Jim!

My wife and I booked a cruise back in April and, shortly thereafter, booked flights on Delta in order to get to Los Angeles to get on the cruise. Delta failed in every single aspect. Below is the body of the letter this is going to Delta in an effort to try to get something back out of the $1036 we spent trying to catch up to our cruise.

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On Sunday, October 11 my wife and I were scheduled to fly out of Bishop International Airport on a flight to Los Angeles, CA, where we would participate in our first cruise. We have been confirmed on the following flights since April 18, 2009:
Delta flight 6427 to Atlanta (Scheduled to depart at 5:35 a.m. and to arrive in Atlanta at 7:38 a.m.)
Delta flight 2801 to Los Angeles (Scheduled to depart at 8:29 a.m. and to arrive at 10:20 a.m.)

Were we to have arrived on time, we would have a window of almost 6 hours to make it to our 7-day Mexico cruise.

Unfortunately that was not the case, and the very first steps we took that day resulted in a 3-day delay boarding the ship and an additional expenditure of over $1,000 of cash out of pocket in order to get aboard the ship, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

We arrived at the airport at 4:45 in preparation for the 5:35 departure of flight 6247. The plane boarded on time and the doors were shut at just about exactly 5:35. Shortly thereafter the plane backed away from the jet bridge…and sat there. For quite a while. We were later informed – and only because we asked – that the reason for the delay was that the plane needed to be de-iced. (There had been a very light frost overnight.) The two flight attendants sitting behind us informed us – again, only because we asked – that the Delta de-icing truck had a fuel leak, so they had to use a de-icing truck from another airline. Flint Bishop airport is not that big of an airport, but finally getting the other airline’s truck in place took quite a while.

Some may call the reason the plane was delayed an Act of god, because of the frost. In all actuality, it should be attributed to a mechanical issue, as Delta’s de-icing truck was unable to perform its duty. Another item I question is why Delta decided to wait until after the plane had completely boarded to de-ice.

The plane finally took off at 6:20 a.m. My wife and I repeatedly inquired about having such a tight window to catch our next flight, but we repeatedly got assurances from both flight attendants that we’d make it on time.

The plane landed at approximately 8:20 a.m. As soon as we got off the plane we started running (literally) to catch our next flight. We arrived at 8:28 to find the gate already shut. The gentleman at the gate didn’t even look up from his computer terminal when he said “if you’re looking for L.A. it’s on gate 26″.

Thus began the most frustrating, maddening, impersonal, inconsiderate travel experience my wife and I have ever encountered.

Every Single Delta Personnel we spoke with in Atlanta that day treated us with indifference and disregard, with the exception of one person.

The next flight we were booked on standby for was number 2083 departing at 9:50. We were bumped off of that flight and then schedule standby on the next flight.

Thus began multiple trips to the phone bank, different terminals, different personnel, various phone calls, and even an on-site “supervisor”, and not a single person seemed the slightest bit concerned about the predicament we were in…a predicament that Delta put us in in the first place.

Keep in mind that we needed to be at the San Pedro Pier by 4:00 to make our cruise on time. Delta, at this point, is not helping with that.

The next flight to Los Angeles was flight 2085 leaving at 11:54. This flight was our last chance to make it to LAX in time for our cruise.

After a time we were listed on the green “Cleared list” with seat assignments. When we attempted to board when they called our zone we were stopped at the kiosk. The lady standing there (Tamika?) said that we were, indeed, NOT on the cleared list, even when we pointed out to her that yes, we were, and it was still on the over head screen. Nonetheless, we were told to stand against the wall.

We stood against the wall with a number of other standby passengers as they called the list of people who were going to be allowed to get on the plane. The last names called were ours, so we proceeded to the gate. At that point we were excited that we’d be able to make our cruise…until we literally went to step on the jet bridge. As soon as we did a gentleman blocked our passage and told us “You’re not getting on this plane.” They had apparently miscounted. Let me say that again: They Had Apparently Miscounted and there were not two seats after all and we were denied boarding on the last plane that could have gotten us to LAX on time. My wife started hyperventilating and was frantic. Not One Delta Employee cared. Their standard answer: We’ll put you on standby for the next plane. Again, Delta is not helping.

At this point I’d like to address the method Delta uses for prioritizing standby passengers. Basing standby status on the price paid for a ticket does not take into account the status of those who have been repeatedly bumped from previous flights. Or, perhaps, the person who has to fly economically. Why should a person who plans ahead and pays for a ticket months in advance (we did in April) be stuck behind someone on a standby list who, on a whim, books a flight the day before and pays more?

It is when we were on standby for the flight we actually got on (again, still too late to make our cruise) that we met the single individual who didn’t disregard us or wish we’d just go away. The next flight to LAX was 1777, departing at 1:40. After getting repeatedly turned down for assistance by every Delta employee we tried to enlist we met Mary Gilbert. She told us of a standby code that could have been utilized by almost all agents to bump us up on the standby list. ANY agent could have used that code, but no one we encountered cared to give us the slightest consideration. We were the only two standby passengers to get on board this flight, thanks to Mary and her ability to actually assist someone when every one else simply didn’t care.  Even at that, we had to sit TWELVE rows apart for the duration of the 4½ hour flight.  Not ideal accommodations, but at least we were on the plane.

But this story is not done.

The flight landed in Los Angeles at about 3:30 p.m. In order to make our cruise we needed to be at the San Pedro Pier by 4:00. This was obviously not going to happen. In order to find a solution we went to the Delta ticket counter, where we ended up with Linda Cerne, a Special Agent who was going to assist us.

We gave her the rundown of what had happened. By this point our only option was to fly to Cabo San Lucas and meet the ship when it docked there in Tuesday. To no surprise, however, Delta was unwilling to try to compensate us in any way in this regard. Linda did manage to find a flight for us the next day on American Airlines and attempted to book the flight for us. She even swiped our credit card for about $205 (remember this). Then, every time she tried to confirm the trip the price went up in increments from the $160 per person that she originally told us to over $200 per person. We informed her that if she was able to confirm it that the least Delta could do would be to cover the difference, since we were originally told it was $160 per person. Getting frustrated and confused she went and got a supervisor named Tony Tith. Tony informed us in a very matter-of-fact/this-is-the-final-word way that Delta would not cover anything and then he tried to take the credit for the work that Linda had done up until this point. At no time did Tony ask us anything, all he did was tell us the way things were going to go.

This is not customer service. At no time did anyone acknowledge or take into account the fact that we stood there for over three hours trying to fix a mistake that Delta cause.

They did manage to call Mexicana to try to secure a flight for us on their service the next day.

After standing at the Delta ticket counter for 3 hours and 45 minutes (that is no exaggeration), what did Delta do for us? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. We ended up going to Mexicana to book our own flight, since Tony didn’t give us all the information we needed to book the one he needed at the rate he quoted us.

Here is what Delta did accomplish: Made us miss our cruise, made my wife nearly pass out, treat us with indifference, and waste 3¾ hours of our time. They did give us a discount coupon for a hotel to stay at that night in L.A. that saved us $30.

In order to get on our ship (ultimately in Mazatlan on Wednesday) we had to pay for every single expense along the way out of our own pockets.

To wit:

La Quinta Hotel in LA: $76
Dinner at La Quinta: $35
Flight to Cabo San Lucas: $326
Transportation to Hotel in Cabo San Lucas: $30
Dinner in Cabo San Lucas: $40
Hotel in Cabo San Lucas: $70
Return Transportation to Airport in Cabo San Lucas: $34
Lunch at airport in Cabo San Lucas: $40
Flight from Cabo San Lucas to Mazatlan: $305
Transportation to Hotel in Mazatlan: $30
Dinner in Mazatlan: $40
Transportation from Hotel to Pier in Mazatlan: $10

For a grand total of $1036 the we had to spend out of our own pockets to get on a cruise ship that we should have been on Sunday morning, had Delta been able to accomplish one simple thing. Even if the plane had left 10 minutes earlier we could have made the connection. We left with what we consider to be plenty of money to enjoy our vacation without having to watch every expense, and spent a very large percentage of it just to get on the ship. Had we been on the boat we wouldn’t have had to pay for any of the items listed above and would not have had to be concerned about what we spent on drinks, souvenirs, and events on the ship. As a result of having to pay so much out of pocket we were unable to participate in any of the three off-boat excursions that we had planned to while we were on our cruise.

Please note that the $200 that Linda swiped on our credit card was on hold until after we returned, reducing even further any money we may have needed to have available.

I would also like to point out that the amount of money we spent to get on the ship in Mazatlan was almost double what we paid for our round-trip flight from Flint to Los Angeles.

My wife and I saved a very long time to go on this cruise, and Delta managed to take a great deal of the fun out of this vacation…and at no time did Delta offer to help in any fashion.

Is Delta going to help to make this right, or do I start circulating this story online and to news and media outlets?

Another thing to note: We did not fly Delta on our return trip from LA to Flint. Instead we flew on Air Tran, and had a much better, stress-free flying experience.