Cst2Cst

I have seen ridiculous apologies but never one this bad. This is from Delta for making me get home 4 hours late and putting me on a flight that was delayed beyond my original delayed flight without informing me when making the change!
To give some background: I got to the airport asked about my flight and was told it was delayed by and 90 mins. Instead of going to EWR I asked if they had an ontime for the LGA flight (I was an hour early so this would have gotten me in much earlier). I was told yes and they moved me over. I walked over from the agent to the terminal (10 mins) and the agent there told me it was delayed by two hours (At this point I was pissed cause I wasnt told about this, but benefit of doubt maybe the change just happened). I asked to be put back on my EWR flight since it would mean I wont have to drive through the city for an hour to get home. Was told, no cant do - the flight is full and I cant be given a seat so I can only go on the LGA flight (now I was really pissed off). After talking to the agent for 15 mins to get my old itinerary back I finally gave up and just walked away. In total I was probably delayed over two hours, I got into LGA very late, had to take an hour+ cab (vs. 15 mins from EWR) ride and paid $50+ extra to make it home.

I rarely ever write to customer service because it is almost like hitting my head against a wall but I was pissed off enough to write this time. To be offered a 1000 (the minimum you can buy is 2000) I find it very insulting. Either dont give me anything or if you are going to offer something, offer something substantial. I would much rather Delta offered a genuine apology vs a here we are gonna give you 1000 points. I would have been even happy if she just said, hey we are gonna donate $25 on your behalf to the red cross or something.

Anyone know Ms. Judson's email? I would like to send her a note on what she should do with the 1000 points.
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On behalf of Delta Air Lines, I would like to extend my personal apology for the inconvenience you experienced as a result of the delay of Flight DL2242 on July 19, 2012.

In light of the current state of the economy, and in today's competitive airline industry, travelers expect the best value for their travel dollar. Delta strives to provide this value through a mix of safety, on-time performance, courteous and professional service, and a wide range of destination options. We want to make travel on us a convenient and trouble-free experience for our passengers and I am truly sorry we failed to do so on this occasion.

To demonstrate our commitment to service excellence and as a gesture of apology for our service failure, I am adding 1,000 bonus miles to your SkyMiles account XXXXX. Please allow three business days for the miles to appear.

These bonus miles and those earned on flights and through hundreds of partners can be used toward award travel on Delta, our 25 partner airlines, and at SkyMiles Marketplace, a new program where you can redeem miles for car rentals, hotel stays, merchandise, and more. Please visit us at www.delta.com/skymiles to verify your mileage balance and to gain access to all of our mileage redemption programs.

It is our goal to provide exceptional service on every occasion, and I hope you will provide us with an opportunity to restore your confidence. If you have additional feedback regarding the handling of this flight, I welcome your comments. You can contact Customer Care directly at www.delta.com/talktous.

Your support is important to Delta, our Connection carriers and our SkyTeam partners. We look forward to your continued patronage and the privilege of serving your air travel needs again soon.


Sincerely,
Susan Judson
Director, Customer Care

Cst2Cst

I have one more round trip on Delta already booked and then I should be able to shift my business away to a more customer friendly airline.

OHDL1

Without doing alot of research, it sounds like the delays on Thursday the 19th were driven by weather. Is that the case? I'm sure you can direct your comments back to Ms. Judson at the Delta.com/talktous link or try [email protected].

Crazyhotelguy

If it was weather related, this is a generous offer....

Sounds like you gambled and lost... Suck it up to things happen....

Buckshot

Yeah, I'd have to say if this was the result of IROPS you were the one who took the gamble. I don't see that DL owes you anything, including an apolgy.

Sez_Who

Agreed. OP, you were the one who wanted to change airports. I suppose you would be complaining if DL didn't allow this but they did, you changed, then got caught up in Wx delay. When you wanted to go back to your old flt, it was already full. Haven't heard anything yet suggesting DL made any mistakes or even owes you an apology. IMO, anything you received was generous.

And just curious.... Your profile says AA Plat. Why didn't you just fly with them? Maybe your status would have helped in a situation like this.

AJDelvarno

This is likely why OP feels he/she can throw some smack Judson's way.

I’m still trying to figure out why DL offered you anything. Grease for the squeaky wheel, I guess.

You rolled the dice by changing flights and you lost. It happens. End of story.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

Geez this thread really demonstrates that FT like to blame the OP regardless of the circumstances. I see the OP's point

1. Was not told about the delay until after he was switched - especially as he specifically asked about a non-delayed flight.

2. Delta was happy to move him to a different flight but not back - GA was probably happy to move him cause it was over sold.

3. Crappy canned apology.

MSPeconomist

It also sounds like if the OP's flight into EWR was only delayed by an hour, this is the additional time it would have taken to get home from LGA rather than EWR, so even without the LGA delay, the OP wouldn't have gained very much, if anything, by the change of flight. Even before learning of the LGA delay, this doesn't sound like a very good decision. (In fact, I wonder whether it would be better to try to get into PHL if EWR is impossible.)

waltinsocal

And which more customer friendly airline do you propose to choose? UA which is a mess and is anything but customer friendly if you read the UA forum, AA which is bankrupt or USAir which is well, USAir?

MSPeconomist

Maybe we shouldn't be playing Monday morning quarterback here, but I agree with you.

rwoman

You mean DL, the FAA, or the other airlines do not control the weather and it's impact on flights??

mattsteg

Last Friday, I was on another airline and my flight was delayed for WX. I switched to another flight showing a makable connection, which was delayed another 1.5 hours within a couple of minutes of making the change. In my case, none of the 3 possible connecting flights worked out and the only choice was what city I'd overnight in, but at one point it did look like I'd potentially switched from a winner to a loser.

When big chunks of the route network are all weather-influenced, this stuff just happens. It'd be great if airlines were more prompt about updating delays in their system, but in my experience none of them are particularly close to perfect. These situations are highly dynamic, and it sounds like you got bit by poor luck.

telloh

Because the flight he switched to was delayed after he made the switch.

If Delta was a good airline they would post those weather and mechanical delays a couple of weeks in advance so we could all plan better!

dcline414

I know you jest, but DL is quite bad about informing subsequent flights about cascading delays. IME, Delta will show a flight as on time, even when the inbound plane won't arrive until an hour after the scheduled departure. For this reason, I always try to figure out what the inbound flight number is and track that instead. I also do this before attempting to change flights.