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Jim,
Delta was one of the last hold-outs of decent customer
service, but has deteriorated since they had to declare bankruptcy. I take it
you haven't flown recently? Your story, sad and stupid and unnecessary as it is,
has become very common among air travelers these days. A very similar
thing happened to me 6 months ago when I flew to California and back. Both ways,
through no fault of my own, I was unable to get on my connecting flight and
was stranded in airports overnight... no offer from the airline for
compensation or to put me up in a hotel or pay for a mea... not even an simple
apology or hollow "we're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you".
In fact, they made me feel damn lucky that they were even trying to get me on
another flight the next day. I got the impression they would have gladly just
let me sit in the airport indefinitely like Tom Hanks in TERMINAL. My
sister-in-law had an identical experience two months ago. Last week my wife's
boss and his entire family (including a very young baby) were stranded in Miami
overnight... again through absolutely no fault of their own.
Welcome to the Third World country called America... the
airlines are symptomatic of what our country has become under the holy grail of
so-called "free market global economy" stewardship of 24 years of
neo-conservative administration (on economic issues I consider Clinton to have
proven himself a neocon in liberal's clothing -- he was the one who
pushed NAFTA through Congress and offered the Big Oil companies no-cost leases
to drill for oil in the publicly-owned waters of the Gulf of Mexico). Don't
believe it has happened here, to the good old USA? Check this out: Even
though it's been a year, the Southeast's main railroad freight and passenger
line from New Orleans east into Florida is STILL NOT REPAIRED from the
damage hurricane Katrina did to it. This is The Major shipping artery for
20% of the country. I can tell you that in the America I grew up in, it would
have been back in service in 3 or 4 months, no matter how badly it was damaged.
But these days it's still "temporarily out of service" after a year! That's
the kind of thing I might have expected in Mexico or Columbia or some
African nation, but here? On the other hand, our federal
government has no problem authorizing spending $1.5 BILLION dollars PER
WEEK in Iraq!!! Sorry for speaking so bluntly and venting myself... but
I'm sick to death of what they've done to my country under their false flag of
phony patriotism... and we were off-topic anyway. I'm done now, officer... I go
along quietly...
"OK folks...Move along... nothing more to see
here..."
-- JR
----- Original Message -----
From: jim
episale
Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2006 14:50
Subject: [MOPO] MOPO VENTING Not Poster r related read all about my experience
with Delta Airlines last night!!!
220 Pulley Ave Manahawkin, NJ 08050 August 2, 2006 Delta Airlines Customer Care PO Box 20980 Dept 980 Atlanta, GA 30320 Dear Sir, We had the most awful experience today with your airline. We are frequent travelers on Delta and have not had any major issues before. My husband was reunited with his 15yer old granddaughter after 13 yrs this spring. We decided to bring her to New Jersey for a two week visit this summer. On July 12, 2006 we booked a flight for her using our SkyMiles account to pay for the tickets. The confirmation number is DSKC9I, flight 5591 out of Burlington to JFK and the flight 6188 from JFK to Philadelphia. At the time of the reservation the Delta Representative was told that Isabella Faulstick would be an unaccompanied minor. This was made note of and contact information for both her mother and us was obtained. All pertinent information for her was given to Delta. We were issued the tickets and SkyMiles and credit card information was given to the Delta Representative to take care of the fees involved. Isabella’s experience started in Burlington, VT. They did not have the information that she was an unaccompanied minor traveling. This was straightened out b at the airport in Vermont. She was almost not put on the flight due to overbooking. When she left Burlington it was with the understanding that her connecting flight was still available. At 4pm when we checked the status of her flight we found out that her connecting flight was canceled. No one from the airline contacted either her mother or us to inform us of this problem. We then called the airline and were directed to the re-issue department. We started dealing with Jill in the reissue department at 4pm. At this point Isabella’s nightmare began. Jill managed to book her on a van to Newark from JFK. When we reached Isabella to explain the situation she had already been to the Gate counter and been told to take the bus to LaGuardia. Jill had already put the information into the computer and it was ignored. We told Isabella to go back to the Gate counter and explain that this was incorrect information and to please tell her how to catch the van. The Delta Representative at the gate was very rude and told her that they could not talk to her because she was an unaccompanied minor. Isabella was getting increasingly upset and was crying. We then told her to go to a different Delta counter and explain the situation. During all of this she was approached by a man who offered to drive her wherever she wanted. Luckily she refused him and he moved on. In the meantime Jill and her supervisor was trying to reach the Delta Gate no one answered the phone and when they finally did they just put the phone down off the hook. At this point it was after 5pm and still no progress. Isabella finally got someone to tell her she should go down to the baggage claim area. This was incorrect information and now she was out of the gate area. We told her to find a security guard to direct her to a Delta Agent. He was unable to do so and she was stuck alone, hysterical with no one to help her. He also did not take her to someone who could help. He just left her there in the terminal crying. Jill and her supervisor were continuing to try to contact someone at the airport. Around 6pm they finally managed to conference call with Isabella and to get a Delta Representative to find her. About 6:15pm they finally made physical contact with her. This young lady was stranded and hysterical at this point. All she wanted to do was to go back home she was so frustrated and scared. Through contact with her mother at this point she was booked on a flight home to Vermont the same day. Throughout all of this Jill remained on the phone with us and tried to resolve this matter expediently. Her efforts were thwarted by the staff at JFK. At the beginning when transportation was arranged for Isabella to go to Newark we accepted a $100 voucher for the inconvenience. At this point that is not good enough. We feel adequate compensation would be to be refunded our SkyMiles and that Isabella be given round trip vouchers for her and her mother to use to come back to New Jersey. We hope that this matter can be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction quickly. Sincerely, Barbara and Jim Episale
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- Re: [MOPO] MOPO VENTING Not Poster r related JR
- Re: [MOPO] MOPO VENTING Not Poster r related Ron Wisberg
