xolinlevh

So my flight yesterday MSP-MCI was delayed nearly an hour due to the pax counts being off. Multiple announcements, recounts, reconnected the jet-bridge and had GAs come on board to assist. Eventually after 40ish min they found out a non-rev had boarded and not scanned their pass. Apologies were offered but no explanation (only reason i know what was going on is he was sitting right behind me and I overheard it all). We were wheels up about 1 hour after our original departure (for a flight that usually only takes 1 hour....).

Im debating complaining, since clearly the GA somehow missed an entire person just walking onto the plane, and the non-rev should really have known how the boarding process works....but I'm not sure who's fault this would be considered and if its even worth it? GA for missing or pax for slipping past?

Often1

It's DL's fault and not for you to assess within DL who is responsible. Perhaps some IT hardware procurement person for purchasing gate readers which missed a scan?

Either way, I would simply send DL a note pointing to the 40-minute delay to rectify a head count issue on a smallish (320/319/-900/717) aircraft.

kop84

It could have just as easily happened with a regular passenger. From my understanding it's surprising the number of people who somehow are able to board the wrong plane....but I suppose it's almost equally surprising it doesn't happen more often considering the millions of boardings every year combined with the plethora of languages people speak who get on DL flights every year

bubbashow

Why on earth would you complain? Delays happen for a variety of reasons. I can hardly recall a flight where the gate agent doesn't come aboard and ask passenger xxx to ring their call button if they are onboard. The fact is was a non-rev is COMPLETELY irrelevant in this situation. If you can suck up an hour delay, you probably shouldn't be flying.

WScottsdaleInsider

This sounds like an issue with the computer that caused the delay, most likely they had to gate check their bag, however the passenger was never scanned on the plane.

Allan38103

The delay was due to Delta. If you're so inclined, complain as much as you want. You should expect at least a generic "We're sorry" letter. Maybe they will throw some valuable miles your way.

SJC ORD LDR

The only time this is worth a complaint IMO is if this causes a mis-connection that causes you to spend the night away from your final destination.

NotHamSarnie

Only if the NRSA was in F

saxman66

This could happen for a myriad of reasons and the fact it was a non-rev is pretty irrelevant. Either way, the boarding pass didn't get scanned for whatever reason, so it's not really any particular persons fault. Complaining isn't going to do any good.

ijgordon

Well, IMO the GA should be responsible for ensuring that every passenger that walks onto the jetway has scanned a boarding pass and the scan registers (I think it shows the pax name/seat on the screen). But alas there are examples of pax boarding the wrong flight or even stowaway pax getting on board (IIRC a little kid has done it, and a woman from Chicago I think has done it multple times). So it's not failsafe, but that doesn't absolve DL or the GA of responsibility IMO.

One might also think a non-rev employee would have heightened responsibility for ensuring the same (as opposed to a regular passenger), but not all non-revs are employees.

And lastly, if the BP scanner beeped and recognized the passenger, but it still didn't register in the system or on the manifest, well, then it's a DL IT issue.

jdrtravel

Mistakes happen, and Delta is clearly aware that this happened.

What I don't understand is why it took so long to figure out. If the count was off, they should have been able to announce names of PAX who were checked in but not boarded. Was this nonrev somehow not checked in? Are there situations where non-rev pax can just walk up to a flight and not first be checked in?

Burj

You have every right to complain. As others have mentioned, leave the NRSA out of the complaint. The problem is that Delta should be able to keep track of how many, and who, is on their planes. If there is a headcount issue, it should NOT take an HOUR to fix the problem! Of course someone within Delta knows this happened, but without customer complaints it becomes too easy to down play the problem.

jamiestr

I'm curious as to how they found out.

mnredfox

anonymokus