation was not Delta's fault (and, okay, even though ATL is their home base, they don't control the airport workers ) but they could have handled everything MUCH better than your experience indicates!!! Good luck with your letter!

 

[CarolA]

I would use a voucher again the future. Its all about the all mighty dollar. I am not a member of the frequent fliers club, so I have no clout there. But I would certainly give them a nother chance, but with a direct flight this time. No chancing with connecting flights again til the kids are waaaay older .....

And here we have the truth "Its all about the mighty dollar"

Well, we are getting what we pay for. I routinely see posts that ask is $150 to much to pay for airfare?". I rountinely see "I am not payng $200 for airfare" And now for "bargin basement" prices we would like service!!!! Sorry folks, we voted with our pocketbooks.

I am with Clarabelle, so far nothing DL, USAir, SW, NWA United etc has done to me has exceed the horrid service I service I received not once but NUMEROUS times from AA. I do vote with my pocketbook. If someone else is more expensive then AA, I pay the difference. (I am willing to forgive airlines multiple times.. I have to, I travel for work and I don't have many options. The situation OP described would not have driven me from AA. It took a LOT of repeated situations including verbal abuse by an AA gate agent)

 

[DaveO]

What the airlines do not realize is that it is all about communication and setting expectations!!!! Yes - this was not Delta's fault .... BUT If they had told the OP that it was going to be tight making the connection and most likey miss it they could have made other arrangements. Plus there are things delta could have done in ATL that would have cost them zero dollars to improve service ... call to make the reservations, have blankets available, unlock the FF club so people stranded could sleep. All these things would barely cost Delta money but reap huge benefits for the customer. Delta STINKS. I to will never fly with them and they do not realize how much money they will lose from me and my company. They just lost 10 high paying business fares when they were cheaper beacuse I refuse to use them as an option.

During the NE snowstorm this winter they extorted $800 in change fees and fare increases for changing my flight even though there was a blizzard warning the next day for my flight (it was canceled and the airport shut down most of the day). So instaead of making a customer happy when they KNEW my flight would be canceled and they would need to accomodate me any way - they extorted the money from me and are going lose thousands in revenue from high paying business travelers.

VERY BAD way of doing business - I hope they do go under they deserve it.

Dave O.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

First, as others have said it started with the TSA snafu. I won't go on my rant about the TSA but just know it is the most incompetant agency ever created.

Second, I experienced a Delta run-around in Ireland. It was a horrific mess that started with a mechanical (which I know was not Delta's fault) and went DOWNHILL from there. When we got home, I wrote a letter to customer care and mailed it (did not email it). I calmly and rationally explained everything that we experienced. Delta nicely compensated us with double skymiles for that portion of the trip and two $250 vouchers. We used those vouchers to go to Disneyland.

Don't give up on Delta just yet.

 

[rsschneck]

Sorry you had such a horrible experience. I have slept on the floor of an airport before. We were trying to get out of Florida via Tampa during one of the 4 hurricanes they had experienced a couple of years back. The floor is very hard and uncomfortable.

That being said. I do not think Delta had a responsibility to compensate you this time. The security breach was not their fault. Missing a connection was probably inevitable in this scenario. If you go back and read your post many things happened to make your day terrible and not all were Delta related. Atlanta airport, passengers that should have boarded earlier, Delta employees without much information, hotel with inferior employees, etc. etc.

I would write to Delta with your complaints and see if you are compensated. I truly don't think most of this was their fault, but you can try.

 

[dpayne1969]

wow that is an awful story. Makes me glad my flight is non-stop & my kids are older & im not pregnant. I had no idea about any bomb threats yesterday so thanks for that news! I would just write a letter to Delta,but it does seem to happen on other airlines as well. I watch that show on cable called "airlines" i believe is the name of it. Anyway they show real situations that happen at airports & yes SW has been on that show.LOL>I have seen some awful situations that yes you would be frustrated but hey you made it home safely so in the end that is what counts IMHO.

 

[CarolMN]

Sorry you had such an awful experience -

Thanks for sharing your experience. It just adds to my reluctance to take connecting flights and why I happily pay more to go non-stop.

Best wishes -

 

[Pocahantas]

So sorry to hear about your bad experience. We had a very similar experience with Delta and the Atlanta Airport a few years ago while DH and I were traveling with our 6 year old daughter and his 80 year old mother. It was an awful experience. The whole situation made my daughter sick to her stomach. She was literally throwing up in a towel while we were going through security to try and get to the 3rd or 4th flight Delta had rebooked us on from the night before. We did not sleep in the airport since I was lucky enough to find a hotel room not far away with a shuttle. But I must say I got absolutely no help from Delta to do so - not even a list of hotels to call. Thank goodness for the sweet lady at the Sheraton who told me where to call after I tried to get a room there (we are members of Sheraton's Preferred Guests program). Now we avoid Delta and Atlanta as much as possible. We drive 2 hours to New Orleans so we can fly Southwest nonstop to Orlando instead of flying out of the airport which is 20 minutes from our house which has no nonstop flights anywhere!!

 

[Chicago526]

Sorry it was so bad! I agree that a lot of this wasn't Delta's fault, but they certainly didn't help you any, either!

I agree too that some of this is the fault of all the cheap fares. When the airlines know that 90% of their passengers book flights based on the lowest fare, and that no mater what CS they give they'll lose you as a customer the next time the other airline beats their price, they have ZERO incentive to keep you. Add that in with CS reps that most likey have had pay and benifit cuts in the past 5 years and it just ads up to an attitude of "Sorry, I can't help you. NEXT!"

All in all, I'm just thankful I live near Chicago. I can get a non-stop flight anywhere in the nation and most international destinations. In 10 years of flying, I've never taken a connecting flight, I've always paid more for the non-stops. The fare savings (although a lot of times it's the same price anyway so I'm not even paying more) is not worth my time, especially on vacation!

 

[Grendalynn]

Yes, you are correct, some of the replys state that is is not all Delta's fault.... However, it was with Delta that I experienced this whol ordeal. Other wise my title may have included American, US Air or wherever...

This time it happened to me with Delta Airlines. So be it. Yes, we are home safe and sound, but I am literally scarred for the rest of my days... I believe the saying, " you get what you pay for", so just how much do we have to pay to get treated with some common decency and respect?

The whole ordeal was like something out of a movie - Anything that could go wrong - did. I guess my biggest beef was/is the whole 10 minutes things for missing the plane. The flight I was on has no problem waiting the extra 20 minutes, so why couldnt the LAST flight to Boston for the night? We were assure by Delta in Orland that we wre delayed, all flights in Atlanta and Oiut of Atlanta would be equally delayed. Therefore we could make our flight. Had someone been upfront and honest with me, I could have used those 2 hours in the Orlando airport to schedule a room and a taxi. It was a waste of 4+ hours that could have otherwise changed the whole chain of events...

Its all water under the bridge at this point, I was just needing a place to vent and I chose The Dis. I figured my Life Lesson and the things my family went through might help others that find themselves in the same situation, God forbid anyone has the experience that we did. It was all a comedy of errors" that was/is far from comical.

 

[Grendalynn]

I am sorry that you had such a horrible experience, but there was also an issue with weather that day, too (My best friend is an ATC and it said it was a BAD day in the skies, too). I hope your next trip is better!!

I just posted my experience with SWA yesterday on the transportation board. We were delayed getting out of MCO yesterday due to mechanical problems. Our connecting flight from MDW to DTW was due to take off at 5:50. We LANDED at MDW at 5:55. SWA WAITED for us with a plane load of people until we got there. Not only did we leave MDW late, SWA pedaled real fast and got us to DTW on time.

I LUV SWA!!!

pinnie

This was copied and pasted from another thread that I also posted my ordeal on .... this was all I was looking for delta to do. Obviously not an act of god, rather good customer service and overall concern for their business.... Their 20 mintes of waiting, or not waiting, costed us 12 hours in an airport - overnight.....

 

[paulmc80]

Really sorry to hear you had to go through all of that. It certainly is quite an unpleasant ordeal.

I've been on Delta planes in Atlanta where they were held up some 10 minutes, give or take, for late arriving connections. At least that is what the Captain announced to the folks on the plane.