[Camille]

Our flight with Delta

We arrived at the St. Thomas airport at 6:20 a.m in order to be prepared for an 8:30 a.m flight to Atlanta with final destination Omaha Ne. We found ourselves in a line that continued to get longer and longer with no Delta representative in sight. The counter was closed and the kiosk was not operational. Finally after standing in line approximately 45 minutes and asking several St. Thomas airport officials where the Delta people were, 3 representatives showed up. They said that the flight from the states didn’t come in until very late and therefore they wouldn’t be leaving until 10:30 a.m. Useful information to have had before hand, however, this was not the worst part of the trip.
Since we were leaving so late this would cause us to miss our connecting flight to Omaha Ne. The Delta rep in St. Thomas re-booked us on a flight to Omaha that would leave at 6:30 p.m and therefore give us plenty of time to make the connecting flight. Although this put us at a different arrival time than originally planned we decided to not worry about it. We arrived in Atlanta at 2:30 p.m in anticipation of leaving at 6:30 p.m.
However, there were storms and our flight was postponed. The storms subsided and we expected to leave on an 8 something flight since the 6:30 flight was cancelled. The 8 something flight turned into a 9:15 flight. The Delta rep at our gate appeared friendly, personable and concerned at first but then it became obvious she couldn’t care less about anything other than her own comfort level.
Frustrations began to rise, especially for people who had been waiting for 10 – 12 hours with needs to get home. It became apparent there were no planes coming and this was a ploy to keep the customers either from revolting or going to another airline or just a terrible inability to conduct proper customer service. We were told a flight crew was the problem, then we were told the air craft was the problem, then we were told that the flight crew was here but if we didn’t get on the plane in a hurry they could opt to use their “too many hours” reason to not fly anymore that night. They did of course opt to use that…which we knew they would. Here begins the major problem:
The Delta rep at our gate who is probably 25 with no other responsibilities than her one job announced we needed to get in line since the plane was cancelled. Someone asked the question, “get in line for what?” (actually a legitimate question which shouldn’t have had to be asked). The rep said something to the effect, “I don’t have to take any attitude, I will help the next 5 people and the rest of you go down to gate 40 across from Wendy’s.” This was inaccurate directions by the way.
In any event we went to the ‘help’ area for Delta and stood in a line of 100 people waiting to get some direction about what would happen to us next. By the time we were helped, the hotels were booked and there were no flights until the following morning. It is obvious that had our Delta rep at our gate assisted us rather than acting the Princess and not putting up with “attitude” we could have at least obtained hotel accommodations.
There was nothing Delta did for their customers...absolutely nothing. Even the supposed “kits” we were given to help us for having to spend the night in the airport were faulty. I tried to brush my teeth with the provided toothbrush and it fell apart in my mouth. I was just grateful I wasn’t using it on a child that could have choked on the bristles.
One week prior, I had flown on Midwest airlines. The weather had turned and we were unable to get out of NYC. Midwest provided me with a hotel, a food voucher and a voucher for a future flight with them.
Delta is the worst airline I have ever flown. Your representatives are cold, calloused and unconcerned. There was a woman at least 80 or more years old in a wheel chair that was told, “Sorry, if Delta won’t do anything for you than we can’t give you something they don’t provide.” In other words your own employees acknowledged Delta’s lack of concern for their customers and that mindset has infiltrated your chain of command. There is an old saying that a fish stinks from the head. Sniff your head Delta, it is rotten. I am denouncing Delta to all my friends and family, I am using every social network to get that point across. I will do everything in my power to make sure that no one I know or care about gets involved in any flight that you may have anything to do with in order to ensure their safety and well being.

[jimworcs]

Delta strikes again...when will people learn? This airline and their employees are toxic.

[Camille]

They will never get me again, that's for sure! Since that experience as I have related it to others I have found so many people with similar or worse stories, how are they allowed to exist like that?

[justme]

Few things I feel the need to point out. First of all, I'm sorry you had a bad experience and would love for you to give Delta another chance, but I somehow feel like you won't. Anyway, on to your post...

However, there were storms and our flight was postponed. The storms subsided and we expected to leave on an 8 something flight since the 6:30 flight was cancelled. The 8 something flight turned into a 9:15 flight. The Delta rep at our gate appeared friendly, personable and concerned at first but then it became obvious she couldn’t care less about anything other than her own comfort level.
Frustrations began to rise, especially for people who had been waiting for 10 – 12 hours with needs to get home. It became apparent there were no planes coming and this was a ploy to keep the customers either from revolting or going to another airline or just a terrible inability to conduct proper customer service. We were told a flight crew was the problem, then we were told the air craft was the problem, then we were told that the flight crew was here but if we didn’t get on the plane in a hurry they could opt to use their “too many hours” reason to not fly anymore that night. They did of course opt to use that…which we knew they would.

You say it was apparent that no airplanes were coming in to the airport. Then how exactly do you expect there to be an airplane or a crew to get you out? If there were no airplanes coming in or going out, rest assured other airlines were in the exact same situation and changing to one of them would have gotten the exact same results. The fact that the reason for the delay changed from crew to airplane back to crew makes me think that they indeed were trying their best to get another crew or airplane for you and were doing swaps. Unfortunately none of them panned out apparently. The FAA has set a limit on how many hours a pilot can work in a day/week/month/year and if they reach that maximum there is no bending the rules. They can't fly. The maximum is 16 hours in a 24 hour period. That is not just flight time, that is duty time. That clock starts ticking when they leave the hotel that morning, or when they sign in at the airport at their base. If they are sitting around delayed like you were, the clock keeps ticking.

The Delta rep at our gate who is probably 25 with no other responsibilities than her one job announced we needed to get in line since the plane was cancelled. Someone asked the question, “get in line for what?” (actually a legitimate question which shouldn’t have had to be asked). The rep said something to the effect, “I don’t have to take any attitude, I will help the next 5 people and the rest of you go down to gate 40 across from Wendy’s.” This was inaccurate directions by the way.
In any event we went to the ‘help’ area for Delta and stood in a line of 100 people waiting to get some direction about what would happen to us next. By the time we were helped, the hotels were booked and there were no flights until the following morning. It is obvious that had our Delta rep at our gate assisted us rather than acting the Princess and not putting up with “attitude” we could have at least obtained hotel accommodations.

Whoa Whoa Whoa... do you know what all her "one" job entails? Obviously not. You have a very warped view of what is expected of her (other than good customer service obviously) if you think it is easy or simple, especially on a bad weather day. If you were in line with hundreds of people, don't you think that makes it pretty obvious it was a pretty bad day at the airport for everyone due to the weather. If the weather was as bad as you say, I guarantee the hotels and flights were booked long before you even got in line. That is not Delta's fault. There are a limited number of available rooms in ATL near the airport, they filled up. What would you want them to do? Build a hotel of their own that can hold 300,000 people? We'll get right on that. As far as you getting a room had the gate agent helped you, do you think she had some secret stash of rooms? Or super powers? The hotels were full, no one could have done anything about it.

This, and many other complaints like it, boil down to this... The WEATHER was bad that day. There is nothing Delta or any other airline can do about that. Believe me when I say that as employees, we want to get everyone rebooked and on their way just as bad, if not worse, than you do. It is not fun to be working on a day like that, just like it is not fun to be traveling. Realize that we do our best, but do not have unlimited powers or resources. And while our employees should always be doing their best to provide excellent customer service with a smile, I'm sure you know that on a day like that, patience wears thin, people get tired, and attitudes flair for both passengers and employees, and sometimes customer service suffers. Ideally it would never happen like that, but in reality it does. Best of luck in your future travels, may you never have bad weather again.

[DoctorDave]

I sympathize with those of you experiencing delays and poor customer service. I just returned from a quick trip from Baltimore to New Orleans and back and personally experienced poor customer service, multiple delays and condescending comments from Delta staff.

Short story - Departed New Orleans on 7/22 at 8:30 AM for a trip to Baltimore with a stop in Atlanta. Connection from Atlanta should have departed at 1:05, arriving in Baltimore at 2:45. Trip to Atlanta with no consequences. There begins the travel travesty.

Gate changed in Atlanta several times as did the ultimate departure time. Finally boarded at 3:15 PM. Arguably a delay that you take in stride. That said, the entire Terminal B was a madhouse, with Delta cancelling and changing gates for multiple flights with alarming frequency and either unwillling or unable to communicat the root cause of the delays. Note that there was not a cloud or weather event on teh East Coast today.

Upon arriving in Baltimore two and a half hours late, we were informed that the gate was occupied and that we would have to wait for the current plane to depart prior to approaching. 30+ minutes later we arrive at a gate to find at least five gates empty surrounding us. Is this airline only capable of managing a single gate at one of their hubs? We were ultiamtely told that safety was Delta's primary concernt and that their delays were based on the need to keep us safe. BS!

I know this is not the worst experience that airline travelers have had with Delta of late and I appreciate the opportunity to vent. That said, I will do whatever I can to avoid another trip on this third rate carrier.

Communications, competency, and accountability. All lacking across the Delta enterprise today.

[DoctorDave]

I sympathize with those of you experiencing delays and poor customer service. I just returned from a quick trip from Baltimore to New Orleans and back and personally experienced poor customer service, multiple delays and condescending comments from Delta staff.

Short story - Departed New Orleans on 7/22 at 8:30 AM for a trip to Baltimore with a stop in Atlanta. Connection from Atlanta should have departed at 1:05, arriving in Baltimore at 2:45. Trip to Atlanta with no consequences. There begins the travel travesty.

Gate changed in Atlanta several times as did the ultimate departure time. Finally boarded at 3:15 PM. Arguably a delay that you take in stride. That said, the entire Terminal B was a madhouse, with Delta cancelling and changing gates for multiple flights with alarming frequency and either unwillling or unable to communicat the root cause of the delays. Note that there was not a cloud or weather event on teh East Coast today.

Upon arriving in Baltimore two and a half hours late, we were informed that the gate was occupied and that we would have to wait for the current plane to depart prior to approaching. 30+ minutes later we arrive at a gate to find at least five gates empty surrounding us. Is this airline only capable of managing a single gate at one of their hubs? We were ultiamtely told that safety was Delta's primary concernt and that their delays were based on the need to keep us safe. BS!

I know this is not the worst experience that airline travelers have had with Delta of late and I appreciate the opportunity to vent. That said, I will do whatever I can to avoid another trip on this third rate carrier.

Communications, competency, and accountability. All lacking across the Delta enterprise today.

[jimworcs]

Delta are appalling and getting worse... you are right, the only option is to AVOID them like the plague.

[justme]

Originally Posted by jimworcs

Delta are appalling and getting worse... you are right, the only option is to AVOID them like the plague.

Just curious... if you haven't flown Delta in 12+ years, how exactly do you know they're getting worse? You believe everything you read on the internet?

[justme]

Originally Posted by DoctorDave

Gate changed in Atlanta several times as did the ultimate departure time. Finally boarded at 3:15 PM. Arguably a delay that you take in stride. That said, the entire Terminal B was a madhouse, with Delta cancelling and changing gates for multiple flights with alarming frequency and either unwillling or unable to communicat the root cause of the delays. Note that there was not a cloud or weather event on teh East Coast today.

Upon arriving in Baltimore two and a half hours late, we were informed that the gate was occupied and that we would have to wait for the current plane to depart prior to approaching. 30+ minutes later we arrive at a gate to find at least five gates empty surrounding us. Is this airline only capable of managing a single gate at one of their hubs? We were ultiamtely told that safety was Delta's primary concernt and that their delays were based on the need to keep us safe. BS!

Problem number 1, airplanes don't only fly up and down the east coast. Weather in Mexico could have been the root cause for your delay, there's no way to be sure. And why would they announce the cause for delays and cancellations to the whole terminal? Just because YOU don't know why flights were being cancelled doesn't mean that the passengers affected didn't know.

Problem number 2, BWI is not a HUB for Delta. Therefor they are not the ones managing the gates. An airport authority of some sort would be responsible for that. Just because there was an empty gate does not mean it is available for Delta to use it, and even if it was available to Delta, it may not have been set up to accept your aircraft type.

There are hundreds of processes and restrictions that go on behind the scenes at airports and airlines that the general public has absolutely no comprehension of. The idea that running an airline or an airport is simple is ludicrous.

And you can be rest assured that safety is in fact Delta's number 1 concern.

[jimworcs]

Justme..
I have eyes and ears... that is how I know. Do you ever actually read what people are writing on here? Do you look at the DOT rankings? Do you ever read my3cents? Does customer feedback mean anything to you?

[jimworcs]

And you can be rest assured that safety is in fact Delta's number 1 concern.

On that topic Justme, how did your investigations go into the suggestion that pilots on Delta branded aircraft have paid for the priviledge of flying in the right hand seat?

[justme]

Originally Posted by jimworcs

On that topic Justme, how did your investigations go into the suggestion that pilots on Delta branded aircraft have paid for the priviledge of flying in the right hand seat?

I haven't been doing much investigating this month as I am on vacation for the whole month of July. I will be looking in to it when I get back.

[justme]

Originally Posted by jimworcs

Justme..
I have eyes and ears... that is how I know. Do you ever actually read what people are writing on here? Do you look at the DOT rankings? Do you ever read my3cents? Does customer feedback mean anything to you?

I do, and most of the time, there is a logical explanation for what happened, it's just not an explanation that the passenger or you want to hear. I don't read 3cents, this website is enough on it's own. Feedback does mean a lot to me. As I have said before, when I read a complaint about a legitimate failure on Delta's part, I pass the information along thru the proper channels for consideration. I'll be back in a few days, I'm off to the beach for an umbrella drink.

[jimworcs]

Bonnes vacances Justme...