[FrustratedWithDelta]

On September 9th my husband and I flew to Venice on Delta to celebrate our ten-year wedding anniversary. We had three wonderful weeks traveling throughout Italy and we had looked forward to a predictable relaxing trip home on Delta. We were scheduled to be first class on flight #245 out of Rome on September 30th; unfortunately our dream trip ended in a nightmare.

We arrived at the airport 3 hours early at 7:00 A.M. We went to check in and were told by the flight attendant that the flight had been cancelled and we had to hurry because we were now scheduled on an Air Italia flight that left earlier than our original flight. We were told to catch the shuttle to another terminal but not to worry because we would be taken care of. We asked no questions of the attendant because we trusted Delta to do the right thing.

We went to the new terminal to check into Air Italia only to find we were now in economy and not even seated together. Furthermore, rows 43 and 44 were next to the very smelly bathrooms. Air Italia then wanted to charge us $130 Euros for our extra bag. We had been allowed 2 bags with Delta and now found ourselves allowed only one bag per person since we were now economy. Fortunately, we were able to reorganize our stuff to the new requirements and avoided the penalty.

In our rush to make the flight we had no time to purchase food but then ended up waiting for two hours in a secure area, as the plane was late anyway. We also had two receipts we were going to get stamped at the VAT office but because we were told by Delta employees to hurry, we were unable to do so. Finally, imagine our surprise when just two gates over, our original flight, flight #245 was boarding! It was not cancelled! We could not believe it!

We went over and talked to the agents as we realized we had been lied to, but our seats had been given away. Apparently, there was nothing more that anyone could do. So we ended up back with our new flight to Los Angeles. We were also told that the plane was full and there would be no upgrades possible. Later we were told that a few seats in business class had gone empty the entire flight.

One of the reasons I fly first class is because of my back, which was operated on 14 years ago. I need the cushion and space of first class especially on flights over six hours. When I am able, I schedule my flights to not exceed the six hours. That is why the stretch to LA, approximately 13 hours, was especially grueling.