I am totally shocked that in this day and age Delta Airlines gets a free pass from the American Govornment. Not only is this airline somewhat of a monoply in Minnestoa, ( Our Congress allowed them to buy Northwest Airlines), now it is our only major airline from Minnesota. But if they damage your luggage in thier care, you have no rights! As an example, recently I checked a bag from an overseas flight from Stockholm to Atlanta, then on to MN. Of course one must change planes in Atlanta, plus clear customs. So, this means that you must claim your bag from the one plane, and go to customs and then place it on the next flight to Mn. In between customs inspections I saw that my new $200.00 Samsonite wheeled duffle bag was doing it's job, life was good. However, after arriving in Mn. I discovered that my brand new duffel bag was completely destroyed. It looked like someone had used a carpet knive on it and decided that this bag was the ulimate enemy. Gaping slits were everywhere. How this happened I hav'nt a clue. An airport employee loads the bag on a conveyer, which is then routed to a cart where another employee transfers the bag to the airplane, where it is then loaded onto the airplane. With so many bags that have to be handled between plane schedules, and put on connecting flights, I find it very hard to understand how anyone had time to assault my poor duffle bag. Whatever the explanation my duffle bag was ruined. I immediatly took the remains of my sad bag to the baggage department to report that I was an unhappy camper and was told "we can give you a comparible bag and you can be on your way". I was not impressed with the $40 comparible bag and told the agent that I was not satisfied. The agent in charge at a Major airport representing a Major Airline(DELTA) told me " that's all that I can do" there is no other compensation availible. I wished to speak to the agents supervisor, however, being that is was approximatly 8:00 PM, no other supervisor was availible. (how convieniet for Delta)<br /><br />
So as I understand it, if you choose to fly in this world with Delta as your transportation provider in 2010, if you plan on bringing some clothes in a sturdy duffle bag with wheels so you don't break you shoulder hauling it around airports with no carts availible. Do plan on spending no more than $40 for you bag needs because Delta airlines will not recompense you if your bag out of site is assaulted by knive weilding employees in the privacy of thier baggage room. On a side note; does anybody know how to attach roller blade wheels onto an army surplus duffle bag? Does anyone know where an army surplus store that has army duffle bags for sale is in Mpls? Never mind, I think I will try google maybe it can guide me.

-Booked e-ticket with Delta and paid $39 fuel surcharge;

-few days later, received marketing email from Delta claiming they no longer charged a fuel surcharge; called Delta and was told that because no portion of the ticket was used yet, the fuel surcharge would be refunded to credit card, and that a plan was in place to do this within 2 weeks time

-2 weeks later, no refund appeared through credit card, so called and was told that no such refund plan was ever in place and no refund would be made;

-next day, wrote letter to Delta explaining extreme contradiction in info and asking for refund;

-2 weeks later, received call from Delta very early in morning explaining that the $39 fuel surcharge could have been refunded before the ticket was used (too late, at that point), and then the ticket would've been re-issued...for a $100 re-issue fee!! (net loss to me, the customer = $61);

Delta really put the LIE in UNBELIEVABLE!!

My wife and I had to go to our grandson's Christening so my wife got on the computer and ordered tickets from Tampa, FL to Chicago, IL. We were departing Tampa on Friday July 10, and returning to Tampa on Monday July13. We received our iternerary and saw the Friday departure and erred by not looking at the return, On Monday July 13, we were about to leave for the airport when we saw our return tickets were for Monday August 10th. I readily admit we should have looked closer when we received our iternerary and worked out the problem at that time, but since we hadn't, I called Delta customer service on the morning of July 13th and explained that I needed help. I was told almost all the flights Delta could give me to Tampa were overbooked, but it was possible to get to JFK on Com Air and get a flight for Tampa from there. My wife had to be back in town to reurn to work Tuesday morning so I said OK. I was transferrred to the reissue area and was told my new tickets would coast $361.50 each and that was after deducting the cost of my original ticket, and it included a $150.00 dollars charge to reissue the ticket. This means my wife and I each paid 486.50 for a one way trip to Tampa after originally paying $249.00 for the entire round trip to Chicago and back. When I ask if there was any possible relief because of the computer error, I was informed the error had to be on my end and the airline wasn't responsible.
The next time I get robbed, I hope the robber is wearing a mask and holding a gun, rather than wielding a computer and the knowledge that the corporation has the passenger by the tender places and the passenger has no choice but to pay the rediculously high pricee, plus fees.

July 7, 2009

Re: Delta Flight 1483

To Whom It May Concern:

I certainly hope this letter makes it into the right hands, and that it is taken seriously-not tossed aside as “some other unhappy customer”. After the worst traveling experience I have ever had on July 1, 2009 on Delta flight 1483 to Orlando. I arrived to LaGuardia Airport to find that the kiosk machines were not working. They were only printing boarding passes for certain flights. I had to wait in line for over an hour for an attendant to print out my ticket that took less than 2minutes. Thus began the day from hell…….. I walk to the gate to find out that my 7:20am flight is delayed to 10:00am due to mechanical problems with the plane. At 10am I happen to look at the board and the flight is scheduled to depart at 10:15am no announcement was made. At 11:00am they decide to switch gates and tell us we are waiting for an arriving plane to come from some where to use it.

Instead of Delta being smart enough to give another us plane from the beginning you take it upon yourself to have no regard for your customers and have us wait more. The reason I took such an early flight was because I had a job interview scheduled later on that day at 4pm. As you could imagine I did not get the job because of the incompetence of Delta Airline. This is truly devastating for me since this was a great opportunity for me but your airline ruined any chance I had. I understand that there are to be delays occasionally but it should not exceed an hour or two the latest. It is ridiculous to be stranded for 9 hours! Because of your shortsightedness to have planes on standby for instances just like this when a plane is unable to fly, instead you have your loyal customers wait for hours. I find it impossible to believe that you all do not have any kind of relationship with other airlines, that in a case like this, could not find someone to take everyone where they needed to be.

Finally the plane comes and we board and we have to wait an extra 15minutes because there are no beverages on the plane. To then go at a snails pace circling around the tarmac for 20 minutes with no announcement from the crew. The plane comes to a stop on the tarmac next to a parking lot and we are left waiting again with no announcement yet again. Finally the pilot announces that it will be another 20mins for us to take off. After already an hour on the plane, the plane starts to move in a circle motion again and comes to a rest at the same parking spot we were already at. The pilot announces we missed our window to take off. The passengers including my self are irate at this. One of the stewards makes an announcement stating that it is our own fault that we did not take off. I find this highly offensive and disgusting that one of your employees was yelling at us stating that it was our own fault that we did not take off. How dare you say that it is our fault when you are clearly to be blamed for such incompetent maintenance of your planes and your horrendous customer service. I do realize that they have to deal with unhappy customers ALL the time, but if they don’t like their job and can’t handle it, then they need to find work elsewhere…somewhere they don’t have to deal with the public.

After 2 hours of sitting on your plane we finally take off and instead of giving complementary snacks you still dare to charge people you how inconsiderate of you. I have been up from 5am and landed at 5pm without food. I would like to know why it took 9 hours to get to Florida a trip that normally takes 2hours. At the end of the trip all we got was an I am sorry from the pilot and that was it, no food voucher no flying vouchers NOTHING! I have been a loyal Delta flyer for years now, I vow that I will never take another flight with this airline again. I will be blogging and twittering about my horrendous experience with this airline so that no one will fly with Delta after the disgusting experience I had.


If tickets had not already been paid for, I would have never flown back with Delta. So I had a return flight on Delta flight 1486 to New York LaGuardia to yet again be delayed for 4 ½ hours. We were boarded on to the plane to make our 2:05pm take off to just sit and wait on the plane for 40mins because of an oxygen tank issue in the cockpit. Once again being the incompetent Delta airline that you are you did not have a back up for it. We had to get off the plane and wait till a 4:30pm plane to arrive with a tank. Once that happened the crew realized that another piece was missing and we had to wait till a 5:30pm plane to arrive with that piece. A flight in which I was suppose to be in NYC at 5:00pm I did not arrive till 9 pm.

I’m floored at the poor maintenance and upkeep to your planes, that so many could not be used after you had no problem over booking flights. It is completely understandable that planes that make constant trips all day long are going to need routine maintenance….hence the novel idea of having BACK UP planes to take there place while they are being serviced…but NO…let’s just wing it and see if we make it!!! I also suggest customer service training for all your staff. I will never fly Delta again and neither will my family and friends I will be posting my experience any where and every where I can so people will rethink about flying with you. . I have never been SO thoroughly disgusted with an airline as I was that day…and still continue to be… I just hope that what I have told you will be taken seriously and proper attention will be given on all said matters.

Thank you for your time


Melissa

When Delta announced their merger with Northwest Airlines, they announced they would link the SkyMiles and World Perks accounts. I waited for them to send me the information on how to do this, and received it on May 13. It said that I could link my accounts and delay the expiration of my 47, 810 miles. When I went online to do this, I was informed that my miles had expired on April 30, and that had I linked the accounts sooner, they wouldn't have expired. I wrote to Delta and explained that they had waited until my miles expired to tell me that I could extend expiration by linking my accounts, and that had they informed me earlier, I would have linked the accounts earlier. I got an email back from Honey Daniels at Delta's Medallion Desk telling me that my expiration date would be extended and that I should check my account in the next 7 - 10 days. When the miles weren't restored, I contacted Delta by email again, and was informed that to restore my miles, I would need to pay $50 plus tax. I sent a total of 4 emails to Delta, and each time asked for someone to either restore my miles, or call me to get the matter resolved. I got two emails telling me to pay $50, and a third from Karen Aven at the Online support Desk saying my miles would be restored. Finally, I called Delta and after spending 35 minutes on the phone, was told my only option was to pay the $50.

I understand that merging two airlines and two frequent flyer programs is difficult, but Delta shouldn't hold me responsible for not linking my accounts before they gave me the information on how to do it. They also should stand behind the word of two of their employees who agreed to restore my miles.