Delta deems NRT-BKK passengers unimportant
Oct 10, 2014, 3:23 am
#62
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Oct 10, 2014, 6:00 am
#64
Join Date: Apr 2007
Programs: AA, DAL, blah, blah, blah...The usual.
Posts: 646
I didn't see this brought up in the previous 4 pages...
I would wager that the OP (+11)'s seats on the original flight out of NRT were LONG gone before the plane ever pushed back. As soon as the decision was made in Atlanta that the Delta flight would not arrive in time for their connection, the OP was rebooked on the ANA flight and those original seats were released, and subsequently occupied.
I wouldn't have mattered if the flight was held for ten minutes, the OP would have arrived to a fully-booked aircraft.
IMHO, the OP responded to a first-world problem in a third-world manner.
I would wager that the OP (+11)'s seats on the original flight out of NRT were LONG gone before the plane ever pushed back. As soon as the decision was made in Atlanta that the Delta flight would not arrive in time for their connection, the OP was rebooked on the ANA flight and those original seats were released, and subsequently occupied.
I wouldn't have mattered if the flight was held for ten minutes, the OP would have arrived to a fully-booked aircraft.
IMHO, the OP responded to a first-world problem in a third-world manner.
Oct 10, 2014, 8:56 am
#67
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Our flight 2014-10-07 from PDX (Portland) to Tokyo NRT was delayed by 2.5 hours by a mysterious mechanical issue (after the fact described as a fuel line issue when on the plane) with no announcements as to why.
So we fly out 2.5 hours late from Portland to Narita and somehow manage to arrive at 18:17 for an 18:45 connection to Bangkok but there is zero effort (and I do mean no effort whatsoever) to get the 12 passengers who were connecting onto that flight. All the boarding passes printed to go to ANA flight (including customs, a 1h15 bus ride, and 5 hour wait to take the flight) and absolutely ZERO effort to get us on a flight that could have been delayed by only 10 minutes and everybody would have made it. How do I know? I was rushed through Japanese customs onto a bus to Haneda and was with bags waiting for the bus by 19:02.
Delta Japan made the call that we could not make the flight and made zero effort to help us connect (oh they had already printed ANA boarding passes and lied to us that the plane had already left - unfortunately visible through the windows that it was still there) YET the other connecting flights all made it - they held the planes for Taipei as I understand there were about 40 people connecting to that flight.
The pilots passed by and said "have a good flight" and when I said "your 2 and a half hour delay cost us a 6 hour flight delay, they yelled back "it wasn't us" and LAUGHED as they went up the escalator!
I complained a lot but to no avail, but from being Delta Diamond with about 200k mqm this year it seemed nobody else dared speak up.
Even the Japanese manager (red coat) finally agreed they made a mistake by the time I was put on the bus at 19h10.
Delta doesn't care about passengers connecting, well, at least if you are less than 40.
So other than moving all my flights back to United/Thai/ANA what can I ask for compensation to stay on with Delta beyond burning my 900k miles banked and 30 year loyalty? I mean this seems to me a 75k, 100k mile compensation as they really misfired.
So we fly out 2.5 hours late from Portland to Narita and somehow manage to arrive at 18:17 for an 18:45 connection to Bangkok but there is zero effort (and I do mean no effort whatsoever) to get the 12 passengers who were connecting onto that flight. All the boarding passes printed to go to ANA flight (including customs, a 1h15 bus ride, and 5 hour wait to take the flight) and absolutely ZERO effort to get us on a flight that could have been delayed by only 10 minutes and everybody would have made it. How do I know? I was rushed through Japanese customs onto a bus to Haneda and was with bags waiting for the bus by 19:02.
Delta Japan made the call that we could not make the flight and made zero effort to help us connect (oh they had already printed ANA boarding passes and lied to us that the plane had already left - unfortunately visible through the windows that it was still there) YET the other connecting flights all made it - they held the planes for Taipei as I understand there were about 40 people connecting to that flight.
The pilots passed by and said "have a good flight" and when I said "your 2 and a half hour delay cost us a 6 hour flight delay, they yelled back "it wasn't us" and LAUGHED as they went up the escalator!
I complained a lot but to no avail, but from being Delta Diamond with about 200k mqm this year it seemed nobody else dared speak up.
Even the Japanese manager (red coat) finally agreed they made a mistake by the time I was put on the bus at 19h10.
Delta doesn't care about passengers connecting, well, at least if you are less than 40.
So other than moving all my flights back to United/Thai/ANA what can I ask for compensation to stay on with Delta beyond burning my 900k miles banked and 30 year loyalty? I mean this seems to me a 75k, 100k mile compensation as they really misfired.
The only thing I fault the pilots for is not pointing at you while they laughed.
Last edited by Deadtail; Oct 10, 2014 at 4:59 pm
Oct 10, 2014, 9:32 am
#68
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 223
Last time I tried flying on CX ORD-HKG there was a MX and how did they handle it? They told everyone to go downstairs, pickup their bags and come back tomorrow when hopefully the plane would be fixed. No meal vouchers, hotel vouchers, nothing! They just simply told everyone they're could try submitting their receipts later on and they *maybe* might get refunded.
Oct 10, 2014, 11:29 am
#69
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: Delta SkyMiles PM, Starwood SPG Platinum, Hilton HH Honors, UA MP Silver, EK Skywards Silver
Posts: 652
Hahaha!
Last time I tried flying on CX ORD-HKG there was a MX and how did they handle it? They told everyone to go downstairs, pickup their bags and come back tomorrow when hopefully the plane would be fixed. No meal vouchers, hotel vouchers, nothing! They just simply told everyone they're could try submitting their receipts later on and they *maybe* might get refunded.
Last time I tried flying on CX ORD-HKG there was a MX and how did they handle it? They told everyone to go downstairs, pickup their bags and come back tomorrow when hopefully the plane would be fixed. No meal vouchers, hotel vouchers, nothing! They just simply told everyone they're could try submitting their receipts later on and they *maybe* might get refunded.
I am sure there aren't multiple daily non-stop ORD-HKG flights, I have not checked the route options but I'm going to assume that the United flight left earlier in the day and CX felt it was best to get the MX fixed and then continue the leg.
There really is no situation which we can say it was handled absolutely perfect...different passengers travel for different reasons, some passengers might not be terribly inconvenienced by a 4-5 hour delay, while others will be complaining about a 10 minute delay...some might be traveling for vacation where the mood is more relaxed, others might be traveling for business which is more time sensitive...or for an emergency in which any type of delay is going to be a tense situation. We all can complain about any little thing, and what works for one person in terms of a resolution might not work for another and so on. The OP made it to his destination safely, the airline was able to rebook him on another airline...and for arriving just 6 hours late, I think he made out very well. But again...everyone is going to view these things differently, and airlines are going to handle this differently. The only thing I'd like to point out is that with everything described, I can only assume that DL did the absolute best they could under the circumstances, and that's all anyone can ever ask for.
Oct 10, 2014, 11:52 am
#70
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: SZX/HKG/BWI
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I find it incredibly hard to believe a 35 year loyalist of DL thinks being inconvenienced by 6 hour delay leads to a conclusion that DL thinks an entire flight is insignificant system wide. Either he is the luckiest traveler ever or he is lying about flying with DL/NW for 35 years. That's right, I said it.
Also, UA is not going to bring greener pastures for the OP. What the OP experienced is a cakewalk compared with UA. Of the variety of IRROPs I have experienced while on UA, the best they have done for me in the past 5-6 years has been a CI the morning after at 8:30 am (not BKK but this flight was a missed a connection flight to TPE after connecting through NRT from LAX). I remember we had to do almost everything short of threatening the UA NRT staff to get them to move up from a 3 pm aftenroon flight to 8:30 am. It was only after all 10-13 of us put up a stink, that those seats on the CI flight "became available." Angry and bent all out of shape at a 6 hour delay? Really?
Also, UA is not going to bring greener pastures for the OP. What the OP experienced is a cakewalk compared with UA. Of the variety of IRROPs I have experienced while on UA, the best they have done for me in the past 5-6 years has been a CI the morning after at 8:30 am (not BKK but this flight was a missed a connection flight to TPE after connecting through NRT from LAX). I remember we had to do almost everything short of threatening the UA NRT staff to get them to move up from a 3 pm aftenroon flight to 8:30 am. It was only after all 10-13 of us put up a stink, that those seats on the CI flight "became available." Angry and bent all out of shape at a 6 hour delay? Really?
Oct 10, 2014, 12:14 pm
#72
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I am going to agree with OP here the pilots blew it regardless of how the OP talked to them. The pilots should have simply acknowledged the OP's statement and gone on about their business.
Pilots: "have a good flight"
PAX: "your 2 and a half hour delay cost us a 6 hour flight delay"
Pilots: "We are sorry about the inconvenience the MX caused - hopefully your future flights will be better."
At that point there would be nothing more for the OP to say. As it is the pilots left the OP with ammunition to further complain.
As for the delay … the staff was probably thinking they were being proactive. How often they get it right vs wrong would be interesting. For savvy travelers, especially those sans checked baggage would probably wish they would not be so proactive (as the story above points out).
Pilots: "have a good flight"
PAX: "your 2 and a half hour delay cost us a 6 hour flight delay"
Pilots: "We are sorry about the inconvenience the MX caused - hopefully your future flights will be better."
At that point there would be nothing more for the OP to say. As it is the pilots left the OP with ammunition to further complain.
As for the delay … the staff was probably thinking they were being proactive. How often they get it right vs wrong would be interesting. For savvy travelers, especially those sans checked baggage would probably wish they would not be so proactive (as the story above points out).
Oct 10, 2014, 12:30 pm
#73
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Operations know when a connecting passenger is supposed to get it, at what gate, and if there's going to be a reasonable chance that they will be able to make the connection. Airlines want an on-time departure, once again many things play into exactly how long they can hold a flight for connecting passengers including pilot hours.
Oct 10, 2014, 1:14 pm
#74
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I do not believe this is true. FA's and Pilots coordinate with each other on when the flight is ready for departure. The Pilots are speaking to dispatch/operations and if they are informed that they need to hold the flight for a few connecting passengers, that's what happens. They don't just push back and leave without coordinating anything with operations.
Operations know when a connecting passenger is supposed to get it, at what gate, and if there's going to be a reasonable chance that they will be able to make the connection. Airlines want an on-time departure, once again many things play into exactly how long they can hold a flight for connecting passengers including pilot hours.
Operations know when a connecting passenger is supposed to get it, at what gate, and if there's going to be a reasonable chance that they will be able to make the connection. Airlines want an on-time departure, once again many things play into exactly how long they can hold a flight for connecting passengers including pilot hours.
Oct 10, 2014, 1:33 pm
#75
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: DFW
Programs: Non-Affiliated
Posts: 7,430
I didn't see this brought up in the previous 4 pages...
I would wager that the OP (+11)'s seats on the original flight out of NRT were LONG gone before the plane ever pushed back. As soon as the decision was made in Atlanta that the Delta flight would not arrive in time for their connection, the OP was rebooked on the ANA flight and those original seats were released, and subsequently occupied.
I wouldn't have mattered if the flight was held for ten minutes, the OP would have arrived to a fully-booked aircraft.
IMHO, the OP responded to a first-world problem in a third-world manner.
I would wager that the OP (+11)'s seats on the original flight out of NRT were LONG gone before the plane ever pushed back. As soon as the decision was made in Atlanta that the Delta flight would not arrive in time for their connection, the OP was rebooked on the ANA flight and those original seats were released, and subsequently occupied.
I wouldn't have mattered if the flight was held for ten minutes, the OP would have arrived to a fully-booked aircraft.
IMHO, the OP responded to a first-world problem in a third-world manner.