What has your experience with Delta been?

[disneyseniors]

The past few trips we've used SW and have not had any problems. However, on our Oct trip, the flight times aren't really what we're looking for. Delta has some that would work better, and I like the idea of assigned seats. Our kids and grandkids, 9 in total, will be flying while my husband and I will be driving.

Then we started hearing from some people that said that they've had lots of delays with Delta due to mechanical issues. Some people were saying that Delta is trying to complete cost wise with lower priced carriers, and because of this has let some of their maintenance slip. That would not be good!

So I was wondering what other people's experiences have been? Are delays common with Delta? Have you had issues with Delta? Or has your experience been good?

Please let me know. I really need to decide on an airline. The prices are going up skyhigh!

Thanks!

Hi disneygramma: We always fly Delta, from Minneapolis, which I believe is it's main hub.

We have Never had a problem with Delta at all, and the employees go out of their way to help us when we need it.

I would highly recommend Delta. Now watch and see - it will have delays and lost luggage...........sigh...........hope not

 

[DebbieB]

Since we fly out of Atlanta, which should be named Atlanta/Delta instead of whatever they've changed it to recently, we almost always fly Delta. If you use any other airline, you are in the furthest away terminal they have. When we fly international, 80% of the time it's Delta since they tend to have more direct flights, the other 20% of the it's American, which we aren't crazy about.

Also Southwest, who took over AirTran. I believe they have all of C concourse. I'm connecting there next month to MCO.

 

[Mofang]

Then we started hearing from some people that said that they've had lots of delays with Delta due to mechanical issues. Some people were saying that Delta is trying to complete cost wise with lower priced carriers, and because of this has let some of their maintenance slip. That would not be good!

Fortunately, this couldn't be further from the truth! Delta has one of the best operations in the entire airline industry - they have a huge maintenance department that's so good many other airlines actually outsource tricky mechanical tasks to them, and they even have their own weather department that helps them come up with creative plans to avoid cancelling flights.

Delta actually is so confident in their ability to avoid cancelling flights that they have started writing an on-time guarantee into their corporate contracts. They're much better than most other competing airlines in the US - when the CEO of American compliments your performance in an earnings call, you're doing something right.

https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/2015MarchATCR_0.pdf has lots of detail if you're interested. But as a short summary, if you want to book an ontime flight within the US, your best bets are Hawaiian, Alaska or Delta in that order. The three worst airlines are United, Southwest and - worst of all - Frontier.

Long story short, book with confidence - Delta is actually much better than Southwest, and certainly more reliable than any of the low cost carriers like Spirit, Allegiant or Frontier.

 

[disneygrandma]

Boy, I wish I would have asked this question a lot earlier. Now that I've decided for sure to go with Delta, the prices have gone way up. Wish I had a crystal ball to know what to do, whether to bite the bullet and buy the seats now or to try and wait it out to see if there's a sale. This will be for an October trip. Anyone have a crystal ball?

 

[ashnicole]

Boy, I wish I would have asked this question a lot earlier. Now that I've decided for sure to go with Delta, the prices have gone way up. Wish I had a crystal ball to know what to do, whether to bite the bullet and buy the seats now or to try and wait it out to see if there's a sale. This will be for an October trip. Anyone have a crystal ball?

I'm not someone who flies all the time, but I flew to MCO this past October. It was about $400 RT for months and then mid or late July it dropped to $198 for a direct RT flight (this is out of California) and then shot back up the next day. But then I know people who spent $200 six months out. I think it depends.
That's my least favorite game: deciding whether to buy airfare now or wait to see if it drops

 

[afan]

Boy, I wish I would have asked this question a lot earlier. Now that I've decided for sure to go with Delta, the prices have gone way up. Wish I had a crystal ball to know what to do, whether to bite the bullet and buy the seats now or to try and wait it out to see if there's a sale. This will be for an October trip. Anyone have a crystal ball?

I would pick the flights you want and look at the seat maps to see how many empty seats there are. Also, since you are looking at 9 tickets, try pricing them in smaller blocks of 2 or 3 instead of 9. You could book them as pairs and a single all for the same flight and get some of them for less. It's probably putting all of your tickets in the same fare class, so it will be the lowest that has 9 available even if the one below it has 5 available. It's at least worth checking.

I'm the crazy one that likes to buy my tickets as soon as they open, whether I'm redeeming miles or not, but I'm also generally flying across country and it's generally cheaper this way at holidays etc. The nonstop I have on Alaska MCO-SEA in Nov went up fairly quickly after I bought because people kept buying since it's the only evening non stop. I had a redeye non stop on Delta to MCO but they canceled it not even a year after they added the new flight so now I have to go through Atlanta. Not a huge deal but not what I wanted.

 

[WDWNY]

Delta used to be my favorite airline, but in the past year JetBlue has become my favorite. Have flown with Delta a few times in the past year and I've had a delay at least one way every trip. Over the summer I flew Delta and JetBlue had the same exact flight- same departure time, to the same airport. Delta's flight was delayed 2 hours- never was given a reason why. I always fly whatever is cheapest, but JetBlue has been my preference recently due to a couple of bad experiences.

 

[sam_gordon]

I just flew Delta last week. The only problem I had was they changed plane types the day or so before the flight and my booked window seat was changed to a middle seat. I had booked the "economy comfort" and they offered to move me to standard economy and refund the upgrade, but since it was a 3+ hour flight, I elected to stay with the middle. I'm glad I did. The economy comfort was MUCH better.

All the flights (total of four) were on time.

 

[Forum Jumper]

If I might ask here, we will be flying to MCO in July and I have been watching flight prices for several months and they haven't moved. Those of you familiar with Delta, will the prices go down as summer approaches (presumably with more people flying)? Or, is it better to book now with the price that has stayed the same for months?

 

[fairy oma]

We fly Delta on a regular basis and the only issue we had was DD's family flying home from ATL to ORF...they rebooked them and did not inform them of the change and our travel agent did not hold up her end either. This has been the only issue we have had with them.

 

[sam_gordon]

If I might ask here, we will be flying to MCO in July and I have been watching flight prices for several months and they haven't moved. Those of you familiar with Delta, will the prices go down as summer approaches (presumably with more people flying)? Or, is it better to book now with the price that has stayed the same for months?

Tell me what the winning powerball numbers are for tomorrow night and I'll tell you what flight prices will do.

We are also heading to Florida in July for a cruise and we've had our tickets booked for a month or so. I personally don't like waiting, but I'm not much of a gambler.

 

[Forum Jumper]

Tell me what the winning powerball numbers are for tomorrow night and I'll tell you what flight prices will do.

We are also heading to Florida in July for a cruise and we've had our tickets booked for a month or so. I personally don't like waiting, but I'm not much of a gambler.

Just asking historically from anyone familiar with Delta airlines.

 

[sam_gordon]

Just asking historically from anyone familiar with Delta airlines.

Edit: From a historical perspective, what will the winning powerball numbers be? There are no "rules" when it comes to flight prices. Even the "rule" to wait until 7 weeks from a trip is based on an AVERAGE. Meaning your particular flight might be much higher.

Personally, book when you're satisfied (not necessarily happy) with what you're paying. Unless you're on an airline that allows free changes, don't look again.

If you are willing to gamble, then feel free to wait.

 

[RedOne13]

Delta is fantastic. I average 50 flights a year and maybe 1 or 2 of those are delayed. Make sure to sign up for SkyMiles and download their mobile app for your smartphone.

 

[RyansMum]

The past few trips we've used SW and have not had any problems. However, on our Oct trip, the flight times aren't really what we're looking for. Delta has some that would work better, and I like the idea of assigned seats. Our kids and grandkids, 9 in total, will be flying while my husband and I will be driving.

Then we started hearing from some people that said that they've had lots of delays with Delta due to mechanical issues. Some people were saying that Delta is trying to complete cost wise with lower priced carriers, and because of this has let some of their maintenance slip. That would not be good!

So I was wondering what other people's experiences have been? Are delays common with Delta? Have you had issues with Delta? Or has your experience been good?

Please let me know. I really need to decide on an airline. The prices are going up skyhigh!

Thanks!

I only fly Delta but it's usually just 2 of us so we go first class when I can swing it. Coach seats were comfortable and we were treated like royalty. Perhaps that's because I bring treats for my flight attendant? I've never had a delay except for when a drunk person has to be escorted off. Just so you know, that is reported as a weather delay or mechanical issue. They don't usually reveal the actual reasons for delays (according to sister in law who is a pilot)