zhunter Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Below is a letter I e-mailed to the President and CFO of Delta Airlines a few moments ago. I feel it is relevant here as lots of us travel significant amounts. Ed Bastian 7/10/08 President & CFO Delta Airlines Dear Mr. Bastian Today I received a call notifying me of a flight change on a return ticket for a trip my son and I are taking to go to a Boston Red Sox weekend series August 29 – 31, 2008. Apparently Delta #797, departing Atlanta, my connecting city on my return flight, has been canceled and I am not now able to make my connection. My reservation confirmation is: ****** Let me go back one day, yesterday, July 9, I made a change to a Delta flight and had to pay to do so, no problem, that is how it works. Today I receive a call, informing me of the problem with my son and my reservations. I am then given the option of returning on September 1st, or an earlier flight August 31st. The earlier flight is NOT possible, as we would miss the game we are going up to see in the first place. Staying an extra night is doable, as I have a flexible work schedule. But I am NOT willing to pay for YOUR scheduling changes by way of an extra nights hotel charge of $212.00. It seems everything is a One Way street with Delta. I was also offered an earlier flight home, but that does not allow my son and I to attend the game. I was offered an earlier flight into Ft. Lauderdale, which was also too early as well, and Delta was not willing to get me from Ft. Lauderdale to West Palm Beach. I see this as a Delta problem, I purchased two tickets, and planned my son’s annual trip around those reservations on Delta to make it happen. You, as in Delta, have made a change and seem unwilling to make things right. As a former loyal customer on Delta, when I was taking upwards of ten transatlantic round trips per year exclusively on Delta Airlines, it is due to poor service that I have changed my loyalty to other airlines. Amazingly, I have a family member who is a Delta pilot and not even that allows me in good coconsciousness to return to Delta as a full time customer. So, in light of this, mainly, Delta not being able to accommodate our return from Boston, either on Delta or another airline, or not willing to absorb the cost of your scheduling changes, I will do everything in my power to get the word out about this poor treatment by Delta. I will post on Message boards, I will post on Forums. I am presently composing an e-mail to start circulating to bring this episode to the forefront of the traveling world. I feel I have no choice but to make other people aware and protect them from similar experiences to what I have gone through today. Today we see businesses having problems in seemingly epic proportions, and we wonder why. I can tell you, we the American public, are fed up with being treated badly, and we are letting our money do the talking. Companies such as yours need to look no further than yourselves for your problems. Good customer service makes up for a lot of shortcomings and the customer service I received today was shocking to say the least. Mad about the treatment I received, Jay Townsend FF# ********** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Get "em Jay... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry cazes Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Welcome to the airline industry My experience is that Delta is actually one of the better airlines. This industry needed some serious orversight/regulation years ago. The airlines are the only business I know that can sell you a product that doesn't exist. I have been bumped from flights many times with the excuse of "flight was overbooked". Never thought I would hear myself say this but Southwest seems to offer the best service lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhunter Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 (edited) My experience is that Delta is actually one of the better airlines. I beg to differ: Poor seats without personal videos as does Jet Blue as well as several others Serious lack of legroom compared to other airlines, namely American Airlines I do have some experience, I travel more than 200,000 miles a year Edited July 10, 2008 by zhunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtr Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 All airlines suck in my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HighVelocity Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I used to fly Delta quite often. Then they basically ceased operations at DFW and have very few flights and none are direct unless you're going to Cinci, Salt Lake or Atlanta. I haven't flown them in years. The behavior and treatment described is not unlike that which I have received from AA in recent times. The entire airline industry, especially the customer service side, is in the tank. I have over 1M miles on American but have only taken 3 flights this year. I'd rather drive than take the abuse I'm gauranteed to get from the airlines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dunn Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I hate flying anymore. I'm driving to Michigan for vacation this year instead of flying. On time departure No security lines Room to stretch out No cancellations Excellent cabin security No snooty/snotty flying waitstaff No lost luggage Great hate Z! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dajarrel Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Good rant, Z.... I sure hope it makes it to it's intended receiver and he takes it to heart. Maybe you should copy the board of directors as well. fwiw dj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JThompson Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 My experience is that Delta is actually one of the better airlines. I beg to differ: Poor seats without personal videos as does Jet Blue as well as several others Serious lack of legroom compared to other airlines, namely American Airlines I do have some experience, I travel more than 200,000 miles a year AA is moving there seats back to get more passengers on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j2fast Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 I feel your pain Z, one of the things that always drove me insane at my last job that had me travel 3-4 weeks a month was the inconsistency in cust service. I would hate things like getting the chance to come home early and hitting the ticket counter only to get jerked around. The vast majority of the time I could get confirmed through back home with my bags with no problems. Although about ever 4 or so time I would try I'd get some agent who basically said F-U you'll take standby and like it even though there are open seats or the F-U you'll standby or pay big bucks to change. Just as an example I used to fly NWA a lot, on one trip I got out early hit the airport and one of the nicest agents I've ever met confirmed me home business class because they had open seats. This was actually big for me because getting home early meant getting to see family it would have been years before seeing again. I actually got his name and wrote letter to NWA about how helpful he was; not because of getting a free upgrade but because he should some genuine concern that he wanted to help. The very next week, same airline, same airport but diff agent I get the F-U attitude. I was even a Platinum Elite member at the time and still didn't even get a pleasant hello when I approached the counter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKSNIPER Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Excellent well worded letter Jay. I hope they try to make it up to you somehow. Good luck. JK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisStock Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Nice rant...well thought out and very pointy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zhunter Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 OK, I posted the letter to the president of Delta on several forums and message boards. One savvy traveler told me to google Rule 240 I did so, very interesting reading to say the least. It was VERY difficult to find Delta's version of Rule 240, but I did it. You can find it HERE, Rule 240 And yes, I did say version as since deregulation, the airlines have adopted their own version of Rule 240, but we the travelers are STILL very protected, and believe me, they are NOT going to tell you about Rule 240. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scirocco38s Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Welcome to the airline industry My experience is that Delta is actually one of the better airlines. This industry needed some serious orversight/regulation years ago. The airlines are the only business I know that can sell you a product that doesn't exist. I have been bumped from flights many times with the excuse of "flight was overbooked". Never thought I would hear myself say this but Southwest seems to offer the best service lately. Larry, I am going to have to completely disagree. The only airline that is worse than Delta is USAir or as I call the US Scair. The airlines that are going to survive all of this are the ones that take care of customers and as someone who travels quit a bit I can tell you that I havent used Delta in over 5 yr for just what Z was talking about plus the crappy attitude their personnel have. And US Air forget it. I'll travel by dogsled before I get on another usair flight even if I didnt pay for it. Southwest does seem to try a little harder and American, United, KLM?Northwest are still viable for me but that is where the list ends. Delta one of the better, give me a break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry cazes Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Larry, I am going to have to completely disagree. The only airline that is worse than Delta is USAir or as I call the US Scair. The airlines that are going to survive all of this are the ones that take care of customers and as someone who travels quit a bit I can tell you that I havent used Delta in over 5 yr for just what Z was talking about plus the crappy attitude their personnel have. And US Air forget it. I'll travel by dogsled before I get on another usair flight even if I didnt pay for it. Southwest does seem to try a little harder and American, United, KLM?Northwest are still viable for me but that is where the list ends. Delta one of the better, give me a break. Well, you're history flying Delta has been different than mine. My experience with Delta has been relatively good compared to United and USAir. As others have stated, though, I prefer to drive whenever possible and my wife and I pick matches accordingly. For example, for the last 2 years we have driven 13 hours each way to shoot Area2 because we hate flying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boz1911 Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Even though my Dad is a retired Delta pilot I must enforce the power given to me. Probation til I say different for DAL !! You don't f**k with my friends and get away with it!! All that aside, you would think with the airlines situation, they would absolutely do anything they could to improve customer service......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scirocco38s Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Larry, I am going to have to completely disagree. The only airline that is worse than Delta is USAir or as I call the US Scair. The airlines that are going to survive all of this are the ones that take care of customers and as someone who travels quit a bit I can tell you that I havent used Delta in over 5 yr for just what Z was talking about plus the crappy attitude their personnel have. And US Air forget it. I'll travel by dogsled before I get on another usair flight even if I didnt pay for it. Southwest does seem to try a little harder and American, United, KLM?Northwest are still viable for me but that is where the list ends. Delta one of the better, give me a break. Well, you're history flying Delta has been different than mine. My experience with Delta has been relatively good compared to United and USAir. As others have stated, though, I prefer to drive whenever possible and my wife and I pick matches accordingly. For example, for the last 2 years we have driven 13 hours each way to shoot Area2 because we hate flying. I dont disagree with your driving to matches and such as I do the same also. I drive every year to florida for the open just to keep from the hassles of flying. I generally end up carrying ammo for some of the shooters that have to fly because of job requirements. The only time I am flying now is job related and everytime I remind myself of why I dont fly. Even if the airlines do and excellent job (and sometimes they do) the bofoons and monkeys in airport security will end up pissing you off. The last time I flew in thru Minnieapolis/ST paul with northwest, the flight was for all intents very good. We land , pull up to the gate and proceed to immigration control,no problems there took all of 10 minutes to traverse and now I go to get on my domestic flight and I have to go thru security all over again. metal detectors ,xrays , take your shoes off , the works. Now bear in mind I went thru all of this in europe before I boarded the plane and from the time the plane lands till I get my luggage I am in a controlled area, with controlled access. Now they start this crap all over again, I asked the guy at the xray machine that wasnt this a bit excessive when we had been in a controlled area, and he looked at me like the brainwashed 8th grade educated idiot he is. The airlines are partly to blame for some of their problems, but it is more an indication of soceity and its problems, by the way things are for air travel in general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chp5 Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 I hate flying now days. I hate the ATL airport. I don't hate, but generally dislike, most every illiterate, dumb ass employee of the ATL airport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMITH Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Delta BLOWS, worst airline I have ever flown on. My travel profile at work says 'Schwinn before Delta', and I am not kidding, I watched our travel agent put it in. My company, and that includes ALL of the people that fly, are booked on Delta as an absolute last resort since my last episode with them. Our travel agent was almost as mad as I was by the end of it. They just pissed all over the potential for at least 5000 flights per year and don't care. No exaggeration, we fly over 100 people a week and 20 or so of those people fly to 3 or 4 destinations per week. They flat out did not CARE. That alone says all you need to say about Delta Airlines. The FINAL straw with THE worst company I have ever dealt with was a job in St Louis, I finished up about 9 hours before my flight, drove to the airport, turned in my rental, and went to the ticket counter. To get an earlier flight I was told I had to buy a NEW one way ticket. I went all the way up through the shift manager for Delta, no change. Called the company travel agent, she spent two hours trying to get me another flight. My round trip was $700 or so, they wanted to charge me over a THOUSAND for the one way to leave earlier. They sent THREE planes out with empty seats in COACH to my destination and would not let me on them. I would have paid $50 for the reservation change, and never thought twice about it. Either buy a new ticket or go have a seat is what I was told. I had to spend over 8 hours sitting the the St Louis airport waiting. It was all I could manage to not get physical with those people, pissed me off worse than I have been pissed off in ten years. I told everyone in line ALL DAY, nicely, about what Delta was doing. A good portion of them gave the ticket counter people a hard time about it. I have told everyone I have talked to about traveling since then about the way I was treated. I wrote the president of the company a nice letter, an email and attempted to call him, never a response of any kind. I called them several times and talked to different customer service reps and customer service managers, 'sorry but that is our policy' is the best I ever got out of them. I will ride a damn bicycle from here to ANYWHERE before I fly Delta again. I really and truly hope they bankrupt, and tomorrow wouldn't be soon enough. It will happen, you cannot treat your customers the way they do and stay in business very long. If they treat customers that way imagine how they treat employees? Sorry, I still get mad thinking about Delta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AikiDale Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 http://finance.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:DAL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warpspeed Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 OK, I posted the letter to the president of Delta on several forums and message boards. One savvy traveler told me to google Rule 240I did so, very interesting reading to say the least. It was VERY difficult to find Delta's version of Rule 240, but I did it. You can find it HERE, Rule 240 And yes, I did say version as since deregulation, the airlines have adopted their own version of Rule 240, but we the travelers are STILL very protected, and believe me, they are NOT going to tell you about Rule 240. Nice rant J. I had my own a month ago. Different airline. The not so friendly skies. I read the Rule 240 stuff. Does this mean they have to cover your hotel ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blkbrd Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 Jay; Check your PM. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKSNIPER Posted July 11, 2008 Share Posted July 11, 2008 HSMITH, Fly Southwest buddy. I've changed flights with the $50 charge being the only cost. Also if I fly for an L.E. function they waive the overweight charge (Not ME...the Luggage!) and the fee for extra bags (Gun cases). Good customer service, never had a problem with them. As far as security checkpoints go I endure them like everyone here. They are there to keep us all safe so smile and realize that the guy making you go through it is also making the terrorist go through too. Wnat a security experience? Go fly ELAL (Israel) Whoo boy now THATS security! JK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now