Delta Airlines Consumer Reviews - Page 3

Here's my experience with just trying BOOK a frigging flight with this brain dead airline. I was using points from a credit card that had to be transferred over to my Delta frequent flier account so my family and me could fly on my miles. I called a month ahead of time to do so. The first nimrod I got was overseas with a thick accent and a fake American name. After numerous attempts to make myself understood he told me I would need 80,000 miles total to qualify for seats. Made the reservation and called my Credit card company and they immediately transferred the miles over. Simple yes? Wrong. The genius in Delhi, Calcutta or whatever third world backwater was wrong.

It was 80,000 miles PER SEAT. Luckily, I called Delta just before I lost my seats and found this out. The next agent I spoke to Jason was a rocket scientist in OHIO. He reassured me that he would extend the deadline on my reservation for two more days until the additional miles came in. Jumpy now, I called the next day, a day BEFORE the new deadline, and got Jenny in the US who told me that my reservation had been canceled because it was past the deadline. Smoke coming out of my ears I said, "Your agent assured me that he would extend the deadline and you're telling me now that my reservation GONE? I called a MONTH in advance for these flights.

These times and dates are non-negotiable. We have to be in Atlanta on a certain day for a certain event. "Well let me see what I can do for you, click, click, click, okay I found your itinerary and I've re-booked those flights. You can go on Delta.com and see them there." She promises to send me an email confirming this. Problem solved, right? WRONG! I never get an email confirming this conversation. Not trusting anything this pathetic excuse for a company tells me, I check my reservation on their website and, sure enough, Jenny screwed up my return flight booking it A MONTH LATER than my original one.

Head... about... to... explode, I call Delta and get Carol who sounds like a dude. Either that or she's smoked so much that she's got a voice that could strip paint. I make my frustration and displeasure with Delta plain to Carol who is - how should I put it - an unsympathetic witch with the listening skills of Glenn Beck. She starts stonewalling, tells me I'm being unreasonable and that it's not a big deal. "NOT A BIG DEAL?" "I've had to make four, count ‘em; four phone calls to make a simple fight reservation and each time YOU GUYS have nearly screwed me. How is that not a big deal?"

Finally, I get my return flight sorted out with yet another reservation, and ask her to send me an email confirming this. She refuses, telling me they don't send emails unless the ticket is paid for. I point out that the first guy in outsourced hell already sent me one and Jenny said she would (Although she never did). Carol still refuses and then has the nerve to tell me I'm acting unreasonable. So, I make her stay on the line while I go their website to confirm she did what she said. She had. After promises to stay in touch, we say our tearful goodbyes.

As of now, I'm holding a reservation on the dates I want but Delta has not processed the miles my credit card company has transferred over. I still may lose this reservation and again, bear in mind, this is me planning a trip A MONTH in advance. Does it really have to this hard?

One can understand that it sometimes can be difficult to get a seat on a plane, more so during peak travelling times, flying on a Delta Buddy Pass, on a standby basis. That being said and done, our first attempt to get on our Delta flight (Flight DL201) from Johannesburg back to Atlanta was on December 10, 2010.

Needless to say, after having checked in at 15H45, as was required, we were told to return to the particular check-in counter at 19H00. That we did, and stood around until 20H20, when the flight departed. At no stage were we advised that no seats were available.. The people working for Delta at the check-in counters simply closed up their workstations, and disappeared. No word of what the situation entailed i.e. no seats available, the plane has departed, or to come back and try again the following night! Nada, Zilch!

The above events were repeated for the following 6 nights, no seats, no explanation, nothing.. That was when I felt I had come to the point that I felt I was owed an explanation by the people in the Delta Ticketing booth. At all times I remained polite (in fact, my wife who is a multi-media producer, has all on video), and during my conversation with the staff in the ticketing booth, it became clear that they did not work for Delta Airlines, they were merely subcontracted by Delta, and in fact worked for a company called Swissport.

That was when I demanded to speak to their supervisor if they had such a person - and it then transpired that Delta had in fact only one employee / manager, a person with the name of **. I demanded to speak to him, but was advised that he had already left and gone home. I demanded that they call him at home, which they did.

** the manager of Delta Airlines at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg, was not at all interested in my questions, particularly when I asked him about another standby couple who had offered their seats to myself and my wife, when they learnt that we had been stuck for more than a week, not being able to get on a Delta flight and when I pointed out to him that there were in fact 22 seats available on the plane, he simply said that Delta'€™s first priority was to load extra cargo, instead of standby passengers (Non-Revenue Passengers, as standby passengers are known to Delta) as that was financially the most logical thing for Delta to do.

He then simply hung up the phone on me the last thing one would expect from a Delta employee, but then, alas, perhaps understandable in the Africa context where very little accountability can be expected! About 5 minutes later, three different couples who were also on buddy-passes and on the same priority rating, offered their seats to us, as that was their first attempt, and they by then knew that we were now trying for 6 nights to get on the plane! The check-in people simply refused to allocate that particular couple'™s tickets to us, or to any other of the other standby passengers for that matter!

One particular couple - who were then indeed allocated two seats - were so annoyed that Delta would not pass on their seats to long waiting standby passengers, that they then simply refused to get on the plane, and cancelled their boarding passes.. Regardless of that, Delta would not issue those particular seats to ANY of the waiting standby passengers!!!

That being said and done, we simply went back to the ticketing office, to have us again placed on the standby waiting list for the following night. That was the night of 18 December. Every night the same thing happened. Some passengers did a trip to South Africa for 10 days, only to be stuck at O. R. Tambo for the same number of days! (Personally, we have been trying to get on the Delta flight for 14 days now!) This all is nothing but a clear example of an abuse of power! But then also the total breakdown in security!

One particular passenger who lucked out and was given a boarding pass, called us again when we had returned to the hotel, after another unsuccessful attempt to get on the flight! She had cleared customs, was cleared by security personnel, and got on the plane, only to find that someone was sitting in her allocated seat! She called a flight attendant, and it then became clear that the boarding pass given to her at check-in was in the name of another person, and not in her name! Needless to say, she was then again promptly escorted off the plane, and nobody was held accountable or even questioned about the breakdown in security!!!

On December 23, we tried again to get on the flight, with no luck, regardless that we were told earlier in the week that the 23rd is wide open, with many seats available, and that the 23rd was THE day to get on the flight on a stand-by passenger basis! It became clear when passengers started checking in that there were 22 seats available in business class, and 94 in economy class. Guess what“ only 2 passengers on standby were allowed to board the plane!!!

Again we were fed the nonsense that the number of standby passengers allowed to fly was subject to the amount of cargo to be taken on, which was UTTER NONSENSE! That became clear when one retired Delta pilot, (also on standby but on a higher priority of course!) explained to us that the cargo story fed to us was nonsense. According to him, if a flight has an 8 PM departure, the cargo would already have been loaded on the plane by 4 pm!!!

According to the same pilot, the issue was only about the inefficiency of the agents booking in passengers and issuing boarding passes. We checked, and sure as hell THAT was indeed the problem!!! It took a minimum of 4 hours for inefficient staff to issue boarding passes to all passengers. (Again, they are not employed by Delta Airlines, but are subcontracted from a company called Swissport“. Hence the fact that they have no incentive to work faster or more efficient!)

Look at this now. This same retired pilot, when he SAW that Delta would not board a standby passenger with a sick baby in her arms, then went and BOUGHT the lady and her baby a ticket out of his own pocket, just so that she could get on the flight, and get her baby home! Shame on Delta!!! A couple of œnon-revs€, as standby passengers are known and described by Delta, killed time by comparing how long it took other airlines to issue boarding passes to their waiting passengers. Believe it or not, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM and BA took an average of 1 hour and 15 minutes to board their passengers! Compared to Delta'€™s FOUR hours!!!

So the story given by Delta that the weather, cargo / passenger ratio etc. was the determining factor as to how many standby passengers were allowed to board is plain poppy cock! It simply boils down to this the captain on the plane has a departure time deadline, otherwise he gets dinged - and when it comes close to his scheduled departure time, he simply has the aircraft doors closed and proceeds to depart. Which means - To hell with whom still needs to board even if it is a passenger with a fully paid ticket not just the standby-passengers!

So these are the simple facts but Delta will not acknowledge the problems are 99% to be blamed on inefficient people employed on a subcontract basis as that will not be the Political Correct thing to do!!! So they blame it on totally irrelevant factors like weather and cargo!! (If that was indeed the case, why do other airlines not have the same problems!!!??)

Totally bloody preposterous!!! (It is not like non-revs are flying for free - standby passengers still pay around 50% of an economy class ticket! Threatening one to have the flight privileges of the person who gave us the standby ticket is so egregiously inhumane, and corporate crap! (And amounts to blackmailing!) On Christmas Eve, we were told that DELTA had a total embargo on standby passengers, meaning we were again stuck for the night at the airport, and could only HOPE to get on a flight on CHRISTMAS DAY!!!

On Christmas Day - Day 16 of trying to get on a Delta Flight, we again went to the airport at 3 PM, to have ourselves listed on the standby-list. One particular employee named **, (his name tag described him as a flight controller) - told us to come back to see him (not another agent!) at 7PM, when it was the cut-off time to check in. He apparently had received word that the Captain on flight DL201 had decided to allow all 14 stand-by passengers to board the flight! At last! After 16 attempts go get on a Delta flight!

We were advised that we were to take up seats as indicated on our boarding passes, but that we were to be moved to the business class section after takeoff, when the plane reached cruising altitude. We did so when told to move seats, only to be faced by disgruntled and irritated flight attendants, when we were seated.. As it was, they were already mad at having to work on Christmas Day, and then got even more disgruntled when the section which was supposed to be clear of any passengers, were now filled by the €œnon-revs€ the Captain allowed to board!

(The flight attendants were rude and unfriendly, and one could almost feel that the food and drinks were just about thrown at you!) So, there it is our 16 day ordeal with Delta Airlines with whom I will never fly again, and an airline I will not recommend to any of my clients going on an African Safari.

My fiance and I were interested in switching my flight on Dec.19th to an earlier date, ideally on December 17th after 4 pm EST. He contacted Delta and inquired about the switch and was informed that since the seat change was not made within 24 hours, there would be a $200 charge. $150 would be charged for the change and there would also be a $50 rebooking fee.

This is where I am slightly miffed. He paid $244.40 for my window seat [10 days prior to my departure] through Expedia.com. Paying an additional $200.00 would mean my seat for (possibly) December 17th or 18th would cost upward of $450.00. As we are both students in college, it seems a bit much for a seat switch. I realize that with the holidays approaching, people will be traveling and seats will be scarce, but I would be willing to take the chance at losing my beloved window seat for a seat on a Delta airplane two days sooner.

By forfeiting my flight on the 19th, I would be freeing up an available seat with a well-known airline. Surely losing my place on that plane would not affect airline profits... A frequent flier with Delta myself, I was not looking to switch airlines. I merely was looking to switch dates. I am aware of the lost sales Delta may receive by my seat being reserved until now (ie: A customer and his wife wanted two seats next to each other, and the seat in the middle was open but my seat was reserved, therefore they could not purchase the seats next to each other and opted to go elsewhere). However, I am also strongly aware of the high demand of flights around the holiday.

$200 for booking a flight change in addition to the first seating fee seems outrageous. We tried to change it immediately-- as soon as I was aware... but we were met with "policy." As a female with experience in retail for nearly 9 years (working customer service, specifically, for 6 of those years) I am aware that policies are only as firm as the people who impose them, and they are often bent to make the customer happy.

This particular way of doing things may not increase the immediate sale, but it will affect future sales. It will satisfy the customer and will build guest loyalty, therefore increasing future sales, both by the customer's repeated business and word of mouth. I do not understand why our request for switching my flight to an earlier date could not be met without a hefty fee. Similar to a "restocking fee" that we have at my current employer, I acknowledge the "rebooking fee." I do not agree with the additional $150.00 in fees that would put my ticket cost over $400.00...

My fiance and I are asking for this favor one week in advance, not one day, or one hour in advance. The "policy" for the "seat change charge" and "rebooking" charge is purely for the airline's profit, and I am well aware of this. I have never had any other ordeals with your airline. Thank you for your time and consideration.

ALTANTA, GEORGIA -- On Saturday October 2, 2010, I left Sarasota, Fl on Delta Flight 2348 to Atlanta, GA. I was then supposed to continue to Paris, France, on Delta Flight 274 and continue to Genoa, Italy on Delta Flight 5843 with a final destination arrival time of 5:20pm on Sunday October 3, 2010. With an on-time departure from Sarasota, we actually arrived about 20 minutes early into Atlanta, GA. While this was the case, we could not reach our gate because another Delta aircraft was at our assigned gate.

After sitting on the runway until almost 8:30 PM, we finally reached a gate and unloaded from the aircraft. I immediately made contact with the agent at the gate and told her to let my other flight know that I was there and would be at the gate soon. She confirmed and I started running to the gate. I arrived at the gate at 8:35. There were still five to seven people in front of me to board the plane and an irate gentleman at the ticket counter. The Delta representative at the gate took my ticket and passport, scanned my ticket, and was in motion to scan my passport.

The other Delta representative at the ticket counter said “He (referring to me) didn't get here early enough; he can't get on the plane.” In the meantime, the gentleman at the counter that did not originally have an assigned seat on the plane was allowed on the plane and I was bumped. I was directed to a Delta special services counter and the door to the gate was closed.

At the counter, I was told that the soonest I could leave was the next day. I was schedule for Delta flight 130 at 4:40PM to Munich and then Continental Flight 5486 to Genoa at 11:00 AM on Monday October 4, 2010. I was also told that Delta was only going to give me a discounted rate at a hotel because the rescheduled flight was not Delta's fault; it was air traffic controls fault. While waiting on the hotel shuttle, I called the Delta, explained the situation and the representative said it wasn't Delta's fault, it was due to in climate weather in the area. If clear skies and on a starry night is in climate weather for a Delta aircraft, I don't feel comfortable riding in one.

After continuing the conversation, the representative said he would give me a $50 flight credit. At this point in time, I am still paying for a hotel room in Atlanta. I have to pay for might night missed in Genoa, and I lose a full day's work. In my luggage was also two boxes of brochures that were going to be used for the sales of boats at the Genoa International Boat Show. Without these brochures, the company's full line cannot be shown to customers and sales are missed.

Finally arriving to the hotel at 12:20AM on Sunday October 3, 2010, I get a room. The room was dirty and the bed wasn't even made. The hotel that Delta recommended had a nice lobby but the room was awful. I was put in another room. At 3:30AM, I received a notice from Expedia saying that I needed to contact the company immediately pertaining to my flight. At that time, I called Expedia and they informed me that the flight from Munich to Genoa was overbooked and I was only on the standby list for the flight. While even more frustrated with the situation, I tried to sleep for a while and returned to the airport to sort out the matter.

At the same special services counter from the day before, I asked about my flight and told them I wanted a guaranteed flight and did not want to be on standby. After checking my reservation, the Delta representative was baffled at her findings telling me that she did not have access to the Continental flight information but the flight was in conjunction with an airline that Delta is not even supposed to book with. Once again, I was rescheduled on a new set of flights. This time, I was scheduled on Delta Flight AF681 to Paris at 5:50 PM on Sunday October 3, 2010 and Delta flight AF5847 to Genoa at 9:55 AM.

Delta Flight Af681 to Paris left on time and landed on time. The connection to Genoa, AF5847, left on time also. While in the air, the captain explained that we were circling the Genoa airport because of storms, and we were number 6 in line to land. We were expected to land in about 30 minutes. About 15 minutes pasted and the captain came on again saying that the airport was now closed due to flooding, and we would be landing in Nice, France.

Upon arrival, I proceeded to baggage claim and received none of the three pieces of luggage I checked. I reported my delayed luggage and proceeded to the provided bus to Genoa. When we got to the bus, the driver told us that there was to be no eating or drinking on his bus. We would arrive in Genoa in three to three and a half hours, and we could eat then. About five hours into the ride, yes five, a girl appearing to be in her early teens asked the driver to unlock the bathroom so she could use it. He denied her request and she sat down.

About 20 minutes later she returned and was denied again. Immediately her father stepped in along with other passengers on the bus and demanded that the restroom be unlocked. We were sitting still in traffic and there was no reason the driver couldn't do it. After a small uproar, he gave in. On his way to unlock the door, he yelled to the passengers to not take advantage of the toilet because he didn't want to have to empty it and clean it. After six and a half hours of travel, the driver exited the highway and dropped all of the passengers and their luggage off at an abandoned gas station that had several beggars at time just inside of Genoa.

I tried to get the driver to let me use his phone or give information at least. He resisted, slammed the bus door and drove away. Now, Delta has dropped me off in an unsafe environment, in pouring rain, in a foreign country, with a foreign language, without any official of the country seeing my passport. Immediately, the number of beggars grew and so did my uncertainty. I, along with a group of other passengers, got together and began walking toward hotel Novotel. The front desk at Novotel was nice enough to call a cab for me. After waiting an hour, a cab arrived. I was taken to the hotel where I was supposed to meet my colleague, Bristol Hotel Palace.

Upon arrival at the hotel, I called my hotel, Hotel Alexander, and was told that my reservations had been sold. I did notify them before leaving the USA that my flight had been moved to the following day to keep my reservation. Since the airport was closed, they didn't think that I was going to arrive and sold my reservation. Luckily, another person from my company was staying at another hotel and took a different airline. I stayed at the Bristol Hotel where he was and got a room for the night. Before going to bed, I called and had the information for my delayed luggage changed and confirmed.

The next day and the days following, I called from my hotel, Bristol Hotel, checking on the luggage. The lost baggage line had no information on the luggage. My final day in Genoa, I received an email from Hotel Alexander saying that they had my luggage. I called from my hotel and they said I needed to give them 1500 Euros to release my luggage. Of course, I do not speak Italian, and they only spoke very broken English. I told them I was not paying the fee but I need my luggage. They hung up on me three times and demanded the money.

I called Delta (actually Air France) and the representative said that it was their mistake and the airline would pick up the luggage and bring it to Hotel Bristol. The entire day passed and I didn't receive the luggage. I finally called and went to Hotel Alexander myself to get the luggage. Strangely enough there was a representative there that could speak perfect English and demand the 1500 Euros.

After arguing and bartering for over 30 minutes, I had to pay 270 Euros to get my luggage. At this point, I was surrounded by 4 large men yelling at me in Italian; I felt I had to pay or I wasn't going to leave there in good health or well-being. This is another dangerous situation that Delta and its partners forced me to be in. Delta offered me 19000 skymiles. What a joke. A refund of the entire trip, a refund of the money I paid to get the luggage back, refund for the clothing and laundering I had to do, and a refund for the extra $255 worth of luggage I checked is what I should get.

We arrived at our home airport (GEG) to travel to my mother-in-law's funeral (BUF) on 7/14/2010 to find there was a huge line of people that were being re-ticketed due to severe weather in MSP. We totally understand that Delta has no control over the weather so we pleasantly allowed the attendant to re-ticket us from GEG to SEA later that night (on Alaska Air) and then take a red-eye flight to PHL and then on to upstate NY on US Airways the next day.

When we arrived back at the airport later that evening (with plenty of time to check bags and get through security for our flight to SEA) the Alaska agent said she couldn't issue us boarding passes because the Delta attendant hadn't re-ticketed us properly and she would have to get a Delta employee to fix the problem. She tried to call the Delta customer service phone line but discovered (as I had earlier in the week) that the recording there says "due to the high volume of calls we are experiencing at this time, we are unable to help you...click". Yes click, not “your hold time will be long, can we call you back?” just disconnect.

Anyway, she immediately called the Delta counter and found no one there. She then paged them to call her which they did in a few minutes. They said they would come over with new vouchers immediately. We waited for nearly 45 minutes for the Delta employee to bring over the new vouchers which then gave us a very narrow margin to catch our plane and we ended up running through the airport to do so.

So after 12 hours of being in airports we had made it 300 miles. In SEA we had to have the US Airways agent issue boarding passes for PHL. When they started to do so they realized the Delta employee had written us 2 vouchers for the PHL to ELM flight and none for the SEA to PHL flight.

We then had to leave our daughter with our carry on luggage, trek all the way out of security and find a Delta counter where after waiting in line we were told they couldn't help us and we had to go to a "Customer Care" counter. We did this and they did re-write the vouchers but we then had to go back through security, find our daughter and the gate and once again had a very narrow margin to catch the flight. The flight from PHL to ELM was uneventful.

Then on our return trip today (BUF to MSP to GEG) which had not been altered in any way from our original reservation, we waited in line curb-side for about 15 minutes only to be told he couldn't issue boarding passes but he couldn't tell why, we would have to go inside. We then went inside where there was a huge line and after waiting another 15 minutes or so were told by the agent (who by the way acted like it was our fault!) that she needed a ticket number in order to issued the boarding passes. I had a confirmation number and the itinerary but apparently these were not good enough.

After another 10+ minutes on the phone she was able to obtain a ticket number and issue our boarding passes. At this point the agent's demeanor changed to a little more friendly and she did walk us up to the front of the security line but once again we found ourselves running through the airport to catch our flight because the gate agent said they wouldn't hold the flight for us even though the inability to issue the boarding passes was a Delta error and not our tardiness.

We did make the flight although I have no idea how and thought we were home free- just one more flight from MSP to GEG and we'd be home. We had our boarding passes for the flight and did not anticipate any other problems...wrong! At the gate when the agent took our boarding passes to scan them she says there's a problem and we can't get on the flight. Are you kidding me? Eventually she did solve the problem and we arrived home on time but the way we were treated while in the stressful state we were in, having just lost my husband's mother and having paid nearly $2500.00 for 3 tickets to the east coast was simply not acceptable.

Again, we totally understand that Delta has no control over the weather (although I must throw in that I did check the FAA website in Minneapolis while we were waiting to be re-ticketed and they showed less than 15-minute delays due to weather).

However, due to two Delta employee errors we were caused an unbelievable amount of extra stress that was absolutely unnecessary and, quite frankly could have caused my husband to have a break- down given the incredible amount of stress he was under anyway due to his mother's death. It is simply not acceptable that we paid triple the amount per ticket as other passengers on the same flights and got treated so poorly.

Back in October 2009 I returned from a trip with my husband to find my baggage damaged beyond repair. I immediately took it to the customer service area and filed a damaged report with the agent. Since then here is a recap of the 8 months of run around I have got from Delta Airlines... always promising a check is in the mail or to call me back... I have received neither and now am out luggage too.

06/01/2010 2:04pm -“ Contacted Delta again today, have not received anything in the mail and wanted to confirm where the case stood. On hold for 18 minutes then spoke with **. Ask for an update on case # **. She sees nothing in regards to my claim under that #. I also gave her the claim # from ** email Delta File **. She can't get into that file so she is seeing if she can find someone that can. Going to transfer to another department, I should hear something within the next few days.

05/21/2010 8:25am - As of today still no call from Delta Corporate or no response to the email sent on 04/27/2010. Spoke to ** he told me that the case was completed it is case # ** and the check should be sent within 10 days. 05/11/2010 12:32pm -€“ Contacted the 800# & spoke to **. She told me there was nothing in the system about my claim.

She said she would email corporate and they would contact me. I asked to speak to a supervisor and she refused saying they couldn't do anything for me and the only way they could contact them was via email (that they didn'™t have a phone number for them). I asked when I could expect a call and she said she really didn't know.

04/29/2010 10:10AM - Contacted the 800# & spoke to **. I gave her the background and she informed me that the claims are not handled in Augusta any further they are handled in ATL. She did see in the system that the claim was approved on 04/26/2010 for the full amount and if I haven'™t received a check within 10 days to call back. 04/28/2010 was at the Des Moines Airport and spoke to an agent about the email and showed them the damage report the agent filed and they said that should be sufficient and to contact the 800# again.

04/27/2010 Received an email today stating that because I didn'™t file my claim within 21 days that they would not process it? I responded asking to have it re-evaluated because the agent at the airport filed the claim on 10/19/2009.

œ04/13/2010 - I received an email from Delta stating they did receive my fax and will be expediting it for processing. 03/23/2010 Received an email from Customer Care asking me to refax the claim to ** - Faxed at 3:40pm. 03/16/2010 8:00am Re-faxed to claim report to Delta. 03/15/2010 1:39pm spoke to **. She asked for the File # I gave her ** from the damage report. She doesn'™t show receipt of the fax? Asked me to refax it again.

02/05/2010 Faxed document. Sent 01/27/2010: This is the second email I have sent to this website: the first on 01/18/2010 with NO response given! I think this is unfair that now the airline has not paid me a dime & taken my suitcase!

Sent 01/18/2010: Good morning, I am writing today because I feel I am out of options and don'€™t know where else to go. On October 19, 2009 my husband and I were returning from vacationing in Mexico. When we returned to the Omaha, NE airport we found our bag to be broke. I took it to the service counter and he opened it looked at it and filed a claim which he gave me a copy of the damage report. He told me since we live in Des Moines and needed to get our stuff from the suitcase before we turn it in we could do so in Des Moines.

On Sunday, October 25th I went to the Des Moines airport with the claim form and bag and they asked if they could exchange it for one they had there. I had recently purchased the bag for $240.00 and still had the receipts and the bags that were at the airport didn'€™t compare. The customer service representative told me since the bag was less than 6 months old they could give me a full refund of 100% ($240.00). She took my receipts and bags wrote on the damage report 6 month $240.00 and told me I would have a check in 4-6 weeks. That time passed and I had not heard anything so I called the 800# she gave to me on 12/08/09.

I was asked to call back later that day because the systems were down. I then called on 12/14 and spoke to ** she told me there was no claim in the system and she took my number and was going to have someone contact me. That NEVER happened! On 12/23/09 I contact the 800# again and spoke to ** she told me the claim was closed and a check was sent. She gave me file # **. On 01/18/2010 I had still not received a check so I called the 800# again and spoke with **. She told me to call Corporate at 404-714-7101 and press option 2 but then told me they would be closed today so I would have to call back.

I asked her to verify that a check was sent because I had received the run around so much. With her looking into it she told me that that claim was closed in February? I was confused because I didn'€™t file this claim until October? She looked into it further and that claim # was for a delayed flight where we were stuck in Orlando so they gave everyone $100 vouchers, not for my baggage. She said I would have to resubmit a claim because they have no record of this claim and to go on line and find the form.

Well I guess I could do that but the Customer Service Rep in the Des Moines airport took all of my receipts, luggage, etc? I don'€™t know where to go with this. It was not a cheap bag costing me $240.00 and I am really disappointed with the run around I have been receiving. Can you please help me get this figured out or direct me where to go to? This is going on 12 weeks or run around and I think that is unacceptable. Thanks!

ATLANTA, GEORGIA -- We took a trip to Cancun. We flew from Louisville to Cincy then to Cancun no problem.. on the flights back we flew Cancun to Atlanta and Atlanta to Louisville. At Atlanta (there were six of us on this trip-3 couples) everyone checked their bags at customs no problem. One of the girls that I was with had to tell the people who checked our bags to put her luggage on the belt 3 times!! When he finally did he laughed and heaved her bag 2 feet in the air!

Once we got to Louisville we waited and waited for her bag to come through and it never did- we heard a man say that all the bags that were coming were already here... It was about 1130 and night and she was furious! We went to the desk and she didn't even have to tell them her name - they KNEW who she was because they had already checked the name of the luggage they had with them... when they said her name they brought her a piece of luggage that RESEMBLED hers but was completely demolished... I mean- metal reinforcements sticking out of the luggage, clothes hanging out, flip flops missing, pockets completely dangling from the bag.

The only thing that kept her bag together was a Rainbow strap to help her identify her bag on the belt. She bought a Chi straightener for like $100... crushed... mangled... She bought 2 new bikinis from Victoria's Secret (you KNOW how much they were...) her fave had the strap completely removed from the part that goes over the breast and the underwire was showing... I mean... the luggage was half the size as it was when she checked it in... We have pictures... tons of them.

All Delta could say was, "Sorry... you can list 8 things that were in the bag and we'll have your money to you within 7-8 day." They did bring her a Swiss Army piece of luggage which was pretty nice... but she had nearly $1200 worth of work clothes, jewelry and shoes in there... It's only been a couple of days so we don't know how its going to turn out... Louisville Airport kept saying they received the luggage like that - they didn't do it, that's how it came to them. The luggage literally looked like it had been run over and dragged down the runway. BUT BEWARE!!! THIS COULD HAVE BEEN YOU!!!

On 3/13/10, during the recent windstorms, my family and I flew from Nassau to LaGuardia, NY and were to connect to Detroit on Delta airlines. The plane was delayed before take-off for 20 minutes to take on extra fuel the pilot indicated. Little did the unwary passengers know the airport was closed in New York and the pilot wanted to be ready to circle the airport for some time. This fact was only revealed to the passengers mid-flight. We were told there were high winds in New York and the airport was only intermittently open for short periods of time.

The pilot informed us that it was unlikely we would be able to land in New York and suggested we may be re-routed to Pittsburgh. Nothing else was relayed to the passengers until we had circled LaGuardia for almost two hours. At this point the pilot told the passengers that we were not going to land in New York, as the airport was still closed and now low on fuel we had to be re-routed immediately to another airport. The airport we were sent to was Harrisburg, PA (apparently a charming town - I had plenty of time to read their tourist literature while there).

Unknown to any of the passengers until we were on the ground, the Harrisburg airport was only equipped to accept commuter jets and not a jet of our size. We waited on the tarmac for approx. one and a half hours while we were told someone was coming in from home to determine how to unload the aircraft. We finally disembarked about 9:30pm, approximately 8 hours since our departure. Most of the passengers had not eaten since breakfast and were starving and no special effort was made by the airline to feed us.

There were no open restaurants in the Harrisburg airport. We were told that we were going to overnight in Harrisburg and try to get to LaGuardia the next day. We were told that no one could unload our bags and they would stay in the belly of the aircraft overnight. Delta made arrangements for all of the passengers to stay at a nearby Best Western. I informed to flight crew and the ticketing agent I waited in line about an hour to see that both my wife and I had medicine in our luggage that we needed.

We were told that retrieving our luggage was impossible and we were repeatedly chastised by Delta personnel that we should have packed our medicine in our carry on luggage, implying that the problem was due to our poor foresight and not their fault. The fact of the matter was that we had medicine at home and assumed that if our luggage were lost we would be O. K. Little did we imagine that we would be mishandled not our luggage.

Once we arrived at the ticket agent's desk we were told that there were no flights to Detroit, our final destination, they were all over booked. If we went back to New York there were no flights and if we tried to fly direct from Harrisburg there were no flights. They refused to take the time to see if we could be re-routed through another city like Cincinnati or Atlanta. I understand that by this time it was late and the ticket agent was probably tired and there were many other passengers to help, however, I was shocked when her response to our plight was to say, "here's the 800 #, try to find a flight by calling the number."

I felt as though the airline had dropped us in a strange city with little prospect of getting home, no luggage, no medicine, and no food and essentially abandoned us with nothing more than a phone number. The story didn't end there. We went to the Best Western where the kitchen staff was trying to close and luckily we and several of the other passengers were able to order pizza delivery, some, but definitely not all of the passengers were able to get food from the hotel restaurant. I repeatedly called the 800# only to get a busy signal.

Finally after midnight I got through and waited for another 30 minutes for someone to answer the phone. They told me there were two seats on a 7:30am flight and another two seats on a 4:30pm flight. I explained that we were traveling with our daughter and her college friend and we were uncomfortable with splitting up, to which the person on the other end of the line responded, "that's what we have take it or leave it, if you don't take it someone else will and you'll have no flight." We reluctantly made the reservation. It was now about 1:00am and the night we switched to daylight savings, so were going to lose an additional hour.

So at 5:30 am with virtually no sleep, we all went back to the airport. A ticket agent did look for our bags but was unable to find them and I appreciate at least one person working for Delta who seemed to care for our predicament. We sent our daughter and roommate to Detroit. We tried unsuccessfully to go standby and waited in the airport another 9 hours for the next flight. Since we don't live in Detroit but had driven to the airport our daughter and friend had to wait in Detroit for us to get there 9 hours after them, sleeping on benches in the airport until we arrived.

In summary, we left Nassau to fly to an airport that was closed. No one but the flight crew knew this. Second we circled the airport in New York with a "land at LaGuardia at all costs attitude," until we ran out of fuel and had to be re-directed to an airport that could not accommodate us. All of this could have easily been avoided. We could have been told that the airport on New York was likely closed prior to our departure. When the plane arrived in New York and the airport was closed Delta could have immediately re-routed us to a suitable airport rather than circling until we ran low on fuel. Certainly, they could have cared more about our welfare during the ordeal.

Unfortunately, no significant effort was made by Delta to ensure that we were fed. No significant effort was made by Delta to help us get to our ultimate destination. "Do the best you can" and "take it or leave it" was their attitude. No significant effort was made until morning to get our medicine. I am a practicing physician in Michigan and if any of my colleagues or I made "seat of the pants" decisions about our patients welfare that in retrospect were as poorly made we wouldn't be in practice very long.

I am amazed that airlines, which must deal with this sort of problem on a regular basis apparently have very few guiding principles and policies to help them, instead it is just the luck of the draw where you go and how you're treated. Hopefully the airlines can learn something from our experience. The airlines seem to think that if they get you to your destination in one piece, no matter how long that takes they did their job. In medicine if we say to patients at the end of a procedure, you're procedure was done and you're alive, that is rarely adequate consolation to them. People want to be and deserve to be treated with dignity.

Delta is unable to assure me that we will be sitting with our children on our flight. Despite booking our flights 6 months ago and repeatedly trying to obtain seat assignments both by phone and online, Delta has stated repeatedly that they do not guarantee that we will be seated beside our children. I have been able to obtain seat assignments for the 3 other legs of our journey, however this leg will be assigned at the airport. This would be acceptable, but Delta told me that all the other passengers got their seat assignments when they booked their tickets as I should have done.

No matter how many times I've told them that seat assignment has never been possible, they still claim that my lack of seat assignment on this flight is my fault because I must have done it wrong. What is very irritating is that my worry and concern expressed to Delta was met with rudeness from all but one of the agents I spoke to at Delta. The supervisor was the worst, she yelled loudly at me constantly on the phone telling me to be quiet, stop talking while she told me for the umpteenth time that my lack of seat assignment was my fault.

When she finished yelling at me, I got a chance to speak. After 3 words, she jumped right in and started yelling again. I asked her if I could finish my sentence, but she yelled at me and said she knew what I was going to say. It became pointless to continue with her. I confirmed with Expedia that I wasn't crazy regarding the seat assignments and it not being "my fault", which it wasn't.

They called Delta for me and contrary to what the Supervisor had told me, everyone on the flight was getting their seat assignments at the airport. Had I been told this during the first of about 5 phone aggravating calls to Delta, then I would have accepted that as reasonable, however to be told all the seats were assigned and I might not be sitting with my children was ridiculous!!

I swore I'd never fly Delta again 2 years ago after we sat onboard while they shook the plane back and forth on the runway to get the fuel gauge to read right, then have the flight was cancelled, told to go to a hotel for 4 hours at 2 a.m., my parents standing in Orlando reading the monitor that said we had arrived there, but actually we were still in Atlanta. We asked the gate agent if we could have a blanket and she told me to "go get that old coat over in the corner." Her co-worker was visibly annoyed at his boss on the phone and then he threw the phone across the desk when he was told he had to announce that the flight was cancelled.

Myself and my 2 young children slept in an empty airport.. no airport train running, heat turned off (freezing), no luggage and just a janitor with a vacuum for company. When we did finally get the $450.00 flight vouchers, the conditions of their use made it virtually impossible to use them.... and who would want to anyway.

On Saturday February 27th- my partner and I were scheduled for an overnight flight on Delta Airlines #DL1768 from Kona, Hawaii to LAX leaving 9:30P Saturday, February 27th with arrival 5AM Sunday, February 28th. Our final destination was Minneapolis, Minnesota- with a 6:40AM connecting flight at LAX. Because of an airline error in fueling our aircraft - we had a 3 hour delay in leaving -thus missing our connecting flight. This error entailed Delta Airlines putting too much fuel in the aircraft- which according to them- affected our weight standards for lift off in Kona International.

In addition to this error in fueling in Kona by Delta Airlines- we were rerouted to Honolulu International for additional fuel (for some reason we could lift off just fine from Honolulu International but not Kona International Airport). During the 3 hours we were on this aircraft- Delta's crew and captain were unresponsive to our questions and concerns regarding connecting flights and they were quite frankly- dismissive of our concerns regarding our schedules when we asked about them. There was never an announcement on connecting gates or any care put into our connecting itineraries from the captain of the aircraft.

At approximately 12:15AM on Sunday - while sitting on the tarmac in Honolulu- my partner called Delta Airlines to move us from that 6:40AM flight to the 8AM flight leaving from LAX to Minneapolis International- as it looked like we would be able to make that time schedule with the current delay. We had a confirmed seating confirmation number on this flight- according to the Delta helpline representative we spoke to.

When we finally arrived at LAX at 7:40 Sunday morning – a Delta agent was not there to open the doors for our incoming flight- and no prior arrangements were made for passengers with connecting flights! Thus- we ended up sitting at the gate for another 10 minutes which was precious time - in making our 8AM Minneapolis connection in LAX.

After getting off the flight DL1768 - we arrived at the gate for our Minneapolis flight at 7:51AM- only to find that Delta Airlines had given our confirmed seats away to other standby passengers! The Delta gate agent tried to get us seated (and remove the standby passengers that had taken our confirmed seats) but was told the flight was leaving by her supervisor and that they would do nothing for us. Delta Airlines in LAX knew of our plane's delay from Kona - and made no effort to hold the plane bound for Minneapolis for its passengers that had that connecting flight!

After the 8AM flight for Minneapolis left the gate- the gate agent told the group of us (there were about 50 people trying to find a way to the Twin Cities) that she would help us. However after 10 minutes she was summoned to another gate and we were informed that we needed to go to the Delta Help Desk in LAX to get rerouted to other flights.

After waiting in line for 45 minutes- we were placed on a flight plan connecting through Salt Lake to Minneapolis and were given confirmed seating assignments but with no seat numbers attached to them for either of the legs of those flights. When we arrived at the LAX gate for our Salt Lake flight at 11:50AM- we were told that there were no seats available and that the flight was over-booked by 16 people. There would be no provision made for us due to Delta's delay in our Kona flight- even though we had ‘confirmed' seating assignments. The gate agent told us tersely that she would call our name if seats were to become available.

After a very heated conversation, in which excuse after excuse was made as to our delay in Kona by Delta Airlines, we strong armed our seat assignments. In this instance, we felt Delta Airlines at their LAX help desk was willfully dishonest to us in telling us this Salt Lake flight was available- in essence to get us out from in front of them. After arriving in Salt Lake at 2PM that Sunday- we knew we would have the same situation as our Minneapolis flight and would need to fight for seats on that flight.

This time we went over to the help desk and strongly requested seat assignments 2 hours prior to the gate opening for the 5PM flight- going over the gate agent's head for that Minneapolis bound flight. After a conversation of explaining ourselves and trying to charm the customer service person into granting us seats- we received our ticketed seat assignments. Numbered tickets in hand- we arrived at the gate and found others- many over the age of 75- with ‘confirmed' seating but with no seats available on the flight! The flight to Minneapolis was overbooked by 22 people!

Again- in this instance-Delta was dishonest to these other individuals at LAX and booked them on flights that they knew were oversold! I feel that this is in direct violation of FAA regulations regarding the selling of tickets- and the contractual obligations to paying passengers. When it was all said and done- we arrived at our home destination 9.5 hours after what was scheduled- spending close to a total of 24 hours traveling. While at help desks and gates in LAX and Salt Lake- Delta's story to its staff was that due to the Tsunami in Hawaii- that there was no available fuel in Kona which in effect caused our delay.

The Tsunami ‘all clear' was called at 1:30PM Hawaii time Saturday, February 27th by the Hawaii Department of Emergency Management- our flight that Sunday was at 9:30PM. In addition to that- the only airport with cancelled flights that day was Hilo International on the other side of the island. We arrived at Kona International airport at 7PM and noticed our Delta plane was on the tarmac ready for boarding.

If fuel was indeed an issue in Kona- why didn't Delta Airlines taxi the flight to Honolulu to fill the aircraft in that time before take-off? The flights are less than hour each way from Kona & Honolulu. If a ‘full tank take-off' was never possible from Kona- then this is outright fraud by Delta Airlines in selling tickets to passengers who expected a direct flight from Kona to LAX. We know from other United Airlines passengers that they took off with a full tank of fuel in Kona directly to LA with no incident- one half hour before our flight.

In summary- we were offered no compensation whatsoever due to Delta's mishandling of the Kona leg of our flight plan. At numerous gates we saw other ticketed passengers offered up to $600 in cash to give up seats on the flights that were severely oversold. We missed our connections due to Delta Airlines' errors and we were offered nothing but Tsunami, fuel and ‘communication error ‘excuses from various Delta Airlines employees.

One of the Delta Airline attendants on our Minneapolis bound flight even told a senior couple with little flying experience that if they traveled all the time for business- that this was to be expected and that delays happen periodically –insinuating that we all were inexperienced simpleton travelers. I have family members that travel extensively for business- they nor I - are willing to accept poor service and a lack of accountability by Delta Airlines. That senior couple from Willmar, MN was also told to fly another airline by a Delta Flight attendant on our Minneapolis flight home if they did not like the delays and service they received from Delta.

All of us in the Twin Cities certainly would fly another airline- if there was an ample choice of carriers and destinations out of Twin Cities International Airport! This was a Delta Airlines Vacation package made through a travel agent- my partner and I are seeking a refund of our airfare for that leg of our trip from Delta Vacations due to breach of contract.