ex-Delta fan - vent

Parent Cafe
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<p>We’ve lived in Germany for three years, and have flown Delta almost exclusively. Partly because of the direct flight to Atlanta (I hate to fly) and partly to keep our frequent flier miles in one pot. We move home in August. I am very frustrated with Delta, though, and need to vent.</p>

<p>I have well over 40,000 ff miles (as does everyone in the family). We have tried to use our miles several times. First, to bring my mother over last summer. The route they gave us had her going through multiple cities (from PA to Cincinnati to Birmingham to Paris to Brussels…) over more than 24 hours. She is 75, and an inexperienced flier. We said no thanks. We tried to use them to bring our sons over at Christmas - dates were blocked. Now we’ve tried to use them to upgrade our seats going home in August. We booked those seats (for D and I) 2 months ago, and still weren’t able to get a direct flight, or a cheap price (paid over $1000 apiece.) Yet, now they tell us that we aren’t even allowed to cash in our frequent flier miles to buy a “free” upgrade because we didn’t pay enough for our coach seats!</p>

<p>Plus, they can’t assign us seats on the short leg of our flight, because they are using AirFrance, and don’t have access to seat assignments. So my D and I may not even get to sit together. </p>

<p>To add insult to injury, they’ve cut our international baggage allowance to 50 pounds per bag. When we moved over here, it was 70 pounds, and we struggled to stay in that! We have to pack for 6 weeks.</p>

<p>If they manage to get us home in one piece (at this point, I’m not convinced), I hope I never have to take them again – unless I discover how to use some of the FF miles, which I can’t believe will ever happen.</p>

<p>Does anybody out there have any magic formula or know of any higher-up to contact? Has anyone ever successfully cashed in FF miles on Delta?</p>

<p>ARGHHHHHHHHHH!</p>

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<p>We have had similar experiences with USAir during the past couple of years. It is very frustrating.</p>

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<p>I finally learned the Delta secret, but haven’t cashed any miles in in a while. I still have approx 75,000 miles in the account. The last time I used miles for Europe we had 5 people traveling together. The secret: Delta will open up flights 330 days in advance for FF usage. Call on midnight of that day to reserve the seats almost a year in advance.</p>

<p>I too have had incredible problems with not just Delta, but all of the airlines (I have an average of about 100,000 miles each on three different airlines). They schedule you on such stupid itineraries (DEN-LGA via Salt lake City???) that you are almost forced to say no.</p>

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<p>OKay, you can pack under 50 pounds for 6 weeks, and not sitting together is survivable, I can understand the irratation, but none of it is the end of the world, and I have to say, when my Ds and I flew back from europe last year on another carrier, we VOLUNTEERED to sit seperately so that a family with a small child could sit together (they were on standby)…it was actually kind of fun!!!</p>

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<p>It’s funny; the easiest FF flight with Delta we have made was my son’s trip to Germany for the World Cup (he is there now.) Three boys went together and booked their seats while home for Christmas, so 6 months in advance. They were able to get 3 seats together on non stop flight Atlanta-Munich, and Amsterdam-Atlanta. I will say to get these seats we had to pay 100,000 miles instead of 50,000!</p>

<p>We had tons of points also, but tend not to use them much as the few flight we usually take are to locations that Airtran also flies, so we can get cheaper seats. We were finally able to use them this past year flying my daughter back and forth to school as the fares were very high. Now we are trying to build our miles back up, which bt the way are all earned from using our American Express card. Everything that can be charges on AMEX goes on AMEX!!</p>

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<p>Binx:</p>

<p>There was an article recently about troubled airlines curtailing services to FFs. It seems you’ve been hit by this trend.</p>

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<p>Use the FF or lose 'em is the advice I’ve been reading. Policies can change overnight. For instance USAir and AmWest merger changed FF rules and also they recently curtailed e-savers.</p>

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<p>I just flew a very pleasant FF trip coast to coast on Delta, and have flown to Europe and Africa using FF points in the past. </p>

<p>I have always found these trips pleasant. These included trips in which I was seated far away from my traveling partner, had several layovers, and even when I had to fly from the East Coast to Switzerland to get to Spain.</p>

<p>My secret is that I figure they are freebies, and I’m lucky to have them. Consequently, I decide in advance to be appreciative of the opportunity of getting to where I want even if the route is the long way around, I’m not sitting with my traveling partner, or I run into other problems.</p>

<p>The only secret that I have is that I don’t think that most people are accepting about the kinds of challenges that I’ve cheerfully accepted. That’s probably why my younger son and I got free upgrades going and coming when we flew to Africa and back. Our flight had been delayed so long that we had to spend an extra night in the US and had to overnight in the London airport going over. We never complained. We ended up getting upgrades to Africa and from London back to the US.</p>

<p>While flying, try to keep at the front of one’s mind that the destination, not the flight is why you’re there. With that kind of mindset, one can see a few hours of inconvenience and challenges on the flight as a tradeoff for what presumably will be a nice vacation.</p>

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<p>This isn’t exactly related, but I thought it might give you all a chuckle. I didn’t write this, but it’s a real complaint letter that was sent to Delta.

By the way, a great little tool is [url=<a href=“http://flightaware.com/]FlightAware[/url”>http://flightaware.com/]FlightAware[/url</a>]. You can check four months of “on time” data for a flight and maybe avoid some problems. Great for those of us who do business travel.</p>

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<p>Not that it has anything to do with Delta (which I avoid if I possibly can), but in light of the above complaint letter, I would like to heartily recommend JetBlue. If it flies from your area to anywhere near where you are going, take it. It is the most comfy, cushy, friendly, efficient “no-frills” airline I have ever encountered. The seats are leather, every one has a personal video screen, they offer headsets for free and very VERY nice ones for a $1 rental fee (honor system, you pick it up on the way onto the plane), there is ample legroom (spoken by someone with 3 males in the family all over 6’4" for whom this is a concern), the attendants are cheerful with a great sense of humor, there are tasty snacks and beverages available from the galleys throughout the flights, and the airline is responsive to the max. Example.</p>

<p>Recent non-stop, San Jose to Boston, red-eye. Took off SJC at 9pm, announcement over the intercom somewhere over Utah that there was an equipment problem and we’d be landing in Denver to fix, turn on new flightpath, another announcement that we couldn’t land in Denver 'cause they wouldn’t let us take off again until 6am, another turn, landed in Las Vegas 4 hours after we took off. (Sigh.) Workers “reboot the plane” (restarted a computer that couldn’t be taken down in-flight), all was fine, took off again, attendant apologized for the delay and announced we’d all get a $50 credit for the inconvenience, landed about 5 hours late (but with the nice overnight bag they give travelers on the red-eye and the comfy seat, I’d gotten multiple hours of sleep). Later in the week when I was arranging another flight on the phone, asking to use my $50 credit, I was told that I did not have a $50 credit: instead, JetBlue had credited every person on that flight with the entire cost of their fare. Free trip for a few hours of inconvenience.</p>

<p>JetBlue doesn’t fly everywhere, and sometimes you have to take a red-eye or fly to a slightly-off alternate airport, but it’s worth it. Give them a try. They’re the new Southwest, only better. IMNSHO.</p>

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<p>Binx, boy I have been where you are! I have found FF status to be serendipitous and points for flights go to the speediest to sign up. I have 180,000 with KLM and am unable to use them right now so switched to Lufthansa. My son travelled home for Christmas and to grandparents on Thanksgiving on KLM points but he was taken on a circuitous route…like Wisconsin, Atlanta, SFO. :slight_smile: With his KLM status, he is always upgraded especially with freebies. It amazes me. I have been upgraded more than I deserve. But, and here is the caveat: don’t count on it, desire it, think it is your due. I hate flying now. I try to just relax and ride the wave. The longest I am on a flight is 11.5 hours although it takes two flights and about 23 hours. I can deal with that. And then it is over. I am writing this before another gruelling “adventure.” This is going to be the summer not of love but airports! :)</p>

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<p>I absolutely LOVE the last two sentences of that letter - “consider this an invoice” - !!!</p>

<p>I usually fly American just because it seems to go everywhere I want to go, at the right time and price. I haven’t had a problem with AA yet. However, on other airlines recently, I’ve had the “get on the plane and go nowhere for hours” experience. </p>

<p>Just last month I tried to fly Continental out of Chicago to Miami. The flight was supposed to depart at 6:30 p.m. central time. We boarded on time, and actually backed up six feet from the gate. The story is too long and frustrating to detail, but, bottom line, the flight didn’t take off until close to either 11 or midnight central time, and, we sat on the plane until about 10:00 something, until they got us off and sent us to some other terminal on what seemed like the very opposite side of the airtport - to board another plane to Miami. </p>

<p>THAT plane was then slow getting moving; bottom line, I landed in Miami at close to 5:00 a.m. - and I had a full day of meetings that wasn’t scheduled to end until 8:30 p.m. EST, so, I was up for nearly 40 hours with no sleep. </p>

<p>Does anyone know if it’s true that the reason airlines board planes knowing full well the plane isn’t going anywhere anytime soon (known mechanical problem, no pilot, etc.) is because they can claim an “on time” departure (and make their service records look good) even if the plane doesn’t even manage to back away from the gate?</p>

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<p>lts:</p>

<p>you correctly note one small reason for push back is ‘on-time departure,’ even though it will not to be on-time arrival. But, the bigger reason is union/federal work rules in the aviation industry; there are only so many hours in a day flight attendants and crew can work. Once a door is locked and the plane ‘pushes back’, all employees are required to complete the journey even if they excee their allotted hours for that day. However, if the door is not locked, and the crew reaches its time limit for that day, they must check out and go home; federal/union work rules preclude them from working that flight. In essence, by locking the doors, the airlines are precluding more staff from going off clock. Of course, cynical passengers would also conclude that the airlines are precluding customers from walking down the terminal and jumping the competitor’s flight to Dallas or Miami or wherever.</p>

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<p>I love that letter posted above! They just don’t get it, do they? </p>

<p>Have you seen what the European Union has done?</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.oag.com/oag/website/com/en/Home/Travel+Magazine/Airline+Briefing/Delayed+Reaction+-+concern+over+new+passenger+compensation+levels+010306[/url]”>http://www.oag.com/oag/website/com/en/Home/Travel+Magazine/Airline+Briefing/Delayed+Reaction+-+concern+over+new+passenger+compensation+levels+010306&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>My S loves his JetBlue flights. Being based in NYC gives him a lot of options we don’t have. </p>

<p>We fly RyanAir over here, because it’s cheap. But I really don’t like it; feels like a cattle call. But, I hate to fly, so I may not ever be happy. I am claustrophic, hate heights, and get motion sickness.</p>

<p>I’ve only been upgraded once (on Delta). By accident. They were upgrading my H (who has more ff miles), and didn’t realize I was traveling with him (my return flight was different so I didn’t appear with him on the computer), but added me in anyway. It was wonderful. I realized that I don’t get as sick when I have a bit more room – no seat reclined in my face, the option to sleep easier, more palatable food. The fact that I have to connect in Paris means an extra take-off and landing, which is the part that usually makes me sick, which is why I was hoping to upgrade.</p>

<p>Sure, I can live with it; but my frustrations come from the misleading hype. Not spelling out the rules for how to use FF miles successfully. Telling me I can’t use my ff miles to upgrade because I didn’t pay enough for my seat??? I don’t think of FF miles as “free” - we’ve frequently flown Delta for a higher price to stick with one airline. I was loyal, it turns out, for no reason at all.</p>

<p>Re: 50 pound limit (100 pounds, actually – two suitcases): We are moving. All our documents, taxes, school records, books, shoes, & valuables that we don’t want shipped by boat must go with us. We will not be in a hotel at the other end; we will be in an empty house, waiting for our stuff. Yeah, we can probably do it, but it’s a hassle we could have done without.</p>

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<p>I typically try to fly AA which over the past few years has been great for me…recently since moving to college the easiest way to get home is thorough US Airways (only direct flight) so I’ve been taking it frequently. On one such flight, the scheduled plane had problems and they had to get another plane which unfortunately happened to be smaller thus they had to randomly select people to go on a later flight as no one volunteered…unfortunately I was one of them. By this point I wasn’t too mad because we all know that sometimes these kinds of things happen. US Airways behaved in a great way…they gave me a free roundtrip ticket, got me on a flight 1h30m later and put me in first class. </p>

<p>However, it has been a nightmare trying to use this “free ticket” that they gave me. I tried to use it like 8 times in the past 4 months and have yet to be able to use it because normally this happens: I check online and see that there is a open flight (seats available) for a certain date 3 months from now. I call to make my reservation using this ticket and I am told that the flight is full. I inform the service rep. that I am looking online and the flight appears open. Then she kindly informs me that normally for FF or these kinds of tickets they only reserve 3-5 seats on each flight and the flight that I am looking at is booked for those 3-5 seats. Then I ask if she has it for alternate dates…she informs me that nothing in that week. Then I ask when her first available seat is (1 seat only for me) and she tells me that they are unfortunately book solid for the next 9 months!!! THIS HAPPENS EVERYTIME I CALL…personally I think they just tell everyone that these “special seats” that they have are booked and just wait for people’s tickets to expire. There was only 1 time when they said that they had a seat available and for a flight from philadelphia to miami they wanted to send me through Detroit…and have a 5 hr layover there…***!!!</p>

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<p>One more thing from a frequent traveler: get familiarized with “Rule 240”. It’s the rule that governs the airline’s responsibilities in the event that they delay or cancel a flight. They’re supposed to have a copy at each ticket counter, but the one person I know to have used it said the staff “played dumb” when she asked about it.</p>

<p>[Here’s</a> a good write up about the rule](<a href=“Sports & Outdoors Archives – TopGuidePro”>Sports & Outdoors Archives – TopGuidePro) and a quick summary:

</p>

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<p>D just had a problem with Delta when returning from out of the country. Her 1st flight was late, which meant she would miss her connection to our town. Orbitz alerted me to the late flight. I got on the phone with Delta about her connecting flight. They said the next available flight would be the following morning, which I knew was not true, as I was looking at all their flights on the computer. There were about 6 more that day. I asked about free accomodations overnight. The operator went to his supervisor. Boom - she was on the next possible connecting flight, about 2 hrs after her original connecting flight.</p>

<p>Moral - be polite, but assertive!</p>

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<p>Dean J:</p>

<p>About rule 240:</p>

<p>I was booked for a flight to Taiwan. I was coming from SD to SF. The plane was delayed. And delayed and delayed. Finally, we were allowed to get off. Despite the fact that there was a shuttle every hour, those of us who had had tickets on the malfunctioning plane were not allowed to board until all other shuttle passengers were accommodated. It was several flights later that we could.</p>

<p>There was a Chinese couple who had first class tickets; their English was so poor they could not make themselves understood. I tried my best to help but with limited success.</p>

<p>By the time we got to SF, we’d missed our connection. We were put up at a hotel and given $10 (!) per person for our evening meal, including the couple with the two first class tickets. I got myself a salad and something to drink and went over the allocation. </p>

<p>Then when we finally were able to board a plance the next day, the Chinese couple were put in the smoking section of the coach class. They were told they would be reimbursed for the difference between their first class tickets and the coach fare, but would not be moved out of the smoking section.</p>

<p>So much for rule 240.</p>

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<p>I had a situation like that recently - I was leaving Boston for Miami, and, in Boston my flight was delayed, so, they wouldn’t guarantee my connection in Charlotte, and they couldn’t get me out on any other airline or so they said. So the ticket counter agent gave me a voucher for a hotel of some sort. But my luggage was not retrievable, and, I wasn’t about to stay overnight in a hotel with nothing more than my business clothing and a laptop, and the hotel was weird - it was like 25 miles from the airport, and when I called the place from my cell phone at the gate, it sounded like a scary sort of dive. </p>

<p>So I told the ticket agent I’d take my chances and fly to Charlotte and spend the night in the Charlotte airport if necessary, or, find a hotel there. </p>

<p>Finally board the late flight out of Boston, and land in Charlotte. As soon as I got off the plane, I literally RAN up the ramp to the ticket agent, shoved my boarding pass at her for my connecting flight, and asked her to check to see if there was any chance at all the plane was still at the gate. She checked; it was, but ready to close the doors, so she told them I was on my way, and then she told me to run as fast as I could. </p>

<p>So I did - ran as fast as I could - in a skirted suit and heels, with my laptop. Made it just in time. Except that the brain surgeon in Boston had cancelled me off the flight, confident I would never make it in time. I had to talk my way onto the plane and thankfully they had a seat for me. Unbelievable.</p>

<p>Correction: this was such a bad experience I’m only remembering it in pieces even though it just happened two months ago - the voucher wasn’t even for the full cost of the room, it was for $25 or something. And they didn’t offer it to me - I’d called my support staff from the gate, and while she hit the internet and the phones looking for options, she told me to ask the ticket agent for a voucher, so I did, and that’s what I got.</p>

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<p>This is some high-quality venting. I feel sorry for every bad experience recounted here but it’s definitely entertaining to read.</p>