Delta Corporate IQ less than a dead ferret
03 Jan 2009 at 01:02 pm
All I can say about this sorry bunch of twats is omigod!! How they are not in chapter 7 is beyond belief. They remind me of GM execs and then several shades of shit to the pale deeper.
My dad bought me ticket to go see him over christmas as I just graduated high school. I had to travel from George in the Western Province of South Africa to San Francisco.
First they tell you the flight is direct from Cape Town to JFK (1st lie), then they tell you the flight from JFK to SFO is the same plane as the one you were on from Cape Town (2nd lie), then they tell you that u do not need to get off the plane on JFK to go through customs (3rd lie), then they tell you the 1 hour 20 minutes layover in JFK is plenty of time as its the same plane and u can stay on the plane while it re-fuels (4th lie), then when it becomes clear the equipment in JFK for SFO is different they tell you that u do in fact have to go through customs in JFK and 1 hr 20 minutes is plenty of time (5th lie – took 4 hours), then they tell you that if you miss the connection they will put you on another airline to SFO (6th lie), then they tell you, when you are stranded in JFK “Fuck dude, you missed your connection – you’re fucked” and absolve themselves of their carrier contract (a ticket to you and me), then they tell you the next flight to SFO they have a seat for you is in 10 days, see you then (un-freakin believable), then when my dad throws his toys and pram out of the plot they miraculously find a seat for me on the 4:44 PM flight, which mysteriously for a direct flight stops in Salt Lake city to re-fuel for 2 hours. In the meantime for the folks on the ground in SFO waiting for you, there is no update, no information, nothing. Their website just says “diverted”. Calls to the twats at Delta for status end in more confusion – they do not even know where their own freaking equipment is – un-freaking believable. I had left africa and seemed to have arrived back in africa, but they were pretending it was the USA…..Not even bananna republic Africans are this incompetent…..thank god I did not travel with any luggage, I would never have seen it again.
Return trip from SFO to Cape Town. Boy what a circus. By now I have two fine pieces of luggage. Both Carry On – as I have ZERO faith they will route it back. I look at my ticket and notice, hey, my layover on JFK is 55 minutes for the connecting flight to Dakar (panic) and my dad goes apeshit with them on the phone. So then we route through Atlanta with a 2 hour 5 minutes layover (better) then we notice the connecting flights are in Dakar with less than an hour layover and I am wondering, ok how can they switch passengers and bags from the JHB flight to the Cape Town Flight in that time? I checked in my “airline carry-on” as they apparently cannot take 20x15x9 roll on luggage (6th lie) and am at the mercy of Delta incompetence. Amazingly they pull the Dakar switch off, passengers and luggage with a 30 minute delay while passengers on 34 switch to 128 with their luggage. Turns out there was 28 minutes to do this as we were delayed by 30 in Atlanta(panic). But they held 128 back for us. My dad was looking at this flight info and making lists for the insurarance claims.
I almost missed my return flight to Atlanta as we arrived at SFO at 3:15 AM for a 6 AM Domestic flight and had to wait 2 hours 31 minutes in a queue while dipshits with IQ’s of dead warthogs pretended to be competent and check us in. I just got on the plane as they were boarding and there were quite a few Atlanta Bound folks behind us who were cussing delta assholes in the queue who were not on the flight.
I will NEVER fly Delta ever again, and I will tell everyone about this adventure into new standards of incompetence that I possibly can. I am 19, but I am sure I can tell at least 200-300 thousand people of this tale of woe, my podcast will carry the story and maybe even local TV will want to hear this one. My dad will put it on his two websites (he is sooo pissed)
My dad flies on SouthWest only in the US and if he is forced, United, but tells me United is almost as bad as Delta. I find this interesting in contrast to African Banana republic airline operators who actually seem to know what they are doing in comparison.
I have had the myth of US competence seriously busted as pertains to the airline industry and have a new found faith in Africa. We are not that bad after all.
Lufthansa for me from now on.
“Amandhla, Nkosi Sikelel iAfrica!!”
Sion on 04 Jan 2009 at 3:17 pm #
Yes indeed. This was the trip born in hell care of Delta Airlines. I think they should change their name to “Air Pinnochio” or something like that, with a great jingle along the lines of “your dissatisfaction 100% guaranteed”. How about BAFH? (bastard airline from hell) I quite like that one…..or Air SM (for Sado Masochists of note)
There has to be legislation borne out of experiences like this that give passengers a modicum of rights. An airline ticket is a contract at a set price to deliver a person from one place to another.
Information about the flights need to be accurate and mandated by law as the bastards are clearly incapable of handling themsleves with clarity, integrity or honor.
Not having up to date information as to the status, location and delays of any flight is unacceptable by any standard. For African standards to be better than American ones in this regard is shocking.
Giving you clear concise info as to the realities of the trip also need to be mandatory. For example a statement that the flight from Cape Town to JFK is direct when it in fact stops in Dakar is a blatant lie. The fact that the connecting flight from JFK to SFO gives you 1 hr 20 minutes to collect your bag and go through customs and make the connecting flight and they tell you this is “plenty of time” is also a blatant lie. When they tell you “no need to get off the plane and go through customs in JFK sir, it’s the same plane, he can do that in SFO” is a whopper of a lie.
They lied about everything. Then they could not tell me where their equipment was. I had to call flight ops and find out myself. Lucky I am a pilot and know how that works. Then they called me up from JFK and said “Your son missed his connecting flight, sorry he is fucked” when they knew fine fucking well he would not make it on time is beyond belief. I spoke with several Delta flight ops staff who tell me trips like this one are not possible to pull off as promised by Delta. So why not be honest about it? Shit, you find out one way or the other. What is worse, knowing the info up front and being clear about the risks or being sold a sack of lies and shit and getting pissed off in transit? Fuck, do I need to draw them a freaking picture or what?
Their staff need a bit of an education in terms of the concept of customer service. They have none. I was told at least a dozen times when desperately seeking accurate information during this farce that went along these lines :- “Oh well, it is a very steeply discounted ticket sir, you just have to suck it up I am afraid”. Really? I have had the same shit with Delta Traveling first class and there really is no difference at all other than the feeling I was a bigger turkey for paying the huge fee for guaranteed dissatisfaction.
I think that Delta Shareholders need to sell their sorry ass airline to SouthWest who will at least be able to run a competent and credible operation.
As a favor to humanity it would be appreciated if they (Delta) could fly all of their aircraft to that aircraft Graveyard in Nevada, proceed to burn them all and then if every Delta Airlines employee could commit seppuku on live TV while the aircraft are still burning in the background, starting with their CEO, I would take it as a debt repaid to mankind with honor for the shame they brought the species and the airline industry.
And yes, that is how pissed I feel about it.
If I had a choice between a flea ridden camel or a flight on a Delta Aircraft I would pick the fucking camel every time. Now that is a statement to make you sit up and take notice. I hope the Delta CEO is reading this and bows his head in shame. He should. You sir, have a very big fucking job to do here, best you start doing it.
I thought my Aeroflot experiences were the worst I could ever experience, but I was wrong. At least with Aeroflot in the old days you knew what you were getting yourself into, no excuses or exasperation on that front, you knew you were playing Russian Roulette from the get go. Playing this same game with Delta is downright insulting.
I would suggest that you change your name to Aeroflot, but actually they have learnt how to run a fucking airline operation and that would be very unfair to them.
Kindly fix your fucking mess of an airline operation or gracefully go under.
Ken Lankford on 30 Jan 2009 at 9:32 am #
Welcome to Delta Air Lines. Hope you enjoyed your experience. It will only get worse since now, after their merger with Northwest, they are the world’s largest airline. As I have stated before, this company acts as a huge cookie jar for a few elite executives and not for the stockholders or travellers. Your experience is offset by the 13.3 MILLION dollar bonus that their CEO just got ! You need to send your experience to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. They execs only read the local papers, and nobody will ever say anything bad about Delta in Atlanta! Good Luck !
Sion on 10 Aug 2009 at 12:57 am #
interesting. I recently flew to Dallas and then on to Austin in Texas on business. I had no way of getting back to Oakland and i refuse to fly on any airbus aircraft. That was until the alternative was to fly with Delta. Suddenly the Jet Blue Airbus as an alternative was a statement worth making. It made my pals sit up and take notice. What a fabulous airline Jet Blue is!! Thanks Delta, I would never have flown with them if it had not been for your turd of an airline. in fact I think I would have even chosen Afghan Air if that had been the only choice.
luckily I was assigned an Embraer 190 to fly on, Whoooo hooo. Fantasmic airplane. Just thought i would add I have gone out of my way 18 times since January not to fly Delta and have told over 700 people directly at airports what I think of Delta in precise and very concise terms….
My anglo saxon is awesome.
Fuck Delta Forever…….!! Amen.
Phae on 06 Oct 2009 at 5:23 pm #
Delta definitely has a game plan for avoiding even the most subpar customer service. They could give a rat if they lose a good customer or two or two thousand…bunch of money grubbing pigs. My husband booked a flight from NC to FL for a reunion with his friend from high school. He accidently entered his name as the passenger for the ticket instead of his friend. Yes he acknowledges it was a stupid mistake on his part. Anyway, this cannot be the first person to have done something like this right? He calls Delta and they tell him that they can issue him a $150 credit………but they will also charge him a $150 cancellation fee. Um…..I’m not a rocket scientist but I think that equals a big fat “sorry you’re shit out of luck.” Ridiculous! And to top it off the agent, the supervisor’s agent and her supervisor were complete asshole douche bags. WE WILL NEVER FLY DELTA AGAIN!!!!!!!!
Sion on 27 Dec 2009 at 8:20 pm #
Well this year was a surprise in the travel department care of (believe it or not) United airlines and US Air.
The choice was flying on Airbus aircraft with these Airlines or a Delta Flight package from Oakland to St Louis and back. One of my less fortunate pals opted for Delta…..hah!! He is stuck in the midwest somewhere till Monday…..He cannot even mutter Delta Airlines without serious anglo saxon expletives peppering his vocab, boy is he pissed!!
Mr LG on 14 May 2010 at 1:08 pm #
I’ve had my problems with many airlines but I find problems with the story. I’ve flown over 3 million miles in my life and I doubt anyone at the airline told you that you don’t need to clear customs at JFK. All airlines, Delta or not make you clear customs at the first point of entry in the US. Also, a direct flight can include a stop.. i.e. Dakar I think you might be thinking of a non stop. A direct flight and a non stop flight are two different things. Was something going on at JFK like weather when you came in because it has never taken me four hours to clear customs and as long as I’m not changing terminals and it’s a normal day at JFK 1 hour 20 mins is tight but most of the time I could make it. I’ve also missed my flight many times, and it horrible but the airline has always booked me on the next flight if seats are available on it. Sometimes I had to wait hours or even the next day. Air travel is messy when things go wrong, but they go wrong on every airline. Delta has it’s problems but think you could have had the same mess on most airlines. I’m sorry you had such a horrible time traveling and wish you luck the next time you travel, it sounds like that trip was ugly.