Reservations 3/24/10; Confirmation number QN11V3 for Susan F VanEpps and Timothy V Stewart, roundtrip MYR to MEM for son/brother's college graduation on Sat 5/22/10; original itinerary scheduled departure flight 1274 from MYR on 5/21 at 11:32 AM. Scheduled connecting flight from ATL at 2:41PM to MEM destination was 1281. Online checkin morning of 21st; very suspect that this flight would be canceled because there was no online seat selection option. Not notified until 10 AM of the flight delay to 5:15 PM. This is when Delta should have immediately made offer of reimbursement, allowing option to make arrangements with other carriers, or willfully accept the delayed "protected" travel with Delta (as DL referred to in canned voicemails to all canceled, deluded and unsuspecting passengers). No reason given for delay on bright, sunny day. I'm certain that Delta canceled for economic reasons without any consideration for its customers. I have subsequently researched on Flightaware.com, commercial flights that departed on same date from MYR destined for ATL; several flights by Delta and other carriers departed MYR timely and without incident. God and weather could not be blamed for such a prolonged delay even though this was the illusion made by DL. As it was, the 5:15PM flight still did not depart until 7:00PM, arriving ATL at 8:06PM. We had confirmed boarding passes for connecting flight 4370 scheduled for 8:15 departure from ATL to MEM. We arrived at gate A1 as they were doing final boarding flight 4370 to MEM; this flight was also delayed to 8:55 PM so we felt relieved to make the connection. The agent at the desk (Melhane) was in the process of calling standby passengers to fill the remaining seats; we were being ignored by him to accept our confirmed boarding passes; we finally forced a response from him, but by then he had given away all but one seat to standby. He refused to revoke one of the standby passes of someone who was still on the walkway and had yet to board (I also noted several Delta employees who were also given those final seats). We now realize that we should have pushed and shoved our way to the front of the line, screaming and shouting, "We have boarding passes, we have boarding passes!", rather than to have been ignored, then denied our legitimate seating. What are your priorities here? I asked to speak to a supervisor who confirmed us on a flight that was to depart in another hour. That flight, however, was canceled and another with AS, flight 2002, did not depart until 1 AM EDT. Arrival in Memphis 1:02 CDT. Car rental agencies close between 10PM and 12AM, and it was now 1:30AM CDT. I had called ahead from ATL to request agency with my auto reservation to stay open to await delayed flight; they would not; "you will have to pick it up in the morning." Was able to obtain reservation with another agency that fortunately chose to wait which was NOT customary. I acquired the rental vehicle while my son waited for the baggage at baggage claim. True to form, our baggage did not arrived despite a delay in excess of 5 hours in ATL. Our final destination was still a 1 1/2 hour drive from Memphis. There were many people to report delayed baggage in addition to us, and this process took in excess of another hour with the Delta baggage agents; no compensation offered by Delta for hotel or any other assistance, although they did offer a bag with a few toiletries. Arrived at final destination at 4:30 AM CDT. Ceremony began at 2 PM; baggage not delivered until later in the day.
This is the only email received from Delta, only to my son and not to me, despite two separate delayed baggage reports. Is your survey random, and if so, do you think this is realistic, comprehensive or even if it begins to address quality control?
Email sent from
[email protected] to my son and not to me re: delayed baggage survey:
Dear Timothy V,
We are very sorry for the baggage mishandling you reported at Memphis Intl airport on May 22, 2010. If you could provide your feedback concerning your Baggage Service experience, we would like to share that perspective with our leadership team along with the individual customer service agent who took your claim. The below survey link is between 8 and 15 questions depending on your specific circumstances and should only take a couple of minutes to complete. We thank you in advance for your feedback and again offer our deepest apologies for this unfortunate event.
Survey: http://delta-acs.com/bso/bso.php?id=1829&batch=37&h=n
Sincerely,
Delta Air Lines Airport Customer Service
Explanation of survey responses to email from Delta Re: delayed baggage received 05/23/2010:
This is not Timothy V responding to your obviously random survey. This is Susan VanEpps, primary reservation maker, ticket purchaser/holder, and mother of Timothy V who accompanied me on this trip. I did not personally receive an email questionnaire for follow-up re: our delayed baggage, so I am taking the liberty of responding to my son's request for input that was emailed to MY email address. Obviously, this is simply one additional problem that I find with Delta's continued and inexcusable deficiencies. Our trip confirmation was # QN11V3, and the reservation was made on Mar 24, 2010 (two months earlier). The baggage delay was just another horrible inconvenience linked to the worst traveling experience I have ever endured in my life, and yet Delta is initially more concerned with determining the quality of management of delayed baggage than it is with surveying the incomprehensible treatment of its customers (prior customers in this case) during this horrendous experience. I refer you to the poor grades given in the survey link above, and I shall clarify the reasons for these poor grades.
1. it was 3 AM 5/22 and the agent was too tired to care by the time he got to me, the last in line of MANY whose bags were undelivered despite the fact that our flights had been delayed long enough for the bags to have been there the day before
2. not applicable because I would have been amazed in the first place if Delta would have freely offered ANY sort of reimbursement let alone just out of pocket expenses
3. yes, bags were recovered; congratulations
4. Delta knew for HOURS of the delays; additional staff should have been dispatched to speed the reporting process and aid in minimizing our exhausting inconvenience
5. no, delivery company did not contact prior to delivery as was promised
6. despite receiving baggage, how can I be satisfied with delivery service that was to contact prior to delivery and did not; I was placed in a position to call to determine delivery status
7. no easy computer access or time at my destination to contact Delta.com
8. agent was excellent but the call waiting was too excessive and the file reference number was not considered valid in the voice prompt even though it WAS CORRECT
Additional response to Delta:
Dear Delta,
You need HELP; lots of HELP and you need to RESTRUCTURE rather than grow in size. I shudder to think that you are merging with another airline, only to become an even bigger and more incompetent giant. I will be continuing my research on reporting agencies (FAA, DOT and any other agency deemed appropriate) to forward this and additional information about our experience. I am absolutely amazed that I have not received a survey request from Delta to ask about this flight experience. Where is your leadership team and your customer service, as referred to in the baggage email correspondence, when Delta should feel obligated to address the treatment outlined above? Your surveys should not ignore a much more serious problem with your airline and only address delayed baggage! How worthwhile do you think your deepest apologies took us in this horrible experience with your airline? I also thank YOU in advance for YOUR feedback, and I offer YOU an opportunity to compensate for this unfortunate event.
I will allow 10 business days for your direct response and offer of compensation before I initiate dispute with my credit card to reverse the charges for this flight, in total, to include excess baggage fees for my son and me. Our return flight was fortunately uneventful, but I was amazed again at the notice of overbooking at the airport self check-in kiosk in MEM. Delta offered payment to us to take a later flight but has offered NO compensation for the totally unacceptable service received on the 21st that continued well into the 22nd. I can't even call it service. And to recall that I spent just under $900 for this service makes me feel even more disgusted. The next step is yours.
Susan F. VanEpps MD
8590 San Marcello Drive #101
Myrtle Beach, SC 29579
843-602-0231
