I Will Never Fly Delta Again

I have been doing quite a bit of business travel in the last year, and this is my first experience in flying Delta. After the day I’ve had (and it ain’t over yet!), it will also be my last.

It all started with my attempts to check-in online last night. I was not able to check in, so I contacted support via the “live chat” link. The person who I spoke with told me that I was on a Northwest flight, not a Delta flight (funny - I booked a Delta flight) and that I would have to check-in on nwa.com. That would be great, except for the fact that nwa.com had no record of my reservation. The person I spoke with then told me that I would have to check-in at the *Northwest* counter. WTH?

And then there was a phone call at 9am (as we were already on the way to the airport) to inform me that my flight time had changed to 1:35pm, and then another at 9:30am to inform me that I’d been moved to a flight 5 hours later than the one I had booked. My boss had been moved to a different flight, so I called Delta back and had them put me on his flight. When I arrived at the airport, I was able to check my baggage at the self-serve kiosk, but could not check in — they took my bags and then made me stand in line for 30 minutes in order to get my boarding pass, with no explanation of why I couldn’t print it at the kiosk.

About an hour after arriving at the gate (12pm), we were informed that our flight would be delayed until 2:02pm. At approx 1pm, I had purchased the ridiculously-pricey airport internet service and was checking FlightAware.com when I discovered that our flight would be delayed again (until 4:02pm). I approached the counter to inquire as to the status of our flight but had to wait while they boarded a plane to Boston. After 20 minutes of waiting I stepped up to ask what was going to happen about the delay.� Apparently they didn’t know about the delay because the woman I spoke with informed me that it was scheduled for 2:02pm.� About 10 minutes later (after I got in line a second time), they finally made an announcement that the flight was indeed delayed until 4:02pm.� I knew about the delay a full 30+ minutes before they did!!
My boss and I were re-booked on another flight (oddly enough, the one I was originally re-booked on) — this one having us arrive in Huntsville at around 9pm. It’s 2:18pm now. I’ve been here at BWI since 10am. I’ve got another 3.5 hours to kill before my next flight leaves, and I’m not optimistic that I’ll actually make it to Huntsville tonight. This is crazy.

This is the absolute worst flight experience I’ve ever had. I have neither the time nor the patience to deal with standing in a long line to check in at the counter, and the fact that I knew more about our flight status (thanks FlightAware) than even the counter staff did is infuriating.

Can you understand why I would never want to fly Delta again?! Next time I’ll pay the extra $150 to fly United — if I had bought that ticket instead, I’d be there already.� I hope someone from Delta finds this one day.� You guys really need to buy a clue about customer service.

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