Compensation review
 

Quite a Delta ordeal last week and after complaining to Delta I was offered 9500 skymiles in return. I will give the details below and If anyone could please comment on if you think Delta's response was adequate. Personally it seemed low to me.

YYZ-DTW on Thursday. Taxing to runway and smoke in cabin. Turn back to gate and deplane. No other options for most customers as it is spring break in Canada. Finally take off to DTW around 9 pm ( 6 hours late) and everyone on plane has missed their connections. I had already protected myself through the Medallion line on a flight the next morning.

Get to DTW and mad rush to the Delta CS area for hotel vouchers, rebooking etc. Turns out ours was not the only problem and there is a 2 hour line for hotel vouchers. Luckily I had booked my wife with miles into first and was able to use the SP lane and only wait an hour.

We were given a voucher to the Extended Stay DTW Airport. Shuttle was too small for everyone to get there. Room was filthy and scary. We arrived at hotel after 11 pm so no food available anywhere and the airport restaurants were also closed.

Next morning we go to the airport and stop by Mcdonalds and were told they don't accept the Delta meal vouchers were were given. We then flew to home with no other issues.


Is 9500 Skymiles adequate for this situation? My only comparison was receiving 25000 skymiles for a 12 hour delay on a BE ticket from JNB to ATL.

Thank you

9500 does not seem appropriate to me. You should have received much less.

Seems to me DL did everything right. Mechanical issue -- they fixed it -- set you up in a hotel.

You're complaining about the "shuttle being too small" ?? What exactly should have happened...they need to pick a hotel with a big shuttle bus?

This sounds about right -- hotel, meal vouchers, and 9.5K miles. I would have guessed 12.5K miles, but it is pretty subjective. Delta can't be held accountable for the low standard of the hotel.

I'm sorry you were delayed so long and I'm glad to hear that Delta gave you some mileage compensation. I've sent a few inquiries to Delta about big time delays I've had and the most I received was 1,000 Skymiles. If I were in your shoes I would be happy with 9.5 K miles but I can't exactly compare to many of my compensation experiences because I've never received any compensation close to that magnitude. I've been delayed many times, received hotel and meal vouchers, transferred to airports 100 miles away, slept on floors and baggage carousels, and many other case-by-case scenarios and Delta has mostly blamed something other than their fault as the cause and I usually don't get anything.

To answer your question, yes, I feel that 9.5 K is a generous compensation. I hope my logic helps.

I would say that DL did everything they could to accomodate you. Based on the delay due to mechanical issues, they did give you a hotel voucher. They provided you with food vouchers, none of which, it sounds, you had to fight for to receive (except for a long wait). I recognize it was an inconvenience to be delayed over night and have to deal with these issues but for most of us that travel a lot, these things happen and we learn to deal with them! The fact that DL offered you anything above and beyond was generous as, per the CoC, they met all their obligations to you as a paying pax!