hikouki

Just wanted to ask a couple of questions regarding how Delta handles IROPS. I do understand reasons for IROPS are varied and that airlines nowadays are dealing with staff shortages. But I wanted to know what general impressions passengers have about how Delta has been handling these situations and especially how they compare to other carriers.

How is Delta doing in these situations compared to other carriers like AA and UA? How are they doing compared to themselves pre-pandemic?

Will DL rebook you on another carrier? I was supposed to be on a flight to MIA from SEA this morning. Flight got cancelled. I called the hotline last night but being a lowly silver, I couldn�t get through for 2 hours despite the promised 1hr wait by the automated message. In that time, my options for alternatives on the app have dwindled and I panicked and accepted the best alternative. Instead of arriving on Monday evening, my flight now arrives Tuesday noon (the two options I lost were both Tuesday morning arrivals).

I saw there were Alaska and United flights leaving/ arriving at my original time. I could�ve booked either of them. But I wasn�t sure DL would refund/ credit my flight if I hadn�t spoken to some agent prior to the flight. App wouldn�t let me cancel. Could I have gotten back ecredits automatically if I had not chosen an alternative flight?

I live 2 hours away from SEA. So camping at the airport to talk to an agent was not an option I instinctively thought of. I accepted the crappy flight. Both the parking garage and hotel allowed me to revise my bookings without penalty when I called them last night, and explained what happened.

What would you guys have done in these situations?

Prior to covid, an agent is on the other line in less than 5 mins, and in situations such as the above, they have once rebooked me on a different carrier, or offered a full refund. Of course I was Gold then. Having dropped to silver, I�ve never gotten a helpful agent if at all this year. The few time I�ve spoken to one the past months, some have been rude and of course not helpful.

Adam1222

I'm not 100% sure what your question is, but if it is whether you could have gotten a full refund after your flight was canceled had you chosen to make your own way, the answer is yes. Whether you would have been rebooked on a different carrier depends on a lot of specifics. For example, if they could get you to your destination two hours late flying on Delta, they're not going to rebook you on United to get there the same time. Since Delta doesn't fly SEA-MIA, it's hard to figure out what the issue is.

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As for how Delta is doing compared to other carriers post pandemic, there are people on this forum who will say it's awful.... When you're looking at objective metrics though, Delta still has better completion rates and timeliness rates than American and UA.

cre95

As noted, you would have gotten a full refund if you canceled your flight. Delta wouldn�t reimburse you for your alternate booking on another carrier, though.

hikouki

The app was saying that my flight was canceled and that I needed to choose an alternative flight (which was way over 2 hours later in arrival). The app and web site mentioned that I needed to get in touch with an agent to cancel (and therefore get a refund) but I couldn't despite trying online and on chat.

If I had chosen to do nothing about the flight (not picked an alternative flight), would the whole itinerary have been automatically credited back to me in e-credits after the time the original flight was supposed to leave? (I remember that just at the start of the pandemic, DL made a system-wide announcement that flights will be credited as the day of the departure approaches, or something like that. And that people needn't be calling to cancel. Not sure if this is still in place). This was my main hesitation in booking the UA or AS flight - I could have lost the price I paid on DL.

DLASflyer

Timeliness yes, completion factor no. For the most recent month available, Delta was #1 for OTP but #7 for completion factor. Alaska, Southwest, Allegiant, Frontier, American and Hawaiian all completed more of their scheduled flights than Delta. The only worse large carriers were United, JetBlue and Spirit. Delta also had 4 flights that violated the 3 hour tarmac delay rule that month, more than Southwest and American. Delta was 4th for mishandled baggage behind Allegiant, Southwest and Frontier. In general Delta's operational performance is still good but they are in no way the consistent top performer they used to be.

June 2023 ATCR.pdf (transportation.gov)

Adam1222

Yes we know you're not satisfied with Delta. What mishandled baggage has to do with IRROPs beats me.

For July 2023, Delta had a 97.62% completion factor. Spirit and American were statistically indistinguishable with 97.99% and 98.01%, respectively. Frontier had 96.44%.
one months data is never statistically significant, of course. That Spirit was at the top in July 2023 and the bottom in June 2023 isnt because the airline radically changed.

To the OP, whatever airline someone is flying on and has a bad experience with will be "the worst"....until they are unlucky enough to have IRROPS on another airline. Indeed, many people on Flyertalk believe that the very occurrence of IRROPS is a demonstration that an airline is in the tubes, unlike in the mythical glory days of 2015 when flights weren't canceled.


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xliioper

Delta's threshold for when you can get a refund due to a flight delay (reason does not matter) is 120 minutes and is covered in the Delta Contract of Carriage found on Delta website. You do not need to contact Delta first in order to get a refund (you can submit a refund request after the fact). Airlines, as a general rule, won't reimburse you for new flights you book on your own. DL, AA, UA, and AS have interline agreements and can potentially put you on another airline, but usually won't if the reason for delay/cancel is due to weather.

DLASflyer

Alright if you don't want to look at single months look at Delta's performance year to date:
January: On time 1st, Completion 3rd
February: On time 1st, Completion 7th
March: On time 1st, Completion 10th
April: On time 1st, Completion 7th

I fly Delta every week because they are still the most likely to get me where I am going on time. But the days of them being far ahead of the others are over.

Adam1222

If you're comparing it to Allegiant, Alaska, and Hawaiian as you did before, I also imagine you are flying Delta because it travels to the places you are going.

Hopefully the OP has had enough of his questions answered. Otherwise, there are several other threads where folks are bemoaning the fall of Delta

ethernal

Delta's completion factor for all of 2019 was 99.83%. This means that Delta had more cancellations in July 2023 alone than they had all 12 months of 2019.

Take that as you will. Delta is not the "worst", but it is no longer differentiated from other airlines in terms of operational reliability.

Adam1222

This is pretty off topic, but of course your paragraph #1 says nothing about differentiating Delta from other airlines.

But again, I hope OPs questions were answered And if he wants to read folks say how flying Delta is no longer like a pillow from heaven, there are numerous threads where people do that. The best way to find them is to search for the word "meltdown." (e.g., DL continues to weaken operationally (Summer 2022 Meltdown) )
Just ignore all the threads bemoaning Delta "meltdowns" from before 2020. (e.g., https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-air-lines-skymiles/1834788-april-5-2017-delta-cancels-300-flights-due-thunderstorm-29.html)

If you're curious about other airlines IRROPS in comparison of course, no shortage of criticism by searching meltdown there either (LAX Meltdown; Scary Situation, unbelievable agents...
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/jetblue-trueblue/2070973-i-know-its-been-discussed-but-what-heck-happened-jetblue-9.html
Southwest's Christmas 2022 meltdown - phones, chat shut down, RR points compensation
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-airlines-aadvantage/2106561-flight-cancel-cancellation-cancelled-delay-diversion-2023-master-thread.html)

ethernal

Delta used to be in a different league. Full stop. Other majors used to cancel 3X as many flights as Delta even when "handicapping" Delta and including regionals (their mainline cancellation rate was 1/6th that of the other majors).

Compare that to 2022: Delta canceled 2%, United canceled 2.7%, and American cancelled 2.8%. 2023 stats are worse for Delta. Delta was better, but not highly differentiated. Cancelling 1/6th as many mainline flights as your competitors was differentiated. It literally meant that the *only* time your flight was cancelled was when their were major WX issues. Delta would NOT cancel flights. I had more than one instance where they ferried an empty 767 across the country or even across an ocean to avoid a cancellation in PDX and PDL. I flew about 700 segments from 2015-2019 and had zero cancellations and not even one "overnight carry" that one could argue was a cancellation in effect. Admittedly I strategically booked around weather, but even though I flew Delta 3-4X more than American and United, I suffered multiple cancellations on on both those carriers over that same date range

2023 is shaping up to be even worse: year to date, Delta has actually had a higher percentage of cancellations than United or American. Their strategy has clearly shifted to using cancellations to drive a #1 on-time rate. It is "easy" to have a high on time when you cancel flights. That is what made circle 2015-2019 Delta so incredible: industry leading on-time rates (for network carriers) and out of this world cancellation rates. You aren't supposed to be able to do both.

As you said, this is off topic so won't drain this any further. But the point is, Delta is just "with the pack" now. They are no longer differentiated. It's as simple as that.

jetsfan92588

I had a flight booked from AUS-ATL-EZE and used a GUC to confirm into F and PS (and eventually D1). I took my flight from AUS-ATL in F. My flight from ATL-EZE was moved from 10pm to 7am next day. DL said they would refund the ticket cost, but would not reopen the GUC I used for the outbound and forced me to pay a walk up fare to get back from ATL-AUS that night.

I don't know how other airlines now-a-days would handle this situation, so I don't know how to compare it. But I'd say in my last few IROPS Delta has handled the situations very poorly.

I've never disputed a credit card charge for an airline ticket before, but we'll see how it works out.

Adam1222

It seems like this would be an abuse of a chargeback if the airline offered to refund you what you paid, and you made the choice to return home rather than proceed with a 9 hour delay. I do not debate that you feel wronged, as do many customers who experience IRROPS and have to make difficult decisions- on every airline.

Your disappointment that Delta wouldn't refund the GUC after you already flew one leg using it seems unrelated to the OPs questions, but more a generic airing of the grievances.

jetsfan92588

My return flight was scheduled to depart about 4 hours after the new flight would have arrived. My complaint about the GUC is related to IROPS. In normal circumstances, I would not expect the GUC to be reopened. In IROPS, I do. Not sure why you think that's not related to how DL handles IROPS...

BTW - a GUC is a payment instrument. A full refund would include a "refund" of the GUC. So if they don't reopen the GUC, then no, they have not provided a full refund.