August 20th update:
Delta did it again! Today, they asked for 11 “volumteers”! Do I smell a pattern?…
August 13th original entry:
I’m flying back to Detroit from Chicago Midway friday late afternoon. First the incoming flight is delayed by 20 minutes. Then the gate agent announces that due to weight restrictions, she needs 14 (fourteen!!!) people to volunteer to get off this flight and take their chances (good luck finding another flight to Detroit on a Friday night!) That’s 14 passengers out of a total of 50 – the number of seats on this Canadair! How can that be? Did Delta get a deal for carrying cargo that it could not refuse? Unbelievably so, 14 people do accept to take another flight.
Now we’re on board – about 1.5 hour late already. Guess what? We still need to get rid of 1 passenger! Takes 20 minutes for someone to agree to it. Then we’re told the fire extinguisher in the cargo area is not working and all luggage needs to get off the plane (there’s basically no room for carry-ons on this small plane). So here’s my choice: Stay on the plane knowing my luggage won’t come with me, or rejoin my luggage but find a different flight! At that point, it is 7 PM in Chicago: I’m not leaving this plane!
We arrive 3.5 hours late in Detroit. I go straight to the Luggage Service desk where I wait for 40 minutes in sweltering conditions; I’m finally told my luggage is on Carousel #6 – can that be? Well, of course, it’s not there; I check all the other carousels – nothing in sight. I go back (reluctantly) to the Luggage Service desk, where the line is even longer than it was earlier. I try to signal the guy who gave me the wrong information, while everyone in line is giving me the mean eye because they think I’m trying to cut in front of them. Then I see another passenger who was on the same flight I was – she’s being told our luggage is still in Chicago! At that point (10 PM), I decide to go home, assuming Delta will send my luggage to our home on Saturday. I mean, why wouldn’t they, right?
Wrong! After three calls to Delta on Saturday, I am told I need to go to the airport and collect my luggage because I did not stop by the Luggage Service desk and get a claim ticket. No claim ticket, no delivery! I’m told I did not “fulfill my obligations by not going back (for a second time) to the Luggage Service desk”, even though I had already gone there once (I figure that takes care of MY obligation). I argue that Delta did not fulfill ITS obligations when they gave me the wrong information, but to no avail. Maybe I should have pulled a Steven Slater moment…
So guess how I spent my Saturday night? Driving to and from the airport, thanks to Delta Airlines.
Now, let me ask you this: Do you think Delta Airlines care about its customers’ experience with the airline? If I ever needed a reason to consider other airlines when I fly from Detroit, they sure gave me one!
Filed under: Customer Experience
