Oct

Delta Shirks Responsibility; I Watch Movie

As I was trying to fly home from my grandmother’s 80th birthday, Delta turned me away from my flight with little information. The gate was in disarray with no information coming from the gate agent other than which people DO get on the plane. While waiting in a very long line I called Delta; who knew nothing…they thought the flight was fine and taking off. Once I got to the front, I put on a little southern drawl, a big smile, and used sugar rather than vinegar because I could see she was frazzled. She said the airport decided to make repairs without telling Delta so they have to use a shorter runway. This doesn’t allow the plane to accelerate to a speed great enough to liftoff with a full load of passengers.

She sent me to the ticketing/check-in area to get rebooked on a flight. Once there, I overheard other passengers fuming but I decided to take the sugar route again. While standing in line, I called Delta on the telephone to try to get on another airline. Unfortunately, all the flights which could have gotten me to Seattle had left for the day. One of them about an hour before my original flight.

When I was talking, with sugar, to the ticketing agent, she explained again the reason…but this time in more detail. They said this situation was the airports fault because the Birmingham airport decided to do some repairs on the long runway. Delta staff didn’t have any notice and found this out early in the morning. She rebooked me on a flight the next morning, provided me a hotel voucher, and threw in some frequent flyer miles for my inconvenience.

I’m not upset. But, there was no reason that I had to be inconvenienced. Delta admitted they knew about this work in the morning. They had at least 10 hours to contact me and rebook me on an earlier flight. They have my email and cell phone. They have automated systems to alert passengers of flight problems; I signed up for them. I could have easily made that flight which was an hour earlier. Delta did none of this. So instead, they don’t accept responsibility and irritate customers. Seems pretty dumb to me. All they needed to do was send me an automated page saying something vague like “somethings wrong with your flight, please call us.”

I decided to enjoy myself with my night. I stayed in Birmingham, had sushi, and watched The Bourne Ultimatum at a theater.

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