[d_herring]

I’m done with Delta!

This recent trip I booked through Delta was the last straw. I have seen Delta’s service decline over the past 5 years to include your SkyMiles rewards program. I still stuck with them because I figured that my loyalty to Delta would always be reciprocated. Boy, was I wrong!

Here’s my story:

I booked a trip to the Philippines many months ago though Delta using one of their partners. All was fine and we planned the rest of our Philippine vacation knowing we had paper tickets in-hand.

My wife and I showed up at LAX on 6/16/08 at 10:00am for a scheduled 1:00pm flight with China Southern. We knew right away something was wrong when we did not see any China Southern agents at their designated ticket counter or passengers waiting to check-in. We called Delta to see if there was a schedule change. Delta told us there was no record of any changes. We hung up and waited another 30 minutes. By this time it was around 11:00am and still no one to be found. I called China Southern’s reservation desk, and after 45 minutes on hold, I was told they changed their flight schedule and that they had record that Delta was notified…

I called Delta back and was on the phone for well over 2 hours. During that two-hour period the Delta agent I spoke with (Kieran) confirmed a new horrible itinerary. We were now leaving LAX on 6/17/08 at 11:50pm. This got us into Guangzhou at 6:20am on 6/19/08. Our connecting flight to Manila, Philippines was not until 8:20pm on 6/20/08. THAT’S 36 hours!!!! China Southern offered to put us up in a hotel at their expense but we had to agree to the new itinerary right then and there. WHAT CHOICE DO WE HAVE? Of course we agreed. We then had to deal with the return flights. China Southern kept going back and forth on whether or not they still had a 7/11/08 service. In the end Kieran told me to call Delta back the following morning.

I called back per Delta’s request only to find out there was NO COMMENTS REGARDING FREE HOTEL in my pending file, I spoke with Steve, who is a Delta employee with Customer Server for Partner airlines. Steve was completely indifferent to our dilemma and we could tell he didn’t care to help get China Southern to offer at least the free hotel. In the end I just hung up on Steve and Delta…

The horrible trip has cost me hundreds of dollars out of my pocket and I have not even checked in yet. Because of the delays caused by these schedule changes we will not be able to get to our final destination in the Philippines in time for my wife to celebrate her father’s 70th birthday – which was the primary reason we went this time of year.

As I said in my opening comments: I’m done with Delta. I know they don’t care and I will not get a response back. I’ve maintained over 8 years of loyal patronage with Delta Airlines… No more... These guys are as bad as American Airlines and US Airways. I’m going back to United Airlines. At least with United I know they make the extra effort to help their high-value travelers.

Goodbye and good riddance.

Dave H
Platinum Member
XXXX275068

[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

Mr. Herring:

Saw you are going-over to United. DON'T!! They will do everything to you that American, Delta, and US Airways do which, as you know, is not good.

I don't know how heavily you value frequent flier programs. If you feel you can't fly without being in one, then I would say Continental Air is your best bet. However, for service to Manila the best service, and the most positive attitude, can be had from Cathay Pacific (change in Hong Kong.) Otherwise, any of the airlines who are based in the countries to the north of the Phillippines--Japan and Korea--would be a good second choice. A third choice would be Air Canada ("AC"). AC is not much better than any of the major US-based airlines, except that Transport Canada is more receptive to complaints than the US Dept. of Transportation. In fact, Transport Canada has, in some cases, been known to order an airline, over which it has jurisdiction, to take corrective action with respect to a customer complaint.

Accordingly, Continental Air would rank at the bottom of the options noted above.

If you still have Delta miles left, you might be able to "salvage" them by joining a "frequent stay" hotel program (if you don't already belong) and transfer your Delta points to that program.

Good luck on your next flight.

[d_herring]

Butch,

All the US airlines suck these days. I'm not saying United is good but they sure take better care of high-value passengers than Delta does. Imagine after the Delta-Northwest merger is approved. Delta will be even worse (although their SEA routes will vastly improve). I fly close to 400,000 miles annually. Half of those miles are domestic. I pay full-fare every time I fly. This includes full-fare Business Class prices when I fly internationally. This doesn’t mean crap to Delta. Those airlines you mentioned can’t offer me the kind of year-round service I need. BTW – it wasn’t not too long ago when I could fly anywhere at anytime using Delta or any of her partners. SkyTeam is too big now. This means too many seats have to be allocated for SkyTeam partners. Too many partners means less seats for Delta. If I want to travel international in Business class with my wife I can't because Skyteam, and affliliate airlines, only allocate one business class seat for their partners on flights. It also means all partners are blacking out key periods of the year. In my case June is premium – otherwise I would have flown Korean or Northwest to Manila. I never heard of China Southern before Delta dumped me on them. But to answer your question about how important frequent flyer miles are – of course they are. Why in the world would one not take award miles into account when traveling.

DH

[Silent Bob]

Herring if you have to choose an airline, especially if they are all considered bad, then I would definitely go with United. Not for nothin but They are the best when treating their premiere class customers. They're the one company I'm happy to see when job assignments are handed out.