Complain about a product or service

Delta Airlines

Delta Airlines • SkyMiles • Travel vouchers • Delta/AmEx promotions • European promotions • Reservations & itinerary changes • Lost/damaged luggage • Unaccompanied children • Puerto Rico USA • Miscellaneous --- News • Delta Reduces Capacity As Fuel Prices Rise • Delta Cuts Flights in Slowing Economy • Delta Alters Fees to Conform to Northwest's • Delta, Northwest Complete Merger • Delta Adding Wi-Fi to All Flights • Delta Raises Second Checked Bag Fee to $50 • Delta Passengers Stranded 7 Hours on Plane • Delta Sells Ads on Boarding Passes • Delta, Northwest Merger Faces Heavy Chop • US Airways Makes Bid for Delta • Delta Beefs Up Routes, Retrofits Its Jets • Delta Begins Passing On Airport Fees To Passengers • Delta Writes Coda to Song • Delta Files for Bankruptcy • Delta Sells Regional Carrier To Raise Cash • Delta Abandons $499 Fare Cap • Delta Warns of Bankruptcy • Delta Passengers To Brown Bag It • Delta Cuts Fares

Complaints about the major airlines are plentiful. What's a little unusual about Delta is how angry some of its best customers are -- those who've reached stratospheric in the SkyMiles program, for example. These are the 100,000-mile flyers that every airline swears it will do anything to retain. Delta certainly has an odd way of showing it.

We'd say the comments below pretty well sum it up.

Paul of Wiota, IA June 16, 2009

Delta is blaming the weather for a cancelled flight when it was announced as mechanical failure over the PA system and everyone heard it. Now they are trying to charge me 100 to reschedule.

Plus, I used miles, and they want me to pay the difference between miles to rebook this flight. But it's not my fault, and Delta won't take responsibility.

I will never use them again if it is at all possible. Their customer service representatives spoke broken english and were rude. They were obstinate and very unwilling to help.

Nadia of boynton beach , FL June 4, 2009

On April 29, 2009 my daughter and I purchased 2, Round Trip Tickets starting from FLL/CAI/LAX and I paid 1476.60 for it, and for my daughter starting from FLL/CAI/LAX I paid for her 1483.10. On Maybe 30th, 2009 I called Delta Airlines to confirm our flights. I found out our ticket rates dropped a lot about more than 400.00 per ticket (for me is 985.60 taxes included and for my daughter is 1028.10 taxes included alos; same prices on delta webdite). On June 3rd, 2009 I called my travel agent and I asked him about that big difference, he said travel agents have no control about ticket rates, and I asked him to provide me with print out of tickets prices for today same out of FLL/CAI/FLL. Now, I believe it is unfair that by purchasing the tickets on short notice is much much much cheaper than the than by purchasing it in advance, like we did. We were hoping to save money, but we didnt in this time of economic crisis. I am very disappointed, I feel like we have been ripped off by Delta Airlines for the money we worked very hard to make! We look forward to recieving kindly, the fare diference ( more than 400.00 per ticket) OR we may be forced to take a legal action.

Jin of Kenner, LA June 2, 2009

I forgot my small carry on bag at Gate 30 on 6:00pm for flight DL1285 on 27th of May, 2009. When I realized it, I was in air. The little bag contains my primary ID cards: passport, permanent resident card, and a Fuji camera, flash drives and document folder with travel itinerary. I panicked and I contacted stewardess right away. She made the phone call. One of the passengers who sat in front row of me told me that the agent at the Gate 30 had the bag. The stewardess and the guy both said it would be ok, the bag was in agent hand.

After we landed to New Orleans, we contact agent and Lost and Found office. We were told to wait to tomorrow morning. They could only send text message to Atlanta airport Lost and Found office. (Weird seeing they are still using 10 years old technology to typing the text on blue screen) They said they could not call. The next morning we called many times to the Lost and Found office, and the following days. We were told the item was not found there.

The frustration is that we know that Delta Agent at Gate 30 had the item, why they don't track it. The only valuable thing in the bag is Fuji camera, but it only cost 100, why Delta Airline people want to keep it?

The most important thing is the IDs. They are so hard to replace. I will have to go through all the processes and will take a year get my IDs replaced and I can not go anywhere. I am even thinking, Hey agent, please keep what you need, and give me my passport and US resident ID card (green card) back please! Does Delta Airline provide ethnic training to their employees? Delta Airline's Lost and Found office in Atlanta Airport has been NO help at all. When dialing the phone number, it always reaches the mailbox, and the mailbox is always full 99% of the time. I somehow got one person answered the phone, and then she put the phone in music for 2 minutes and said I did not see your bag. Either Nobody cares or Delta Airline did not put enough people and try to provide good customer service at all.

DM of Bonita Springs, FL May 31, 2009

My parents, elderly handicapped customers had a very dangerous experience in the Atlanta airport with Delta and Air Serv Corporation, a subcontractor of Delta on May 30, 2009. Their flight was from MLI to ATL to RSW. While waiting several minutes for wheel chair assitance in Atlanta, they were transported on a shuttle bus from one concourse to another. The shuttle bus driver was driving erratically, driving fast, stopping and starting abruptly. There were several handicapped customers on this bus.

A blind man was asking everyone around him "what is going on"? He could not see and all the passengers were hanging onto whatever they could grab. The passengers of this bus were extremely scared. At one point the two elderly people in the back of the bus were thrown onto the floor their bodies and luggage hitting my mother in the process. My mom's legs were bruised and cut. The bus driver saw what had happened and did not stop to help the elderly couple up off the floor of the bus.

Once arriving at the concourse, shaken quite badly, my parents had to wait again for someone to assist them with the wheelchairs. They told every attendant that they were afraid they would miss their flight. They were assured the flight would wait for them. When arriving at the gate, they found the flight was closed. Again, they were pushed to the side and were on their own to try to figure out how to get another flight.

During this process, my mother had called very shaken and upset with the incident. She was in tears trying to find someone at Delta to help. I was calling Delta unsuccessfully to contact someone at the airport in order to help them. I got a hold of a Delta representative and she would only page my parents. I explained to her that my parents were on Concourse A waiting for a flight to Fort Myers. The Delta representative refused to locate someone on Concourse A to assist them. She also refused to let me talk to a supervisor. She said she would page my parents and hung up on me. My parents were able to file a report with Air Serv Corp representatives. Unfortunately, they were pressured to sign the form to release them from liability since they were told if they didn't hurry, they would miss their flight and not get home until late in the evening. My mom's leg hurt badly, she was feeling her blood sugar dipping because of her diabetes and just wanted to get home. She did not want to wait to see if they could get on another flight - especially with the treatment they had received. Unfortunately my parents were pressured to sign the waiver to refuse medical treatment. The doors were closed on the Delta flight, however they were quickly taken to the airplane and were able to board.

Rod of Orange Park, FL May 21, 2009

Here's the letter I sent to my Congressman, Cliff Stearns FL-6:

As an ardent conservative who believes strongly in governmental restraint, I am writing you in hopes of using the power the Constitution specifically gives the federal government: regulation of interstate commerce.

The reason for this request is that I have again been stolen from by the impersonal big airlines whose teams of lawyers create rules that only protect themselves and provide little to no protection to the consumer.

In this latest case, I purchased a ticket from Delta for a flight in June 2008 that I was forced to cancel. I knew there would be a 100 "fee" for this but it was unavoidable. So today I called hoping to use what was left of the original 310 ticket price to fly my wife home for her 20th high school reunion when I was told that not only would they not allow me to transfer the ticket to her but that they had increased the "cancellation fee" since last June to 150.

Unhappy with this, I asked for a refund of the money I gave them, less a resonable charge, since they did not provide me the service I paid for. Again I was told that I "agreed to a contract for a non-refundable, non-transferrable ticket" and that they "could do nothing about it." Did I know all this, I really don't remember. The priciple is what I have a problem with when businesses grow so big that they, through their lawyers, can draft language to take money for a service and then have no requirement to return it when the service is not provided is stikingly inequitble.

Anyway, I reminded them of the poor business decision this was to annoy a long-standing client over 300 who will surely tell this story to many others to avoid Delta as well as urge Congressional regulations be pursued and I was told "go ahead, we aren't going to change!"

I strongly believe that there needs to be government regulations with regard to cancelling airline travel. As it now stands, aside from Southwest Airlines, the consumer has no rights and is at the mercy of the airlines to obtain any type of refund. I would be happy to discuss this situation more fully with you or or staff if you like (904-513-2180). I look forward to seeing you introduce legislation to address these issues as soon as possible.

Christine of Anchorage, AK May 17, 2009

They changed the itinerary and would not give me a refund!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When they changed the flight times I was unable to make my connection & they would not give me a refund!!!!!! I will nwvwe use Delta Airlines or NothWest because they are merging with Northwest Airlines.

Paul of Southport, NC May 14, 2009

My wife and I purchased tickets to fly on Delta from Wilmington NC to Barcelona, Spain, departing on 9 May 2009 and returning on 17 May 2009. In Barcelona we were to board a cruise ship for a 7 day cruise. I became ill on 8 April with what was finally determined to be Clostridium Difficile (C-DIF). When the doctor determined what my malady was, he advised me not to travel.

On 1 May we contacted Delta and told them we were going to cancel our trip due to an unforseen medical problem. The Delta representative, Henry T, told us that because it was a cancellation due to a medical problem we could apply for a refund. He provided us with an address and told us to provide copies of the tickets along with verification of the illness from my doctor and a letter requesting a refund. We sent that material to Delta on 8 May. On 13 May we were contacted by Ms. T of Delta who advised us that we would be charged a 250 cancellation fee for each ticket and the remainder of the fare would be credited back to our credit card.

I firmly believe that because we had to cancel due to an unforseen medical problem we are entitled to a complete refund. Further, because we notified Delta of our cancellation well in advance of our travel date, they were provided with an opportunity to re-sell our seats. Also, we thought we were doing the right thing by cancelling because C-DIF is considered contagious and we did not want to take a chance of infecting someone else during the extended flight.

We are being charged 500 because of something we had absolutly no control over. I firmly believe that there needs to be government regulations with regard to cancelling airline travel due to an unforseen medical issue. As it now stands, the consumer has no rights and is at the mercy of the airlines to obtain any type of refund.

Carolyn of Middletown, CT April 21, 2009

I purchased 1 full fair ticket and one companion ticket for my daughter and her boyfriend going round trip from Hartford BDL to Great Falls Montana. Upon returning on 4-20, 6 hours in advance of the flight, Delta advised that flight 6244 departing JFK @ 8:35 pm and arriving at BDL @ 9:50 pm was cancelled due to weather. 6 hours in advance. No delay. Just cancelled. The weather we had in CT was just rain. No thunder storms, just rain. Instead, I firmly believe that flight wasn't fully booked and Delta cancelled because they wouldn't have made enough profit on it.

I am tired of Delta using "weather" as their caviate as that absolves them of any responsibility to the consumer. My daughter and her boyfriend were all but stranded in NY and had to be to work the next day. When I spoke with Delta, they told me the passengers accepted the change to JFK. I explained that they had not been rerouted to JFK. That was their original itinerary. The only think that happened was that their connecting flight home was cancelled and they didn't have a choice in that. Delta told me, we are not responsible for weather. AND THERE WAS NO REAL WEATHER! Poor. I have always flown Delta, but will consider other carriers. Delta use to be known for its customer service, but is falling very short now. And all for profit. Arriving home finally at 1:45 a.m. at an extra expense and much grieve with no assistance from Delta at all! On top of that Delta lost their luggage. It never arrive at JFK.

Rekha Khandar of Alpharetta, GA April 19, 2009

Rekha of Alpharetta GA (04/19/09)
Hi, I was travelling from Mumbai to Orlando with the flights DL185 and DL1078. When I boarded in Mumbai I got the boarding pass for Orlando flight with the information saying that the flight will be departing from A1. But unfortunately flight was departed from A19 and I missed the flight. So I went to the customer service at Atlanta terminal A and asked for another flight. Even though I got the other flight the delta agent charged me 50, which she did explain why. I repeatedly asked but she didnt explain and told me If I want to board another flight, I will need to pay 50?.

I paid. I got the seat on DL15 @ 3.55 PM. Then at the gate I was talking to other person who also missed the flight and he got the same flight without any charges. I was little disappointed. So I called Delta customer service and explain the situation and the agent on the phone told me that I dont need to pay for this flight and asked me email the details and request for the refund. It was very helpful.

Just as a curiosity I went to the person who charged me, and asked for refund, she refused very angrily and asked me to leave. I ask her name she said her name is Alpha?, I asked for last name; she refused and asked me to leave the counter. I didnt have any other choice but to leave and send email to you regarding this. This incident happened at Atlanta terminal A around 2-3 PM.

50 and got insulted

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.