VegasJosh

I think a more appropriate title and them might be "delta made a mistake" and that you might have made your flight, but in reality they did re-book you on a different airline, and got you to that airport. I would say they care a lot, maybe they did not handle it the way you wanted but they did care and attempt something. I would give my 400 voucher back if I did not have to due 24 in Narita.

rgdave

I haven't read this whole thread (it's very long), so someone may have said this before. But overall I give kudos to DL's NRT team when there are IRROPS. IMHO they're the most proactive in the DL system. I've had two misconnects at NRT, and both times what seemed like an army of DL staff were ready and waiting for us with alternate arrangements already made (rebooking on another flight in one case, overnighting at NRT in another.) On the overnight, there was a DL rep at the hotel the next morning with our boarding passes already printed for the flight to JFK.

Powers106

Well, I have been a WorldPerks/Skymiles member since about 1983 (actually tried to look that up in my profile but wasn't sure where to find it) but only have approx. 700k lifetime flight miles so I guess I have future surprises in store. Up til last year I was splitting time between UA and Delta and Emirates, but when the UA route turned into a bus service in biz and then was canceled, and also I stopped flying into Iraq, I re-focused on Delta. I really like Delta, love the soon-to-be-phased out 747's and the upper deck and overall give them high marks. I hand out all my Job Well Done certificates every year, even add a few extra comment emails when I run out. So I understand that everything doesn't always go swimmingly, there are glitches at times.

I don't think that is a free pass for failure. This example was just very, very stark - everyone so pleased they got the people to Taipei and I think that is why the pilots were kind of chuffed by that, forgetting they didn't get 12 of us on our way. I seem to be in a very small minority based on this thread that if I am spending my money and getting inferior service then I will complain. The red herring is the safety issue, that of course overrides everything and applies to the passengers that made their connection too, but that isn't the reason we didn't make it. We were just placed on lower priority for hustling us through to our flight than the other passengers, maybe due to small numbers or an oversold flight, who knows. Still clear they made an effort for one group, and not ours.

OHDL1

"Still clear they made an effort for one group, and not ours."

LOL...life just ain't fair...is it?

I bet you wouldn't have given a hoot if it was your flight that was held
and the 40 didn't make it.

NotHamSarnie

I actually understand your frustration, OP, but in this case I think the ground staff were proactive in making your delay less painful than it would have been, booking you on the ANA flight and even having BPs ready for you on arrival. Compare this with the usual situation of a line of people queuing to speak with a GA to get booked on some route, getting permission to fly them with another airlines, all this after the PAX have been many hours on the plane after a long ground delay the other end. Arranging all that requires invoking some inter-airline agreements between DL and ANA for inconvenienced PAX. While I don't know the details of payments etc when this happens, I should imagine reversing that process is not painless for DL. If you had arrived 20 minutes later you would probably have been thrilled with this arrangement.

In your case, the 6 hours between DL and ANA departures were pretty devastating because you had to go straight to your meeting without making it to your hotel for some shuteye, but think how much worse it would have been if you had to spend part of the 6 hours in NRT rebooking your connections. This way you could go chill in the lounge and maybe even sleep a bit.

The pilots were undoubtedly pleased with themselves for making up most of the delay, making most PAX happy, and their exuberance appeared like rudeness to you. They were probably taken aback by your unhappiness and didn't respond as you would have liked - but it's worth considering that the world doesn't revolve entirely around you and your plans, and from their perspective this was Job Well Done.

Deadtail

Pilots fly the plane. You blamed them for the delay. This is because you ignorant beyond words.

andymo99

Pot. Kettle. Black.

stylo4444

What? How do you know they made an effort for one group and not the other? Just because one group was able to make their connecting flight while you were not? Did you not read anything I said the very likely reasons of what happened in this situation? I don't even know why I asked that, because it's clear you did not.

You don't know what goes on behind the scenes. Do you really think someone in DL operations is back there thinking "well, that Taipei flight has 40 people connecting...we need to definitely delay it for them, but this Bangkok flight only has 12 so I'll just hold off on this. Or I'll pass it on to that operations guy sitting right there and, this one isn't that important right now." Operations went as far as putting you on another airline to get you to your final destination, an airline that is not their own, and one that likely cost them to rebook you. How is that not an effort? How is that not considered priority?

You are not in any small minority...many of us believe that if we are not getting the service we paid for, that we have the right to complain. But what you are complaining about, what your reasoning is, what your thought process is, and with you blaming the pilots...and then claiming that DL did nothing for you or put you in a lower priority, yeah...you're in a very small minority. Delta did not fail you on this, even though they'll apologize for the inconvenience caused...but you failed as a reasonable and understanding "experienced" passenger. You failed big time.

Zamees

Took me 9 minutes from Door Open, through security and on plane for MNL.
Delayed JFK -> NRT, left 22 mins to connect, there were ushers helping rush others to the plane, but plane waited for everyone.

Powers106

Yes, that is exactly what I think happened. The ops guy rebooked us, filled our seats and from that point forward there was no chance of making the flight, while they held the other earlier departing flight for the big group. Life sucks, I'm over it but for the compensation part, and already on another continent (flew Thai lol).

But I still think flyertalk.com is a good place to raise issues like this, whether we agree on it or not. I think Delta dropped the ball here, deeming one group of passengers worth a flight delay and another not - I'm sure they have some sort of economic calculation they use so it isn't "personal" but it does impact individuals.

I will just add, that while (at least one of) the pilots was snarky, the Delta ground staff was very polite and helpful, the manager in particular, but just not empowered, the decision having been made many hours beforehand apparently.

cmn.jcs

Are you deliberately ignoring the evidence that no one's flight was held? And the potential that a delay on the BKK flight would have impacted a lot more people downstream?

Powers106

What evidence?

The flight landed in BKK 10 minutes early per flightaware, they had some room in the flight time it would seem.

stylo4444

Those pilots flew you 10 hours across the Pacific and got your safely to your first airport, which was your transit point. A pilots job and priority should be getting you to your destination safely, even if it means you are going to be late. What happens afterwards, whether it is you connecting to your destination, getting off in Tokyo, or anything else...they are not responsible for.

Once again, you keep ignoring anything I told you. You believe they did this because you were not deemed a priority. Yet what you don't understand is how piloting hours work and the limitations in order to ensure passenger, cabin crew, and flight crew safety. So keep thinking that they sat back for a few hours before you arrived in Tokyo, punched in some revenue numbers into their calculator, played some Solitaire, and then decided that you're just not a priority and that they'll go through the effort of just booking you on a completely different airline and still getting you to your destination, only 6 hours later. These decisions are made with all the factors taken into consideration that I mentioned in my previous posts...and NOT with anything that you mentioned. Nada.

Please stop using the word "snarky", now I'm pretty sure you don't even know what that means.

stylo4444

Who cares if the flight arrived 10 minutes early??? You don't think that can happen?? Maybe wind directions changed in BKK that allowed for a shorter approach, maybe on the ground in Tokyo the pilots had a shorter taxi time and their departure slot changed from the usual time. And just because it arrived in BKK 10 minutes early does not mean there was no delay on the ground getting them into the gate.

If you actually think that just because a flight arrived 10 minutes, the airline could have delayed that flight by 10 minutes and allowed you to make your flight, you're a bigger idiot than I thought.

ShivasIrons

+1