Delta Air Lines Complaint

This saga begins on May 24th at the Albuquerque airport. We arrived early for our flight and headed directly for the check-in agent. She told us that we must use the electronic check in before we could even inform her that we were travelling internationally with paper tickets. We handed her the tickets which we had booked in January as award tickets. We had confirmed seats so there shouldn't have been any problem. On or about April 13th, we were informed that there was a schedule change but told by the agent that there would be no problem. After hanging up, we reviewed the schedule change and realized that one of us was returning from Zurich to Paris after our confirmed flight from Paris to Atlanta had departed. We spent another forty minutes on the phone with the agent as she received permission to change our reservations. She instructed us to make sure we got our tickets reissued in Albuquerque prior to our departure.

Back in Albuquerque, we were informed by the agent that our seats from ATL to CDG were gone due to the schedule change but she assured us we would fly on that flight. We informed the agent that we did have seats and had booked this flight moths ago. She said, "Yes, I understand, but this is not my fault. During the restructuring, Delta has made many schedule changes but they aren't my fault." This annoyed us deeply as she was a Delta employee wearing a Delta badge who refused to take responsibility. Anyway, she said that there shouldn't be a problem and that the Atlanta gate agent would take care of us. A bit wary of her promise and noticing that there wasn't much time during the connection, we asked her repeatedly if she could contact someone in Atlanta. She said this was impossible. We asked to speak to her supervisor but she said he/she wasn't available. We asked her to at least notate our record but she said there was nothing she could do for us in this situation.

We then asked her to reissue the tickets so we wouldn't have any problem on the return flights which were AF code shares. She said it was unnecessary. We asked her to do it anyway and she proceeded to but informed us there was a change in fare/taxes of $9.45 per ticket. We refused to pay and she spent 15 minutes with the Help Desk but was unable to get rid of the fee. She assured us again that there was no need to reissue the tickets so we went off to our flight.

We arrived in Atlanta and hurried to the departure gate for the flight to Paris. There was ONE agent handling the international flight on an oversold Airbus. I made my presence known and asked him if we would be able to get on the plane. He said that it would be no problem. Sure enough the flight closed and we still had no seat assignment. There were probably 10-15 passengers denied boarding on this flight alone and this one, poor agent had to deal with them all.

We rushed over to the Delta re booking counter and stood in line. The line was about 40 minutes long and we noticed that many of the people in the line were under similar predicaments and at least several others were denied boarding on their flights. When we finally reached the front of the line, we were actually helped by a lovely customer support representative. It took her 2 hours and 45 minutes of us standing at the counter with the agent to rebook us on a flight the following day and to put us standby at our request on the AF flight that was leaving later that night. The agent did not inform us of our rights to compensation at DB customers but I was well aware of them and requested compensation at the end of the conversation. I do believe it is a violation to not inform customers of their rights in a DB situation. While at the counter, countless others were being compensated in cash and delta dollars. It surprised me deeply how much Delta must be spending on their overbooking mistake during a predictably busy long weekend.

We went to the gate of the flight we were standing by for and waited. When a Delta representative appeared, I went up to ask here what our chances were and she said they weren't good. I asked if the flight was overbooked three times but she refused to answer me---again something which is a violation of the rights stated on Delta's web site. We did end up on that flight.

The next morning we arrived in Paris. In Atlanta they were only able to get my partner on a morning flight to Florence. My flight was scheduled to depart at 630. They told me that I would be able to fly stand-by. I went to the AF desk at the departure gate on the other side of the airport and asked about standby on the 4 flights that departed to Florence before mine. They told me I needed to talk to Delta. I returned to Delta on the other side of the airport and they sent me back to AF. I went back to AF and they finally told me that they wouldn't let me fly standby because they were afraid my luggage wouldn't arrive. Remember this as you read on. I asked about a meal voucher and/or lounge access during my unexpected 8 hour layover. They told me to return to Delta. I went back to Delta and the agent told me that it was impossible because "Air France controls everything at the airport." And even if he could do something, he believed that my situation "doesn't merit it." After fighting with him for several minutes, I asked for his manager. He said was at the gate and unavailable. He finally issued me a meal voucher for which I had to pickup at Air France. I went to the Air France desk and waited in line and they told me they had no message of a meal voucher. I returned to Delta and they called to the Air France desk. Again I returned and received the voucher. This was a paultry sum. The one time I had a long delay on United, I received a day-pass to the Red Carpet Club. There is no excuse for the poor service and maltreatment I received at CDG after being denied boarding in Atlanta.

Both of our two bags were attached to my reservation. When I finally arrived in Florence, only my bag showed up. My partner's bag had still not arrived. (Air France should have let me fly standby on the earlier flight anyway). I went to make a claim and gave the correct baggage receipt to the agent. I thought I saw her bag behind him but he said it wasn't and refused to let me check. He promised the bag in twenty-four hours. Another promise that a SkyTeam member made to me which was not kept.

The next day, I called the number issued to me by the baggage agent in Florence. The number was dead. I tried several times and got no where. I then looked up the national number for Air France baggage and called it. I talked to a gentleman who spoke poor English which would have been fine. He said there was no information on my bag. As he told me the bag tag number, I realized that the Florence agent made a claim on the bag I had already received and I verified that I had indeed given him the right receipt. I explained this to the agent but he couldn't understand by. That would have been fine but instead of transferring me to a colleague, he hung up on me. I immediately called back and spoke to another agent who's English was flawless. She said she couldn't open the record because it had been locked. I spent $15 on phone calls from my hotel while she called the other agent and asked him to unlock the record. She apologized for his behavior and put the correct tag in and magically the bag appeared in the computer at the Florence airport. She said she would send a message from Florence and I would receive the bag that evening.

Six hours later, I still had not received the bag and the Florence baggage office still didn't answer their phone. The AF baggage number was closed. I called American Express Global Assist. They called me early the next morning and said that the AF US baggage office had located the bag in Florence but that the Florence airport didn't pick up even their calls and hadn't responded to the message. After three days, the bag was finally delivered and I am sure it is due to the persistence of American express.

Note that two other people we were travelling with from Boston to Florence on a delta award ticket also didn't receive their bags.

Pursuant to the instructions from AF, we went shopping for basic necessities. We returned to the Florence airport to be reimbursed but were told that we had to return the receipts to the AF customer service in our country of residence. I asked if she could provide the address. The agent said she didn't have it on hand. I asked if she could look it up. She told me, "Yes, but I do not feel like it." That is a ludicrous thing for a customer service agent to say.

That is all I have to say for the nightmare that was our flight to Europe.

On the August 1 return, my partner departed from Switzerland. Of course, the agent back in Albuquerque was wrong as the AF agent refused to check her in. She had to go across the airport to a Delta ticket counter and wait in line before returning. I had the same problem in Paris but the agent took care off reissuing the ticket for me so I didn't have to return to the ticket counter. We met in Paris where our flight was delayed by approximately an hour. The flight attendant said this was normal for a flight from Paris. The flight was actually quite enjoyable and the food was pretty good.

In Atlanta we waited and waited at the baggage claim before customs but of course, my bag never showed up. I had checked in three hours early in Paris and still my bag hadn't made it on the flight. That is ludicrous and you can't maintain that it only happened to me as there were at least 8 others on the flight whose bags didn't make it. The agent told me to file a claim in Albuquerque. Due to weather, we had no pilot and were were delayed several hours but that can't be blamed on Delta.

I filed the claim in Albuquerque and called American Express to put them on the case. They called to say my bag was found and it was delivered the next day.

All in all our experience with your airline was dreadful. We figure that between the baggage deliveries, the goods purchased due to the lost baggage, the time spent with your agents at the airport and on the phone, and the compensation for denied boarding our "free flight" cost Delta Airlines upwards of $850. If you expect to make a recovery from bankruptcy and have a bright future, it seems important to me that there are going to have to be changes deeper than "Signature Cocktails" including mojitos, charging for alcohol on international flights, schedule changes, and wasabi lemon grass hand soap in the bathrooms.

I think you owe us each more than a few Delta Dollars if you expect us to ever fly with you again.

-Ethan & Addie