The plane trip back was uneventful; Ronan fell asleep as the
other passengers boarded and stayed asleep for the whole trip. So I wasn't "That Guy" who annoyed the other passengers with a crying baby. Yay!
Now that we’re back and have one trip under our belts, we
can begin to worry about the Thanksgiving trip to Florida. Three (!) hours (!)
of plane flight, regardless of additional travel time. I’m not ashamed to admit
that I’m just a little bit scared.
I’m going to go off topic now, and talk about how much I
hate Delta Airlines. They seem to be hell-bent on making their customer
experience really painful. I say this now because they canceled our non-stop
tickets, and for the same price, offered us the fun of a three-hour layover in
Atlanta during Thanksgiving travel week. Luckily, Travelocity worked with us to
cancel the reservation and get tickets that were $300 cheaper on another airline. That’s correct, Delta wanted $300
more for a three-hour layover in Atlanta than Continental wanted to fly us
there direct on the same dates.
So, I’m going back into the archive to relate the story of
getting to my Dad’s sixtieth birthday party last July 2006. As a result of
Delta’s incompetence my parents learned they were going to be grandparents over
the phone instead of face-to-face.
July 2006
As a kid, I remember learning that customer service was
really important for business. That people will pay a reasonable premium for
goods and services that were delivered with more care and attention than for
the same service that was delivered without it. Nothing illustrates that more than
my dealings last weekend with Delta and JetBlue.
I fly to Buffalo, NY all the time. Not like, I have a client
in Buffalo that I visit twice a month, but I have family there, and I go three
or four times a year. I used to
take the train, but JetBlue made it cheap enough to fly for the same price.
(Are you listening, Amtrak?)
So, I’m thinking, my Dad’s turning 60 and throwing a great
party, and I have a business meeting my parents set up with some grant writers
for my WWII website. I’ll save a few bucks and fly Delta’s ComAir service.
Yeah, it’s a 90 minute flight instead of JetBlue’s 50 minutes, but if I save a
few bucks, who cares?
Well, now, I care. I care a lot. This past weekend was the
worst trip to Buffalo I’ve ever had. It all started when my wife and I (and my
friend) got to JFK. My wife and I checked our bags and got our boarding passes.
As we got through security and up to our gate, an announcement asked all
passengers to come to the desk because the flight was cancelled. It was 6 PM,
July 29, 2006.
Delta
gate agent: The flight is cancelled, sir.
Me:
Okay, Can I get a flight in the morning?
Delta:
Sir, the next flight is 9 PM tomorrow night.
Me:
That’s unacceptable. I have a 1:30 PM business meeting, so I need to be there
by 12:30 PM.
Delta:
Well, we can fly you to Cincinnati, then to Buffalo, and get you there at 4:30
PM.
Me;
But the meeting is at 1:30 PM. Can I get a refund?
Delta:
Sir, it’s the weather, we have no control over that, so we don’t provide
refunds.
ME:
But I have to be there by 12:30. What can I do?
Delta
Agent #2: (sighs.) SIR, IT’S THE
WEATHER! We have no control over the weather!
Me:
I understand that, but we have to be in Buffalo earlier than 4:30 PM?
Delta:
It’s the weather, sir.
So, excusing myself, I called JetBlue. They had space on
several flights, and none of them were cancelled. One was two hours delayed,
and they were able to tell me that over the phone. So I forked over $800 for
three tickets, almost twice the price of the Delta tickets booked weeks ago,
and asked Delta for my luggage back.
Delta: (sighs.) I don’t know, sir.
We can’t give you your luggage here, sir.
Me: Well, how can I get my luggage?
Delta: You have to go to baggage
claim.
Me: And where do I go about the
refund?
Delta: You will need to go to
customer service.
Me: Can I do that over the phone?
Delta: Yes.
So we head off to the ticket counter, stopping at another
Delta gate agent along the way. Apparently Delta has a customer service center
in JFK, but its own employees aren’t sure where it is, so we never found it.
After a few minutes of searching we head for baggage claim.
My wife is now very sick.
Working baggage claim in JFK on a rainy, storm-delayed night
must earn combat pay. Delta’s concept is to have someone intercept customers
outside of the baggage claim, and that person does everything he can to
dissuade customers from claiming their bags. If you don’t speak English, good
luck – one poor woman from Quebec couldn’t understand that Delta’s goal was
to not give her bag to her, even if she had a bus to catch.
Delta Interceptor: Did the gate
agent send a request for your bags?
Me: YES. My wife: NO.
Delta Interceptor: We can’t get
your bag without a request ticket being generated by the gate agent.
Me: Can we generate a request here?
Delta Interceptor: No, it has to
come from the gate agent.
Me: Why didn’t the gate agent tell
us about this?
Delta Interceptor: (sighs.) I don’t
know, sir.
Me: Well, we’ll wait.
Delta Interceptor: (sighs.) I don’t
know if you can do that, sir.
After arguing with, and then ignoring the interceptor, we
finally got up to the counter after about 30 minutes of waiting.
Delta lost baggage agent: The best
thing to do is to let your baggage go to Buffalo tomorrow. Make sure you file a
lost bag claim when you get to Buffalo.
Me: What if we want our luggage
now?
Delta: There’s a three to four hour
wait for baggage.
Me: Well, if the baggage handlers
are not loading planes because the flights are canceled, can they get people’s
bags?
Delta: (sighs.) Well, they were
released to save costs.
Me: So, they are sent home to save
money if the flights are cancelled?
Delta: Basically, yes. We don’t
have personnel to get your bags.
I’ve been in a lot of hairy situations in my life, some
death threats, some riots, and even a bomb threat once. The Delta baggage claim
at JFK wasn’t the worst I’ve seen, but people were really, really angry. All the agents, especially Delta
Interceptor, had someone angry at them, either storming towards them, standing
in front of them yelling, or storming off in a huff. Another couple said to one
another, we could leave, but do we trust our luggage to an outfit this
disorganized? I think everyone there was making that choice.
Me:
Do you get combat pay for this?
Delta:
Yes, and I’ve got only a few years before retirement.
Me:
So what can we do?
Delta: (sighs.) I recommend that
you don’t file a claim, let your luggage go to Buffalo, and file a claim when
you get there. It will go, tomorrow, for sure.
So, we gave up, because at that time we thought we were
flying out in about an hour and a half. We kissed our luggage up to the gods
and headed for JetBlue. We got printouts of the baggage claim numbers so we
could file a claim in Buffalo.
We arrived to find the Jetblue terminal in chaos. Almost
every flight, everywhere, had been delayed. But nothing was cancelled. We were
still on time but it was clear that we would be very delayed.
That’s when my wife decided she’d had enough, was too sick,
and went home. Jetblue told us they would give us a voucher for her ticket, but
that turned into a refund for almost the whole ticket price. It was easy and
the customer service agent was very friendly, despite all the madness.
Since we had a quiet moment, I called Delta’s Atlanta office
to get a refund. After much holding, sighing, and checking, I was told that a
refund would be issued. I asked for a confirmation code or something, and was
told that there wouldn’t be one. I got the refund agent’s name just in case.
Good move.
My friend and I met up with my brother, who had originally
booked himself on the JetBlue flight. (Ryan is the smarter brother). We waited
until 3:30 AM to board our flight, but once we were in the air there were no more
problems. Until we got to Buffalo, that is.
At 5:15 in the morning, I went to the Delta counter in
Buffalo. I waited on line for 15 minutes. When I got to the counter, I found
that Delta had no record of my refund, and my friend’s ticket could only be
refunded if he showed up in person. No problem – I have him right here.
However, he can’t get a refund, he has to call the same number I called for a
refund. Eventually I got a refund for my ticket and my wife’s, but my friend
couldn’t get a receipt. We were told just to wait and see if the refund showed
up on my credit card.
The far more interesting story was the missing luggage.
Apparently Delta, or any airline, won’t trace your luggage if you fly another
airline, you have to go through the carrier that got you there. I lost it with
the Delta ticket agent. No amount of begging or pleading would work. First, I
must point out that Delta’s baggage office was closed overnight. The sign on
the door said to go to the ticket counter for assistance. The Delta ticket
agent would not trace my luggage, even with the printouts from the JFK lost
baggage office, even knowing that my night had really sucked. Why? Because the
unwritten rule of airports in that whomever flew you must trace the luggage.
She actually seemed to get exasperated that I might find this absolutely
ludicrous. She sighed deeply. I think the Delta agents are just as fed up with
the lousy job their colleagues perform as I am.
JetBlue’s office was open, but only because one of their
employees stayed 19 hours. He was very pleasant to me as he finally went home.
Another agent, just starting baggage claim duty, helped me fill out the lost
luggage form. All the JetBlue agents were stunned that Delta wouldn’t get my
bag, but they weren’t aware of the unwritten rule of airport lost luggage.
I went to breakfast, then took a nap, then got up for
business meeting with the grant writers.
I called Delta three times before a lost luggage agent
agreed to trace my luggage over the phone. My bag was due to arrive in Buffalo
at 1 PM. No trace of my wife’s luggage was available. Great.
Then, because I had to pick up my aunt at the airport for
the party, I stopped by the JetBlue lost luggage office to see if they had
found it. I got to sit in on the lost luggage agent helping another customer
who had arrived ahead of their luggage. She was polite, helpful, and offered
several options of delivery, including multiple trips to Rochester, at
JetBlue’s cost, for the delivery of the missing luggage. I was impressed, but
after Delta’s refusal to help me in any way after canceling my flight, any act
of kindness was nice to see. As
the JetBlue lost luggage agent put it, “We got you there when Delta didn’t, and
now we have to pay to deliver your luggage.”
She closed the office and walked me to the other side of the
airport to see if my luggage was there, and it was. All the bags had made it, a
miracle. The JetBlue agent checked the tags – the Delta lost luggage
agent was content to let me simply walk off with whatever luggage I wanted
– and I took the luggage home. I was really glad to change clothes after
wearing the same thing for almost 24 hours.
To sum up:
Question: |
Delta’s Answer |
JetBlue’s Answer |
Is my flight going out? |
Your flight is cancelled. |
Your flight is delayed, but it’s going out. |
Will you give me back my luggage? (JFK) |
No. You’ll have to get it in Buffalo. Be sure to file a
claim with the Delta lost luggage office there. |
(not asked) |
Can I have a refund?
(JFK) |
No. |
Yes, except for a small cancellation fee. |
Can I have a refund?
(Delta Atlanta) |
Yes, but no receipt. |
(not asked a second time) |
Can I have a refund?
(Buffalo) |
We don’t have a record of your refund, let me call the
head office. What was the name of the agent you spoke to? |
(not asked a third time) |
Will you give me back my luggage? (Buffalo) |
No, talk to JetBlue. They flew you, not us. |
We’ll file a claim, and talk to Delta about getting it
back. We’ll call you when it arrives and deliver it to your parent’s house. |
Where is my luggage? (phone) |
Speak to Jetblue. |
(not asked a second time) |
Where is my luggage? |
Speak to Jetblue. |
(not asked a third time) |
Where is my luggage? I can’t trace it on your website with
a JetBlue claim number. |
Alright! I will trace it for you. What are the claim
numbers? |
(not asked a fourth time) |
Where is your supervisor? |
They are home asleep at 5:30 AM. |
Not asked. |
Can I have a refund?
(third ticket) |
Here are your refund receipts, except for one of your
tickets. You will have to call the Head Office in Atlanta for that. |
Not asked. |
Can I have a refund?
(Delta Atlanta) |
Yes, but no receipt. |
Not asked. |
I plan to never fly Delta again, if I can help it. But they
probably won’t let me on if I do, after this blog.
Finally: If you leave your bags with one airline and fly
another, be sure to insist on a trace from the company that has the bags, or
you will have serious trouble finding them again. Try to file claims with both
airlines.