The problem here was not the original delay, it was the handling of the rescheduling that is the problem. I would consider filing a small claims court claim against Delta on this. In filing the claim, you need to emphasise that your complaint is about their handling of the delay and their incompetence and failure to mitigate your losses. Therefore it is not about the air traffic delay.
Incidently, it is almost NEVER the right decision to fly into the EU on a US based air carrier. Regulation 261/2004 would have applied to you if you had flown with Air France (Toronto/CDG/Valencia). This would have provided you with a refund, plus reimbursement for lost luggage, plus hotel and meals costs. By choosing Delta, one of the worst air carriers for customer service in the world, your honeymoon was doomed.
You may also be able to make claims about the failure to fly you from Rome to Valencia. This was entirely within the EU, so therefore 261/2004 could be applicable.
Delta staff lying to you to get you away from the desk is routine. There are hundreds of examples on this website and thousands on the web. Staff are either trained to lie to you (likely) or so badly trained, they don't care nor is there any sanction for lying to you.
Not very helpful, but perhaps others might get some warning that Delta in particular, and US based airlines in general are a total nightmare.
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