So... I'm going to spread the word on how BAD of an airline Delta is.... and US Air...
I had to get to Birmingham, AL today for a business meeting (no I was not going to see Spookay). I bought a round trip ticket from Delta last week to go from Richmond through Atlanta to Birmingham... Was to leave Richmond at 5:50 AM and get into Birmingham at 8:39 AM. Meeting was to last 4 hours and then back on the plane at 4 PM to get back to Richmond at 9 PM... What the hell was I thinking an airline could pull this off?
I get up at 3 AM.... Print my boarding passes for the day... shower... get ready... drive to Richmond... get there at 5:03 and park in hourly parking. I then realized I left my boarding passes at home... I thought "No big deal, I'll just get new ones."... Now mind you that Richmond Airport at 5:00 AM is usually a ghost town... but not today... The Delta terminal is PACKED and the line goes out the door. There are 2 ticket agents working behind the counter to service something like 200+ people. Because of this, the overflow goes out to the kiosk and every dumbass person is trying to figure out how to use a touch screen. I went and asked this Delta person standing by the kiosks how to get copies of my boarding pass as my flight left at 5:50 (it was about 5:10)... She was not happy and said "You'll just have to wait in line at the kiosk". So I do... get to the kiosk at 5:23... The thing spits out a "See agent" and I ask this agent standing at the kiosk what I should do as I was already checked in and she said in a very terse voice "You are 3 minutes late so you can't get a new boarding pass."... and the B!TCH walks away asking if anyone is on the 6:00 flight... Holy CRAP! I went and followed her and asked if she could just get me my boarding pass and she said (in an even more terse voice) "You will not be flying today". No offer to help... nothing... just a big "F U". She did not have a name tag on so I asked her for her name and she looked at me and started yelling (literally) "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?!"... got right up in my face and the place went silent. She yelled it 3 times and I told her and she went behind the counter and said to a ticket agent "I'm going to fix this guy good." She typed something in... I went up and said "Just give me a refund and I'll leave" and she said "You will not get a refund for you being late.".... I left... Oh yeah... This ticket was $1000...
Not having time to deal with this, I called US Air... They had a flight leaving out of Newport News at 9:10 and would get into Birmingham at 11:30... It's about a 80 mile drive... get to the airport... buy the new ticket from US Air for $1200... get boarding pass... 10 minutes later I get an automated call on my cell phone and says "This is US Air and we regret to inform you that your flight XYXS from Newport News is delayed 1 hour and 20 minutes. Great... so this means I don't make my connection on that CRAPPY Dash 8 plane I was going to fly... Go to the counter and the ticket agent says "I can get you in tomorrow"... I said "Just give me a refund.".... She says "I can't... you bought a non-refundable ticket." I get really pissed... I'm now out $2200 this morning and have not gone anywhere... She says she'll put me in for a "Refund request" but that's the best she can do.
I ended up doing the meeting via conference call... and have to fly down next week. However, I'm having a friend take me in his private plane. Screw the airline.
So... Delta is (STILL) the worst damn airline I have ever dealt with and US Air is STILL second.
I hate flying... the companies are now CROOKS.
PS. I'm stopping the transactions via my credit card company...
I'm going to bed.
I had to get to Birmingham, AL today for a business meeting (no I was not going to see Spookay). I bought a round trip ticket from Delta last week to go from Richmond through Atlanta to Birmingham... Was to leave Richmond at 5:50 AM and get into Birmingham at 8:39 AM. Meeting was to last 4 hours and then back on the plane at 4 PM to get back to Richmond at 9 PM... What the hell was I thinking an airline could pull this off?
I get up at 3 AM.... Print my boarding passes for the day... shower... get ready... drive to Richmond... get there at 5:03 and park in hourly parking. I then realized I left my boarding passes at home... I thought "No big deal, I'll just get new ones."... Now mind you that Richmond Airport at 5:00 AM is usually a ghost town... but not today... The Delta terminal is PACKED and the line goes out the door. There are 2 ticket agents working behind the counter to service something like 200+ people. Because of this, the overflow goes out to the kiosk and every dumbass person is trying to figure out how to use a touch screen. I went and asked this Delta person standing by the kiosks how to get copies of my boarding pass as my flight left at 5:50 (it was about 5:10)... She was not happy and said "You'll just have to wait in line at the kiosk". So I do... get to the kiosk at 5:23... The thing spits out a "See agent" and I ask this agent standing at the kiosk what I should do as I was already checked in and she said in a very terse voice "You are 3 minutes late so you can't get a new boarding pass."... and the B!TCH walks away asking if anyone is on the 6:00 flight... Holy CRAP! I went and followed her and asked if she could just get me my boarding pass and she said (in an even more terse voice) "You will not be flying today". No offer to help... nothing... just a big "F U". She did not have a name tag on so I asked her for her name and she looked at me and started yelling (literally) "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?!"... got right up in my face and the place went silent. She yelled it 3 times and I told her and she went behind the counter and said to a ticket agent "I'm going to fix this guy good." She typed something in... I went up and said "Just give me a refund and I'll leave" and she said "You will not get a refund for you being late.".... I left... Oh yeah... This ticket was $1000...
Not having time to deal with this, I called US Air... They had a flight leaving out of Newport News at 9:10 and would get into Birmingham at 11:30... It's about a 80 mile drive... get to the airport... buy the new ticket from US Air for $1200... get boarding pass... 10 minutes later I get an automated call on my cell phone and says "This is US Air and we regret to inform you that your flight XYXS from Newport News is delayed 1 hour and 20 minutes. Great... so this means I don't make my connection on that CRAPPY Dash 8 plane I was going to fly... Go to the counter and the ticket agent says "I can get you in tomorrow"... I said "Just give me a refund.".... She says "I can't... you bought a non-refundable ticket." I get really pissed... I'm now out $2200 this morning and have not gone anywhere... She says she'll put me in for a "Refund request" but that's the best she can do.
I ended up doing the meeting via conference call... and have to fly down next week. However, I'm having a friend take me in his private plane. Screw the airline.
So... Delta is (STILL) the worst damn airline I have ever dealt with and US Air is STILL second.
I hate flying... the companies are now CROOKS.
PS. I'm stopping the transactions via my credit card company...
I'm going to bed.