Originally Posted by
introspection
Thanks all for your thoughts.
OP reporting back.
First a bit more background. I was in MEM this morning and my end destination is GVA where I have meetings starting at 1030am CET tomorrow.
I was on DL 82 which is marketed as a "1 stop" MEM to CDG service (with a stop and plane change in ATL) and then connecting on AF from CDG to GVA.
When the initial word of the delay came across my flight alerts, I had my travel agent call DL and she was assured that the MEM passengers on DL 82 would get the chance to make the connection to CDG even if the inbound was delayed. At check-in at MEM, the gate agent assured me the same. When I got to the sky club, the story changed, and the sky club agent said that it was likely that the ATL CDG flight (also DL 82) would not wait for the MEM ATL passenger(s) to get there. At this point, I typed the FT post, and most of you confirmed that there would not be any special consideration for IRROPs even though I was originating on the same flight number.
The MEM ATL part of DL 82, landed at 317pm ET at C42 and the ATL CDG part of DL 82 departed at 325pm from E11. Net, I am stranded and am now routing through AMS and then connecting to GVA and will arrive at 1110am CET thus missing the important parts of my meeting.
Lesson learned as it relates to flights that are marketed "direct".
any suggestions on compensation from DL for this would be welcome,
thanks!
It sounds like you were counting on arriving into CDG around 6 am and then taking an intraEU connection (on AF) to GVA, then going directly from the airport to your meeting at 10:30. Any delay would have severely impacted this plan. The schedule was just too tight, even if you had no choice.
Are you sure that 11:10 am is the earliest that you can arrive into GVA? Have you explored connections on other carriers, including not only DL partners AF/KLM/VS, but also LX/LH, BA, etc.? You should be able to get a refund without penalty for your DL ticket and purchase on another carrier, probably at the full J fare, if it's important enough. Also, airport agents (including those in the lounge) typically have more power to make exceptions in IROPs than phone agents do, so I hope you've asked rather than taking without question the alternative your travel agent offered.
You should be able to get a nice goodwill gesture from DL but no "compensation" as such.
BTW, how good is your travel agent? An experienced one wouldn't book such a tight direct flight without warning you of the downside risk, just as he/she shouldn't book a tight connection and assume it's OK because it doesn't violate MCT. Maybe more importantly, an experienced travel agent who has your back would not accept without question the airline reassurances that the TATL flight will be held for you; this isn't the way the system works. Since you were a DM on a paid J ticket (most likely an expensive one that was purchased late), a good travel agent might have been able to use their connections to have the Porsche waiting for you since getting you to the plane this way wouldn't have delayed the departure by very much, especially if you had no checked bags.