justhere

It's not a mistake but it does help when you include all the facts. Your OP says nothing about a second contact with DL and what they said after that contact.

Am I reading this correctly that saved about 3 hours by flying to DCA rather than BWI? In retrospect, was it worth the hassle to go to DCA? And I mean no disrespect in asking. I know I've made decisions in the past trying to second guess my way to where I was going and should have just stuck with the simplest solution even if it meant waiting a couple more hours.

DLrunner

The OP did not mention anything about a second contact with DL since that happened after I contacted this forum and I was told to write to DL. There was no contact with DL till I asked here.

I think it was worth coming to DCA since that got me home 7.5 hours late instead of 9.5 hours later

rjnsystems

Send a thoughtful and exact email to Beth Reed and you will get some response, I agree with those FT'ers who say to let Delta know what your issues are. I had a flight delayed 6 hours and when we boarded they handed me a $50.00 voucher and would have given me a flight food voucher but I was already in FC. They also gave me 2500 miles in my account.

Give them a chance to help before reacting.

eyeguyNOLA

Yesterday, my wife and I flew LGA-MSY DL 2463 (7.30pm N/S). Flight departed on time and entered a holding pattern outside of MSY due to t-storms in the area. After 45 minutes, captain announced that we would divert to BTR for fuel. While approaching BTR, captain announced that weather radar is inoperable and it would be evaluated in Baton Rouge while plane was getting fuel. Land at 1030pm. After 10-15 minutes, captain announces weather radar is in-op and we cannot fly into MSY with out it, so we would deplane in BTR and DL ground staff would make arrangements.

The DL ground staff appeared to be a baggage service rep, who worked for Delta Connection and in his mid-20's who was most definitely not prepared to handle about 115 aggravated travelers. I took him aside and suggested that hiding in the baggage room would not be the best approach in the current situation. Finally, after a few phone calls, he stood on the baggage conveyour belt and announced that buses would be arriving from New Orleans to take all of us there. At 1230am, after we had been off the plane for over 90 minutes, bus arriveds, loaded up, and delivered our masses to MSY. About 50% of the people arranged cabs for $150-170 one way.

After loading the bus, the DL agent informed us we would be met by a DL agent in New Orleans, who would assist in arranging transport, etc. We arrived at MSY at 215am, and no DL agents or cabs to be found. After another 20 minutes to get taxicabs, got home around 3am.

So, in summary DL mismanages this situation -- leaving an inexperienced kid to deal with so many displaced passengers rather calling either the BR station manager or the MSY station manager. The weather divert is understandable, but the mechanical component? And I spoke with the flight crew as they were equally in the dark about their schedule. Apparently, they could not get fuel as no one could get the fuel truck. They were instructed to fly the plane to Memphis, but were going to stuck in BTR.

After getting to MSY, I checked the schedule and I think that the other DL flights (from ATL) arrived, albeit delayed. Hence, we were the only one unable to arrive, perhaps because of the inop weather radar.

So, would this be strictly a weather delay or does it have some portion of a mechanical, thus allowing compensation? Thanks for reading such a long post.

(I haven't done my sig file yet, but DL Plat, held short of DM by 1200 miles last year.)

mikeef

Wow, this is a tough one, but I'd argue that you are due compensation. While the proximate cause of the issue was weather, it was a mechanical problem that affected your plane exclusively. Sounds like about a four hour delay with a fair amount of aggravation. If no plane had been able to land because of the weather, that would be one thing, but you guys had a mechanical that prevented you from completing a flight that you would have otherwise (even with the weather stop). I'm going with about 10K miles as the appropriate compensation, mostly because I have a personal vendetta against airlines that tell passengers that employees will be there to help them just to get rid of them.

Delta will probably see it as a weather delay and send you a form letter totally unrelated to your complaint. Keep at them to get some compensation.

Mike

fromYXU

Not a tough one at all. You are due compensation. Contact DL and ask for some miles. Don't be vague.

As far as MSY, no need for station managers to handle taxis. A quick call and cabs should arrive to deal with you guys. This is not a point I would complain about.

motytrah

I had a similar situation on a fog divert when EYW had a rare fog issue. We ended up in MIA. The MIA folks ran around like a chicken with their head cut off for about 2 hours.


Talking to the ground crew in MIA the issue at hand seemed to be a lot of red tape once IRROPs happen. They couldn't just call a bus without getting approval first. They didn't know the plane was diverting to MIA until it had already landed (keep in mind that the pilot knew and loaded fuel for a MIA divert before taking off). I think the reason why DL fails during IRROPs is the same reason the Red Coats don't work. I can only conclude that the company culture doesn't trust employees to make good decisions.

I can see how the OP's situation turned into a comedy of errors.

In our case, we finally got the bus. The folks in MIA had the good sense to call the EYW and tell them a bus was heading their way. About 3 minutes after the bus unloads we were swarmed by Taxi's.

Given the MX, I think the OP is due some comp.

eyeguyNOLA

I didn't think a station manager was really needed to receive the bus in MSY. However he might have handled the situation much better in BTR than the DL Connection employee who was forced to. (And to be honest, he did a pretty decent job in "hostile territory" for the first time, albeit with a little coaching.)
My frustration lies in that had we anticipated no one waiting at MSY, most of us on the bus would have called taxi's as we approached the airport.

Hm, so 10k in miles is fair compensation? -- in the past that would have been about 40% of a domestic saver ticket. However, I seem to rarely find tickets below 32.5k now.

DLrunner

I sent Beth Reed a mail yesterday. I will wait a week before I decide if I need to go to BBB. Will keep the board posted.

Thanks for all your help.

edscholl

you didn't ask for a taxi voucher?

DLrunner

I did ask for a Taxi voucher.... they said that they could give me only a meal voucher and I would need to call the 1800 number for every thing else.

DLrunner

Got a reimbursement for my taxi charges, above the TCV. I consider that fair compensation. Thanks for all your help.

tholzer

BBB? Wow, you make me laugh.
Whether or not they should provide more compensation, is a different question than whether they are legally responsible (which would merit a BBB claim).
If a person feels compelled to file a BBB complaint over something like this, I might not want them as a customer.

generaltao

At the risk of triggering another laughing fit, isn't there a contract of carriage that says DL will take the pax from A to Z on these dates?

fti

Well, they are not your customer so it really doesn't matter. You will never know if you are dealing with him since you don't know who he is if you met him on the street tonight

I don't believe that complaints to the BBB solely need to deal with legal issues. I complained to them about a tour operator one time that canceled my tour 2 hours before departure. They had no clearly-written cancellation policy (my mistake for not asking when I booked). But this is a poor business practice and getting the BBB involved helped the company to see that perhaps this was not in their best interests. We had to agree to disagree, but the point is that BBB complaints are not always regarding whether something is legally due them.