[ariela]

On the 15th of September I boarded a flight to New-York via Delta air lines. In New-York I was to take a connecting flight to SFO airport, where I was to meet my mother, who had travelled to SF a week earlier (also with Delta air lines). Not 10 minutes into the time we were supposed to take off, a problem was discovered in one of the generators, which in itself is understandable and can occur, but little did I know this would only be the beginning of the problems I was to have with Delta. We took off almost an hour and a half after the scheduled tine, and arrived at JFK an hour before my connection flight to SFO, which of course almost made me miss my flight (Luckily I did not). Upon my return to New-York from California, the flight to JFK was once again delayed for a short while, due to another problem that occurred in the plane, it's nature unknown to me. The end, however, was not near. On the 29th September my mother and I boarded Delta flight To Tel-Aviv, hoping the flight will go over quickly and we'll be home soon enough. Little did I know that was not about to happen. When the plane was not moving a small suspicion has found its way to my heart. Not 30 minutes into the time we were supposed to take off, the captain has announced, how surprisingly, that there is a problem with the plain. We have waited for 3 (!) hours on the plane for news, when finally we were asked to get off the plane and see Delta representative regarding our options. You would think our ordeal was over, but we still had to wait for more than half an hour before approaching the counter and making arrangements for a different flight home. When picking up our luggage to go to the hotel provided for us, we have discovered that 2 (!) of the suitcases were broken. They were fine when we checked them in…I wonder how long did it take to break them, from the time we checked in 2 hours before the flight, and the time we took them back once the flight did not make it out of the airport. I have taken pictures of the damaged luggage and will send it to you gladly if necessary. When we asked the Delta representative what can be done regarding this matter, she has directed us to the luggage customer service that is located on a different floor. I’m sure you can understand why, given our situation, being tired and exhausted from going back and forth, we have decided not to make the walk downstairs and then come back and stand in line, again, to check in. Given the situation we were in, it could have been much easier should she have asked someone to come up and check our luggage.
Our troubles with Delta were from far from over, though. We were given meal and hotel vouchers, but only in the morning, when arriving to the dining room, hoping to have some breakfast, did we discover that we were given 3 meal vouchers for the two of us, instead of 3 vouchers per person, as we were supposed to. Of course we could not get a decent meal, and settled for what we could have with our vouchers. When we approached the Delta representative about this matter, we were told that the vouchers were printed, and because of that I could only get one voucher now. I assure you - I did not receive the other 3 vouchers, and had not decided to ask for them again because I did not wish to pay for my own food. Trust me when I say I would rather have liked to have been home when I was supposed to, instead of asking for meal vouchers.
Also, while staying at the hotel, I have also discovered that some passengers were offered a compensation of 100$. Why were we not one of these passengers? How exactly do you decide who should receive compensation, and who shall not? On Friday the 30th, once again, when it was time to board, we have arrived at the gate. But of course the boarding had not yet started, because the plane was not ready. Really, should I even have beendelta

[jimworcs]

Really, should I even have beendelta

Answer: No. Delta are really appalling and what you experienced is typical. If you are travelling abroad, it is almost never the better option to fly on a US based carrier. The standards of service and levels of protection for the customer are dreadful.

In terms of flying JFK to SFO, you would be better to fly Virgin America, even if it cost a little more. Delta do not aspire to provide quality service. They are huge, dominate many of their markets and do not have to compete on service. They regard themselves as "too big to fail" and know the the government will rescue them if they fail. They have evidence of this, when they were rewarded from their last bankruptcy by being allowed to take over Northwest and emerge from bankruptcy as the largest carrier in the world.