bobbieharv

On August 30 my husband and I were on DL6327 (operated by Comair) connecting through CVG to SFO, our way to a hiking trip in Yosemite. Suddenly the stewardess announced we had to make an unscheduled landing for unknown reasons at an unknown airport.

We ended up at Huntington, WV, and were put on a 3 hour bus ride to CVG. (We were never told the reason, but a search on my i Phone revealed a generator light had come on.)

We missed our connecting flight, arrived at SFO too late to make the 4 hour drive to Yosemite, forfeited our Yosemite Lodge deposit, and...our luggage didn't make it. (They flew it to Fresno and it arrived the next evening.)

The only compensation we were offered were two $7 lunch vouchers, certificates for headphones or drinks on board, and two $25 credits which could only be used on Delta.com, to which we did not have access for our return trip.

I wrote (hard copy) to Delta customer service (to a Ms. Beth Reed,General Manager, Customer Care - don't know if she's still there), and received the following from Carri Aho, Coordinator, Customer Care:

Please know, I understand the frustration you and your husband
experienced when your plans were disrupted due to the cancellation of our
flight for mechanical reasons. I am truly sorry your travel was adversely
affected and you missed a night at Yosemite Lodge. I can only imagine how
disappointed you both were not to arrive to your destination of choice.
Feedback like you have provided will help us to improve our overall
customer experience. Be assured your comments will be shared with our
Airport Customer Service leadership team for internal follow up.

That said, as a gesture of goodwill, for all your inconveniences with our
canceled flight for mechanical reasons, I will be requesting a check from
our bank in the amount of $230.00 dollars. Please allow up to 30 business
days for the check to arrive in the mail.

This is the way to keep loyal customers.

X3Skier

Nice.

gensuki

I also received nice customer service from Delta today. On Sept. 12, we waited on the runway at JFK for 2 hours before it took off for ATH. I just got home yesterday and opened up a letter from Delta apologizing for the delay and giving me 2500 bonus miles for the trouble. I have only recently flown Delta and I have to admit am very impressed by its customer service.

TechMarauder

For all of the issues I have had with Delta, they do a very good job of responding.. and generally they aren't afraid to give vouchers or miles if there was a real bad problem.

Burj

We can actually thank the merger for Delta's current customer care. This is one area where they were very smart to adopt the NW system/infrastructure.

MemphisQueen

Even when sending a compliment with a "NO" checked for needing a reply, I've always received a personalized response. I also give a big kudos to the CS response team.

BenA

I wasn't going to start my own thread, but I'll piggyback on this one After 30+ troublefree segments, lightning finally struck for me last weekend. I have to say I couldn't be happier with how it was handled by Delta customer service - both in person and on the phone. It's always good to have a reminder that there are reasons other than mileage redemption to fly an airline.

I had to be rebooked twice on this trip, once to resolve an illegal connection in LGA and once to deal with a perfect storm of weather, late incoming aircraft and gate delays that trapped me in Detroit overnight. Everyone I interacted with - the Gate A43 service recovery staff, the SkyClub attendants in DTW, and the absolutely fantastic Chisholm reservations center - all did a fantastic job of getting me back on track and making me feel worth a million bucks to Delta.

Sometimes you just can't avoid things going wrong. I recognize no airline operations are seamless: what matters is how your employees handle it and how empowered they are to fix things on the spot. Universally, in irops situations Delta has done the right thing for me and the airline deserves a lot of credit for it. My sample size is large - on this trip alone I dealt with 4 different agents to fix my itinerary at various stages, and all of them deserve equal kudos.

Especially worth noting: I watched the service recovery center staff at A43 in DTW go above and beyond for a full fare business class traveller - elite on another airline - to try to get him to his destination as comfortably and quickly as possible. I witnessed some seriously out of the box thinking, and he came away looking very impressed by the whole thing.

davetravels

I was stuck on a CRJ-200 for nearly 3 1/2 hours the other day, mostly on the ground, for a DTW/PIT flight. . .

We taxiied out, went back to the gate, had to wait a while for a gate, fix the problem, do paperwork, get ready to leave, problem wasn't fixed, open the door again, wait for the mechanic again, fix it again, paperwork, yada yada. FA brought Biscoffs and peanuts around while on the ground, but no drinks served AT ALL - even in the air! I had already flown in from SFO, and sitting on a CR2 for another 3+ hours, mostly with the seats upright, is cruel and unusual punishment - - and I told the Captain and FO so!! I told him that I completely understand that mechanicals happen, and if it had been a mainline jet - NO problem! My back and tailbone were sore!! The Captain asked me what they could have done differently. I told him we should have been allowed off the plane. It wouldn't take long to re-board 20 some people. He said that the Company told him not to let us off the plane. He was SHOCKED that the FA didn't serve any drinks!!

I was going to send an eMail, but I hear (from here) that calling the new 404 # works better for complaints. What do you think?

SeaBridge

On Sep 28 I was booked on DL 11, LGW-ATL, scheduled for 9 am departure. Shortly after boarding to my M fare business seat, the captain announced a delay to allow for a crane to inspect for physical damage from a lightening strike to the in-bound flight. Being seated upfront, I did not realize that boarding had been stopped and only a few of us were actually on the plane.

The delay stretched on, with more announcements about damage to the electrical system. After a couple of hours, we deplaned to wait for the announced 2 pm departure.

After 2 pm, the flight was canceled. The madding crowd trooped down through an expedited immigration process to retrieve bags and get info on hotel accommodations (the Hilton at the south terminal) and a printed sheet about our new flight: DL 9900 leaving at noon on the 29th.

So on the morning of the 29th, I checked in at about 9:15 for our noon departure, figuring all the DL 11 for the 29th passengers would be long gone -- but noooo. The DL 11 for the 29th was "delayed" (later canceled) and all of them seem to be still milling in line at the DL "F" check-in counters. Thank you Sky Priority line.

Bottom line, the newly created DL 9900 (not the same plane that was struck by lightening) takes off on time and we have an uneventful flight to ATL.

So -- should I receive any compensation? I think not. I am very happy not to fly on a plane with multiple mechanical issues. DL provided hotel with dinner and breakfast, so I had no expenses associated with the delay.

Throwing a few miles my way would be a nice gesture, but I will not be complaining about any of the process. Stuff happens, and the DL staff at LGW rolled with the punches as best they could. Even had a supervisor with a sense of humor staffing the Sky Priority line the next day. ^

X3Skier

I have always had good experiences with Delta Customer Services, until my last two questions through the Sky Miles email system.

Both times, I got multiple answers to a different question than the one I had asked. Either they have out sourced to some place where English is a third language, they are too swamped to really read the question, or it is a semi-canned response via some esoteric artificial intelligence system.

Both times, appeals to higher levels have gotten a reasonable reply but is it really too hard to actually read the question a customer sent in?

Other than that, the rest of the system seems to actually have improved customer service, not to mention the return of the "Red Coats".

Cheers