Traveling By Plane Should Not Be This Frustrating
Pardon me for venting here, but I am fresh off a pair of Delta flights that had me so frustrated I momentarily lost my temper and tossed my suddenly-useless boarding pass onto a gate agent’s keyboard.
And that was restraining myself.
A late flight had caused me to miss my too-tight connection, the gate agent gave me a “well that’s not MY problem” attitude and Delta had not even given me a chance, having booked me on the next flight – departing three hours later – apparently as I was sprinting through the entire length of the inefficient Detroit airport.
DTW has a sky train but the signage directs passengers to keep going on the lower level. And the distance I had to go between terminals A and C was well more than a mile.
But back to Delta. What irked me was not just that Delta did not hold the connecting flight even though I was in the airport, but the attitudes of the gate agent and the airline itself. It was obvious neither cared that they had inconvenienced a passenger for what would be a long delay.
“Put him on the next flight” seemed to be the prevailing policy.
It was proof that Delta – and, sadly, other airlines, too – treat passengers like boxes of cargo, not human beings. There was zero compassion, no apology, nothing except a ticket on the next flight.
A little more than a week earlier, my Southwest flight from San Jose to San Diego was an hour late. The airline barely acknowledged it. A few months before that, a United flight from LAX to San Francisco I was on was also an hour late. Again, there was no apology or anything from the airline.
This is so frustrating. The airlines seem to expect passengers to accept whatever inconveniences they throw at us – our lives and comfort be damned – and literally just sit there and take it. Sure, we’re mad at them then, but we’ll forget all about it a day or two later and will fly the airline again.
Rinse, wash, repeat.
I did find some solace on Twitter. I posted my situation and tagged @Delta and almost immediately began a DM conversation with “TVT.” While it ultimately led to nothing, having the ability to chat with someone at the airline helped to improve my mood.
I mentioned to TVT that Delta used to hold planes knowing delayed passengers were arriving and would soon be at the connecting gate. “We don’t do that anymore,” came the reply. Why not? Someone else at Delta mentioned it’s because they want the planes leave and arrive on time.
“But every flight I have taken the past two years as been late,!” I shrieked. Plus, my first flight was delayed. The person just shrugged. He then blamed the weather, as did TVT. That seems to me to be an easy out for the airlines. (There were snow flurries in Detroit and turbulence over the Rockies.)
You see, the flight I missed and my second flight actually closed the doors several minutes before the departure time. The crabby gate agent made a flippant comment about the departure time actually being when “the wheels are off the ground” but that is not true at all. It is supposed to be when the plane pulls away from the gate.
And here’s the warning mentioned in the headline: Delta – and other airlines, as well (I once went through this with American in Miami) will deny you boarding 10-15 minutes before departure even if they caused you to be late. As a passenger you have no say-so in the matter. The airline will, without thought or consideration of the passenger, book you on the next flight.
This, of course, begs the question of why don’t they simply post the departure time 10 minutes earlier to avoid all this passenger frustration?
By contrast, if the airline is late, it makes you sit in the airport until they are ready to leave.
In other words, you’re screwed either way.
At the re-booking counter, I asked for some type of compensation. I receive a food voucher.
For $15. Fifteen dollars! What color is the sky in your world, Delta? You can’t get anything in the airport to eat for $15. I had a barely-bigger-than-a-slider burger and a soda and it cost me $18.
What I should have done is had a glass of wine at the Robert Mondavi wine bar. Yes, there’s a Mondavi wine bar in the Detroit airport. It seems as out of place as a Red Wings game in Napa Valley but when it comes to having access to good wine, I’m not going to complain.
I did get to Knoxville, 3 hours, 15 minutes late. I walked into the waiting arms of my mother, who was anxious to have her son home for Christmas.
Not that Delta would care.
Below are experiences – some far worse than mine – from friends when I posted this on Facebook:
My worst experiences were in Atlanta with Delta. Two overnights returning from Europe we got to stay in Atlanta roach motels. And then the food services at the airport the next morning wouldn’t honor the food vouchers. – Cathy
Can pretty much guarantee they had already given your seat away which is yet another reason why they wouldn’t let you board – Andrew
Last Feb my flight out of Burbank was delayed 1hr. I missed my connection to NYC by 10mins. Sat in the Denver Airport for 7hrs. There was 13 people going to ny and Southwest refused to wait even though they told us in Burbank no problem we’ll make the flight. – Jimmy
I had a 10 hour flight from hell in Oct…. Left PDX at -600, flew to LA. Scheduled to depart LAX at 0930, but no pilot. BUT American loaded the plane anyway. We sat on that plane for 3 hours before we departed…got to Atlanta, hovered for 40 min, flew to Birmingham for fuel. ON the ground there for an hour – the first fuel truck did not have enough fuel…waited for second one. We were on the plane for 10 hours just from LA!! My total travel time for the day was about 15 hours. Did American care??? NO!! Nothing nada. And, to make it worse, they had little food. I was close to the front and I purchased the last real meal…??? – Sonja
I feel your pain. They are all happy and smiles to take our money, however when it boils down to truly caring about their clients, they don’t give a rats ass. Sadly, it’s getting worse! Uuugh!!!! – Kim
What’s worse is that (at least at my former airline) late departures also mean that airline management has to assign blame – someone, the flight attendants? gate agents? etc, has to “take” the delay and get punished. Further incentive to get the plane off the gate at the expense of passengers who are trying to connect. Trust me when I say that the attitude that passengers encounter from airline employees can be traced directly back to the management who is ready to dump all the blame on them. It’s all just so wrong, and exactly why I got out of the industry. 🙁 – A Former Flight Attendant
You’re right. It is about money. If the flight leaves the gate late, the airline gets fined by the airport authority. When compensation to the passenger(s) is a higher cost than a late departure, they hold the plane. It’s sheer economics. – Phil
Write them and explain you’re a travel blogger … they might comp you a ticket in the future. – Shannon
Definitely write a complaint -I got my hotel fare reimbursed and a $75 gift card! – Susan
And finally this one about the connection city
Detroit is NOT known for it’s customer service skills. I lived therefor 12 years – I did not mind the cold, but hated that mentality of “I get paid no matter what”.. That was why I did NOT like living there! – Sonja
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See, I knew I was not the only one! Thanks for the comment.
They did me as well. I feel just they way you do. They did me the exact way and make it so bad mine was over night. Very terrible.
Thank you James for this excellent comment. FYI, the flight was booked through Delta’s reservation system. I thought “gee that’s a tight connection” but had no choice of any other connection. Oddly, my bag made it on the connection flight instead of me!
While the closing doors 10 min prior to departure is standard, I do agree that airlines in general need to work on customer service. Unfortunately customers are to blame here 100% people still want cheaper flights and shorter travel times. This results in fewer margin dollars to invest in better training and “perks” like reasonable voucher amounts are a thing of the past.
I personally have had generally good luck with American Airlines and avoided missed connections for the most part. However, I always book the flights with at least an hour of time between legs and check the on-time rates that are posted by the airlines. That isn’t to say they are perfect (they aren’t) but generally they take good care of me when there’s an issue and that’s why I stay loyal to them year after year … even though the service quality continues to degrade globally.