Dear friends, it is the holiday season, and things can get chaotic, especially with a full moon like yesterday. Up until now I’ve been having a great time in New York, taking in wonderful holiday events like the Rockettes at Radio City.
But then it comes time to leave the city… And I had the most annoying non-travel experience yesterday, due to Delta Airlines’ thoughtlessness. So let me take you on a holiday kvetch, if I may…
At 6:10 am yesterday, I was prevented from checking my bags, and hence from boarding my 7 am flight to Seattle, and then endured 6 hours of the most frustrating phone calls you can image. I found Delta Airlines’ customer service to be appalling, and vow to never fly on this airline again if I can help it.
Since I couldn’t board my flight without checking my bags (though there was actually time for me to go through security and board the flight), I had to miss the flight entirely. The alternates I was offered were to pay $7,000 to book another flight the same day, or to do an overnight flight involving 5 hours’ layover in the middle of the night at LAX. Just imagine the fun! All because of a misleading statement on the Delta Airlines boarding pass… Followed by the worst customer service you can imagine, both at the airport and on the phone.
By contrast, this is the thoughtful information that WestJet sent me for the replacement flight I booked with them:
Hello Karen Y, your WestJet flight leaves in less than 24 hours…
Please remember that Holiday travel is the busiest time of the year at the airport, so give yourself the advantage of a little extra time. This email contains your flight details, and will help you check in easier. We look forward to welcoming you on board…
We strongly encourage you to arrive at the airport a minimum of two hours prior to your scheduled departure, to ensure that you do not miss your flight. Due to a higher than expected volume of guests traveling, and current U.S. Transportation Security Agency (TSA) staffing, excessive security wait times are expected.
Changes at Calgary International Airport – When you arrive at the new terminal, you no longer need to pick up your bags when you go through Canadian customs. We also recommend you allow for extra time to reach your next gate; in some cases, 25-30 minutes may be needed.
This information is so thoughtful, and tells me all the details I need to know. Plus, they offer one free checked bag!
And this is their boarding pass:
By contrast, this is what Delta said on my boarding pass, which I printed after doing an online check-in the night before my flight:
Imagine checking in online at 11 PM, tired from a week of work and a day of Christmas shopping, packing, and wrapping… Wouldn’t you be delighted to see you only need to get to the airport 75 minutes ahead of time for a domestic flight from New York to Seattle? Well, I was, and set my alarm for an extra hour of sleep, getting up at 4:40 a.m., to arrive at the airport by 6 a.m., in time for my 7 a.m. flight. Note the wording “recommended,” implying 75 minutes is lots of time and you could even allow a bit less. At least that’s how I read it!
Imagine my shock when I was standing in the extremely long bag drop line, after waiting in my taxi 15 extra minutes to travel the last quarter mile at JFK, due to 5 lanes of jammed traffic, and saw the notice that bags must be checked an hour before the flight. I had not been informed of this in my emails from Travelocity nor on the Delta Airlines boarding pass. Normally I do arrive at the airport 2 hours ahead of time as a matter of course, but because of this notice of 75 minutes on the boarding pass, I didn’t do this. Hence I discovered the hard way that this 60-minute limit for bag drop is evidently the norm, which everyone knows but me.
Much hilarity (actually, many F-bombs) ensued, as I waited in Delta’s so-called “Rebooking” queue at JFK. There were over a dozen poor travelers ahead of me. There was only one woman at the counter, and each rebooking transaction seemed to require from 20 minutes to 90 minutes (as in the case of one woman in a white and purple blouse who was there the whole time I was, who must have had an exceeding complicated travel itinerary to reschedule).
After dropping the F-bombs, commiserating with others in the line, and noticing the line’s slower-than-snail’s pace, I made the call to Delta Airlines. Others in line began to do the same, trying to rebook on their phones, and eventually another Delta employee came over to hand out cards with the phone number to call to rebook. Never mind adding another person to the counter on one of the busiest travel days of the year. That would actually help people! Meanwhile, there was a crowd of a dozen Delta employees in matching t-shirts sitting in the next area, waiting to assist passengers with wheelchairs. Of whom there were none.
I called Delta (13 minutes), who said I had to call Alaskan Air because they were the “overarching” carrier for my itinerary, which culminated in an Alaskan Airlines flight from Seattle to Kelowna, BC. Geez! Alaskan Airlines (12 minutes) said they couldn’t help me because the first leg was with Delta. Next call–Travelocity. (40 minutes). This is where I found out my alternative travel options. (The aforementioned $7,000 trip or the appealing 5-hour middle of the night layover at LAX.)
I declined these options, and found a cafe on the arrivals level where I could do my own research. Within minutes, I had hot coffee, scrambled eggs, and a $660 WestJet flight to Kelowna leaving at 5:20 pm the next day, arriving at 11:21 pm (unfortunately requiring my sister Kim to travel an hour to pick me up, and then another hour to take me back to her home in Armstrong). Still a crappy option, but better than the others.
So, I sorted it out and was reasonably happy, due to Google, the coffee, and the eggs. I left the airport, and had a harrowing cab ride in a Drakkar-drenched taxi back to Manhattan. I opened the window to stop from choking on the stench. The driver kept looking at his cell phone and texting, while driving at high speed! I asked him to stop three times. Can you believe this? The third time he was actually texting while going over the bridge! Geez. Then he asked me if I want a ride back to the airport tomorrow (with him). Not!
So, finally I’m home, merely 3 hours after I set out…
But there’s one more matter to attend to, which is the exorbitant $80 in baggage fees that Delta Airlines charged me. No way was I going to let this ride, when they refused to accept my bags at the airport. (Did I mention the original flight cost $1,155!?? To fly from New York to Kelowna, BC! Plus this $80 fee for bags!!)
So at 8:12 am, I embarked on a new journey into unprecedented levels of frustration, until at 12:41 pm I finally got my baggage fee refunded. That’s right, 4.5 hours. 4.5 horrible hours of rage, helplessness, tears, shouting, MF-bombs, cajoling, insistence, and rudeness (on my part). The first call was to Delta, but they said Alaska had the money for the bags. The next call was to Alaska, and they said Delta had the money. Back and forth, on hold, being told one thing by one party, another by the other, until finally someone at Delta admitted they had the money and would give me a refund. Which took her about 30 seconds to do, as I saw the refund email pop up on my phone immediately.
Sheesh! By now it was after noon, and I felt like a complete wreck, and sadly lacking in holiday cheer.
I spent the afternoon on the couch reading a New Yorker article about dementia, and then went to see The Grifters at the Metrograph Theater on the Lower East Side–a very civilized theater with a bar in the lobby! Both very cheering activities, as you can imagine. 😉 These reconnected me to my beloved New York.
Thanks for tuning in to my holiday kvetch, and I hope you join me in boycotting Delta Airlines forever!