Complaint Review: Delta Airlines

On July, 2005 my partner and I (Matthew Dougherty) started out for Vegas via Delta airlines. We have been passengers and sky miles members for years. The flight from Knoxville to Atlanta was fine, but from Atlanta to Vegas was PURE h**l! We were on Flight 1703. The fisrt thing that we noticed right away was the heat on board and the trash under many of the seats. After leaving us on the tarmac for around 45 mins in the heat, we FINALLY took off. There was NO air con on the air craft at all. Many passengers showed signs of medical distress as well. The pilot announced AFTER over an hour and a half in temps of at least 90 that we were headed back to atl. I know the temp was above 88 as I checked temp on my iphone as we got on and took a pic for proof. I have also talked to family in legal fields as well. They let me know that the basic fact we were kept in the air for that long is unsafe and a human rights violation as well. The pilot should have returned asap and not almost 2 hours into the flight. My partner almost passed out on the plane. Once we got back to Atl, we had to wait around for almost four more hours to get seated again. Once on, the ac was once again not working properly, and the staff on board was rude. I had to seek medical attention once in Vegas for a heat induced migraine.The physical and mental distress we experinced at the hands of Delta will not fly, and we want a FULL REFUND. The trip to Vegas via Delta was PURE h**l, and WE WILL NEVER use them again! On the way home we had a similiar issue, we were delayed for a medical problem which I understand here. We were delayed in ATL once again for over 4 hours and dealt with many rude employees as well. WE WANT a full refund in the amount of 1081.56 that they took out on 6/20 as they obtained our money under false pretences. They DID NOT provide a safe and saniatary aircraft there or back, and we will never use them again.



They responded with the following:



Please be aware that we have received a copy of your complaint from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) with regards to your travels with Mr. Dougherty to Las Vegas on July 25.  On behalf of Delta Air Lines, we wanted to let you know that we are truly sorry for any poor impression you received of our service and appreciate the opportunity to review your concerns.



Please know I am truly sorry for the discomfort you experienced on Flight 1703 from Atlanta to Las Vegas. Please know our inflight team works as best they can to maintain a comfortable cabin environment for all the passengers. There may be times though when environmental conditions challenge the capabilities of our cabin equipment. In general, aircraft environmental systems (air conditioning and heating) are designed to operate most efficiently while in flight. Be assured I will be sharing your feedback with our Technical Operations team for evaluation of this particular aircraft.



An exception to the operation of our environmental system working best while inflight is the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU), which we depend on for air conditioning on the ground. This happens when external or ground environmental support is not available at the gate. Like your home or auto air conditioner, the APU air conditioner, which is designed to be a compact part of the aircraft, has to work harder the hotter it gets outside. In unusually hot conditions, the APU is taxed by the external environment in its effort to provide a comfortable cabin for our passengers and may not be able to keep up with the demand.



During taxi out on exceptionally hot days where heat is radiating up off the blacktop, the APU may not be able to keep up with demand especially if there are long ground delays. In those cases it is impractical and unsafe to operate the main engines at a power setting high enough to augment the air conditioning capacity of the APU. The blast of exhaust generated by the main engines would be sufficient enough to blow ground equipment over or affect other aircraft on the tarmac.  These are situations common to all aircraft operations and occur during extremes especially on very hot days.



Further, as a public carrier, passengers must have confidence in our commitment to adhere to the strictest tenets of safety, security, and good judgment. We believe our pilot made good judgments in this case to ensure the safety of all passengers.



Additionally, I am truly sorry to learn that the condition of our aircraft cabin did not meet our high standards and that our staff was rude. We want our cabins to provide a clean and inviting atmosphere for our passengers and our staff to be professional and friendly at all times. I apologize, again, that your experience was to the contrary. I have forwarded your comments to our Inflight and Airport Customer Service leadership teams for internal follow up. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.



We would like to be able to offer special consideration in such cases.  However, we collect the applicable fares for transportation actually used.  Under the circumstances, I hope you will understand that we cannot grant refund of your tickets as you suggested. 



As a gesture of goodwill for your discomfort and delays on your flights, I have issued an Electronic Transportation Credit Voucher (eTCV) in the amount of $200.00 for each of you. Please note the voucher numbers and associated Terms and Conditions will be arriving in a separate email. I encourage you to add Delta Air Lines to your receiver list so the vouchers document is not misdirected to your spam folder. Please keep the voucher number and the Terms and Conditions since the number is required for redemption. It is also important to remind you that there is no Direct Ticketing fee for reservations confirmed online at delta.com.



Mr. Burkhart, I want to thank you, again, for taking the time to bring this matter to our attention.  Your future SkyMiles business is important to us, and I hope you and Mr. Dougherty will give us the opportunity to restore your confidence in us.

 



I then said:





THIS HAS NOT BEEN RESOLVED. Delta has not sent anything to us in way of vouchers just excuses. I am in process of writing letter to Delta president as well as reporting the company to ripoff report.com. I have already contacted the TN dept of consumer affairs as well. I have also made contact with an attorney regarding this manner.





At the very least they should issue a voucher to cover at least one of the flights of 540! They are ignoring my request for a refund as they have no integrity I guess. A refund minus FAA fees and taxes would have been just fine. I still have no voucher or voucher info so I am still pursing talks with the tn dept of consumer affairs and have posted on ripoff.report.com. Why is it so hard to admit your wrong?



I emailed Delta president, Richard Anderson only to get a generic reply from Peter Oliver again. He stated:



Dear Mr. Burkhart,



Thank you for your most recent communication to our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Richard Anderson and the Better Business Bureau, expressing your continued dissatisfaction with my responses. On behalf of Delta Air Lines, I recognize you are extremely unhappy with my previous responses and I apologize that we have been unable to resolve this matter to your satisfaction.



Mr. Anderson often refers customer service-relate issues and inquiries directly to Customer Care for response and I have been charged to answer on his behalf.  As such, you will not receive a response directly from Mr. Anderson, and Customer Care's response is considered to be the final decision in this matter.



Nevertheless, allow me to explain our process.  Mr. Anderson's office and our Airport Customer Service Leadership team have now thoroughly read your correspondence and analyzed and recorded the details of your concerns and your experience.  Additionally, I acknowledge that you feel the solutions we provided cannot be considered equitable.  As such, I was happy to review each correspondence to determine what transpired to determine if a different outcome should have resulted. 



We appreciate your additional comments and I am sorry for your continued frustrations.  Further, I am sorry if you did not receive the electronic credit travel vouchers that were issued for you and Mr. Doughtery, as such I have referenced them below:



ETCV - 0060649396676 Doughtery\Matthew Amount: 200.00

ETCV - 0060649792770 Burkhart\Jessie Amount: 200.00



Nevertheless, I acknowledge that you feel that the compensation should have been a higher amount and I am sorry that your expectations have not met.



Having reviewed this unfortunate matter, I am sorry to inform you that we will be unable to honor your request for a refund due to your experience.  However, I recognize from the numerous contacts you have made regarding this matter that this is a passionate issue for you.  Please know that the significance of your message is not lost on anyone in management with Delta Air Lines; however, at this time, there is nothing more I can add. 



Mr. Burkhart, again, I am very sorry to disappoint you and it is our hope that you and your Mr. Doughtery will continue to use Delta Air Lines. 



Thank you for writing.



Sincerely,



Peter Oliver



I added:



Mr. Oliver, thank you for your note. I was very clear when I said we wouldn't be using Delta again, and I hope I never have to. After contacting an attorney, he said there should be an option B. I sent him the complaint and all the replies as well. I also let him know I had taken down several names and numbers from other passengers as well. He said at the very least your company could offer a partial refund minus federal taxes. He future stating that the vouchers for a future flight would more than likely make us get stuck in Atlanta again where this could happen all over again! He noted that not offering an option B wasn't fair as vouchers can be written off and you all end up with upper hand still. I urge you to reconsider as I am more that prepared to take written passenger statements, my medical receipts from heat induced migraines at the hands of your company, and the original claim he deemed valid to a federal court there in Atlanta. Customers do have rights, and your offer just will not due!

 And this is where it stands currently