I am glad you had a good Delta experience. This weekend I was not so lucky. My flight from JAN (Jackson, MS) to PHX connecting thru DFW on June 14 was much delayed by weather. We were scheduled to depart JAN at 6:30pm and departed at 9:30. They say all flights are delayed so only the people connecting to Austin would miss the connection. Three hours into our supposed 90-minute flight they announce we would be landing in Austin to refuel and would be on the ground for a short time. They say no one would be allowed off the plane, not even the guy trying to get to Austin. After being on the ground for an hour they let him off and people going to several other close by airports. We again take flight after a 2-hour stay in Austin to refuel. Southwest can land a plan empty it and fill it back up in 30 minutes but it takes Delta 2 hours for a fuel stop. At 3am we have been cleared to land at DFW they tell us then that due to the delays no other flights were departing and agents would greet us to give us assistance. We got off the plan to find 1 Delta agent in the Terminal that is on his way home. He explained it had been a very bad day. As was obvious to us by the hundreds of people asleep on the floor. He announced for us to wait at a service center that would open at 4am with a fully staffed crew. At 4:15 1 Delta employee arrives and helps 1 customer when she announces that she has to go help out somewhere else but others would soon be there to help. I now call the Delta 800 number to find out that they don’t staff DFW until 5am and where the first counter is that will open. I go there and find 1500 people already in line at a half staffed counter where I wait for over 2 hours to have my ticket rubber stamped and am sent to American in a different terminal where they have fully staffed counters and no lines. They probably did not have the same weather delays in those terminals or maybe they care about their customer service. American got to PHX at the scheduled time for that flight and yes they do have more room in coach. Delta on the other had managed to make a 4-hour flight into a 14-hour nightmare.
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