Another Delta Story - Have you been Delta'd?

Well, once again I have been DELTA'd. A new verb that can be used when you are completely taken advantage of.

I have been planning, since the beginning of the year, to take a trip with a buddy of mine. We are both on pretty tight budgets, he being married has to have several purposes for the trip before the CEO of the Farquah family, Mrs. Farquah will approve the expense. Bill was going to fly from Birmingham, Alabama and connect in Atlanta and I was coming from West Palm. We were on our way to his brother's in Santa Cruz to play golf for the weekend. So it was a pretty big deal for both of us.

I had a 6:00 AM fight out of West Palm. As a good traveler should, I was there in plenty of time to check my clubs. I boarded the plan and away we departed........... But wait, for some reason, never shared with the passengers we had to stay put for 45 minutes on the runway. The weather was clear in West Palm, so certainly the weather must have been bad in Atlanta.

We finally took off, and knowing the Atlanta airport I knew it would be tight changing planes. As soon as I had landed, I called my friend who happened to be standing at my gate, I told him the situation and that he should go to our connection gate and let them know that we had just landed and that I would be running to the gate as soon as I got off. Oh and wait, the weather is perfect in Atlanta!

So I did just that. I ran, sprinted, from Terminal B to Terminal A, gate B13 to gate A9. When I got there the plane was still at the gate. Well yes of course it was there, we still had 5 minutes until the plane was supposed to leave, so why wouldn't it still be there.

There were no gate agents to be found. I walked past where they take your ticket, to the door that leads to the gang way. I knocked as loud as I could to get the attention of the people I could hear on the other side. I called Bill who was already on the plane. He said that the door was still open on the plane, I could hear him asking the flight attendant's to open the door to the gang way, that I was right outside.

After 5 minutes of banging and no one answering, I told my friend Bill I was going to see what I could do for an alternative flight. I went to the first gate agent I could find. I had heard previously that any gate agent can help you. The gate agent told me to go to the service desk. So much for that piece of advice. God forbid that you might find someone who would be willing to help you. After arriving at the service desk I was told to pick up a phone and call the customer service desk. Really good system, I guess they figure if you have to talk on the phone you can’t get physically violent with them!!

I called the service desk and was told that the only alternative flight was to connect in Dallas, Texas and then again in Salt Lake City, Utah and then go standby from Salt Lake to San Jose!! Well, you should be able to understand my overwhelming disappointment with this, “Plan B”. We had just made a simple flight from West Palm Beach, Florida to Atlanta, Georgia and I missed my connection. Now as an alternative, they were asking me to make two more connections and then fly standby. (I think you know my reaction!) The alternative to this was to fly back to West Palm Beach, where I would be charged for the round trip to Atlanta. And of course the earliest flight was at 1:30 PM. Even though there were two flights back to West Palm before that, she told me that this was the first one with a seat!

At that point I thought the safest pick would be to go back home. I did not want to be stuck in Dallas or Salt Lake City. The agent told me that the first plane that I could get on was at 1:30 PM that afternoon, mind you, it is know 8:30 AM in Atlanta. So what was I going to do for the morning? I decided that I would get some more exercise and walk to my new assigned gate of E8. As I walked over to the new terminal. I noticed that there were several earlier flights. Again I went to the service desk and called the customer service people. She said no problem that there were several seats available. Coincidentally, she was the same agent I had spoke to before. Why didn’t she ask me if I wanted to go home sooner? Why did she tell me that the 1:35 PM was the only flight that I could get a seat on? Anyway, she got me a ticket and to the gate I went.

When I got back to West Palm, I went to the baggage claim area. Of course my bags were not there. I then went to the baggage office for Delta. I told the agent the situation and he handed me a folder and told me to call the number on the front cover after 6:00 PM to find out where my bags were sent. He said that they could tell me when my bags could either be delivered or picked up. I explained that I would prefer to have them delivered.

I called as directed and was told that they did not know for sure; however, every indication was that my bags went onto San Jose. About 10:00 PM Thursday night I received a call from the Baggage Agent is San Jose, she left a message on my phone asking me what I wanted to do? Now you would think that someone would have notated something in the system, like I went back to West Palm Beach!

I called back Friday morning and was told that they thought the bags were in route back, but they could not tell me for sure what time, because of the connections that the bags would have to take. I called back again that evening and asked what time the bags were to be delivered and was told that they would not be delivered because I had not created a file! I did not know that I needed to create a file. I went to the baggage counter as instructed and told the agent the situation, so why didn’t he make a file? Why could not a file be created then? I sure don’t know, but it was definitely my fault according to them! Friday night I went to bed, still know knowing about the fate of my bags.

Saturday morning I woke up and called Delta first thing. I was told that my bags were now back in West Palm, but I had to pick them up! They were not going to be delivered regardless of what I said. Again, I was wrong for not creating a file I did not know about.

So at 7:30 AM Saturday morning off I went to the airport. My friend went with me and suggested that she go in the baggage office while I waited at the car. After sitting there a few minutes a Palm Beach County Deputy, told me to “make a loop!” I tried to explain that my girlfriend was coming out with the bags and he said he did not care: “MAKE A LOOP!”. I went to get back in the drivers seat when I realized that I had given my friend my drivers license. I told the deputy that I had given my license to her and I could not drive without it. Well, that was the wrong thing to say! He wrote me a $30.00 ticket for refusing to move!

What an adventure. I sure hope that this is an indication of what flying has become or the direction it is going. I have done quite a bit of flying over the last year. Several times I have been delayed quite a bit. Once I was stranded in Atlanta over night after missing a connection, but have never been treated this poorly by any airline. I am a Delta Medallion Flyer and it did not matter one bit. I think this experience will definitely cause me to rethink, my airline loyalty!!