I will start by saying Delta started this whole ball rolling 2 months ago in July when they cancelled my Saturday flight and offered nothing except a full refund or a flight on Sunday. This extra day cost me an extra $100.00.
I was on vacation with my family at Disney World and left our resort Sunday morning in plenty of time for our flight out of Orlando on Delta Airlines. Everything was great until landing in Atlanta. This is where customer service dropped out of the plane with our hard landing.
We arrived about 20 minutes early 10:10 am, scheduled arrival was 10:30. Our arrival gate was A2. Because of construction on the runways we basically sat on the runway for an additional 20 minutes. This evened up the time and we arrived at the gate at exactly 10:30, our scheduled arrival time. We looked at our connecting boarding pass and we were scheduled to leave at 11:08 from gate C48.
Well, anyone who has traveled Atlanta a/p knows this will be no easy feat to make the trek in this time. Upon checking the board as we left the plane, we noticed that there was a gate change to D31. We wanted to verify this information since on our original flight to Orlando the board and out ticket were not in agreement but our ticket was actually correct, so we did not know what to believe. We stoped and asked airport pesonnel what gate we should be going to and he said the one marked on the ticket.
Off we went in a big hurry to C48. After 15 minutes, I arrive at gate C48 only to be told that it is D31. I asked for help and the counter person in a short tone said I cannot communicate with other gates and you are just going to have to hurry and they wiill not hold any flights. This I later find to not be true about speaking with other gates, she was just not worried about helping me. (LAZY)
Now off to my next gate, D31. Please remember my wife and 14 year old daughter are following as close as they can but I am trying to just get to the gate to let them know we are here. I again make the trek to gate D31 only to arrive at 11:00 straight up and the electric board says "closed". I could see the plane sitting on the ground at the end of the tunnel with the ramp still hooked right up to it, the counter person there again would do nothing to help me and said it is closed.
Instead of making a huge scene, which is what I guess I should have done, I accepted her assessment of the situation and took her advise and went to D24 which is the customer help counter, ya right. There, two very nice ladies asked if there was a problem, where do I start. We went through the whole story and this is where I learned that the gates can speak together and this person would be talked to. This really does my family alot of good at this point. Know one helped me and we are now stuck in Atlanta.
We just wanted to get home, but this is what we got instead... A $50 voucher each and $7 to eat and seats booked on a 6:30 flight and the opportunity to go standby at 1:30 or 4:00. Mind you, we got no special treatment or priority for seating or moved to the standby list on any flight just a regular joe that is going standby.
Remember, Delta personel caused this little issue by not making one call to a gate. Basically, I know Delta will not give us any other consideration or money for us being over 8 hours late coming home for their mistake and their poor customer service. My family and friends that I have already spoke with have already said they will not use Delta either.
The trip was a huge shock, going from Disney World, where I have never really seen that high level of Customer service to Flying Delta Airlines and seeing such a low level of customer service and the attitude to go with it. They really did not care about me after a 50.00 voucher. I will be sending those back to Delta, you could not pay me to fly with them.
Bottom line here is Delta over books to just get our money and then just lets things wash out at the airport. I know most airlines do this but I am strictly speaking about Delta here. The agent at gate C48 in Atlanta at 10:45 am could have called the agent at gate D31 to let them know we were here and on our way. The plane would have been 5 minutes late closing the door. They would have gone over and above with customer service and made some loyal customers. Let's see what they have now.
My wife does travel bookings with her work, they won't ever use Delta. I work with a travel related industry business, I will make sure everyone I speak with from the east to west coasts knows of my experience and Delta just wants the money and if you make it you were just lucky. Yep Delta, you sure know how to do Customer service right.
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