lucycan

I'm currently sitting on my 8th segment in the last 7 days and I must say its been discouraging.

1) Ive had no WiFi on 5 of the segments. I sent in an email and they said "aww thats too bad, call GoGo". Really?? Its not DLs problem anymore?
2) Check in at SFO this morning was the worst I've seen in years. Even though it was nearly empty. The first person I went to (in the Sky Priority Line) said he was not interested (his actual words) in helping me. He only cared about checking bags. There was no one in the baggage line either. I went down to the special services person and she snapped at me "whats your trip locator number" after I handed her my ID. When I nicely asked if she could look it up from my name and destination she seemed totally put out and was rude the rest of the exchange. Wow.
3) On my flight BOG to ATL on Sunday there was a thick layer of white dog hair and some urine on my seat. When I asked the crew member to assist (we were about 30 min from departure) they told me there was nothing they could do. I asked for some napkins and they said they had no time to locate any. There were no open seats.

I sent all of these into the complaint line and got a "Thank you for being a Million Miler / Diamond and a member since 1991, have a nice day". Nothing!

...?

DeltaFirst

Yup, I've sensed the culture slowly changing in a bad direction myself. It hasn't been the same since Richard Anderson left.

lonelygod

#MeToo . I voiced a complaint that the FA in the first class DTW-SFO never refilled a drink and just had the curtain on and played her cellphone. Delat customer care did call back and said "we're sorry and we'll share this with the leadership team." I thought they used to throw some miles...

dinanm3atl

So far so good this year overall. Most of the time I am asleep during the flight and don't really care about a beverage before departure. I have had some REALLY bad check-in problems(IE speed and friendly staff) at MCO. 3 different times there were rude agents demanding boarding passes and to confirm Sky Priority(if I even used that lane) before even making it to the lane.

Then one tried to FORCE me to Sky Priority which was 30+ deep when there was 2 people in baggage drop. "You have to use SP". No I don't. I am just dropping a bag why would I stand in a line of 30 people with one agent when there are 2 people waiting and 2 agents working standard baggage drop...

MCO Flyer

indufan

Oh for crying out loud, people whined and complained her the entire time Richard Anderson was the CEO.

GRALISTAIR

Yep - I got a laugh out of this one. Standard modus operandi of FlyerTalk.

The Situation

I think there are a wide array of opinions about RA. There is the group that think he destroyed Delta and there are the group of people like me, who started flying DL during the mid-2000's because it was the least bad option. From what DL was when I started flying them, to when RA left, I saw a steady improvement in service every single year. I for one, thought RA did an A+ job, making an airline of all businesses profitable, and improving the experience for customers substantially, even with the horrid 739s that were introduced under his watch. Under Ed Bastian, quality has leveled off, except for meals, which have taken a nosedive. You get a bad egg here and there, but overall the people at DL still do a marvelous job. I am very concerned that the nosedive in meals is an indication that other aspects may be going downhill soon as well. I am doing my best to make DL aware that the decline in meal quality is unacceptable in hopes that it improve. I will wait for a year or two to see if meal service improves or other services begin to decline before making a determination on his performance.

lucycan

They must be listening because on my last segment today they both 1) left C+ wide open as the only two seats left on the plane. The app clearly shows me first on the list with 2 seats left. The FA refused to let anyone sit there. 2) They lost my luggage.

Not sure how much more I can handle.....

HWGeeks

It's been going downhill since the NW merger. I kid.

but out of curiosity how many complaint rewards do you get a year? Maybe op capped. Or are they unlimited?

miraclebear2003

Reading your post reminded me that I haven't seen them guard the line in a while. It should be better now that they have made their final move, I believe.

I think they are always pleasant and helpful. The last time we were late because of traffic and parking and I didn't know if we were going to make the 45 minute cutoff. I was able to get someone's attention and say we had less than five minutes and they got someone to check us in. Parking is a problem by midweek and yesterday we created a space so we hope the car is there when we get back.

ATLflyer2017

Honestly with flying, there is so little consistency in the various airports, regional carriers and aircraft. Generally I find Delta to be way ahead of the crowd. I find it difficult to believe that any company that large could ensure a consistent experience across the country and even the world! That being said I try to be understanding and generally don't like to complain over the little things. Richard Anderson did great things for Delta despite the constant hate he got on this forum. I don't write off a CEO for purchasing the 739 (I doubt a CEO has too much say in the choosing of a configuration).

hotturnip

Being forced to sit in the dog-pee seat seems a pretty serious offense. I thought that passenger safety was DL's highest priority? That's pretty insanitary. I'd continue to pursue that one. Spread it on social media--that should get their attention.

wlau

I am glad someone else noticed this besides me... Very notable slip of service in the last 4-5 months. I do long trips and need to pack my suit, so I always check a 24" luggage. Almost every flight, the Sky Priority line is so incredibly long and they got one agent working the counter. The line police seems to want to challenge my right to use SP line and one even said the new plastic DM bag tag is fake because they are supposed to be metal. I told the genius to contact their own corporate because all tags are now plastic. When I decided to change to non-SP line, the idiot told me to stay in the long SP line, as if SP status is intended to punish you... Diamond desk has way more rude and unhelpful agents lately, no matter how nice and polite I am.... A lot of delayed flights and missed connection than before as well...

Especially that I travel overseas, the service difference at oversea's out station versus in the US check-in counters are so obvious...

Consider most of DL employees got a nice bonus from Trump tax cut, you'd think they would be happier...but I guess not.

kpbadger

I've been a Delta fan enough to achieve DM but I'm not as hardcore of a road warrior as many people here. I have also noticed a recent marked decline across the board over the past month. My observations over the past month:

- IFE was completely broken on ATL-BON (4+ hour flight, RU). FAs promised compensation but never came around to take FF numbers.
- 4 most recent meals in first class: Only one breakfast was of decent quality (RY). The choices were cold sandwich or cold salad on a 1900 mile afternoon flight (BON-ATL, paid F) and a 1100 mile dinnertime flight (AUS-MSP, RU) despite planes being equipped with ovens. On MSP-SFO (1500 miles, paid F) dinner was an underwhelming turkey croissant (which was warmed) or a cold salad.
- SFO sky club, ~10:30 pm, had no clam chowder (only one soup was out, the spot where the clam chowder normally is was empty, no staff around)
- MSP F/G sky club, ~9:30 pm, nearly all of the food had been removed despite sky club not closing until 10:00 pm
- MSN-MSP, no water bottles at first class seats at boarding, no pre-departure beverage. We were delayed an additional 30 minutes by ATC. So the first beverage service of any kind was 60+ minutes after boarding.
- DTW-ATL, rebooked due to IRROPS and not checked in correctly by the DM line. Twitter reps said I was on UG list but when I arrived at DTW all 9 upgrades had cleared (me not on list). At the end of boarding there was 1 seat left and I was 1st on the list but red coat refused to upgrade me. Customer care's response was to tell me they'd raise the issue to management of the social media team and make excuses for not getting the first class seat. Followed by addressing me by the wrong first name (obvious copy-pasta error) when telling me how valuable I was. No compensation for incident.
- DTW main skyclub, ~3:00 pm on a Saturday, meatballs and mac and cheese were both empty and not replenished in the 30 minutes I was there
- DTW-MSN, I was 2nd on UG list (despite using a RUC, more on this later). At end of boarding I asked if F had boarded full and GA said yes. When I boarded 1C was empty. Noticed a bit later that available seats went from 0 to 1, and then immediately the standby cleared to 1C (with a hug for the FA when boarding). I happened to sit next to the 1st on the list, who was not using a RUC (so my RUC was apparently mis-applied), and he also noticed the YBYL/shena.

I realize that many of these could go in the "least substantial things you could complain about" thread, but the sheer volume of them suggests a pattern.