Delta Airlines kept us on the tarmac for 2.5 hours then gave us voucher to rooms that didn't exist New York City, Atlanta Nationwide

My journey in Ireland was a dream, my flight back was a nightmare. Arriving at JFK in the early afternoon on Sept 17th, I knew I would have a few hours before my next fight to Atlanta. Cool - poeple watching in JFK would be fun. I was tired after the 6.5 hour flight from Shannon, but I knew that I would be home in my own bed before 11pm. Boarding time was quickly approaching and there seemed to be a group of people hoarding the Delta airlines desk. I inquired around and found out that the plane was late. No problem, I had a few hours between my connection in Atlanta to Denver. I'll be fine.

Once we boarded, I found that even though I had checked in 4 hours earlier, the aisle seat I had requested had been changed to a middle seat in the second to last row of the plane. Okay, I wasn't happy, but it was less than a two hour flight, I could deal. We waited on the tarmac and found that JFK was doing construction and had one runway for incoming and outbound planes. You've got to be kidding. The pilot kept coming on and telling us we were second in line. Okay, doesn't sound too bad. 1 hour later (second in line???) , people were getting up to go the bathroom and the flight attendants were asking them to sit down. If everyone wasn't in the seats - we would lose our place in line.

2 hours in and still on the tarmac-Sitting in the back of the plane, I could hear one of the flight attendant call the pilot and tell him - we've got people back here who are getting up to use the bathroom, I just wanted to let you know what's was happening back here. The pilot would promptly get on the speaker and tell us that we are second in line (the same place we were an hour ago) and that we needed to keep our seats. Excuse me. We are adults. You keep us on the plane for 2 hours and we are supposed to hold it. Perhaps they should have issued us Depends before we boarded. One young man was confronted by a flight attendant and he asked to sit down or go quickly. He did neither. Good for him! I was hoping he's stay in a while - what the hell - we weren't going anywhere. The child in the seat next to me had a pretty good set of lungs and her screams were getting louder with each moment we waited. Okay. I'm tired, I'm trying to hold it and now I have a headache.

I looked back at a flight attendant and interrupted her giving a child a cookie and was going to ask for water. She said " The cookie is for the children!" I didn't want a damned cookie, I would like some water. Nice customer service skills. Meanwhile a bunch of us had our cell phones out checking for later flights from our connecting points. I learned there was no other flights that night from Atlanta. Yippy. Nearly 3 hours later - we were in the air. I thought Delta would at least offer us some free drinks or headsets. Nope, full price for everything. More great customer service. Be rude to us on the flight, hold us on the tarmac for nearly 3 hours, make us hold our water and then charge us up the ying-yang for a "Mango Mojito".

My only hope was that my other plane was late. No luck. Arriving in Atlanta, representatives were directing us to the customer service gate. When I arrived there, the women behind the counter walked around to us and said to the gentlemen next to me who was also on the plane. "I don't know why they keep sending you here, I can't help you and we are closed". OK -That's when I lost it. I was being pretty patient till then, but I've had it with Delta airlines and their wonderful customer service. "Excuse me. Can I speak to your manager?" She responded with "I am in charge here" and walked away from us. I was appalled. I yelled that I would like to speak to another supervisor and she continued to ignore me. The man next to me said to her "I have a child who needs medication and this treatment is ridiculous." Still no response. I went back to our arrival gate and told the representatives that they sent me to a gate that wouldn't help, and their airline was pissing me off. They looked at me as if I was from mars. I finally found someone to issue me a hotel voucher - I went to the courtesy shuttle and found that being on the back of the plane had put me in the 3rd group for pick up. The shuttle was standing room only.

I found a few other people to split a cab with and 30 minutes later arriving at the hotel, the desk clerk met us at the entrance to tell us she has no rooms. She doesn't know why Delta gave us the vouchers - they weren't reservations and she had nothing for us. It's midnight now. I'm exhausted. I'm furious at Delta and I vow never - never to fly them again.
The four of us in the cab just looked at each other and thought this couldn't be happening.

I know that unforeseen things happen and that the airlines can not control certain situations. What I'm upset about is how poorly I felt we were treated. That makes me angry. It used to be fun to travel on a plane. My recent experience with Delta and another with Northwest (partners to Delta- by the way) have left me with a bitter taste. No thanks Delta. Next time I will choose smaller carriers that still care about their customer. Jet Blue - Frontier and for overseas flights - I'd be happy to choose British Airways or Lufthansa. My money will definitely go elsewhere.

Good Luck to you Delta, with customer service skills like yours, I'm sure you'll come out of your financial trouble just fine.

Ili
Boulder, Colorado
U.S.A.

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