Yes, you read the title correctly. I am absolutely thunderstruck, dumbstruck, and appalled that any airline, let alone Delta, could allow that to happen.
Background: a close friend of mine recently moved from ANC to BUF. She wasn't sure until the last minute if she could take her dog with her. So, I offered to help as best I could. I arranged to travel with the dog from Anchorage to PDX yesterday (Thanksgiving day) on AS, and then ship the dog by herself on DL to BUF via ATL.
The AS leg went well enough with no problems. I took her to the DL cargo facility in PDX this morning and filled out all the paperwork, made sure the crate had "BUF" plastered all over it, verified that the cargo labels all had the correct flight info on it (DL 1288, connecting to DL 1494), and sent her on her way.
Sure enough, I get the call about an hour ago and she's not in Buffalo. After dealing with three extraordinarly unhelpful people at DL cargo, one of whom even had the audacity to try and sign me up for a Delta American Express credit card after this, I gave up and called PDX cargo where a thinking, intellingent human being graciously tracked down what happened and apologized profusely.
As it turns out, a two and a half hour layover in ATL just isn't long enough for DL to transfer a dog from gate B32 to B2. Both flights were on time. Long story short, DL flat-out screwed up and doesn't have the balls to say it to my face. So, poor Misty is now spending the night at the Atlanta pet facility, which I suspect is hardly akin to a Doggy Hilton, most likely scared s**tless, all thanks to some astounding ineptness by DL in ATL.
The "New Delta" just ensured that "Chugach's Business", both human and canine, is staying with AS and CO for a long time to come.
