Delta Nightmare
Posted by kunjumon | Filed under Delta,terrible,service
Here's a great heartwarming story about customer service courtesy of our our friends at Delta airlines:
My wife and two kids ( ages 7 and 2 ) took a much-needed vacation to the sunny beaches of Myrtle Beach, SC. We decided that we didn't want to travel too far with a baby, so we picked something within the states.
We found, what we thought was, a great offer from Delta Airlines through JFK. Boy, were we wrong!
We arrived at the airport early only to get caught up in the middle of the most chaotic check-in situation we've ever been in. Hundreds of people every where, tripping over each other, not sure where to go, what to do. Attendants were few and far in between, yet they were easy to spot because there was always a crowd of people surrounding them waiting to ask questions.
We made it through the mayhem and managed to figure out where to go only to be in an even more chaotic situation with the flight and boarding process. Even though we selected our seats online, we were told that our seats would be selected for us at the gate. While waiting on a long line, we faintly heard our name being called. It was fortunate that I did because otherwise they would've turned it over to several of the nearly 20 standby passengers.
We got on the 777 plane to Atlanta but was delayed while the flight attendants were trying to figure out how many people were on board and how many seats were available. It turns out that if you stood up, you messed up their system and made the delay even worse. They had to take people out and add more people. It was like a complex game of Tetris being played out.
They finally got everyone seated and managed to take off. Because of the delay, though, we had a tight connection. We literally ran from one end of the airport to the other ( terminal E to A ) with a baby and a kid. But, fortunately we made it and had a few minutes to pick something up for the kids to eat. ( There was no way they would put up with just eating peanuts or chips for lunch ).
We got to Myrtle Beach without any incident, got a cart to haul our 3 piece of luggage and waited. And waited... And waited...
Fortunately, there was an employee there who told the 3 or 4 families left that all luggages were emptied from our flight. No signs. No other notices. Just a serendipitous attendant being available.
We lugged the kids over to the counter and informed the attendant about our situation. He informed us that the next flight would arrive by 6:30pm ( it was now 2pm ) and that we should get our luggage by 7:30pm. And by the way, there is no compensation because they have up to 24 hours to deliver the luggage. Interesting and convenient policy that Delta made up for themselves. The luggage that was supposed to have arrived when you arrive now has up to 24 hours to arrive because it is already delayed. Not sure how and why that happened or how they justified coming up with this policy.
Well around 6:30pm, not having heard anything, I decided to follow up with the airline... just to see how things weregoing. I think I got transferred to their call center in India and was processed by a "Robin" who informed me that they can only find 1 of my 3 pieces of luggage.
By this point, I lost it. On vacation, with no clothes for any of us, stuck in the hotel and not able to go to the beach, no prescription drugs for my hypertensive, diabetic wife while Robin reminds over and over again how he understands and is apologetic about the whole thing.
Well I got the situation escalated to a coordinator ( who is the equivalent of a manager?? ) at Delta. A southernly woman named Carla without any of the southern charms or hospitable manners. She was far less helpful than Robin and started to talk to me about policies. When I pleaded to her sense of empathy and asked her if she wouldn't be upset if she were in the same situation, her response threw me over the edge : "I don't let little things like this get to me."
It is now 9:30pm and I just talked to another anglicized Indian named Keith Smith. Two hours after the second flight arrived, still no word of any of my luggage. I learned tht if there are too many pieces of luggage, Delta has the authority to have delayed luggages taken off... And why not?Now that they have up to 24 hours to deliver? So that is probably what happened. Keith Smith asked me to wait another hour and call him... At 10:30pm, although I'm exhausted from having woken up at 5am to make this trip.
I told him I don't understand why somebody doesn't call me! After all, I am the customer. I do have a bill of rights as the customer including having my luggage prioritized (that's right PRIORITIZED) when they weren't able to deliver it on the same flight I was flying. Well, he said he would include a note for someone to call me. When I asked him how likely it would be for someone to actually do that, he gave me his polite version of "I wouldn't hold your breath".
I wonder if Delta management know the type of customer service their customer service personnel are providing... and the level of policy rhetoric they provide... and the level of incompetence of their baggage handlers... and how stupid policies set up by their operations folks have made things worse for customers... and that if the government got involved and levied fines, they would get their act together... quickly.
This was the worst airline service I've experienced. Moral of the story: stay loyal to great service providers. I should've flown with Contintental.