[silverwoman]

The experience that I had with Delta on December 9th was the most frustrating one I have ever experienced as a passenger.

When I arrived at the airport (my connecting flight was from New Orleans), I was told that the flight to Toronto was delayed by three hours. I went to the Delta Service Desk in that terminal (Terminal T) and I was told that I could try and fly standby as there was another flight leaving earlier. I asked, and was reassured, that my baggage would follow me. When I arrived at the gate to go standby in the D Terminal, I checked in at the gate and the person at the desk told me, "You know that your luggage won't come on this plane, right?" When I told her what they told me earlier, she was confused and directed me to the main Delta desk in that terminal. There, after waiting nearly an hour, I met with a supervisor who explained that the luggage MIGHT make it on that flight. She acknowledged that the luggage can be tracked electronically, but couldn't tell me why we couldn't determine if the luggage could be put on the plane or not.

I waited, but did not make the standby list. Returning to the original flight, I now found it delayed even longer. When I asked why, given that the airplane was there at the airport, I was told that it was bad weather in Toronto. When I pointed out to them that the Air Canada flight left on time (please check this, you will see it is true!) they then told me that they didn't have a crew. They explained that union rules prevented crew members from working more than a set amount of hours at a time. We waited at the gate for what seemed like an endless time, with no one providing any updates. At 10:00 pm, after 6 hours of waiting, some of the passengers complained and only then did it occur to them to bring us some water bottles! Finally, at 11:00 pm, we were told that they could not find a crew and that the flight was cancelled. After waiting in line for another hour (only 4 people to service the entire flight!!) we were told that the flight would leave the next morning at 7:00 sharp.

When I returned the next morning, I was told that the flight was delayed again. The reason: no crew! Meanwhile, the 7:30 a.m. flight left as scheduled, leaving those of us who had been in Atlanta overnight still there. Finally, the crew showed up and we left at 8:00 a.m. -- almost 15 hours after we were supposed to.

Thus, there are several glaring questions:

1) Why don't Delta workers know the rules about baggage and standby? Do they make this up as they go along?
2) After being caught in a lie about why we were delayed, we were finally told the truth about the lack of a crew. Why can't they be honest? Why isn't there a back-up crew in cases like these? Why did it take 6 hours before they brought us water?
3) Why would they reschedule a flight for 7 the next morning without a crew? Shouldn't they know the schedule? Why no just tell us the flight was leaving at 8:00 a.m. if that is when the crew was coming - we could have used the extra hour of sleep!

Overall, words cannot adequately express my disappointment with Delta. This was a total embarrassment to your company, and there should be an investigation into how this was mismanaged. I have not even received any reimbursement whatsoever - and I feel I am entitled to a full refund. Not only did I waste an entire day at the airport waiting for a plane that never would leave, but I also missed a half day of work the next day. My time is valuable too.

[Der Richter]

I am shocked, shocked that a December flight to Toronto would have a weather related delay.