I have a story to tell about horrific service with Delta. I have been a medallion level flyer with Delta for the past 8 years. Most years Gold or Platinum level. Last July I gave birth to twins and as a result of both the pregnancy and the birth of the babies, my travel was very limited. Therefore I am currently only a medallion level.
On April 14 I was on a return flight from Fort Walton Beach, Florida to Cincinnati, with a stop over in Memphis, TN. I was traveling with my 2 babies and my young daughter. The first leg of the flight was a Northwest Flight. (#932). I had a 2 hour layover in Memphis and was confirmed for flight 6262 to Cincinnati.
When I checked into my flight in Florida, I was told that they could not print my boarding pass for my continuing flight to Cincinnati and would need to do that at the gate in Memphis.
Upon my arrival in Memphis, I checked into the Northwest WorldClub (I am a Delta Crown Room member). I spent the next hour waiting for my flight that was schedyled to depart at 3:59pm. At 3:15 I left the Northwest WorldClub for gate A29 (a 5 minute walk). An employee at WorldClub was kind enough to walk me to the gate as she was headed in that direction for her break. I arrived at the gate, waited in line for a long time for my boarding pass because many people were ahead of me hoping to get on the flight.
When I arrived at the counter and presented my travel itinerary, the gate agent told me that he could not honor the ticket because Northwest should not have sold me the ticket and that the flight was over capacity. I showed him the itinerary with the CONFIRMED status printed on it. He stated that a flight is not confirmed until I have a seat assignment and told me I did not have seats assigned (Lie #1).
I was told in the Northwest Club that I was assigned to seats 13-B and 11A. He told me that he could do nothing for me and that I needed to go back to Northwest.in my futile effort to get him to understand my necessity to get on the flight, he told me that they were over capacity and that they were removing luggage and passengers to meet the weight capacity. I told him that my bags were already on the flight (I saw them being loaded into the plane) and at a minimum, could they please remove my bags. He said they could not. He then proceeded to IGNORE me and would not even acknowledge my presence at the gate.
I left the gate and went back to the Northwest Club. The agent that accompanied me to the gate was surprised to see me. I told her what happened and she immediately called the gate agent at A29. After a brief discussion about the overbooking, the Delta gate agent told her that he turned me away because I WAS LATE to arrive at the gate. (Lie #2) The Northwest employee assured the Delta employee that I was not late as she walked me there!
Now the fun begins. The Northwest agent calls the gate agent supervisor. They direct me to go out to the ticketing area to speak with the Supervisor that will assist me in getting home. The Supervisor then tells me that the best he can do for me is to put me on a 6pm flight to Atlanta and then a 10pm flight to Lexington. I asked how I was to get to Cincinnati from Lexington and he stated that was the best he could do. I knew that there was a flight to Cincinnati from Atlanta and asked to be put on that and he said he could not because it was in an oversold situation. I told him that solution was not acceptable.
He then offered to put me up in a hotel in Memphis and catch a flight in the morning. That was reasonable except that I needed baby formula (as I stated in the beginning, I have 2 infant twins traveling with me and had they let me keep my suitcases I would have been fine)!
I asked whether there was someone that could get me some formula or provide me allowance to rent a car so that I could go to the store and purchase some formula. He told me that he COULD not pay for a car rental as there were liability issues (lie #3). I know from past travels that Delta had covered rental vehicals.
I asked again to clarify the policy and he stated that he WOULD not provide coverage not that he COULD not provide coverage. Nice. I told him it is unacceptable and called the Delta Special Member services. They told me it was not Delta's problem because Northwest should not have sold me the ticket!
I went back to the Northwest counter where they stated it is clearly a Delta issue and offered me $50 refund for the value of the Memphis to Cincinnati leg of the flight. The also assured me that they would write up a report on Delta regarding the treatment of this issue.
So, it is now 6pm and I am absolutely stuck. I decide to rent a car and drive for 8 hours (the drive from Ft. Walton is 10 hours) to Cincinnati. During my drive it occurs to me that my suitcases would be arriving shortly in Cincinnati and I did not want to lose them.
I quickly called Delta Special Member services to ask them to kindly remove my bags from the baggage carosel and place them in a safe place. The agent informed me that he could not call the baggage office in Cincinnati as there is no phone there! (Lie #4). He stated that without a Delta baggage claim number that started with DL he could not assist me. My baggage claim number was a Northwest number as I originated on a Northwest flight.
I explained the situation and asked if he could please provide me with some assistance and he looked up my record and told me that it appears that I missed my flight because I WAS LATE TO ARRIVE AT THE GATE! The gate agent put that in the record!
I have to ask, what obligation does Delta have to me? Obviously there is an issue for failure to provide transport. I would like the cost of the rental car plus a reimbursement on the ticket.
I also made a personal promise to myself to NEVER fly Delta again. That will be difficult as I live in the second largest Delta hub and not flying Delta will cause me additional travel time. But I will never give them my business again. It is apparent that they are trying to lie and cheat their way out of bankruptcy!
Patricia
Cincinnati, Ohio
U.S.A.
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