Miserable experience
 

I've had little complaints about DL over the 20 years or so of being a SM member and being GM the past several years.

Maybe it's been luck, avoiding too many delayed flights or missed connections or lost/delayed baggage. Got stranded in CDG twice, coming back, and AF put me up. One of those times, my checked bag didn't get back in time and they delivered it to my house the next day.

On Saturday, I had an SJC-ATL, ATL-ARN itinerary.

The SJC-ATL flight was delayed about an hour. Not sure where it came from but the agent was announcing that the same flight had also been delayed the previous day by about 30-40 minutes and still made the 7:30 PM ATL arrival.

Well, no such luck this time, I didn't get into the gate until about 8:20-8:25. On the plane, they said there would be gate agents to help with connections because DL was aware of the delay.

There were no agents. There was one and she looked up the screen and told my my ATL-ARN flight had closed, go to the ticket office across B19. There, I was sent to the international ticket office at Courcourse E.

I guess with ATL being DL's major hub, they had many options so they're not going to bother holding flights, even though I probably would have made from Concourse B to E in about 20 minutes later than the scheduled takeoff time.

So instead, they offered me ATL-LHR and then a BA flight from LHR to ARN. Arrival would be scheduled 6 hours later than my original flight. I would not get miles for the BA flight. One of the reasons for this trip was the Double MQM Promo.

When I asked about miles for the LHR-ARN segment, the agent was snippy about it, saying right away, hey you can come back tomorrow for the ATL-ARN flight, you'd be on your own.

She also said the bag would be automatically checked through this new itinerary.

So I took the new routing and at LHR, I was suppose to present a coupon to get the boarding pass for the BA780 flight but BA said they can't find my checked bag. Turns out neither the DL agent in SJC nor ATL had bothered to put the checked bag number with my boarding passes.

BA agents were trying to contact Delta to get that number but they weren't having any luck. Meanwhile, my flight was scheduled to close and they sent me through, saying I could check on the status of my bag after clearing through security for Terminal 5.

So I went through security only to find that BA780 was delayed by over an hour (there weren't any status screens before you got through security). Had to look around before finding more BA Customer Service desks. Another agent gave me a DL number to call and the DL agent said more than likely, they routed my bag through another route, such as CDG and that I'd have to check when I arrive in ARN to get the bag number as well as the status.

Well the delayed ARN flight got me there a quarter to 7 PM, or about 8 hours late. My checked bag didn't show up and the baggage service said they would deliver it to me. So here I am in Stockholm hotel, with no change of clothes, hoping they will deliver it some time today.

BA apparently has 6 flights a day from LHR to ARN. The lost baggage service tracking link on ba.com indicates they've found it but are awaiting confirmation before delivering it.

All in all, two delayed flights, delayed bag, about 8 hours lost from my trip. One good thing was the very expensive transfer service from ARN to the hotel was still operating and I was still able to use my prepaid booking. Otherwise, I would have had to spend probably up to $50 more.

On and about 450 or so fewer miles since I only get credited the distance to LHR than ARN. Wonder if my return (ARN-CDG, CDG-SFO) will be credited properly.

Too bad things did not work out this time. However, you should be able to get your original miles credited. Simply go to delta.com and ask for original routing credit. Has always worked for me before in similar cases.

Pretty crappy experience. Keep your BPs and document everything for when you return. You should get your mileage and the DBL MQMs as well given the circumstances. Better luck on the return!

:confused:So there were no agents, but there were?:confused:

And what about the guy who would have been there 22 minutes later than scheduled take off time? 25 minutes? 35 minutes? 60 minutes? Where do you draw the line when there are so many options to get you where you need to go?

Experienced FTers (which it is, of course, OK not to be) would have known that the airport is not the place to settle this, and that it almost definitely will get settled to your satisfaction.

I always check to make sure I have a receipt for my bag when an airline (or hotel) takes possession of it. Don't you?

Not blaming DL here, I hope.

I'm sure they will. And you'll probably get ATL-ARN miles (non-stop) when you call.

I'm sorry things didn't go well for you, but there were things you could have done or prepared for that would have made the experience less stressful and very possibly gotten you there quicker. You don't mention if you offered any possible alternatives, such as traveling via CDG or JFK prior to accepting DL's offer through LHR. Also, I realize that you aren't left with many choices from SJC, but 65 minutes is not what I would call a comfortable layover to catch a once-daily INTL flight in ATL.

AS usual from the DL apologists...everything is the customer's fault.

I don't know if Andrew was apologizing for Delta as much as trying to give some tips for working around their failings.

For example, he mentioned connection times. Whenever I connect in ATL to/from ASA, I never accept less than a 2-hour connection. Now sometimes that appears to be ridiculous, but I can think of five or six times off the top of my head it has saved me headaches when ASA took a 45 - 60 min delay. Do I wish that ASA ran on time more? You bet, but at least I know how to work around it.

But in Delta's defense, I don't know of any airline where it would be easier to argue with an airport agent about mileage credit than to wait and call later, especially to an elite line. Should it be that way? I think so. After all, the airport agents are primarily concerned with getting people where they need to be.

Let me put it this way: if I were behind you in that line to be robooked, I'd want it moving as fast as possible. Let the milage credit get worked out later.

Agreed. But sometimes that's all that's available, or sometimes the pricing pushes you to less than optimal connections....
Yawn. :D

David

As usual form the Delta Bashers - everything is Deltas fault.

AndrewC75 gave a really good response where he pointed out things that were inconsistent (they were no agents there was one!) and thing that he would have done differently and as usual you bashers can't see past anything that may not be Deltas fault and assume that its all DELTAs fault and jump all over it.

YAWN

BA Should comp you a couple hundred bucks to buy some clothes and necessary items that were in your bag.. just keep receipts and document what you get.. expect up to 10-12 weeks to get that refunded though.. but it's basically free money.. so have fun

Well I didn't really spend a lot of time at the ATL counter.

The agent was short with me. Her response was, would you like to come back tomorrow to get on that ATL-ARN flight?

And I wasn't holding up any line. I waited patiently and then asked about the miles for the BA flight and she said no and seemed ready to argue about it.

One hour connection? Yeah I guess that's a fair point but I'm trying to understand how they delay some flights but won't hold up others. Like I said, the agent at SJC made it sound like it wouldn't be a problem because of a similar delay the day before. And before we landed, the flight crew probably knew that connections would be missed but seemed to be deferring the bad news for the agents at the airport to deal with possibly irate customers. They did requests that other passengers let those trying to make connections out of the plane first.

There was one agent at the gate moving around barriers. Flight crew made it sound like there would be several, ready to guide passengers trying to make connections.

But it appears they had already prepared to re-route me even before I got to the terminal. The gate agent directed me to B19 where they printed out a receipt saying they were working on another route and then I was sent to the international counter at Concourse E.

The agent filled in two coupons and printed out the revised itinerary. She didn't really lay out the itinerary until it was done. So they weren't interested in offering me options and I did think it was odd they didn't use Skyteam through CDG or AMS instead.

However, it appears BA flies to ARN 6 times a day, which may be more than AF or KLM.

I didn't go shopping for supplies, just hoped that the bag would get delivered. Well they left a message and they're suppose to deliver it tonight.

I did think about looking into getting some compensation. Isn't there some law about how airlines are suppose to pay if the delays are above a certain threshold?

Maybe it's an EU law, which I'm thinking about. Even if there's a US law, the arrival at ATL was only about an hour. But since that was part of an international itinerary ...

And I was thinking compensation not because I wanted to get something for my troubles but because I had spent $25 for a transfer service from ARN to the Stockholm hotel. But arriving 8 hours later, on a Sunday, I might have had to pay for a more expensive transfer (Arland Express, almost $40 each way, plus taxi to hotel from the station).

It turned out however that the shuttle service I'd prepaid still ran Sunday night so there was no issue there.

Still have a lot of miles with DL so I'm not going to cancel my SM account or anything. But my experiences with AF have generally been better, even with some very tight connections in CDG. I've gotten bumped a couple of times and have been put up at a CDG hotel but the overall flight is quicker (although I've had good luck getting upgrades on DL metal for continental US segments -- but Business Elite within the US is not as nice as Espace Affaires on AF between SFO and CDG).

Also sorry about your experience. As far as flights being held, I never try to figure out which ones will be and which ones won't. My own personal rule of thumb is to assume that NO flight will ever be held for me, and to plan my connections accordingly, and I learned this the hard way years ago. Another thing I do prior to flying is to come up with my own backup itinerary or two in case things go bad and print it and carry it with me. It may not always work, but at least I have a starting point with the GA. I know it's a little more work, but it's really helped a couple of times, and presented properly, GAs generally seem to appreciate the effort. As far as defending Delta or bashing it, I guess I fall in the middle, but in defense of the GA in your situation, that person's sole job was to try to get you and you luggage to your destination. Mileage credit and the like is really far removed from that person's expertise and the GA probably viewed your mileage inquiry as taking time away from his/her primary focus. No that person shouldn't have been rude but flying these days can unfortunately be a bit rough and tumble and the best I've found I can do is be prepared for the worst when I arrive at the airport and have my own backup plans as I mentioned above.

Come on... did you really consider that as an option?

This is how I see it. You missed your connection, Delta looked after you and got you on another routing. Your bags didn't get there (as happens in such circumstances). Inconvenient, but not really what I'd call a miserable experience. It has happened to most of us sometime. OK, you are worried about a few miles/MQMs. Deal with that when you get home and request original routing credit. Bottom line: enjoy the rest of your trip :)

BTW, did you collect any OneWorld miles for your BA flight?

Did you forget the magic phrase: "Original Routing Credit" ?

It's EU 261/2004, and unfortunately it only applies to DL flights ex EU, not ex US flights to the EU. It does, however, apply to all EU flag metal at any time ex US and ex EU.

I took a voluntary bump from a Delta flight from Lhr to Atl in April. They gave me a voucher and rerouted me on BA. Upon my return I sent Delta an email (contact us at the website) and asked for "original routing mileage". I got it and they were very nice about it.