On July 31, I received a call from Delta at 1:36 pm informing me that flight #6269 from LGA to OMA was delayed by approximately 2 hours. As my final destination that evening was to be Lincoln NE, I was planning on driving from Omaha to Lincoln; I went online to check to see if there were other options available that might get me into Omaha/Lincoln earlier, so I went onto the delta.com website to investigate.
Once I signed in, the site showed that this flight was delayed and asked if I wanted to review other flights. I chose to review a flight from LGA --> MSP (DL 2019) and MSP --> to LNK (DL 3999), and before I knew it, I had been rerouted onto those flights without even being asked. Getting immediately rebooked onto those flights was not my original intent, as I believed I was just reviewing what other flight options were available.
Now without me authorizing this change, I was now booked on a flight that was leaving LGA an hour earlier, which means I needed to rearrange my transportation to the airport as I had reserved a car service to pick me up at my house in CT at 4:30. I now needed to leave at 3:15 pm in order to make the earlier flight. As my car service was unable to accommodate my last minute request and did not have a car available earlier, I was forced to drive to the airport myself and leave my car in long term parking, not my preferred method when going to LGA.
Upon arrival, I checked in and was given a boarding pass for both flights. As the time to board the initial flight (DL 2019) came, there was a mechanical issue with the jetway at the gate that prevented us from boarding. As chance would have it, I glanced at the departure board and noticed that the original flight (DL 6269) was listed as being on time, now an hour plus before scheduled departure of 7:35 pm. I then picked up a courtesy phone and spoke with a customer service representative to inquire about the original flights status.
The customer service representative was unaware of any scheduled delay of flight #6269, she suggested that maybe new equipment had arrived and the flight was now back on schedule. I asked her if she had any additional information about my original flight (6269) or the flight I was now booked on (2019), which was now late because of issues at the gate. She told me both flights showed up on her system as being on time. I asked her what would happen if I had delayed my travels for 2 hours per the phone call I had received and wound up the flight was on time, and she said I would probably have missed my flight. By this time, I told her I did not have time at that moment to continue the discussion, as I wanted to check back to see if my flight to MSP (2019) was boarding yet, but I was very upset since it appeared my original flight was now actually on time.
After checking and seeing we were still not boarding, I walked over to the gate where the original Omaha flight (6269) was scheduled to depart from in about an hour, and asked the woman at the gate there if she had any additional information about this flight. She said this flight was still showing up as being on time. There was no indication that the flight was going to be delayed and appeared that everything was on time. She asked if I would like to get onto that flight instead. I chose to decline and stay on the flight to MSP, since I was not very confident in that flight’s status.
As the delay boarding my new flight was getting longer and longer, I was growing concerned about missing my connection in MSP to LNK. Little did I know at that time it did not matter? After an hour delay, we were finally able to board the flight to MSP through another jet way, and I was told by the representatives at the gate, that I would still have sufficient time to make my connecting flight to LNK.
Upon landing in MSP, I checked the board in MSP to see what gate I would need to get to make my connection, and next to the LNK 3999 it said cancelled. So now I was told I needed to walk the length of the MSP airport to get to the nearest customer service station, pick up a phone, see what was available, and then make accommodations for the evening. Luckily, I got there before a few other passengers, as they had to wait to speak to the Customer Service Representatives since all four phones were currently in use. I was told the next available flight to LNK was at 10:15 p.m. the next day (8/1), which would have wasted my entire effort of travelling on Sunday to get to my office in Lincoln NE on Monday. It would have been better for me to drive the 7 hours at that point, rather than to continue my travels with Delta. I then inquired about a flight to Omaha, figuring a one hour drive better than seven. The agent was able to book me on a flight in the morning from MSP to OMA (DL 2707) and then I could drive to Lincoln. What bothered me was that the agent I spoke with was not proactive in offering other alternatives to help me get where I was going. She essentially said “Lincoln, nothing during the day, only the same flight at 10:15 pm that you were scheduled on tonight.” If I had not known the geography, I would have been stuck all day, and my company would have lost an entire day of productivity.
I also don’t know why there were not more live people made available to help all the stranded travelers when other flights had apparently been cancelled. The people on the ground did a fine job of printing my boarding pass (assuring me I would get a seat in the morning) and giving me vouchers for a hotel and meals. I wound up staying at the Days Inn Bloomington MN that seemed very far from the airport, and was not very welcoming.
Upon arriving back at the airport and checking in at the gate and requesting my seat assignment, the gate attendant told me the flight was overbooked and she could not assign me my seat yet. She then began asking if anyone would be interested in flying at a later time. Now needless to say, this is not exactly what I was expecting to hear, since the representative from the night before had assured me that I would have a seat available for me the next morning.
I am currently flying between NYC and LNK every other week from now until at least the end of the year as my company has asked me to build a team in Lincoln NE. I have chosen to fly Delta over United because I can avoid Chicago and the inevitable delays that come with going through that airport. However this experience has made me question whether that was a sound decision. The fact that you were proactive about the original flight should have been a great experience, and is commendable for you alerting me. However, your website while updated with the correct information immediately redirected me to another flight before I could even verify that is what I wanted to do. Thankfully I did not pick a flight that was leaving (at 4:25?) via Memphis, since I would never had made it to the airport for that flight. I should have been asked if this was the flight I wanted before I was rebooked. What if I was willing to go later and wanted to stay on the original flight? I had no option, it was just done.
At the airport, the people on the ground (and at your call center) had no idea that flight was in fact delayed, in fact I did check the website and it was not showing as being on time again when it was actually delayed (I subsequently received text messages from my travel agency confirming the delay after landing in MSP). Had the departure board at LGA shown this delay, my frustration would have been significantly less, and the cancelled flight from MSP to LNK would have just been a routine event that happens when you travel, but instead neither your website, your customer service representatives on the phone, nor the representatives in the airport knew anything about the delay and were therefore not able to help me make an informed decision about my travel plans. You started with something very good and positive, though stressful, and then exponentially compounded it by not informing the rest of your organization on this event.
I would like to know why I should choose to keep flying Delta over the next 6 months, and what you can do to keep me as a loyal customer based upon this experience.
Once I signed in, the site showed that this flight was delayed and asked if I wanted to review other flights. I chose to review a flight from LGA --> MSP (DL 2019) and MSP --> to LNK (DL 3999), and before I knew it, I had been rerouted onto those flights without even being asked. Getting immediately rebooked onto those flights was not my original intent, as I believed I was just reviewing what other flight options were available.
Now without me authorizing this change, I was now booked on a flight that was leaving LGA an hour earlier, which means I needed to rearrange my transportation to the airport as I had reserved a car service to pick me up at my house in CT at 4:30. I now needed to leave at 3:15 pm in order to make the earlier flight. As my car service was unable to accommodate my last minute request and did not have a car available earlier, I was forced to drive to the airport myself and leave my car in long term parking, not my preferred method when going to LGA.
Upon arrival, I checked in and was given a boarding pass for both flights. As the time to board the initial flight (DL 2019) came, there was a mechanical issue with the jetway at the gate that prevented us from boarding. As chance would have it, I glanced at the departure board and noticed that the original flight (DL 6269) was listed as being on time, now an hour plus before scheduled departure of 7:35 pm. I then picked up a courtesy phone and spoke with a customer service representative to inquire about the original flights status.
The customer service representative was unaware of any scheduled delay of flight #6269, she suggested that maybe new equipment had arrived and the flight was now back on schedule. I asked her if she had any additional information about my original flight (6269) or the flight I was now booked on (2019), which was now late because of issues at the gate. She told me both flights showed up on her system as being on time. I asked her what would happen if I had delayed my travels for 2 hours per the phone call I had received and wound up the flight was on time, and she said I would probably have missed my flight. By this time, I told her I did not have time at that moment to continue the discussion, as I wanted to check back to see if my flight to MSP (2019) was boarding yet, but I was very upset since it appeared my original flight was now actually on time.
After checking and seeing we were still not boarding, I walked over to the gate where the original Omaha flight (6269) was scheduled to depart from in about an hour, and asked the woman at the gate there if she had any additional information about this flight. She said this flight was still showing up as being on time. There was no indication that the flight was going to be delayed and appeared that everything was on time. She asked if I would like to get onto that flight instead. I chose to decline and stay on the flight to MSP, since I was not very confident in that flight’s status.
As the delay boarding my new flight was getting longer and longer, I was growing concerned about missing my connection in MSP to LNK. Little did I know at that time it did not matter? After an hour delay, we were finally able to board the flight to MSP through another jet way, and I was told by the representatives at the gate, that I would still have sufficient time to make my connecting flight to LNK.
Upon landing in MSP, I checked the board in MSP to see what gate I would need to get to make my connection, and next to the LNK 3999 it said cancelled. So now I was told I needed to walk the length of the MSP airport to get to the nearest customer service station, pick up a phone, see what was available, and then make accommodations for the evening. Luckily, I got there before a few other passengers, as they had to wait to speak to the Customer Service Representatives since all four phones were currently in use. I was told the next available flight to LNK was at 10:15 p.m. the next day (8/1), which would have wasted my entire effort of travelling on Sunday to get to my office in Lincoln NE on Monday. It would have been better for me to drive the 7 hours at that point, rather than to continue my travels with Delta. I then inquired about a flight to Omaha, figuring a one hour drive better than seven. The agent was able to book me on a flight in the morning from MSP to OMA (DL 2707) and then I could drive to Lincoln. What bothered me was that the agent I spoke with was not proactive in offering other alternatives to help me get where I was going. She essentially said “Lincoln, nothing during the day, only the same flight at 10:15 pm that you were scheduled on tonight.” If I had not known the geography, I would have been stuck all day, and my company would have lost an entire day of productivity.
I also don’t know why there were not more live people made available to help all the stranded travelers when other flights had apparently been cancelled. The people on the ground did a fine job of printing my boarding pass (assuring me I would get a seat in the morning) and giving me vouchers for a hotel and meals. I wound up staying at the Days Inn Bloomington MN that seemed very far from the airport, and was not very welcoming.
Upon arriving back at the airport and checking in at the gate and requesting my seat assignment, the gate attendant told me the flight was overbooked and she could not assign me my seat yet. She then began asking if anyone would be interested in flying at a later time. Now needless to say, this is not exactly what I was expecting to hear, since the representative from the night before had assured me that I would have a seat available for me the next morning.
I am currently flying between NYC and LNK every other week from now until at least the end of the year as my company has asked me to build a team in Lincoln NE. I have chosen to fly Delta over United because I can avoid Chicago and the inevitable delays that come with going through that airport. However this experience has made me question whether that was a sound decision. The fact that you were proactive about the original flight should have been a great experience, and is commendable for you alerting me. However, your website while updated with the correct information immediately redirected me to another flight before I could even verify that is what I wanted to do. Thankfully I did not pick a flight that was leaving (at 4:25?) via Memphis, since I would never had made it to the airport for that flight. I should have been asked if this was the flight I wanted before I was rebooked. What if I was willing to go later and wanted to stay on the original flight? I had no option, it was just done.
At the airport, the people on the ground (and at your call center) had no idea that flight was in fact delayed, in fact I did check the website and it was not showing as being on time again when it was actually delayed (I subsequently received text messages from my travel agency confirming the delay after landing in MSP). Had the departure board at LGA shown this delay, my frustration would have been significantly less, and the cancelled flight from MSP to LNK would have just been a routine event that happens when you travel, but instead neither your website, your customer service representatives on the phone, nor the representatives in the airport knew anything about the delay and were therefore not able to help me make an informed decision about my travel plans. You started with something very good and positive, though stressful, and then exponentially compounded it by not informing the rest of your organization on this event.
I would like to know why I should choose to keep flying Delta over the next 6 months, and what you can do to keep me as a loyal customer based upon this experience.
