SAVE YOURSELVES! NEVER use Delta!

[mgilmer]

I have never flown Delta, only SW (they are the only two carriers out of Nashville that fly nonstop to Orlando) but you sound like you have a vested interest in Delta. I have spoken with several friends who have flown Delta from Nashville and all have nothing good to say about them. Even my AAA travel agent warned me never to fly Delta from Nashville. While I have had issues with Southwest (hate the cattle call boarding and confiscatory Orlando pricing) they have yet to let me down.

Delta cancelled several flights today due to weather. I guess the OP would rather be in danger? I mean we all know its better to fly on a plane with a bad engine or in bad weather then to cancel a flight. I am sure the airlines only made up those rules to inconvince me... one jet engine is plenty we can fly right? What's a thunderstorm going to do??? Those pilots don't need sleep, let them fly for 24 hours straight? Since we are paying thier salaries and we don't care about safety FLY!!! (SHEESH!)

If an airline cancels a flight at the LAST minute like that it was NOT a schedule change. It was either mechanical or weather. Having a hissy fit will not help. If this five hour delay RUINS your vacation, you have only yourself to blame..

Since your other option is SW, I think I should warn you that a few months ago I spent EIGHT hours in the Birminaham Airport because of SW having a weather delay in Chicago.

If you post weekly, I will probably start complaining loudly to the mods. I have no problem with constructive posting, but vindictive posting AKA "I want to be a pest" helps no one.



Never say never.

 

[PrincessMinnie28]

I didn't fly out of Nashville, but I just flew Delta out of BOS to MCO in May and I didn't have any problems. I agree with other posters that all airlines have cancellations and problems and it's not just Delta, but I'm sure it makes it seem worse when your destination is WDW!

 

[karla63]

Gee, not sure where to start... Sorry that the OP had problems with his flight. My DH works for Delta and yes there can be plenty of reasons why a flight is cancelled(weather, maintenance problems,flight crew not available). This can happen to any and does happen to all airlines, even SW. Now thinking hypothetically, if you had a flight at 6:30am this morning and they cancelled it 2 hours earlier. Where were you at this time? For many of us, we are either already at the airport or will soon be pulling into the parking garage to park. So if they did in fact call your house, YOU WEREN"T THERE. Do you feel better now? There have been many of times that a flight is cancelled last minute. Sure isn't enough time to start calling each passenger tho. You had many choices when you found out your flight was not going, but instead you decided to vent. That's fine, but now its time to move on.

 

[goofy4tink]

There are many reasons for flight cancellations....personel issues, weather issues, mechanical issues, no plane at the right airport, or just not enough people on a particular flight. But, for the most part, lack of people cancellations are rare...they ususally give you plenty of notice. But, if it's a mechanical issue, then they may not know until just before a flight. So...if your flight is scheduled to depart at 8:00, and that plane has an issue at 5:00, then they really aren't going to start calling people. They are going to 'assume' passengers are checking the flight status.
now...it would be nice if the cs rep could have given you a reason for the cancellation, or been a bit nicer about it.
I well remember the connection I had in Newark, between Seattle and Providence. We arrived from Seattle with about an hour to spare. Got to the gate and there was a delay posted. Seems there was a mechanical issue. At flight departure time, yet another delay. They had to find a plane to fly in that could take us. After 4 hrs of this, with my mom threatening to just rent a car and drive the 5 hrs home, they led us down, into the bowels of that terminal, took us onto a little shuttle bus, and much to my then 6 y/o dd's dismay, put us on a plane with props and wings over the top of the plane!!!! It had to seat about 40 people!!! We finally got home to TF Green, headed to baggage claim when my dh, who had been hanging at the airport for 3 hrs, told me the bags were already in the car...they had arrived 3 hrs prior to us!!!!

Nope, with the numbers of people flying nowadays, there are always going to be instances where some flights are negatively impacted by something or other. Just have to take a chill pill and go with the flow. Nothing else to be done. it's an issue for all the airlines, not just Delta.

 

[CarolA]

I have never flown Delta, only SW (they are the only two carriers out of Nashville that fly nonstop to Orlando) but you sound like you have a vested interest in Delta. I have spoken with several friends who have flown Delta from Nashville and all have nothing good to say about them. Even my AAA travel agent warned me never to fly Delta from Nashville. While I have had issues with Southwest (hate the cattle call boarding and confiscatory Orlando pricing) they have yet to let me down.

Nope, no vested interest (unless you count a lot of miles. I live in ATL, if you want to go someplace you better be willing to fly Delta.)

I used to fly out of BNA and never had any unusual issues with Delta there. Now when AA was in BNA it as a WEEKLY nightmare. (During the days of paper tickets one agent THREW my ticket away for example and then tried to convince her manager that I somehow climbed OVER the check in counter and put my ticket in the trash can...... One agent started SCREAMING hysterically at passengers in the gate area because "I DON"T KNOW WHEN THE XYZ PLANE IS GOING TO ARRIVE AND I DON'T GIVE AN XYZ!!! LEAVE ME ALONE" She then proceeded to call me a "witch" When her supervisor was called, his response. "She is one of my best agents" ) Even after all of that I won't say "I will never fly AA" I don't like them, but... (The only travel provider I REFUSE to use is Alamo. I will walk LOL!)

The big problem with DL out of BNA is ATL. Going thru ATL especially on summer afternoons is risky! Not much DL can do. (As I have pointed out, gate agents have not been blessed with the ablity to control the weather)

However, I fly a LOT and I know any of them can have a good day or bad day. Pitching a hissy fit gets you exactly NO WHERE! And SW is not above problems. (See my EIGHT hours in the Birmingham airport) If you find the airline that can fly through bad weather without worrying about your safety.... that's the one I am running from. I would rather be delayed while they fix the issue or wait for the weather to clear. The alternative is not worth considering.

(And we may here from OP again. Are there still thunderstorms in Nashville? )

 

[webshark3]

Ted Airlines canceled my flight on Oct 1st, and moved us to the one earlier. I wish they sent out an automatic notification when they do this... I found the change on accident. I figured it would happen since I book back in Feb.

Maybe it's also weather related, and Ted has really, really good forecasters. LOL

 

[CarolA]

Ted Airlines canceled my flight on Oct 1st, and moved us to the one earlier. I wish they sent out an automatic notification when they do this... I found the change on accident. I figured it would happen since I book back in Feb.

Maybe it's also weather related, and Ted has really, really good forecasters. LOL

If it's a few weeks/months etc in advance it's just a schedule change. If it's less then 8 hours... it's weather and/or mechanical.

And remember it may be beautiful and sunny where you are. (for example, it was beautiful in Bimingham.) However, if the plane is someplace where the weather is bad then.. you wait... (My plane was in Chicago, it was snowing there. Today it could be planes in TX. Looks like they had some rough weather) And if it's a MAJOR storm there is a trickle effect. A major NE snowstorm can really mess things up (and if you fly Jet Blue it can take WEEKS to get back to normal... ) As we move towards Hurricane season keep that in mind.... A hurricane in Miami will impact flights into and out of MCO.

 

[faindrops27]

I think the OP just wanted some sympathy. So, OP I am sorry. But, look on the brightside. You will be at disney around 5 ish. It will be ok. Sometimes, little bumps in the road. Look bigger than they really are in life. Everything happens for a reason. Never forget that. Cool down, take a deep breath, count to 20. And decide you will have the best vacation you ever had!!

 

[dis-happy]

Sorry the OP is disappointed, but I'd by looking at it as the glass is half full (not the day half gone). It sounds like you found out before you left for the airport, still at home. It could have been a lot worse, checking in at 5 am with all your bags and family in tow and then finding out about the long delay. In your shoes I'd go back to bed and get some rest. As for it taking 10 minutes to verify, I'd sure be glad that someone took the time to find out FOR SURE what was going on with my flight and re-booking rather than give an off-the-cuff answer and have it be wrong.

Really, your situation isn't that bad at all, I'd much rather be at home for a few hour delay than stuck overnight at LaGuardia trying to get back to CA to my nursing baby and being rerouted from a non-stop flight to connecting flight to boot and have the annoying USAir rep bump me from my first class ticket (which is what happened to me a few years ago). Did I rant? No, I took it all in stride, found someone to at least restore my first class ticket cross country, paid an extra $20. in parking at the San Diego Airport (do you know they have NO long term parking options there?) and overall enjoyed my trip. Flgiht delays happen.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Been there done that on the following

Delta. (Extra day in London)
SW (EIGHT hours in the Birmingham Airport!)
AA. (Took them THREE days to get me home!)
USAir (they "lost" the plane)

If it weren't for the lost plane, we would have won....

 

[dudspizza]

Does Delta have flight change notification that you can sign up for? I flew AA home last week from LAX and signed up for the notification via cell phone. My phone rang 4 times between security and boarding the plane. Heck, I knew about the gate change before they even announced it! I already had my family up and moving to find a seat before the masses.

Really, it is up to you to be prepared for changes. Cancelled flights, gate changes, equipment changes... they all happen. Be proactive and ready to go with the flow.

Now, when flights are late and people have very tight connections, that is when things get dicy! They announced on our AA flight that there were people who had tight connections and that would everyone else let those people off first.... well the people up front let off like 3 people and then started to clog the aisles.... people behind us (we were in row 26) were trying to make a connnection that took off if 10 minutes.... people were so rude..... the entire front of the plane got off the plane a their own pace and cause many people to miss connections that would have probably made it if they were let off right away... now that is annoying!

Duds

 

[CarolA]

Does Delta have flight change notification that you can sign up for? I flew AA home last week from LAX and signed up for the notification via cell phone. My phone rang 4 times between security and boarding the plane. Heck, I knew about the gate change before they even announced it! I already had my family up and moving to find a seat before the masses.




Duds

Yes they do. They start emailing you about 12 hours before the flight and let you know of any delays etc. Southwest has something like this also.

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

I have to agree with the others, its not just Delta. I have some horror stories from the other airlines, too (I don't even want to go into US Airways customer service problems...). This time of the year, weather delays caused by thunderstorms are common. It is just something we all have to live through.

 

[crazy_for_the_dis]

I recently had a bad experience with Delta concerning luggage. Ultimately, Delta made it right. I have to give then a thumbs up when it comes to customer service. Much better than airlines they compete with (US air) but I still prefer Airtran and Southwest solely on how efficiently they run their airlines, which impresses me.

 

[jpeppers]

I have to agree with the poster......Delta sucks!! By far the worst customer relations I've had and I had atleast 200 people who would agree with this because they left us stranded in Atlanta with no compensation because they held the plane for 15 minutes to accomodate 4 passengers in Orlando. They actually said they would give us a negotiated rate at a nearby hotel but because they shafted so many people there were no rooms available at the hotel or any near by. They even refused to give us our luggage unless we wanted to wait for 3 hours. They were kind enough to let us stay at the terminal though.............

 

[debster812]

OP--

I've BTDT and have the tshirt as well. We were on Delta this February, for Feb School Vacation here in MA.

So you take a winter storm, add the busiest travel week out of Logan airport, and close Logan at least 3 times due to weather, and you get this:

We sat on the plane and in the terminal for 7 hours before being FINALLY cancelled. By then, all the folks who had been cancelled before us, had rebooked. Hindsight being 20/20 after the first deplaning, I should have been on the phone to Delta and rebooking. The end result: They got us to FL 3 days later, but only to Tampa, NOT to Ft Myers. The silver lining--we flew First Class, and they paid for my rental car from Tampa to Ft Myers.

When I finally got to speak to a Delta rep, her first words to me after I introduced myself, and asked how she was, were: "Mrs Plant, you are the first person in 5 hours who has not yelled at me, let's see what we can do for you".

I agree with Carol, never say never.

 

[grinningghost]

You're preaching to the choir disneyfreakmike!

We flew on Delta last summer to WDW and had just about the same mess you did.

Never, ever, ever again.

 

[DebbieB]

I'm at a conference right now in Hartford CT. I arrived on Monday afternoon (ontime on USAirways, there are miracles). Coworkers from MSP were to arrive 2 hours after me, around 4:30 on Northwest. Their flight was late leaving, they sat on the runway, went back to the gate for fuel, the crew then timed out, the flight was cancelled. They could not get another flight out on Monday and had to wait 2 hours to get their luggage back. They could not get a flight until late yesterday, arriving in Hartford around 11:30pm. They missed the Monday night reception and the first day of the conference. It can happen on any airline.

 

[CarolA]

(ontime on USAirways, there are miracles). .

They aren't that bad... Of cours at least they didn't lose your plane!

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

I'm at a conference right now in Hartford CT. I arrived on Monday afternoon (ontime on USAirways, there are miracles). Coworkers from MSP were to arrive 2 hours after me, around 4:30 on Northwest. Their flight was late leaving, they sat on the runway, went back to the gate for fuel, the crew then timed out, the flight was cancelled. They could not get another flight out on Monday and had to wait 2 hours to get their luggage back. They could not get a flight until late yesterday, arriving in Hartford around 11:30pm. They missed the Monday night reception and the first day of the conference. It can happen on any airline.

To have to return to a gate for fuel while waiting in queue for takeoff is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of... even if you have to wait for 2 hours or more.. Was this weather related?? I won't even mention the crew time out because if they were within hours of timing out from their base at MSP... that's incredibly pathetic.