Never, ever fly Delta.
I was supposed to be covering SXSW for CrunchGear. Question—how am I supposed to cover the show if I never get to leave the Atlanta airport? That’s right, Delta, which fancies itself as an airline but that would require planes that take off and leave from airports, has screwed me so very, very hard. First, my flight from New York to was delayed by two hours. Whatever, it sucks but it happens. So I land in Hotlanta, where it was snowing this morning, and get put on, I think, five different standbys. Of course, I don’t get a seat on any of these. A friend of mine, who was scheduled to leave Atlanta, like me, a 3pm, somehow scored a seat on the 10pm flight. Or so she thought, because, two delays later, her flight was canceled. (Her bags are safe and sound in Austin, though. So says the airline.) Wonderful.
I spent the night at the Marriott in downtown Atlanta. That’s money out of my own pocket because Delta refused to hand out hotel vouchers. But it values my business.
So cool. I spend the night at the hotel and get up the next day thinking I had a signed, sealed and delivered 1:35pm flight from Atlanta to Austin. And I did. Until they delayed it again. I’m currently scheduled to leave at 3pm. My guess is that’ll never happen. I’m not joking when I say that I’m ready to go home and will never step foot in an airport again. Atlanta sucks. Delta sucks even more. And I’m missing SXSW. So if my coverage is a little lacking, it’s because I’m being screwed by the airline.
Never fly Delta.
Oh, and the Wi-Fi here only works on Windows. Super.
I was literally supposed to be in Austin 24 hours ago. Am I still supposed to pay full price for this ticket? Biggs, Arrington, any advice?
Yo — I’ve been in this situation before. Two suggestions: one, try to corner a Delta employee and be very desperate with them. Not annoying, frustrated as you are, but just kind of pathetic. That’s worked for me before.
Two, go to another airline. When I get stuck with one airline for more than half-a-day, I just go pick another one and could care less about the moolah. When one airline loses a ton of flights, it’s really hard for them to get back on schedule again.
Hate to break it to you, but airlines never pay for hotels when the delay or cancellation is due to weather. Welcome to the joys of business travel.
An advice to you, I’m a frequent flier, i flew around 988k miles last year. Don’t let delay gets to you. It happened.
So Move on, you should b thankful to get delay rather than crashing flight.
try this: rule 240.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/22900119/
be nice.
How about you (and the rest of the world) pony up some real money to get from New York to Austin? The airlines don’t owe anyone shit as long as we continue to expect to get halfway across the country for $500 or less.
It’s absurd. Gas prices are outrageous, fares are lower than ever (adjusted for inflation), and people continue to whine. If the American public wants a dirt-cheap ticket, then they’ll get the service/delays/cancellations they pay for.
Delta may have some kinks to smooth out, but overall they are pretty good for a domestic airline. At least their planes are clean and they are generally a good company to work with. We certainly appreciate them in Maine (where I live) for being one of the few airlines to really commit to our airports (PWM and BGR). It is better to be stuck on a Delta (or any domestic) flight rather than a low cost flight because most domestic airlines have partners that they can give you free or discounted tickets to if you miss your flight or if its delayed. I have had so much trouble getting stuck with low cost airlines because of that. Overall, dont be so harsh on Delta. They are by far and away the best and most reliable (your case is an acceptio) domestic airline in the US.
Yes, because Delta is the only airline–in fact, the only transportation entity–to be affected by weather. If you’ve ever actually flown through a weather cell before, you know it’s much better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground.
That said, I’m sorry you missed your SXSW. But if you didn’t make it, you weren’t meant to be there.
Talking of Delta and delays it remind me of what happened sometime when i was 9 years. We were caught in flight delays due to weather in Vermont and somehow missed our flight which was Delta from Boston t New York. Minutes later we learnt it crashed on landing in New York due to bad weather. Given that we were a whole family of six, we didn’t regret the delay. Since the better delays than risk for i know hardly will a carrier delay without any good reason.