Delta Air Lines, oh how I despise thee.

A few years ago I lived a little bit north of Lexington Ky and for work had to fly to Minneapolis. So I drove south a couple hours before my flight to wait in the airport. And wait. And wait. Flight was delayed due to wind. Finally made the hop to Cincinnati to find that the power was out in the terminal and the place looked like Calcutta. Bodies sprawled everywhere in various stated of undress since the AC was out.

More delays to connecting flight meant that by the time we took off for MN I could have WALKED from my house to that point. All in the trip, door to door, took 2 hours longer to fly than if I had just driven. Driven in my own happy German leather lined space. Instead I got to rub elbows with hundreds of sweaty masses and risk my mental well being for the luxury of jet travel.

Coming back had fewer delays and only required connecting through Charlotte NC for a very speedy 8 hour trip.

Thank the FSM I don't have to fly often!

My only experience with Delta is when I was 8yo and my sister flew in and we went to pick her up at the airport. The flight attendant walked me onto the plane, I got to meet the pilots, saw the cockpit and got some sweet plastic wings to pin on my shirt.

As a pilot, these complaints make me laugh. There is so much you don't know.

Appleseed wrote: As a pilot, these complaints make me laugh. There is so much you don't know.

Spill it!

z31maniac wrote:

Appleseed wrote: As a pilot, these complaints make me laugh. There is so much you don't know.

Spill it!

Yeah, spil it. Because from our point of view, we are paying fir a service that at best, is crappily delivered. At worst (besides crashing and dying) can leave someone stranded away from home with no way to ger home.
I mean, no pilot to fly the plane? I'm assuming a pilot is the one that got it there in the first place?

I will never fly Delta again. Did it once, that was enough.

I flew to Missoula, Montana with my wife to go to a friend's wedding. Our luggage went to New Orleans, which is sort of the opposite direction. They got our luggage to us as we were checking out of the hotel to go home, and lied to me the entire time about what happened.

DrBoost wrote:

z31maniac wrote:

Appleseed wrote: As a pilot, these complaints make me laugh. There is so much you don't know.

Spill it!

Yeah, spil it. Because from our point of view, we are paying fir a service that at best, is crappily delivered. At worst (besides crashing and dying) can leave someone stranded away from home with no way to ger home. I mean, no pilot to fly the plane? I'm assuming a pilot is the one that got it there in the first place?

I'm not a pilot, but I am aware of flight time limits for pilots. Saw a change over once in the middle of a trans Atlantic flight. Plus, there was an article on All Things Considered related to that subject- with American asking their pilots to fly faster so that they don't get into the time limits.

I'm sure there is more.

But it's likely that the pilots who brought the plane timed out, and could not fly again.

One more reason I like to book the first flight of the day. Reduces most reasons for delays.

Nick (picaso) Comstock wrote: My only experience with Delta is when I was 8yo and my sister flew in and we went to pick her up at the airport. The flight attendant walked me onto the plane, I got to meet the pilots, saw the cockpit and got some sweet plastic wings to pin on my shirt.

Things have changed since 1978. Now passengers are treated like cattle who possibly have a bomb strapped to their colon.

I personally can't wait for the whole airline model to die off and we can go to a light rail system. 200 mph is plenty fast enough if you just go ahead and GO! No more bad weather/turbulence/snow delays, just bullet train comfort and enough leg room to stretch out.

KyAllroad wrote:

Nick (picaso) Comstock wrote: My only experience with Delta is when I was 8yo and my sister flew in and we went to pick her up at the airport. The flight attendant walked me onto the plane, I got to meet the pilots, saw the cockpit and got some sweet plastic wings to pin on my shirt.

Things have changed since 1978. Now passengers are treated like cattle who possibly have a bomb strapped to their colon. I personally can't wait for the whole airline model to die off and we can go to a light rail system. 200 mph is plenty fast enough if you just go ahead and GO! No more bad weather/turbulence/snow delays, just bullet train comfort and enough leg room to stretch out.

Given the number of airlines that duplicate high speed rail in Europe- I don't see that happening.

Besides, it just takes one person to change the attitude of danger in rail.

The only two truly bad flying experiences (excepting the cattle-call style, free-for-all boarding process that comes standard with the Southwest experience - you get what you pay for) I've directly or tangentially been involved in have both been with Delta.

The first was returning from a ski trip in Utah with my dad. Booked a late afternoon flight to get a half day of skiing in beforehand, and had to connect in Cincinnati for our flight into Harrisburg (or maybe it was BWI, I forget.) Arrive at the airport to find our flight has been delayed due to mechanical problem. Just our luck, the union for the Delta maintenance folks was in a dispute over contract negotiations (ended up going on strike like the next week IIRC) and didn't much feel like fixing said plane in any sort of a timely manner. We left after something like a 4 hr delay, which chewed up our layover time and then some. Delta was kind enough though to hold our connecting flight...right up until ten minutes before we landed . Ended up spending the night in Cincy, dad missed an extra day of work, and the poor folks on our connecting flight got an hour plus long delay for nothing.

I forget the exact details of story #2, but SWMBO was flying up for a long weekend as my birthday present one year in college (we did the long distance thing at the time) and ended up stranded in Detroit for the night. Delta basically cut our precious time together, which she had paid a not insignificant amount of money for at the time, in half.

I fly enough and delta really isn't that bad. I don't get the hate. I got poor service stories by most is carriers. United being the one at the bottom of my personal ranking.

Bullet train eh? Governor Moonbeam has been talking about building some trains and referring to them as "high speed rail." Projected completion date is the day after one of those flying monkees from the Wizard of Oz shoots out of his ass.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: I fly enough and delta really isn't that bad. I don't get the hate. I got poor service stories by most is carriers. United being the one at the bottom of my personal ranking.

I think (at least with me) this was based on their big computer crash last week where everything went terribly.

The single most inspiring and worst part was when the gate agent was walking through the plane with a hand written list of the passengers, checking them off as she went.

alfadriver wrote:

DrBoost wrote:

z31maniac wrote:

Appleseed wrote: As a pilot, these complaints make me laugh. There is so much you don't know.

Spill it!

Yeah, spil it. Because from our point of view, we are paying fir a service that at best, is crappily delivered. At worst (besides crashing and dying) can leave someone stranded away from home with no way to ger home. I mean, no pilot to fly the plane? I'm assuming a pilot is the one that got it there in the first place?

I'm not a pilot, but I am aware of flight time limits for pilots. Saw a change over once in the middle of a trans Atlantic flight. Plus, there was an article on All Things Considered related to that subject- with American asking their pilots to fly faster so that they don't get into the time limits. I'm sure there is more. But it's likely that the pilots who brought the plane timed out, and could not fly again. One more reason I like to book the first flight of the day. Reduces most reasons for delays.

I'm Aware of time limits for the flight crew as well. Heck, I've been victim of this many times. Here's the thing. Time has been ticking for, wel, ever. It's not a surprise that it's now 52 seconda later than when I started typing this message. They need to plan for these limits. It seems like they just say "oh. Hmmm. We have a plane here. It needs to go there. How about you see if Bob wants to fly the plane there."

More importantly, when you leave customers stranded for 7+ hours, a meal voucher would go a long way.
I rarely will complain about a failed component or other failure in a product or service. It's how you handle it that says everything about your company.

Appleseed wrote: As a pilot, these complaints make me laugh. There is so much you don't know.

Yes commercial flying is the safest travel there is. To maintain that and also support the weak infrastructure investment by everyone(Gov't/Airlines/Public), there are a lot of rules. Most of which are there for good reasons that many don't know and some don't understand.

As I understand the speed up plan by AA. It isn't supposed to be just tell pilots to go faster. It is supposed to use the available data to prioritize if connector flight crew 1 should get priority over connector flight crew 2 so that the flight crew on Flight 1 can fit in the one more flight that day with allowable spare time so you don't end up with the dreaded lost flight crew due to max time allowed per day. (likely the cause of the OPs issues) So flight 2 may be 1 minute delayed versus Flight 1 being unable to leave for its final flight of the day.

DrBoost wrote:

alfadriver wrote:

DrBoost wrote:

z31maniac wrote:

Appleseed wrote: As a pilot, these complaints make me laugh. There is so much you don't know.

Spill it!

Yeah, spil it. Because from our point of view, we are paying fir a service that at best, is crappily delivered. At worst (besides crashing and dying) can leave someone stranded away from home with no way to ger home. I mean, no pilot to fly the plane? I'm assuming a pilot is the one that got it there in the first place?

I'm not a pilot, but I am aware of flight time limits for pilots. Saw a change over once in the middle of a trans Atlantic flight. Plus, there was an article on All Things Considered related to that subject- with American asking their pilots to fly faster so that they don't get into the time limits. I'm sure there is more. But it's likely that the pilots who brought the plane timed out, and could not fly again. One more reason I like to book the first flight of the day. Reduces most reasons for delays.

I'm Aware of time limits for the flight crew as well. Heck, I've been victim of this many times. Here's the thing. Time has been ticking for, wel, ever. It's not a surprise that it's now 52 seconda later than when I started typing this message. They need to plan for these limits. It seems like they just say "oh. Hmmm. We have a plane here. It needs to go there. How about you see if Bob wants to fly the plane there." More importantly, when you leave customers stranded for 7+ hours, a meal voucher would go a long way. I rarely will complain about a failed component or other failure in a product or service. It's how you handle it that says everything about your company.

I agree- we were part of the Big Northwest Snowstorm back in the 90's. We took off from San Juan fully knowing that that DTW was closed and would stay that way. Ended up in MSP, and being so late, we were on our own. Did find a room, but had to eat out of a vending machine. Better than sleeping at the airport- which many did.

It took a big lawsuit for us to get compensated- which were just tickets in the end.

On the other hand, we had a flight canceled from DTW to SLC- which was rebooked for the next morning through Phoenix. While they didn't put us up for the night, we did get vouchers and a pass back into the airport after making reservations at the hotel in the McNamera terminal.

Why it varies so much? Very good question.

Advan046 wrote:

Appleseed wrote: As a pilot, these complaints make me laugh. There is so much you don't know.

Yes commercial flying is the safest travel there is. To maintain that and also support the weak infrastructure investment by everyone(Gov't/Airlines/Public), there are a lot of rules. Most of which are there for good reasons that many don't know and some don't understand. As I understand the speed up plan by AA. It isn't supposed to be just tell pilots to go faster. It is supposed to use the available data to prioritize if connector flight crew 1 should get priority over connector flight crew 2 so that the flight crew on Flight 1 can fit in the one more flight that day with allowable spare time so you don't end up with the dreaded lost flight crew due to max time allowed per day. (likely the cause of the OPs issues) So flight 2 may be 1 minute delayed versus Flight 1 being unable to leave for its final flight of the day.

What I didn't get about that- flying Delta- they speed up ALL THE TIME. It's regular that we both leave a few min late, and arrive early. Is it that the projected time of travel is padded to make up for losses? Or are the pilots flying faster?

HappyAndy wrote: Way more comfortable than flying in coach

That, good sir, is a truely fine looking automobile!!

Everything involved with flying is trying to kill you. Wind shear, ice, pilot fatigue, airframe fatigue, engine failure, suicide bombers. Everything.

How many of you are dead? Concider yourself lucky.

Flying has become so routine, that this is what we complain about.

Also, if you adjust for inflation, a one way ticket from LA to Kansas City cost about $575, in 1955. Airlines might still care about on time and on target if we weren't such cheap berkeleys.

Appleseed wrote: Everything involved with flying is trying to kill you. Wind shear, ice, pilot fatigue, airframe fatigue, engine failure, suicide bombers. Everything. How many of you are dead? Concider yourself lucky. Flying has become so routine, that this is what we complain about. Also, if you adjust for inflation, a one way ticket from LA to Kansas City cost about $575, in 1955. Airlines might still care about on time and on target if we weren't such cheap berkeleys.

Sounds like you are near the end of your timing out for the day!

Just to get serious for a second.

Delta and the rest will get better if we as consumers push them the right way. Safe costs money to inspect, repair, maintain. Fast costs money, well this is GRM you know why. And niceties cost money to think of create and provide. Crews salaries shouldn't be stagnant while you deserve a raise.

I like higher cost water if it makes the water that much cleaner. I like higher cost air flights if they maintain safety and improve all the surrounding infrastructure.

In reply to Appleseed:

Lets also not forget that the majority of your commercial airline pilots are close to retirement age. This has lead to a severe commercial pilot shortage and then the FAA INCREASED flight time requirements do attain your commercial rating in the name of safety.

I berkeleying hate Delta too. In 2014 I flew to ATL on my way to Houston for a job interview. I'd carefully packed a suit, my meds, everything into a regulation carry-on so I didn't have to check the bag. Delta let everyone bring on >3 carry-ons, plus winter coats, and force-checked my bag at the gate when the bins filled up (thanks, fellow travelers who refuse to stow under the seat!).

I knew as soon as they force-checked me that my bag wasn't getting into the hold - the doors were already shut. When I protested, they threatened to kick me off the flight and no, you may not put the bag under the seat, at your feet, sir. I had to hold my meds in my hand the entire flight. Sure enough, when I land in Houston at 6 pm, my bag is scheduled to join me around 9:45. I am due to check into a hotel in Corpus Christi so I pick up my car and drive to the island. Delta will drive my bags to me and I'll have them by 11pm, plenty of time to put on pjs and get a good night's sleep for the 7 am (!) interview the next day.

I'll ruin the suspense - the bag missed the late flight too. Now I'm too worried to sleep and have only my wallet, meds and the clothes on my back. The bag made it to the hotel at 5 am. I slept for 45 minutes before getting up, pressing my clothes and heading out for the day.

The kicker was Delta kindly busted the carry straps off the bag and tore it. I filed a claim but the counter attendant warned me they weren't liable for hardware. Delta didn't even have the courtesy to acknowledge or deny my claim. Eff Delta.

Oh, I was offered the job, which shows I am a resilient bastard if nothing else. Haha.

idrive