Our Pilots Aren't Here
Here's what happened when flying home with Delta from my father's funeral last weekend.
My itinerary:
Flight 1050
Depart Grand Rapids, MI 6:13pm
Arrive Mpls-St. Paul 6:50pm
Flight 2982
Depart Mpls-St. Paul 7:45pm
Arrive Seattle 9:34pm
I was flying home from my father's funeral. The first leg of my flight was uneventful. No weather problems. Even arrived in Minneapolis, St. Paul a little bit early.
When I checked the departure's board, I saw that my flight out of Minneapolis was delayed from 7:45pm to 9:18pm. When I arrived at the gate, I was told that the flight was delayed because Delta's "pilots were not there." Now, Delta has pilots everywhere at that airport. It's one of their main hubs. But Delta was flying our pilots in from another airport.
At 9:18pm, we were notified that our pilots had been delayed, but would be arriving "shortly.'
Around 9:45pm, a storm came in. I could see the rain and lightning through the airport windows. We were told that our pilots were in a "holding pattern."
Around 10:30pm, we were told that our pilots had been diverted to another airport.
Around 11:00pm, the storm subsided and normal flights resumed. We were told that our pilots were "on the way."
Around midnight, we were told that our pilots had arrived, but they didn't have enough hours to fly. Thankfully, Delta had assigned a new captain to our flight, and they were looking for a first officer. A little worried, I asked at the counter whether I should be concerned about the flight. I was told that the worst case scenario would be another delay, maybe even until 5 or 6am, but that Delta would be "crazy" to cancel that flight, because they couldn't reasonably accommodate 200 people going to Seattle on other flights.
Around 1:00am, we were told that maybe we should be a little worried (not their exact words.) Maybe the other pilot would not be easy to find. I went up to the counter again, asking what I should do. I was told that I could be confirmed on another flight, just in case my flight was canceled, even though it was highly unlikely that that would ever happen. So, I was booked on the same itinerary, a direct flight to Seattle, but at 2pm the next day. Worst case scenario, I thought, would be for Delta to cancel the flight, put me up in a hotel, and I'd be in Seattle the next day. I found out that was not actually the worst case scenario.
I decided to stick it out, hoping for my original flight. I called Delta, just to check on my options. When I got through, I was told that my flight had been canceled and I had been rebooked on an 11:15am flight to Spokane, WA the next day, with a 4pm flight to Seattle from there. I told the employee that I had already been booked on the 2pm direct flight to Seattle, and I had the paper with my confirmation on that flight. She couldn't find me on that flight, but said that I must be on it if I had the paper.
I went back to the gate and joined the end of an enormous line (something I was trying to avoid by confirming the second flight earlier.) At 2am I finally made it to the counter, only to be met by one of the rudest and most unhelpful employees I have ever met. With no compassion, nor empathy, nor decency, I was told that there was no record of my second confirmed flight (notwithstanding the printed confirmation in my hand), that there were no hotel vouchers when there was bad weather (despite the fact that there would have been no "weather" if our pilots had been there and our flight had left on time!), that Delta didn't need to do anything about it, and that was that. She was a nasty, rude person.
The attendant at the counter who was next to her began to step in to help. He said that he could get me to Seattle by a faster route, even though it was not direct. He said that they could provide a hotel voucher, but it may be cheaper to work with the hotels directly (and wrote down a few numbers of local hotels with shuttles.) In short, he was professional and considerate. He booked me on the 11:15am flight to Spokane the next day, with a flight to Seattle at 1:30pm.
The timing was pretty bad. At 2:30am, getting any rest before that flight seemed like a near impossibility (the 2pm direct flight would have made it possible.) The first hotel I called was completely booked, and with a flight scheduled only 8 hours from then, I decided that just sticking it out in the airport was my best solution.
I laid down on the floor with many other passengers for about 4 hours, until the noise and activity of the airport wouldn't allow any more "rest."
I made it to Seattle the next day at 3:30pm (around 18 hours after my scheduled arrival time.)
Mistakes that Delta made:
1. No pilots for our 7:45pm departure.
2. Brought in pilots from too far away to make our delayed 9:18pm departure.
3. No communication between diverted pilots and Delta to inform them that not enough service hours would remain to make the Seattle flight.
4. Terribly rude, even mean, employee at the gate counter.
5. Refusal to take responsibility for anything.
Let me know your Delta horror stories, and I'll post them here.
My itinerary:
Flight 1050
Depart Grand Rapids, MI 6:13pm
Arrive Mpls-St. Paul 6:50pm
Flight 2982
Depart Mpls-St. Paul 7:45pm
Arrive Seattle 9:34pm
I was flying home from my father's funeral. The first leg of my flight was uneventful. No weather problems. Even arrived in Minneapolis, St. Paul a little bit early.
When I checked the departure's board, I saw that my flight out of Minneapolis was delayed from 7:45pm to 9:18pm. When I arrived at the gate, I was told that the flight was delayed because Delta's "pilots were not there." Now, Delta has pilots everywhere at that airport. It's one of their main hubs. But Delta was flying our pilots in from another airport.
At 9:18pm, we were notified that our pilots had been delayed, but would be arriving "shortly.'
Around 9:45pm, a storm came in. I could see the rain and lightning through the airport windows. We were told that our pilots were in a "holding pattern."
Around 10:30pm, we were told that our pilots had been diverted to another airport.
Around 11:00pm, the storm subsided and normal flights resumed. We were told that our pilots were "on the way."
Around midnight, we were told that our pilots had arrived, but they didn't have enough hours to fly. Thankfully, Delta had assigned a new captain to our flight, and they were looking for a first officer. A little worried, I asked at the counter whether I should be concerned about the flight. I was told that the worst case scenario would be another delay, maybe even until 5 or 6am, but that Delta would be "crazy" to cancel that flight, because they couldn't reasonably accommodate 200 people going to Seattle on other flights.
Around 1:00am, we were told that maybe we should be a little worried (not their exact words.) Maybe the other pilot would not be easy to find. I went up to the counter again, asking what I should do. I was told that I could be confirmed on another flight, just in case my flight was canceled, even though it was highly unlikely that that would ever happen. So, I was booked on the same itinerary, a direct flight to Seattle, but at 2pm the next day. Worst case scenario, I thought, would be for Delta to cancel the flight, put me up in a hotel, and I'd be in Seattle the next day. I found out that was not actually the worst case scenario.
I decided to stick it out, hoping for my original flight. I called Delta, just to check on my options. When I got through, I was told that my flight had been canceled and I had been rebooked on an 11:15am flight to Spokane, WA the next day, with a 4pm flight to Seattle from there. I told the employee that I had already been booked on the 2pm direct flight to Seattle, and I had the paper with my confirmation on that flight. She couldn't find me on that flight, but said that I must be on it if I had the paper.
I went back to the gate and joined the end of an enormous line (something I was trying to avoid by confirming the second flight earlier.) At 2am I finally made it to the counter, only to be met by one of the rudest and most unhelpful employees I have ever met. With no compassion, nor empathy, nor decency, I was told that there was no record of my second confirmed flight (notwithstanding the printed confirmation in my hand), that there were no hotel vouchers when there was bad weather (despite the fact that there would have been no "weather" if our pilots had been there and our flight had left on time!), that Delta didn't need to do anything about it, and that was that. She was a nasty, rude person.
The attendant at the counter who was next to her began to step in to help. He said that he could get me to Seattle by a faster route, even though it was not direct. He said that they could provide a hotel voucher, but it may be cheaper to work with the hotels directly (and wrote down a few numbers of local hotels with shuttles.) In short, he was professional and considerate. He booked me on the 11:15am flight to Spokane the next day, with a flight to Seattle at 1:30pm.
The timing was pretty bad. At 2:30am, getting any rest before that flight seemed like a near impossibility (the 2pm direct flight would have made it possible.) The first hotel I called was completely booked, and with a flight scheduled only 8 hours from then, I decided that just sticking it out in the airport was my best solution.
I laid down on the floor with many other passengers for about 4 hours, until the noise and activity of the airport wouldn't allow any more "rest."
I made it to Seattle the next day at 3:30pm (around 18 hours after my scheduled arrival time.)
Mistakes that Delta made:
1. No pilots for our 7:45pm departure.
2. Brought in pilots from too far away to make our delayed 9:18pm departure.
3. No communication between diverted pilots and Delta to inform them that not enough service hours would remain to make the Seattle flight.
4. Terribly rude, even mean, employee at the gate counter.
5. Refusal to take responsibility for anything.
Let me know your Delta horror stories, and I'll post them here.
A Delta representative (Amanda) reached out to me to apologize. She said that Delta would work to correct the errors that led to the very poor service that I received.
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