Delta Air Lines, Inc.
Post Office Box 20537
Atlanta, GA 30320-2537
Dear Sir/ Madame,
I am writing because I have recently had the misfortune of flying with Delta. Having flown with you in the past, I expected a certain level of comfort and security, however, I was appalled at the “service” you provided, or rather didn't.
As a teacher, I make a modest salary and so when I found out that I had to be in Canada for a wedding, I saved my money and shopped around for affordable flights. I discovered that going through JFK to Burlington, VT was my best option, which is how I ended up on flight DL 0079 on July 29th from Berlin. Upon arriving in New York around 2:30pm, I discovered that my flight to Burlington had been cancelled due to bad weather.
Along with hundreds of others, I waited in line to find out what my options were and hours later was told that I was rescheduled on a flight 2 days later. This is when I learned that your policy was to blame God for the inconvenience. Is it also your policy to be unapologetic, unhelpful and unfriendly? In all my dealings with you I only encountered one or two courteous employees and received zero smiles, despite my own attempts at being cheerful towards them.
Now I don't know about you but I certainly do not have the funds to stay in a hotel in New York City nor to stay for 2 days in the airport, eating expensive, unappetizing food. At this point, I gathered a few other stranded travelers and together we shared a hotel room and rented a car to drive to Burlington. I asked God to split the costs since Delta wasn't even giving out peanuts, but He's pretty broke these days too.
On the way back to Berlin, I was optimistic and forgiving and ready to give you guys another chance; a three week vacation with friends and family can be very therapeutic. Before I let my ride leave me at Burlington, I made sure to check the flight board for any cancellations but my plane was listed as on time so I said a weepy good bye to my father and lugged my bags to the Delta counter. I was once again informed that my flight had been cancelled and would be offered no compensation.
Still teary from my good bye, and now from another set back, I made my way to a hotel and was back at the airport at 4am to get on the 6am flight. Once we were on the plane and seemed ready to go, the flight crew informed us that there was too much fuel in the plane to fly to New York. Rather than de-fuel the plane, passengers were bribed to get off until only 1/3 of us remained. I was one of the lucky ones that got to go to New York after 2 hours sitting on the tarmac. No wonder you can't offer restitution with a business model like that.
After a costly day at JFK, I got on the plane at 7pm and because of a variety of problems that were not made clear to the passengers, we spent 3 hours on the plane waiting to take off. Now I understand that some things are out of your control, like weather and airport traffic, but others, like communication and sympathy, are things you can manage. You advertise as the world's largest airline, but with this attitude and poor customer relations, you wont stay that way for long. I suggest you take a look at Westjet's model and you'll find happy, friendly employees and satisfied customers.
Maybe getting passengers from one place to another on time and in good spirits isn't “your thing”. Maybe you shine in the luggage delivery department. Well, as it turns out, on both legs of this tedious journey you broke my luggage, forcing me to carry 75lbs instead of conveniently rolling it. Since I had exhausted my funds on hotels, car rentals and airport dining, I was left with no money to take a taxi home. Carrying two thirds of my weight on buses and trams was only the icing on the cake.
It would be easy for you to dismiss this, along with the other letters of this kind you surely receive but now is a chance for you to start caring about your customers. The extra costs, including new luggage, to this trip totaled over 400$ and I have no desire to fly again. I would like to know what you intend to do to make up for this disastrous experience and to get my business in the future?
Regards,
Above is a gathering at Katie's house in Charlottenburg (West Berlin) for Thanksgiving. Russ, the keen looking fellow in the back, brought bacon wrapped sausages to make his first Yanksgiving extra special. He was too busy posing for the picture to realise how serious this meal is and that you better dig in or forget getting any white meat.
At 8am we hopped on a train and headed to Dresden for the day to check out their famous Christmas Markets. These are popular throughout Germany during Advent ( December) and they are much more than just regular markets with fake snow on the stalls (although there is plenty of that too). The best part, aside from dried fruit dolls, is Glühwein (hot mulled wine) that comes in every flavour imaginable, including Apfel,, as seen above.
Want more photos? I've added more on picassa (just click on the Dresden at Christmas album on the right hand side of the page)
