DL continues to weaken operationally (Summer 2022 Meltdown)
Jun 20, 2022, 11:14 am
#211
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Atlanta
Programs: Delta Death March, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Plat, Marriott/Hilton Gold Life
Posts: 1,547
As I shared with my wife, we've been very, very lucky in travel. At least for the past 10 years.
Based on this past week, our luck is bound to run out.
Based on this past week, our luck is bound to run out.
Jun 20, 2022, 11:24 am
#212
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: A menace to everything in the sky. Yes. Even birds.
Programs: Eh+ Rapid Rolleyes
Posts: 14,519
I don't believe UA allows a forced overbook situation without agent intervention.
Jun 20, 2022, 11:35 am
#213
Join Date: Jun 2013
Programs: DL Diamond, UA Premier Gold
Posts: 2,937
The airlines also got billions of dollars of government money to keep employees yet Delta got rid of tens of thousands of them anyway. I think people have a right to be angry. The whole situation sucks.
Jun 20, 2022, 12:39 pm
#214
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: LHR / BHX / MAN / ATL
Programs: DL DM 2MM - IHG Diamond
Posts: 4,053
My DAB-ATL yesterday (Sunday) was cancelled. Rebooked. Then that flight was cancelled. No more DAB-ATL flights with availability until TUESDAY morning. I checked MLB-ATL. Nothing. The last MCO-ATL on Sunday had 3 available but they were gone before I could confirm. Next availability out of MCO was Monday morning. I wound up renting a car and driving to JAX for the last flight on Sunday. I asked for a meal voucher at check-in at JAX and the agent nearly laughed in my face. Said it was a 45 minute flight so no meal voucher warranted. The flight may have been 45 minutes but the experience was most of a day.
Was this experience the worst thing that ever happened to me? Of course not. But it does show that DL has a ways to go to get back to where they were.
BTW, does anybody know the procedure for submitting the rental car receipt for reimbursement?
Edit: When the second flight was cancelled, DL did not notify me (no email, no text, no nothing). I found out by checking the app, but the app did not push any notification to me.
Jun 20, 2022, 1:06 pm
#215
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Southern California
Programs: United MileagePlus Premier 1K, Delta SkyMiles Diamond Medallion
Posts: 1,150
Because it didn't happen to you, then it didn't happen?
My DAB-ATL yesterday (Sunday) was cancelled. Rebooked. Then that flight was cancelled. No more DAB-ATL flights with availability until TUESDAY morning. I checked MLB-ATL. Nothing. The last MCO-ATL on Sunday had 3 available but they were gone before I could confirm. Next availability out of MCO was Monday morning. I wound up renting a car and driving to JAX for the last flight on Sunday. I asked for a meal voucher at check-in at JAX and the agent nearly laughed in my face. Said it was a 45 minute flight so no meal voucher warranted. The flight may have been 45 minutes but the experience was most of a day.
Was this experience the worst thing that ever happened to me? Of course not. But it does show that DL has a ways to go to get back to where they were.
BTW, does anybody know the procedure for submitting the rental car receipt for reimbursement?
Edit: When the second flight was cancelled, DL did not notify me (no email, no text, no nothing). I found out by checking the app, but the app did not push any notification to me.
My DAB-ATL yesterday (Sunday) was cancelled. Rebooked. Then that flight was cancelled. No more DAB-ATL flights with availability until TUESDAY morning. I checked MLB-ATL. Nothing. The last MCO-ATL on Sunday had 3 available but they were gone before I could confirm. Next availability out of MCO was Monday morning. I wound up renting a car and driving to JAX for the last flight on Sunday. I asked for a meal voucher at check-in at JAX and the agent nearly laughed in my face. Said it was a 45 minute flight so no meal voucher warranted. The flight may have been 45 minutes but the experience was most of a day.
Was this experience the worst thing that ever happened to me? Of course not. But it does show that DL has a ways to go to get back to where they were.
BTW, does anybody know the procedure for submitting the rental car receipt for reimbursement?
Edit: When the second flight was cancelled, DL did not notify me (no email, no text, no nothing). I found out by checking the app, but the app did not push any notification to me.
almost being laughed at for a small customer service gesture certainly would have met a much more stern response from me.
Jun 20, 2022, 1:07 pm
#216
Join Date: Jan 2022
Programs: DL, UA, AA
Posts: 1,996
That's what taxpayers paid for, and that's what they got. Not sure what people think they have a right to, but we probably got off pretty easy, all things considered. I'm just glad we still have airlines.
That said, there's a lot of hard work ahead, and if any airline does it better than the rest, we'll definitely notice.
Jun 20, 2022, 1:29 pm
#217
Join Date: Jun 2013
Programs: DL Diamond, UA Premier Gold
Posts: 2,937
Click feedback & complaints. Briefly explain the situation and attach the receipt. You should get an email in a few weeks with a link to submit your bank info for an electronic transfer. They usually don't send paper checks any more.
Jun 20, 2022, 1:32 pm
#218
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 309
I feel so lucky only having to wait on hold 1 hour, 40 minutes (no option for a callback that I noticed) this afternoon! And they estimated the wait time pretty exact.
Unfortunately, tracking down who the hell is fraudulently charging airline tickets on this card is proving trickier, and I'm on hold again. They only have the first 6 digits of the ticket booking number at my bank, and Delta can't look up the charge by credit card number. I was hoping to find out the name of the ....... who's been doing this as they've been charging hotels and other stuff too.
Unfortunately, tracking down who the hell is fraudulently charging airline tickets on this card is proving trickier, and I'm on hold again. They only have the first 6 digits of the ticket booking number at my bank, and Delta can't look up the charge by credit card number. I was hoping to find out the name of the ....... who's been doing this as they've been charging hotels and other stuff too.
Jun 20, 2022, 2:16 pm
#219
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: DL DM+(segs)/MM, UA Ag, Hilton DM, Marriott Ti (life Pt), TSA Opt-out Platinum
Posts: 3,227
I feel so lucky only having to wait on hold 1 hour, 40 minutes (no option for a callback that I noticed) this afternoon! And they estimated the wait time pretty exact.
Unfortunately, tracking down who the hell is fraudulently charging airline tickets on this card is proving trickier, and I'm on hold again. They only have the first 6 digits of the ticket booking number at my bank, and Delta can't look up the charge by credit card number. I was hoping to find out the name of the ....... who's been doing this as they've been charging hotels and other stuff too.
Unfortunately, tracking down who the hell is fraudulently charging airline tickets on this card is proving trickier, and I'm on hold again. They only have the first 6 digits of the ticket booking number at my bank, and Delta can't look up the charge by credit card number. I was hoping to find out the name of the ....... who's been doing this as they've been charging hotels and other stuff too.
FWIW, I wouldn’t be surprised if DL won’t provide that person’s info to you anyway. They don’t need someone potentially exacting their own revenge and then being sued over it. Let LE handle it.
Jun 20, 2022, 2:20 pm
#220
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: DL DM+(segs)/MM, UA Ag, Hilton DM, Marriott Ti (life Pt), TSA Opt-out Platinum
Posts: 3,227
Saturday's LHR-MSP closed the door a bit early and then was delayed by ATC for about a half hour. The suggestion was that there weren't enough ATC employees working to handle more flights, but I don't know whether this was the reason. Weather around London looked fine, although there were some mid-Atlantic bumps. We arrived a bit early.
The crew/gate/ops may have provided the wrong delay reason.
Jun 20, 2022, 3:30 pm
#221
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,413
Chat can be a horribly inefficient method of providing customer support compared to phone support. Either the agent is tied up handling one chat with variable response times from the customer depending how engaged they are with the chat function (kills productivity), it times out after a period of no response and then routes to a new agent when the customer replies again (requiring the new agent to review the record/familiarize themselves with what has been already discussed wasting productivity), or you have an agent trying to manage multiple chats at once to keep productivity up (and keep them busy while waiting for the customer to reply to the chat again). Now tell me more about how much of a problem you have with the agents providing support as it is, now you want them to try managing multiple, completely unrelated reservations at once, that is a disaster waiting to happen.
Among a multitude of issues, ATC staffing is contributing to the problems in the NYC area (and elsehwere across the country), and was an issue Saturday afternoon/evening.
From the 6/18 operational plan: https://www.fly.faa.gov/adv/adv_othe...eDate=06/18/22
Interestingly they specifically call out the EWR area, but N90 is the NY TRACON, so while staffing may have predominantly impacted the EWR area of N90, staffing issues there would also impact the other areas it provides services to (JFK & LGA)For what it's worth, only expect it to get worse as ATC has said they will face increasing staffing challenges throughout the summer months.
Wow, who bribed MSN to leave the disaster known as Newark/New York out of that list.
One day doesn't tell the story of a month. AA has cancelled 1% more flights then DL MTD, and up until this weekend, UA had also cancelled more flights. Currently UA is only ahead of DL by ~0.3% MTD.
This weekend was a disaster for anyone operating out of the NY, Boston and DC areas. Staffing/weather blew things up starting on Thursday and it just carried through the entire weekend. Flights were full and most rebookings were for routings taking 1+ days to get people to their destination since everything is booked to capacity.
Among a multitude of issues, ATC staffing is contributing to the problems in the NYC area (and elsehwere across the country), and was an issue Saturday afternoon/evening.
From the 6/18 operational plan: https://www.fly.faa.gov/adv/adv_othe...eDate=06/18/22
Interestingly they specifically call out the EWR area, but N90 is the NY TRACON, so while staffing may have predominantly impacted the EWR area of N90, staffing issues there would also impact the other areas it provides services to (JFK & LGA)For what it's worth, only expect it to get worse as ATC has said they will face increasing staffing challenges throughout the summer months.
Wow, who bribed MSN to leave the disaster known as Newark/New York out of that list.
One day doesn't tell the story of a month. AA has cancelled 1% more flights then DL MTD, and up until this weekend, UA had also cancelled more flights. Currently UA is only ahead of DL by ~0.3% MTD.
This weekend was a disaster for anyone operating out of the NY, Boston and DC areas. Staffing/weather blew things up starting on Thursday and it just carried through the entire weekend. Flights were full and most rebookings were for routings taking 1+ days to get people to their destination since everything is booked to capacity.
BTW, MSP seemed quiet in the early afternoon on Saturday. I didn't notice any evidence of a meltdown, although as an arriving international passenger, I didn't go airside or into a lounge.
Jun 20, 2022, 3:33 pm
#222
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
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Posts: 100,413
Depending on time of day, it may have been delayed due to curfew. When I worked in SOC we often delayed the late LHR departures here in the US so they wouldn’t have to circle until the airport opens. LHR is (or was anyway) quite strict with the nighttime curfew. I think it ends at 0500Z.
The crew/gate/ops may have provided the wrong delay reason.
The crew/gate/ops may have provided the wrong delay reason.
IIRC the co-pilot made the announcement about the ATC delay.
Jun 20, 2022, 4:16 pm
#223
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: London/JAX
Programs: DL PM, BA Gold, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium, Hilton Gold, Radisson Premium, Global Entry, CLEAR
Posts: 872
Just now have time to post so figure I’d follow up from my post on Thursday about IRROPS. Basically the whole east coast had a meltdown on Thursday due to weather which I’m sure y’all know. I’m young, I’m only 18 years old but this was without a doubt the worst travel day of my entire life.
Anyways, my original routing was JAX-LGA-YYZ. I woke up at about 8:00 to already see my 10:40 JAX-LGA is delayed until 12:10. I look at potential causes and see thunderstorms over NYC, great. Gave me a little time to run a couple extra errands and grab breakfast though. Only issue is I was going to misconnect to my LGA-YYZ so in the meantime I called Delta and while I was on hold, the LGA-YYZ canceled. Got an agent in no time though and was rebooked on WestJet from LGA-YYZ just with a very long layover now as nothing better had open seats. I then saw my inbound flight returned to the gate in LGA after sitting in line to takeoff for 2 hours, then more delays started rolling in. My new 12:10 departure turned into 1:00, then 1:46, then 2:06. 2:06 stayed so I headed to JAX for my new 2:06 departure. I hung out in the SkyClub and had lunch for a couple minutes then headed to my gate for boarding.
When I got on my flight, the crew was great from the start and very apologetic for the whole thing even though it was completely out of their/Delta’s control since it was weather. They did say our wheels up time would be 2:17 as regulated by NYC ATC as LGA was now very congested from all of the disrupted morning flights. We takeoff, everything is fine, and we start our descent as usual. Then we level off and a few minutes later the captain comes on and says, “yeah so like I was saying back in JAX about LGA being crowded well bad news they are now not accepting our arrival at all due to congestion and we have to divert to BOS”. So we head to BOS and land. As soon as we get there there is just a swarm of aircraft waiting for gates on all airlines. We wait on the runway and captain says it’s gonna be over an hour for a gate. Getting a gate took 2.5hrs and in that time I was slowly watching all of my alternate options to YYZ fade away as we weren’t going anywhere. Finally got to the gate and originally said it would be a gas and go stop to where the people on the plane just flipped. They eventually let us off though and I got off because I had a hunch that that flight wasn’t going anywhere. I instead ran to the SkyClub to be rebooked.
When I got there, there was surprisingly no line to get in but about a 5 person line for rebooking, no big deal. I get to the front of that line and turn around to see the entry line way out the door now and see that the BOS-LGA portion of my diverted flight has now been canceled as I predicted. Agent couldn’t find me anything to get to YYZ until noon the Friday until I suggested roundabout ways to get there. Nothing through ATL but I could make a delayed DTW flight, spend the night there and take a 7:20AM DTW-YYZ. I took that and booked a room at the SpringHill Suites by the airport as the Westin was full. So I hopped that DTW flight which was about 2 hours delayed as they were also waiting on a gate for forever. Got to DTW and saw decent lines for the help centers but nothing like what I’ve seen from American at MIA/DFW and United at DEN. Went to my room at the SpringHill and got about 4 hours of sleep before I needed to go back to the airport again.
Got some sleep, went back to the airport, got checked in, and went to my gate. Boarding was delayed as the computers were glitching and eventually they just decided to manually board us which isn’t usually a big fuss but in my shoes it was just yet another thing to deal with as they had to cross check our boarding passes, cross check our passports, and then cross our names off on an already delayed boarding process. Ended up being minor though and got to YYZ on time at about 8:30AM. What a crazy experience and I hope I never have to experience that much IRROPS especially that back to back ever again…
Anyways, my original routing was JAX-LGA-YYZ. I woke up at about 8:00 to already see my 10:40 JAX-LGA is delayed until 12:10. I look at potential causes and see thunderstorms over NYC, great. Gave me a little time to run a couple extra errands and grab breakfast though. Only issue is I was going to misconnect to my LGA-YYZ so in the meantime I called Delta and while I was on hold, the LGA-YYZ canceled. Got an agent in no time though and was rebooked on WestJet from LGA-YYZ just with a very long layover now as nothing better had open seats. I then saw my inbound flight returned to the gate in LGA after sitting in line to takeoff for 2 hours, then more delays started rolling in. My new 12:10 departure turned into 1:00, then 1:46, then 2:06. 2:06 stayed so I headed to JAX for my new 2:06 departure. I hung out in the SkyClub and had lunch for a couple minutes then headed to my gate for boarding.
When I got on my flight, the crew was great from the start and very apologetic for the whole thing even though it was completely out of their/Delta’s control since it was weather. They did say our wheels up time would be 2:17 as regulated by NYC ATC as LGA was now very congested from all of the disrupted morning flights. We takeoff, everything is fine, and we start our descent as usual. Then we level off and a few minutes later the captain comes on and says, “yeah so like I was saying back in JAX about LGA being crowded well bad news they are now not accepting our arrival at all due to congestion and we have to divert to BOS”. So we head to BOS and land. As soon as we get there there is just a swarm of aircraft waiting for gates on all airlines. We wait on the runway and captain says it’s gonna be over an hour for a gate. Getting a gate took 2.5hrs and in that time I was slowly watching all of my alternate options to YYZ fade away as we weren’t going anywhere. Finally got to the gate and originally said it would be a gas and go stop to where the people on the plane just flipped. They eventually let us off though and I got off because I had a hunch that that flight wasn’t going anywhere. I instead ran to the SkyClub to be rebooked.
When I got there, there was surprisingly no line to get in but about a 5 person line for rebooking, no big deal. I get to the front of that line and turn around to see the entry line way out the door now and see that the BOS-LGA portion of my diverted flight has now been canceled as I predicted. Agent couldn’t find me anything to get to YYZ until noon the Friday until I suggested roundabout ways to get there. Nothing through ATL but I could make a delayed DTW flight, spend the night there and take a 7:20AM DTW-YYZ. I took that and booked a room at the SpringHill Suites by the airport as the Westin was full. So I hopped that DTW flight which was about 2 hours delayed as they were also waiting on a gate for forever. Got to DTW and saw decent lines for the help centers but nothing like what I’ve seen from American at MIA/DFW and United at DEN. Went to my room at the SpringHill and got about 4 hours of sleep before I needed to go back to the airport again.
Got some sleep, went back to the airport, got checked in, and went to my gate. Boarding was delayed as the computers were glitching and eventually they just decided to manually board us which isn’t usually a big fuss but in my shoes it was just yet another thing to deal with as they had to cross check our boarding passes, cross check our passports, and then cross our names off on an already delayed boarding process. Ended up being minor though and got to YYZ on time at about 8:30AM. What a crazy experience and I hope I never have to experience that much IRROPS especially that back to back ever again…
Jun 20, 2022, 4:27 pm
#224
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: MA
Programs: DL DM/2MM Marriott Platinum, HH Diamond,
Posts: 8,907
Unfortunately, the money came with requirements not to terminate or furlough... nothing was said about early retiremretirements.
Jun 20, 2022, 4:38 pm
#225
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,668
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