Originally Posted by
GeorgeK
Just to provide a little more info on this....We arrived at the airport at 10:30 am and our flight was scheduled to depart at 1:10 pm. At 1:30 they told us it would be delayed until 2:15. Around 2:00 the captain announced at the gate that they had to find the equipment which would test one of the panel indicators that they were receiving and that the test itself would take about an hour. Then they gave us a lunch food voucher equal to 9 Euros. At approx 3:30 they cancelled the flight and told us that they would be providing buses and hotels as there were no other flights departing from BCN back to the US that day.
We then all had to go down to baggage claim and retrieve our luggage and then we were escorted to the buses. So basically we were at the airport for over 6+ hours. Boarding the buses was a fiasco as there was not one person from Delta nor the bus drivers willing to help load the luggage in the bus storage bins located underneath the bus. My partner and I had a lot of luggage as we were coming off of a 12 day vacation/cruise but we managed. What surprised me though was the old people and how no one from Delta or the bus company helped these people. Fellow passangers were helpding with the loading of the luggage of the seniors, including a nun. This was repeated at the hotel and again the following morning both boarding the bus at the hotel and unloading at the airport.
By the time, we got checked into the hotel it was 6:00 pm and it being Spain the restaurant wasn't schedule to open until 8:00 pm, which of course it really opened at 8:30 pm and DL did provide a good dinner buffer and then breakfast again in the morning.
The next day the buses picked us up at the hotel at 8:30 and we departed BCN at 11:30. Which of course we had to go through the hassle again with the luggage loading an unloading and rechecking in at the airport.
I disagree that just because DL provided bus service, a hotel in suburban Barcelona, and 3 meals is adequate.
Spending the day at the Barcelona airport, loading and unloading our luggage 4 times; losing a day of work (bill rate $150 per hour); incurring add'l personal expenses such as home airport parking, the dog sitter, etc to me does not equal providing a hotel and a few meals. IMHO....600 EUR IMHO for all of this hassle is not unreasonable.
I will keep everyone posted on what DL offers my partner and I.
Your detail here indicates to me that DL did the best they could do in a bad situation.
I was inconvenienced in July but a mx issue followed by weather issues and had to overnight in NYC. Yes, it was inconvenient; yes, I lost a day of my vacation; yes, it was hectic - as the entire airport shut down; and finally, yes, I [only] got 5K miles for it. What I didn't do was go and try to be compensated further for my own personal woes. [This is not to say whether you have or don't have any legal rights in the EU. That is not for me to say.]
Life isn't always predictable or convenient, but you are alive and [I presume] had an enjoyable 12 days prior vacation. I'd be glad of that and move on.
