"Your Flight Has Been Cancelled, But We Are Offering a Bus"
 

Heard on the public address at MSP with regard to flights to Rochester, MN.

Many passengers aren't aware that buried in the conditions of contract with DL, is language similar to the effect that they "may divert you to other modes of transport".

I've had air freight shipments diverted to rail carriage for the same reason.

I used to hear that a lot of flights to LEX out of CVG ended up being bussed.

Only happened to me once, when trying to get to PSC. Bussed in from GEG due to fog

There are whole companies specializing on deferred air freight (Forward Air, for example).

This was very routine back in the NWA days with DTW-FNT/TOL routes. Bus or ground transportation provided with cancellations or delays.

sometimes faster than the next flight.

I once took a bus from BOS-BGR (5 hours or so) because AA downsized aircraft.

My coworker was flying to LAS for CES this year and her flight got cancelled and they were all bused to LAS....not sure if it was DL or not but man I hate that drive!

Bused to LAS from NYC? Man, that is one long drive!

I assume this was LAX-LAS? Any other DL hub-Las would be completely unacceptable by bus.

MSP-RST is only 76 miles, so a bus could certainly be quicker than waiting for the next plane to become available.

Much faster to drive to Rochester than to fly.

The DAY-CVG CRJ-200 routes were constantly offloading passengers for weight and balance in the early 2000s. When I was going to/from college, I can't recall how many times I took a shuttle from one airport to the other and ended up with $400 Delta Dollars. That was when I truly learned to appreciate the Keynesian Economics behind IVDB and the point/miles game.

Late flight LAX-SAN went MX. We were bused. Got there more than 3 hours late and didn't get so much as 1 RDM in compensation, or an apology by email.

DL has bussed people from ATW to GRB (and vice versa) in the past when weather conditions were poor. I've also been sent on bus from PWM-BGR when the BGR flight was cancelled.

At least the bus that runs from Logan to BGR has WiFi.

Sorry yes I meant LAX lol

I assume that a passenger would have the right to wait for the next available seat on a DL flight or alternatively get a complete refund for the segment since when DOT says that mainline to DeltaConnection change counts for this, surely mainline or RJ to bus would be entitled to the same privileges. Many people would prefer to rent a car rather than waiting to be loaded onto a bus and dropped off at the airport anyway. Of course, the logistics for passengers are a bit different when a flight diverts somewhere and the continuation is performed via bus.

OTOH even a short flight earns at least 500 MQMs and 1 MQS plus some RDMs and MQDs, so some people prefer to put such short flights on their ticket and might prefer to accept the bus to ensure SkyMiles credit. I suspect that choosing to rent a car would be considered voluntary and thus not eligible for ORC.