coolbreeze

I was in St.Louis this past Friday night trying to get to ATL on flight 699, and then on to SAV. After filling every seat on the airplane and making us sit there for alomst an hour, they announced there wwas a mechanical problem on the airplane and departure was postponed indefinately. To make a long story short, I did not get to my detination until the next day, thus missing a very important business meeting and costing me a large sum of money.

Delta did not compensate me in any way. Should they have and if so what should I expect?? What should I do to get compensation??

Any suggestion is appreciated.

2 Many Miles

There are no set answers. What you can ask for depends on who you are and how you were flying. If you were on a full fare F ticket, you can ask for (and probably) get a lot more.

Do you have status with DL? What kind of ticket were you traveling on? Exactly what was the timeline of events? Did DL ever offer to put you on an alternate carrier? Did you ask DL to put you on an alternate carrier? Did you receive any compensation at the time of the delay, such as a meal voucher or something like that?

bdschobel

We all know from experience that airlines have no obligation to compensate passengers for the effects of mechanical or weather delays. Some things are just beyond their control. Obviously, you would not have wanted to take off -- or maybe TRY to take off -- in a plane with a problem. And Delta has no interest in cancelling flights under the circumstances that you described. Sometimes these things happen.

Bruce

B747-437B

Actually, while weather delays are classified as force majeure events, mechanical delays most definitely are not.

Delta officially defines force majeure as "Any conditions beyond Delta Air Lines' control, including weather, acts of God, civil commotion, wars, hostilities, strikes, labor-related disputes, government regulation, shortage of labor or fuel, or other facts not foreseen by Delta Air Lines. ".

Maintenance and mechanical problems are within Delta's control and are hence not classified force majeure.

Spiff

Agreed. Mechanical delays are definitely within the airlines' control, while weather is not.(Airlines would be in other businesses if they could control the weather)

Did they feed you? Did they put you up for the night? There may have been no seats east on any carriers (hmmmm) on a Friday evening and therefore they had to get you out the next day. When something like that happens, you often have to ask for all these things. If they tell you nothing is available, call the other airlines and see if that's the case or not.

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"Sire, it is not a revolt. It is a Revolution!"

coolbreeze

OK,

1st: I was traveling on a coach ticket because 1st was full at the time of my booking.

2nd: They did get me to ATL early the next morning, around 2am or so. they did put me up in the hotel and i did get about 2 hours sleep on an empty stomach and a shower.

3rd: They did not feed me and all other flights were booked, supposedly. they did give me one of the overnight kits. They didn't offer anything else and they would not give me a dollar-off cert or any other type of compensation.

It was pure bedlam, a full plane load of passengers and only 2 or 3 gate agents to handle the problem.

Apparantly it was spring break weekend and there were no other flight options.

4th: I've been traveling for some time but there was no time or place for me to make a scene in st. louis. I didn't want to go to jail for airrage. I can understand the weather problems but, since it was a mechanical problem I figure they could help me out since they cost me thousands of dollars because I didn't get to my destination in time and missed my business.

I have status with other airlines but not with delta. only about 75,000 skimiles but no status.

With my limitted experience with delta, who should i contact and what should i do.......

Thanx,

Coolbreeze

davefr

I say get over it!! It's a normal part of travel.

If you read the T's and C's of the terms of carriage you'll find out that time is not a factor in your contract with the carrier. All they have to do is get you from point A to point B.

As long as they put you on the next "available" flight and gave you a hotel room than they did just about all they could with the exception of handing you a couple meal vouchers. DL hands them out like candy so I bet the agents simply forgot to give you a couple.

You can send a "whine" letter to DL and they'll probably send you a couple coupons for future travel discounts.

Getting stuck isn't much fun but it helps if you just flow with it.

gator21

coolbreeze,
Go to the Delta website and under customer care, fill out the form and send them a complaint. It may take a while but you might be suprised with their response. In stating your case, state the facts, what happened and what you expect them to do.

If you don't ask for it, you won't get it.

Last month, I was on a free ticket TLH-ATL when the ASA computer snafu got me. I was delayed 5 hrs getting back to ATL and almost missed my connecting flight (I had built a cushion in). I e-mailed customer care my displeasure and they responded with a $100 delta dollar voucher.

Spiff

I'd say that they should have given meal vouchers as well since the delay was both lengthy and within their control. Compensation is another matter, but it may be offered to you if you relate your situation to customer care on the web site as gator21 suggested.

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"Sire, it is not a revolt. It is a Revolution!"

coolbreeze

Thanks to all.......

I'll give it a try.

Coolbreeze