Complaint / Review
Delta Airlines
Northwest Airlines Beware the low fares: they'll get you in other ways

I've had several bad experiences with Delta/Northwest now, and have learned not to be fooled by their low fares (they usually offer some of the lowest fares when I do a Web seach for upcoming travel). Most recent experience: flying out of Madison WI to a job interview in the Northwest. Arrived at the airport an hour before flight, WITH NO BAGS TO CHECK. Encountered a huge line at the counter - apparently, they had 3 fully-booked flights all leaving around the same time. However, I didn't think it would be a problem because I had NO BAGS TO CHECK.
Unfortunately, I discovered that there was no kiosk available for self check-in for travelers without bags. On top of that, they only had 2 agents working at the counter! In spite of the fact that they had 3 full flights leaving shortly. Missed the 30-minute limit for checking in at the kiosk by 2 minutes, literally. Then was forced to wait in another line to have one of the agents try to override the block. This took 15 minutes, and by that time they wouldn't give me a boarding pass for the flight.
The outcome: booked on a second flight, 10 hours later. Charged $50 rebooking fee (which I later appealed and which was not refunded). Missed my job interview. Didn't get the job. There were approximately 20-25 other people who also missed their flights that morning. Some speculation that Delta deliberately had only 2 agents at the counter because the flights were overbooked and they didn't want to reimburse people for getting bumped. Who knows? But a 3rd agent did miraculously appear about 1/2 hour after the flights took off.
Again, this was not my only bad experience with Delta/Northwest. Another time I missed a flight from Seattle by 5 minutes, and ended up being charged $500 for rebooking on another flight. I strongly suspect that they make up for income lost on their low fares by charging penalties/fees at every possible opportunity. Just horrible travel experiences with Delta/Northwest, and will not use them again.interested to see if others have had similar experiences...