Well first of all, let me just say that I'm appalled by the horrible customer service standard Delta is accustomed to..

I know complaining will make no difference, but it's still nice to share my experience.

I planned my journey to california this January from Italy (Milan) and because I'm not too fond of Alitalia I decided that my options would have been CO or DL. My only fault had been not double checking the connecting time when booking my itinerary with delta.
I flew DL from MXP (DL 85) to LAX via JFK, although i'm a frequent traveller i do not get the chance to visit the US that often, so I did not immediately realize that the time allowed for connecting in JFK had to be sufficient to clear immigration and re-check in my suitcase (although it would have been tagged for my final destination).

Well eventually I realised this, and being the connecting time 85 minutes I thought that it might have been a good idea to check if it was sufficient for going throught the whole process at JFK or else ask DL to re book me on a following connecting flight to LAX ... YOU KNOW, just for peace of mind and have no surprises with hotel reservations and car rental in Los Angeles.

Guess what, after writing tons of emails to DL's customer service, calling DL Italian reservation number, and DL's international reservation desk all I got as an answer, after making clear my concerns, was "It's a guaranteed and scheduled connection, we sell it, therefore you shouldn't worry" or " we can't help you". That really didn't convince me much, as one of the delta customer reps regretfully admitted that my connection was illegal, but the she also stated that MCT does not apply to same ticket itineraries! ?!?!?!?!?!?!?! is it me or it's simply bonkers?!?

well the flight from Milan itself was uneventful (and strangely departed on time) but somehow due to "wind" problems we magically ended up arriving 1 hr late in JFK... still
now, the funny thing was, the crew was not aware of being behind schedule, at the arrival in JFK i found out that half the people on DL85 had my same problem ie. IMPOSSIBLE CONNECTIONS (even provided DL85 arrived in JFK on time) given that only immigration took 1hr (having cut lines). People lost connections for LAX, san diego, las vegas and so on... all having originally scheduled flight well under the MCT or just a whisk above it (OK I KNOW IT DOES NOT APPLY TO SAME AIRLINE SAME TICKET ITINERARIES... ).

To add more shame to that, the delta staff shepherding travellers (literally shepherding) at immigration appeared to be only able to answer one single sentence "i'm sure you need to catch your flight, but you still need to clear immigration!!!!!".

now, provided american airports are mostly segmented in terimals held and organized by the airlines themselves. provided that the whole of JFK T3 is managed by delta. I assume delta would know in advance how many incoming flights it had on the given day (with specific regards to intercontinental ones), not to mention the amount of passengers arriving expecting tight connections( being these sold by delta).
what exactly is wrong with this airline?!?!?!


they sell illegal connections, they refuse to re-book you to a more human schedule, they refuse to provide any assistance locally in order to allow you with the minimum hope of making your connection and not apologizing for this a single bit, knowing in advance that the transfers are laughable not to mention impossible (at least at that time of the day in JFK!!!)))
not to mention that T3 itself was a disgrace..
the immigration looked like a queu for a concentration camp... it was only missing a sign saying "arbeit macht frei"!!!

a clearly pregnant lady just ahead of me at immigration was fainting and all the delta staff could say was "she still needs to wait and go through immigration",........ we eventually got her clear immigration in front of the whole queu after argueing with the hopeless and useless delta reps. (they might have well saved the money for hiring these ppl as they were clearly a nuisance!!!) god, two booths open for non-us passports and three times as many for US??

well shame on you delta! what is wrong with this airline.. why on earth are they allowed to even sell these tickets. I can only imagine what would have happened if no seats turned out to be available on the following flight to LA that evening as that was the last delta flight out of jfk of the day!!!!!!!!!

delta never again...
i'm used to misso connections with alitalia, but it's actually better than this! at least they are legally bound to provide you food, compensation and shelter depending on the delay due to misconnection.
DL apparently, being US airline does not even have such legal obbligations! it's all up to their "generosity" to "get you there" eventually.. (infact one of our fellow passengers departed from milan, missed his connection with delta for san diego and was therefore diverted to LAX and finally told to make his own arrangements as no other flights were available....... I suppose he rented a car and drove in the middle of the night hundred of miles to arrive in san diego on time for his meeting........)
no decency here huh?