Delta Complaint
Submitted by: Anonymous | Post a complaint | Back to Complaints Forum
The flight from FLL to ATL was an hour late in departure. When I verbalized my concern to the gate attendant I was told to “put on some running shoes”. Late departure was due to the aircraft needing to undergo a “special cleaning” as it had just flown in from Costa Rica. I think you will agree that this is NOT an unforeseeable event but standard protocol. The pilot went on to say that an additional problem was that another aircraft was parked in their assigned gate and this costing valuable time. By the time we arrived in Atlanta we had missed our connecting flight with Virgin Atlantic. We were then told by Delta customer service it was not their responsibility.It was the responsibility of Virgin Atlantic (who had already left) who subcontracted Delta. Juliet and Brenda at customer service were extremely rude and unpleasant. They turned their face away in a disinterested fashion when we were trying to get help.
We missed our cruise which left from London. After I myself contacted Virgin Atlantic they were able to call Delta Global assistance and I was given a confirmation number and ticket number for accommodation on British Airway flight 226 leaving at 1025 pm. This would allow us to reach London in time for the cruise departure in South Hampton. Although we waited patiently at the gate for 2 hours when the time came to board the flight THE GATE AGENT TOLD US THAT OUR SEATS HAD BEEN CANCELLED BY DELTA AND REFUSED TO BOARD US!. Delta denied cancelling our trip. I had a ticket number and a confirmation number for this flight and in desperation offered to buy a full priced ticket at the gate so I would not miss my cruise but the agent said it was too late the doors were closing. I was shocked. I have never been refused boarding in such a condescending manner. I believe the agents were acting maliciously.
Both Delta and British Airways claim the other is responsible for the cancelled the reservation and Delta denies it was even cancelled. Although Delta finally agreed to fly us to Cork , the customer service agent initially told my husband Delta didn’t fly to Cork, he had to show them the flight on his phone.Then Juliet commented that it wasn’t Delta’s responsibility to fly us anywhere in the world that they only needed to fly us to London. but we needed to go to Ireland to try to catch the cruise in this port thereby losing three days of the trip. We then had to pay for our meals, transportation , and boarding in Cork. Delta assured us our baggage would be sent to Cork. Needless to say in their usual unprofessional and apathetic nature we arrived to Cork and had no luggage. We have been offered no other compensation for this disastrous model of inefficiency. We had to pay taxies to the port as the cruise line did not supply them. We lost the money we had paid for 2 excursions because we had no time to cancel. We also had to purchase clothes to wear and many essentials. The fact that Delta has paid for a ticket and hotel stay in Atlanta is evidence of their responsibility in this fiasco.
It is completely unacceptable to leave a gate an hour late because you didn’t realize that regulations demanded a special plane cleaning. We have suffered stress of trying to buy clothes and missed 3 days and 2 ports of call. We spent the next 48 hours trying to contact representatives and over 100 dollars in phone calls because we were constantly put on hold. So a vacation turned into a stressful and monetarily exorbitant nightmare. There are so many added expenses due to the unprofessional behavior by your company that we have easily accumulated 5000.00 dollars worth of damages. As you can probably infer from this complaint I am beside myself with frustration at Delta’s lack of accountability. All airlines involved, Delta, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and Air France refused to also. Do you all consider yourselves a partnership or a cabal? Not one person reached out to us to help find our luggage every day I have to leave my number on a computer and wait an hour on hold. In fact I was on hold with global when British Airways denied us passage, but I only had a recorded message. I have already filed a case with the DOT (case # AK2019******) as well as with Virgin Atlantic and British Airways. and intend to contact my lawyers upon return. I have submitted a small portion of my damages in the documentation.