And the Winner is . . . . . DELTA/COMAIR

FAOL Community Sound Off
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Not only are they the winner but there wasn’t even a close second in this competition. What did they win you ask? They are the absolute WORST air carrier on the planet.

While I have known this for some time, they really proved their first place status yet again today. Let me start by telling you the last time I flew with them was several years back when the Delta/Comair plane I was on had to divert and make an emergency landing due to a serious issue with the flaps. Never so much as a ??sorry for the scare?? from the airline.

A few weeks ago I went against my better judgment and booked the whole family on Delta to head to the Keys for a much needed vacation. I flew down on Tuesday and was ??charmed?? by the most miserable gate agent and flight attendants. IF you do not like your job I have a couple suggestions. Quit and go find something else or at least try and act like you are not sick of your job.

This morning my wife and 2 young boys headed to the Rochester, NY airport to catch their 11:44AM flight to Atlanta. After boarding the plane they were asked to get off. There were issues in Atlanta, weather issues. Since she was trying to keep track of 2 kids, I got on the phone to see what was up and called Delta’s 800 number.

The first person I spoke to spoke very little English. How in gods name can you have non-English speaking people manning your phones!!! I asked to be transferred to someone who spoke English. The second person was not much better. After 35 painful minutes the CS (Customer Service) person said the delay was a “Delta technical issue,” not weather. Well, if it’s not weather then Delta is responsible to reroute customers on other carriers to get them where they are going. So, another 45 minutes was spent being ignored and occasionally checked on by CS people. Each new CS person caused me to have to re-explain everything. This call lasted 1 hour and 27 minutes before I got a supervisor who said the non-English speaking CS rep was “mistaken” and that it was indeed simply a weather delay. Yup, 1 hour and thirty minutes to find that out. Simply crazy!

Meanwhile back in Rochester . . . while waiting and waiting for an update from the Delta/COMAIR geniuses, the kids are growing antsy. It’s now 2:00PM and my wife asks the gate agent if it would be possible to look into flights first thing the following morning. The gate agent tells my wife that they are busy and that she would need to go back to the ticket counter to look into that. Since the weather delayed flight looked like it was going nowhere and the gate agent told her it would be quite a while before they got another update, my wife headed to the ticket counter.

The Rochester Airport is VERY small so the gate is only 100 yards from the ticket counter. When she got to the ticket counter she waited a few minutes for a CS to “assist” her. They then told here that the flight had gotten weather clearance and just left the gate WITHOUT THEM!

So now, instead of being in the Keys this evening and making a nice, planned dinner we have been delayed by a day and Delta/Comair has been nothing but arrogant and incompetent.

When I called back and asked to speak to a CS Supervisor I got another person who spoke VERY POOR English (wow, there??s a surprise). A supervisor who can’t speak well . . .?!?!?!? This brain trust was also NO help, insisted the flight was on time (he corrected himself on that after I told him to check his system again. He then said that Delta did nothing wrong and that he saw no issues and was a he said, she said issue.

Well . . . you cannot begin to understand just how upset I am with Delta/Comair at this time. My much needed vacation has really started out on the wrong foot and Delta could care less.

I fly a lot . . . a whole lot . . . and fully understand that things happen. However it is how the airlines handle this issues that sort the good from the bad and Delta has once again proved themselves as the worst of the worst. I will not feel sad when this carrier goes bankrupt and shuts its doors for good.

If you are hopping a plane at some point in the future, do yourself a favor and safe yourself A LOT of grief and STEER CLEAR OF DELTA and COMAIR!!! I can recommend Northwest Airlines. While an issue with them has popped up a few times, NW has always gone out of their way to make it right and do it politely and professionally.

If we can ever get to the Keys, those Tarpon and Dolphin sure are in trouble ??

Jeff - AKA Dr. Fish
If it has fins and swims than I must chase it!

2

Jeff,
I have ALWAYS maintained that the only way any of us can truly evaluate a company’s customer service is AFTER a problem has been addressed & how it is resolved. Thanks for the “heads-up” on a bad one…BTW, it would be interesting to know “where” their customer service call center is located. Offshore, maybe? This is becoming somewhat of a trend.
Mike

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Appreciate the heads-up as well. I will try and find an email addy for them and forward this string to them. Sorry Jeff, I know how much you were looking forward to this time with your family. Take your rod and go walk the beach, you’ll feel better.

LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL

4

Jeff, here’s hoping the return flights are less “eventful”.

Especially since the security screens have been implemented, the only part of flying I find remotely pleasurable is trying to identify the lakes we fly over. Far cry from the 70’s and 80’s, eh?

But maybe it’s mostly because Delta is the major player at the airport we fly from most often.

Jim

5

Well it can only get better and things are looking up, no thanks to Delta though.

THe timing of this trip was to target the migration of BIG, BIG Dolphin (Mahi-Mahi). Well, things are running a month or so late and they simply have not shown up . . . UNTIL YESTERDAY THAT IS. It’s like someone opened the flood gates becuase 3 days ago the Dolphin were very few and far between and between yesterday and today, boats are coming in with reports of cathing lots and lots of fish with many in the 30lb range and fish over 50lbs being taken.

I have a fleet of T&T rods and Islanders reels rigged and ready. Hopefully the good salt reports will come.

Hopefully the fishing will take the sting out of what Delta has done.

Jeff - AKA Dr. Fish
If it has fins and swims than I must chase it!

6

Had to figure JC would take a jab at me
Working for a fishing tackle manufacturer most thing that we fish ALL the time. I can tell you that this is FAR from the truth. In fact, I fish farr less than most here at FAOL. Looking back at my calander . . . I have fished a total of 5 days since October. Yup, that’s 0.71 days/month. Pretty pathetic I’d say. Instead of fishing it’s 60-70 hr work weeks with not enough time in the day to get everything done. Not looking for sympathy here but just setting the record straight.

I’m I gonna fish hard the next 7 days? You bet your life I am

Jeff - AKA Dr. Fish
If it has fins and swims than I must chase it!

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Here is the latest. . .

Last evening we were attempting to locate my wife and children’s luggage. The “helpful” folks at the Rochester airport told my wife that her baggage was on the flight (that left without her) and that her baggage would be in Miami sometime Friday night.

We then called Delta and were told that due to FAA guidelines, ALL luggage MUST follow the passenger. So, her luggage was pulled from the plane in Rochester. Rochester then confirmed that NO, the luggage did indeed go on the plane and would end up in Miami Friday night. On yet another call to Delta, a supervisor who spoke poor English (see a pattern here) ensured me that there was NO WAY that her baggage would have stayed on the plane. Yup, Delta/Comair has absolutely no idea what they are doing and continue to amaze me. The saga continues.

Jeff - AKA Dr. Fish
If it has fins and swims than I must chase it!

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Our last airline horror story was a couple of years ago in the Bahamas. The airline took ONE bag off the plane in Ft. Lauderdale on the trip to Nassau…bad weather, wanted to have extra fuel so they said. It was to be on the ‘next’ flight…no problem mon. It wasn’t. Then the fun really started. They decided not to ship it since we weren’t with the bag, duh. Okay, eventually, next day they did send it to Nassau…except now we really aren’t with the bag and the connecting airline refuses to accept it. Several times.
Then decides it will ship it on to us, for an additional $100. But there is no way to get the money to them from an ‘out island’ - finally the General Manager of the Lodge gets involved, seems he knows the President of the Airline, the bag is shipped, but it goes to the next island in the chain since the S. Andros airport was closed for remodel and new runways. The GM hires a taxi from the airport to the ferry, our guide runs his boat across to the ferry landing and brings the bag back.
Total time: 2 non-fishing days. We had our fishing gear, just NO Clothes!! (except what we wore to travel.)

LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL

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Early this month I spent 9 hours in Ft. Lauderdale due to Delta’s incompetence. The people waiting got so frustrated that Delta got scared and called the Sherriff’s department to “assist” them in maintaining order. It was totally unnecessary, all Delta had to do is tell us the truth. Quite a scene. They went from my favorite to my least favorite airline in under 12 hours.

When they finally got us a plane and we were leaving, they asked us if we wanted to wait for them to find us food or if they should leave without any. They had four hours from when they found us a plane and we left. You think they could have figured out how to get us some food. The entire passanger group said leave immediately, so we did. I missed one day’s work because of them.

jed

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Jeff, what a bogus way to treat customers! I don’t fly a lot by your standards but it seems like American companies aren’t all that concerned with regular fare customers. I can’t afford first class so I only can imagine they get treated at least a bit better than the rest of us in the back of the plane. I did fly Singapore Airlines to Asia once and boy do they take care of EVERYBODY! We had some snafu on our tip back to LA and missed our connecting flight. Their error. They put my wife and I up in a great room of a top flight motel for the night and saw to it that we were booked on a flight home the next morning. Try to get that from Delta.

On another trip, this time to Central America, we flew Delta. The trip back, the plane spit an engine out (literally!) as we took off from Guatemala so we circled until they dumped the fuel all over the city and we landed. They didn’t let us deplane but did let first class AND the Chinese Ambassador who was interestingly further back in the plane than I was. By this time we were getting a bit grumpy and HOT! The tropics you know. When they called out for the Chinese Ambassador to come forward, I instinctively called out Vive Taiwan! He was right behind me with his body guard and they hustled out a little faster! Everyone cheered! After he deplaned, a few of us Americans figured it was long past time we did too and did. Long story short, we finally did leave sunny Guatemala and were diverted to muggy Miami because we were rerouted. Miami was not on the itinerary. We left there and were grounded in Las Vegas because of “weather issues” in LA. We finally got there but were really tuckered out by then.

So Jeff, I feel your pain for what it’s worth. I guess flying is a bit like tossing dice. Most of the time you get through pretty well but when you don’t, you really don’t!

I’m with you, I will not fly Delta unless there is absolutely no alternative and your experience just reinforces that.

I hope the rest of your time away with the family is much better and snag a few for me.

Happy Trails!
Ronn

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Delta must be trying to set examples in bad customer service. Gloria and I boarded a Delta flight at John Wayne Memoria to return to Tampa and then drive home from there. We were to connect in Dallas/Ft. Worth and change planes.

The Flight from John Wayne left CA at 0600 PST, on time. No frills flight, so no food, no beverages beyond a small bottle of water. Over Texas we developed a mechanical problem and diverted back to El Paso. We were kept on the plane for four hours with no air conditioning, no food or water, in the August sun. First Class passengers were taken to a lounge. No one else was allowed to deplane. Finally took off for D/FW. Our new connection was our original plane, which had been delayed for mechanical reasons. Very reassuring. No time to grab food in the airport and no food or drink aboard the new flight. Had to demand water to take our medications.

We made it into Tampa around 2200 to find that our bags were not on the plane. We wrote complaints to Delta and were treated with responses that essentially said, “so what.”

We avoid them whenever we can. But the choice of airlines is narrowed and we often have no choice.

The best service I ever received was on TWA and Ozark. Too bad they’re defunct.

aka Cap’n Yid.

Stev Lenon, 91B20’68-'69
When the dawn came up like thunder

12

Delta was once one of my favorite airlines. I haven’t flown them in a long time, but I used them for a business round trip to Germany two weeks ago where the client only authorizes coach.What a horrible experience!

It was semi-OK on the flight over. Your basic cattle car/no sleep enabled flight. But the flight back was on a plane way too small and crowded to be considered humane for a flight of that duration.

Unless I contorted my legs so my feet would slide under the seat in front of me, my knees would hit the seat back with my feet not touching the floor. The entire meal service for a 9 hour flight was a single slice of vegetarian pizza. They won’t give you a full can of soft drink in their infrequent beverage services and they ran out of ice so I got to enjoy lukewarm diet cola. There weren’t enough rest rooms, though, so I got plenty of time to stretch my legs while waiting in line.

Delta has seen me for the last time. No way I am going to take a chance on a repeat of this experience.

13

I used to fly Delta and Contential a lot, nice service…recently I flew NorthWest twice.

One CSR told me…“yep customers get really xxxx when we do this, oh well”.

Next flight, when I asked about the total lack of service at the bag check. “Well there aren’t enough of us to do that, Why don’t you complain to the airline?”

I did…the response was basically…sorry, customers deserve better, we’ll fix it.

I’ve got to fly them two more times in the near term, wonder if they can make it 4 for 4?

bubba_orvis

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Man!I hope you nail those fishes to make up for what sound like an absolute nightmare!
Tight lines!
Adam

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Delta just lost my friend Natalie’s suitcase in Atlanta. Oooops!

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Not what I need to hear, as I’m booked on Delta to Bozeman this August. Here’s to keeping fingers crossed.

JB

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JohnB - UPS, Fed.Ex or mail anything valuable, rods, reels flies ahead so they are there when you get there. A friend or motel or lodge works. Ship as baggage nothing you can’t do without.

LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL

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Thanks for the tip, LF. I will look into that.

Regards,

JBB

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I was waiting to see if any other airline employees were out there but apparently not. I work for NWA as an aircraft mechanic. Normally I wouldn’t put that down for fear of being fired, but after 16 years I will be getting laid off permanently this summer. If you haven’t been paying any attention these last 4 years the airlines are all in bankruptcy or on a banana peel outside the door. United and USAir have dumped the employees pensions on the govt’s back, cut their wages, laid off thousands. Delta is real close to doing the same. Those cheap tickets you are buying come at a cost and not just in peanuts. All NWA’s 747 and DC10 aircraft are overhauled in China or Singapore. Apprentice mechanics in China work for free the first 6 months. Regular mechanics there are paid a buck or two an hour. Remember that tax money the feds gave the airlines after 9/11? It went to shipping our jobs overseas and laying off 2000 mechanics here in the states. Thats my point of view as a mechanic. The flight attendants and baggage handlers have been cut back to bare minimums, and the work load has only increased because everyone is flying again. Problem is, they haven’t increased the # of employees to service you folks. If you have a problem, don’t blame the employees at the front line, its the bean counters running the airlines who are squeezing every little bit of change out of both the customer and the employees. Sorry for your inconvenience but these last few years have been tough on us airline employees. I am glad to be getting laid off. Airlines suck.

20

Sorry to hear that Merak. I’m sure those low cost tickets are hurting the airlines. With the exception of these Delta tickets, I don’t buy the cheap tickets. Being a business traveler who has to make changes to itineraries, I get hosed and pay the big bucks which subsidizes the cheap seats. I can assure you that this is the LAST time I ever sit on a Delta or Comair plane. I’m loyal to Northwest Airlines and have been for several years. While I’ve had some issues with them too, they have done OK by me handling issues that come up.

All airlines could take notes from high quality carriers like Singapore Air and even ones like Jet Blue. The airlines simply do NOT care about their customers anymore. Those of us who travel are seen as a necessary evil it seems.

You’ll find some more on this trip here [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/Forum7/HTML/000842.html:5253d]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/Forum7/HTML/000842.html[/url:5253d]
We were simply blown away by the nasty attitude of the Delta Baggage claims employee.

Jeff - AKA Dr. Fish
If it has fins and swims than I must chase it!