Originally Posted By FenwayGirl I have only one comlaint with Delta...they're constantly changing your reservations. The last time I flew with them (1-06)they changed my reservation 4 times and then called me to see if I wanted to change to a later flight as this one was over booked. I made the reservation 9 months before my trip...I just made sure we got to the airport super early...and they were overbooked by 4
Originally Posted By MPierce >> Mass to Fla is considered a short flight, so no movie. << I make sock puppets to amuse myself when I fly. I thought Continental was the only domestic airline to still serve meals on it's flight.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<I have only one comlaint with Delta...they're constantly changing your reservations. The last time I flew with them (1-06)they changed my reservation 4 times and then called me to see if I wanted to change to a later flight as this one was over booked. I made the reservation 9 months before my trip...I just made sure we got to the airport super early...and they were overbooked by 4>> This is something I have encountered with Delta, so they must be doing it more than other airlines ('my' airline, Continental, almost never does so) ... I do remember a few years ago Delta changing me from a 10 a.m. flight from San Juan to O-Town to a 7 a.m. one and NEVER contacted me ... I just happened to discover it online. Needless to say I wasn't happy. But overall, I can't complain about them and am interested to see how well (or not) they are able to integrate Northwest into Delta. I have a friend coming back from Paris today on Delta and am interested in finding out his perspective as I've never flown them across the Pond.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<I make sock puppets to amuse myself when I fly.>> I thought you just played with Winky and his pals while the crew nervously tried to decide whether you were an 'evildoer' or just odd. <<I thought Continental was the only domestic airline to still serve meals on it's flight.>> I love Continental. And unlike Disney, I like many of its execs and know some personally. Good people trying to do a good job in a very tough economy. But I've always found their definition of meals to be amusing at best. Calling cereal and milk breakfast or a tiny dinner roll with one slice of turkey and one slice of lettuce with a specially small bag of carrots and likewise M&Ms doesn't qualify as a meal to me ... and even in First Class I've often found their offerings to be lacking (although at least they do provide the food) many times being a sandwich and some weird soup or a deli plate with fruit that barely has anything to it. Now ... the food in their Business First cabins to Europe, Asia or even Newark to LA, LA to Hawaii ... that's some very good stuff. And I love the ice cream sundae cart
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< I thought Continental was the only domestic airline to still serve meals on it's flight. >>> They're the only ones to serve free meals in both cabins on domestic flights. The flights have to be "at mealtime" (which actually is most flights) and over 2 hours. Dinners are generally hot meals. Other airlines may offer in-flight food in coach, but it's always cold and on a for-purchase basis only.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey We had a similar situation to FenwayGirl's. I booked our trip 10 months in advance because the fares were out-of-this-world cheap for a direct flight. They switched our reservation at least four times (the first when they changed us to a one stop flight becuase of the gasa crunch last summer) and after the final switch called me twice to confirm and sent me a confirmation email. The flights up were fine. The day of our departure, we checked in early at the hotel and were told we would be given our boarding passes for the flight from Atlanta to New Orleans at the gate in Atlanta. We arrived at the gate in Atlanta and were told we were on standby - they never had seats for us and we were on standby from the time Delta switched our flight weeks beforehand. Delta just didn't think they needed to tell us. What really made me angry is that my mom was suffering with her back and the flight into ATL was late because of storms that day. We killed ourselves to get to the gate for a flight we didn't even have seats on. There's nothing like dragging an 80 year old woman with a back injury through the Atlanta airport for no good reason. It really ticked me off.
Originally Posted By MPierce ^^^I can certainly understand your anger, and I think it is well justified. I'm afraid that would be my last dealings with Delta period.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey ^^^^^The only problem is my niece is getting married in July in Little Rock and my brother has offered to let my mom (and hopefully me) use his airline miles for our trip. Unfortunately, I think his miles are on Delta :-(. They also gave us a paltry $100 travel credit when I wrote them to complain, so I guess we'll put that towards the trip as well. However, I don't think they'll ever get cash out of my pocket again.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 I remember when Delta was my airline of choice because they had a 5:00AM from Chicago-O'Hare to Altanta on Monday mornings. Wide body no less and allowed me to stay an extra 1/2 day with my family and less in Hotlanta --where I made 15 or so trips a year for a while from work...then they got reall lousy - somewhat akin to my feelings for TWA at the time -- Haven't flown them in a long time
Originally Posted By vbdad55 btw- welcome back Nikki - glad to hear the good reviews on cleanliness and the meals
Originally Posted By CarolinaDisneyDad The whole overbooking thing confuses me. How do you know that you will have a seat? How can you be sure you get back for work the next day? Glad we drive. I can't imagine packing up and leaving the parks only to be told at the airport I'll have to wait another 4 hours.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<The whole overbooking thing confuses me. How do you know that you will have a seat? How can you be sure you get back for work the next day? Glad we drive. I can't imagine packing up and leaving the parks only to be told at the airport I'll have to wait another 4 hours.>> I fly frequently for business, work and pleasure as do most of my friends ... so I think I am a pretty good gauge of the industry. I can't tell you the last time I had a major problem ... While overbooking is standard practice in the airline business, it is very rare to have it affect you ... it would be much more likely that if you drove your car dies in say Georgia and strands you for an extra day or two. Sure delays are a royal PITA ... but imagine if there was a problem on the highway and it cost you a few hours. It balances out, I'm sure. I live 180 miles from WDW and often will hop a plane when I am staying on Disney property or there for a short visit because I hate driving (in Florida only for some reason!) ~Come Fly With Me~
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey <<btw- welcome back Nikki - glad to hear the good reviews on cleanliness and the meals>> Thanks vbdad. I enjoyed all of the meals that I had at WDW this trip. The meal at the Brown Derby was a little overpriced for our taste (but the spaetzle that came with my pork loin was so yummy!), but we were pleased with everything, especially with the offerings at Riverside's food court. The make-your-own pasta and carved turkey dinner were two in particular that we really enjoyed.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 Howcome when you buy a ticket it's "non'refundable" but they can dump you because they overbooked? This overbooking never effected us, but I've been there when the airline has asked for volunteers to give up their seats for that flight because they overbooked. Just not right.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros If you are able to use the overbooking to your advantage and volunteer to get bumped, it's usually a great deal. Last summer I was flying home (but nobody was there, so I wasn't in a particular rush), and one of my flights on Northwest out of Detroit was overbooked. They asked for volunteers, and I said that I could do it if they could put me on the plane leaving an hour later, which they did. They ended up giving me some food vouchers so I could get dinner while I was waiting (I only used one, so I left the second on a seat in a waiting area, hoping someone would find and use it), and a $200 travel voucher. A storm rolled through about the time we were supposed to leave, so we sat on the runway for about an hour, but all together, I was home about two hours after I was supposed to be, and I was in no great rush to be there (though I did need to be there that day, which I more than made it for), and got to see some really pretty clouds from the plane because of the storm. Now flashforward about 6 months to now, and I just booked a trip to WDW, and the free voucher was more than enough to cover the cost of flying down there, including taxes. They're letting me keep the extra money on it (about $20), and I think I'll use it on checking my bags. So for a two hour wait, I got free flights to and from WDW. Not a bad deal, IMO. However, I don't think I've ever seen them kick people off a flight like that. They usually keep asking for volunteers, and raising the value of whatever they're giving away (I've seen them do as much as $1600 in vouchers plus a hotel room for the night, since it was the last flight of the night, and guranteed seats on the first flight in the morning) until someone decides that it's worth it. When they do it that way, I don't mind at all (especially if I can use it to my advantage), but kicking people off a plane (especially after changing their reservations to make it more 'convenient') is just plain wrong.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 ^^^You were really lucky. Congratulations. I wonder what would happen if no one was willing to get bumped.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 eenie meenie myni moe I was stuck in New Orleans once when Northwest went on strike and I had to get another flight - so I got an American. Wellthey overbooked and if you hang in there long enough when all wanttoleave - I parlayed into 2 1st class anywhere US ( almost bit on 1) -- we used a few months later for a 4 day weekend in SF
