Complaint Review: Delta Airlines - Atlanta Georgia

And then pay good money for it! My god! That's like paying to have someone spit on you. I have to be honest. I didn't read more than the first three complaints. They were enough. I know I'll never get on an airplane. I'll walk across the country barefoot in the wintertime before I'd let somebody treat me like that. I'm afraid of airplanes as it is. I think they're junk. The parts fall off. Plus, they're old. The absolute last place I want to be is 7 miles up, depending on some metal tube made in the 70's to keep me alive. So, I had no idea of the abuse they put customers through. I actually feel sorry for anyone who has to put up with these airlines. Don't get the hell on the plane. That's my answer. I drive everywhere. Or, take the bus. It's 3.5 days coast to coast. You get there safely. There's no abuse. Plus, you're not sitting there praying to god that the engine bolts don't fall off. Add it all up. The money you have to put out. The aggravation at the ticket counter. The searches. Going through your stuff. Then, the stinky little airplane with the contaminated water that's full of bacteria. Plus, the angry flight staff who hate being there even more than you. The loss of your stuff from the baggage compartment. And, that's if you actually make it in one piece. All these things pale in comparison if the plane actually gets in a crash. I'm simply amazed that anyone would pay good money to do this! I'd need at least $50k to get on a plane. It'd have to be one of those new jet blue planes. Anything else would have to be $300k to $400k. It would have to be big bucks to gamble with my life like that. I'll be honest, even at half a million, I have a breaking point. I have my own money. I'll get along fine. If some nasty lady gave me seat grief like in the complaints, I'd tell them to keep the half million. I'll get the hell off. Just open the door. I'll jump out. Never let some company abuse you like this. Stand up for yourself! You're a paying customer, for christ sake. Without you, the company couldn't afford paper airplanes, much less jumbo jets. Remember that. You, the customer, always have the upper hand. Don't let these trash airlines treat you badly. Do what I do. Drive your car. Take the bus. Both of those options beat the airlines, hands down! I always knew airlines were bad. I just didn't know how bad. Thanks for the education!

Tamaira wrote: "I am a 4th Grade African American School Teacher from Milwaukee, Wisconsin." And then wrote: "...racism is still live and well." and "...She tried threaten to have me arrested" and "...she had the pilot to hold up the departure" and "...I do intend on contacting a lawyer in regards this." What a sad commentary on 4th Grade education on Milwaukee. I'd give a 4th grade child a poor grade for that piece of writing, let alone a teacher.

Don't you just love it when these race baiters get tripped up on their own words? Our "victim" here states in writing that: "Even a white person would know that how I was treated was wrong." As "even a white person" living in a very diverse city, NYC, let me assure you that your problem was not due to you being black, it's because you are apparently unobservant, and by your own words, borderline criminal. As someone pointed out earlier, you knowingly bought a middle seat and then knowingly boarded the aircraft with that boarding pass. But the story gets better! Then, realizing your mistake you do several things that are in direct violation of various regulations: You stand in the aisle, you continue to use your cell phone, and you refuse to comply with the instructions given you. Frankly after 9/11, I'm very surprised that you were allowed to stay on the plane at all. In fact, I'm going to take my first guess here and bet that many other passengers were irate at your actions, right? I will not make light of your disability. I have no doubt that it is indeed real. But my second guess here is that you may have consumed something prior to the flight to help you cope. Is that about right? Pretty close? As to getting a lawyer, it will be interesting if this goes to trial. Because here are only three of several FACTS that will come out: 1. There were, in fact, white people and/or persons of other races also in the back of the plane, right? So, unless by some amazing coincidence, the entire back of the plane was black, your "Rosa Parks" analogy is ridiculous at best, and more likely merely a self serving comment from an otherwise bruised ego. 2. Delta's headquarters is in Atlanta GA, and Delta actually has a much higher than average non-white workforce. You're going to have a tough time explaining that one at the same time you want to play the race card. But hey, stranger things have happened in US courtrooms. 3. By virtue of the comment cards, Delta now has a list of witnesses. (Why did you think they handed them out?) You have no one other than a relative. Whoops..... Finally, if you truly aren't interested in what others think, why post your experiences here at all? And if you truly are a teacher (though I have no idea why that is germaine to the discussion) I can only assume your field of study was "American Fiction" or possibly "creative writing" - because based on your attempted linkages to Rosa Parks and MLK, you certainly have no grasp of history.

You must be the one that was sitting in that seat! We will see when I get that lawyer! Then maybe you will shut your mouth. You must be prejudiced just like the flight attendants and the other parties involved. All I am telling you is what happened which is the truth. You were not there. I wonder how you would feel if the situation was reversed? The Rosa Parks days are over, so I wasn't having it, and no I don't need a shrink. People like you who make comments like that need to see a shrink. Even a white person would know that how I was treated was wrong. When I talked with Delta, they agreed with me, and they are investigating. My lawyer will too. So, it really doesn't matter what you say anyway. Your two cents doesn't matter. Of course you would respond like this! I expected this kind of response from people like you that won't see the wrong. Racial discrimination still exists, and no one of any nationality should be treated this way.

Let me see if I understand this situation correctly: 1. You knowingly purchased a ticket for a middle seat knowing that it would bother you but expected to be accomadated afterwards? What if the flight was completely full? You'd probably be crying racism about that too--they overbooked the flight because they knew you were black and claustrophobic and it was all part of the plan! 2. You "stood" next to a seat you wanted and someone else who was already sitting next to it slid over into. Oh well. Guess what? Some people are just as rude and uncompromising as YOU are. Get it? 3. You refused to end a cell phone conversation before takeoff and yet feel that somehow your civil rights were being trampled all over? Is this post for real? It sounds like a bad scene out of Scary Movie! Here's some free advice: start taking responsibility for your life. Stop blaming everything on your color and your perceived disability. You don't sound like a wronged consumer you sound like someone who loves to play the victim to their own bad decisions and bad attitude.

I wrote this to Delta Airlines: I am a 4th Grade African American School Teacher from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I feel that I was a victim of racial discrimination. Even after Martin Luther King and other civil rights activists, racism is still live and well. I was on this flight when I tried to move to an unoccupied seat, which was an aisle seat. I had already asked the young man next to me if he could trade seats with me, because I am claustrophobic, and my assigned seat was in the middle. He said, "no." Someone had just moved from the unoccupied seat. I proceeded to ask the white man that moved, if that was his assigned seat. He said, "no." So, I stood by the seat because I wanted to sit there. However, another white man sitting in the middle seat quickly moved to the seat before I could sit down. I politely told him that I was going to sit there. He folded his arms and stayed in that seat. Then, he said, "This is my seat now!" So, rather than arguing with the white man about the seat, I did what I thought was right. I told one of the flight attendants. I explained to her that I was going to sit in that seat first, as well as about my disability, claustrophobia. Instead of her listening to me tell her how I was going to sit in that seat that the man quickly moved into, she cut me off in the middle of my sentence, brushed me off, and told me to go back to my seat. She also told me that there was nothing she could do because the seats are first come first served. First of all, I tried explaining to her that I was there first when the white man quickly moved over to the seat but she wouldn't listen. Instead, she tried accommodating me by making me go to a seat in back of the plane like I was Rosa Parks. (That's whom I felt like anyway!) It wasn't fair for me to have to move to the back of the plane, when I had chosen the unoccupied seat that I wanted to sit in and it was in the front. I was there first! She was extremely rude to me, and I insisted that I would not take the seat in the back. She tried threaten to have me arrested and to get me put off of the plane because I would not go in the front to argue with her. I felt that there was nothing else to be said now that she had racially discriminated against me. So, I had nothing else to say to her. She picked at me and tried to make me get off my cell phone, and made a big deal about it. It wasn't exactly time for departure, and she had the pilot to hold up the departure even after my phone conversation had ended. I had a little more time. She would not pick up my trash. I had to ring the bell for her to come and get it. I guess she had thought to herself that maybe she was wrong. I had already told her that I was filing a complaint when I got home. So, at the time I told her that, she started being extremely nice to the other customers. She passed out many comment cards to a handful of people. One of the customers she gave a comment card to was the same man that moved into the seat quickly before I could sit down. He was very rude to me as well. Not only did she do that, she came over to the young man that was sitting next to me, and tried bribing him to move to the back seat that I wouldn't sit in. She offered him a free headset and everything. Remember, I had already asked this young man earlier if I could sit in his seat. He told me, "no." However, when she asked him to move, he said, yes." All of the parties involved were all white and I am black. So, at this time, I told the young man sitting next to me not to move. I told him that there was no need for him to move just because the flight attendant was now trying to bribe him. I told him that hopefully, I will be ok, and that I would pray about it to make sure I didn't become sick. I really wish that you would investigate this because if you don't, I will. I do intend on contacting a lawyer in regards this. I would like you to reprimand this flight attendant. I deserve a complimentary round-trip voucher for this incident. I would like follow-up information about what was done or said to this flight attendant. She is trying to cover this incident up by passing out comment cards to the other customers, as well as trying to bribe the person next to me. She claimed that she had no control of the seats earlier. If she felt that she had handled the situation in the appropriate manner, why did she then ask the passenger next to me with the assigned seat to move? But, remember.. she said she had no control over the seats! What should have been done is she should've asked the other man that quickly took the unoccupied seat to move back in the middle to his assigned seat and let me get the aisle. I was there first anyway. Please get back to me immediately about this. This was unfair, and I will not hesitate to find an attorney if this is not handled promptly and tactfully. My fianc saw everything that happened on this flight. She didn't know that we were together, because we were unable to sit next to each other on this flight. The flight from Miami was also unfair. My fianc and I were confirmed on the flight, but had no seat. We were the very last two people to get on. I expect a prompt response about this matter to find out what you intend to do about this.

Under the heading of "Sweet Revenge," it looks like Delta, with its "winning personality," is heading down the porcelan convenience. At least for a while Air Tran will be the dominant airline serving Atlanta. Sorry San Fran, a "reincarnated" United will continue to haunt your airport for a few years to come. Go to the Yahoo Finance section and type-in the stock ticker code: DAL. Under trading history, punch-up the history for the last 3-5 years. You'll see this company has never had things so bad. Labor and jet fuel are big cost items for all airlines, Delta included. Unfortunately, Delta thinks all it has to do is "cure" these problems--and they can continue to treat their customers like dirt. Southwest Air just signed a contract with its unions and is paying the same for jet fuel as everyone else. Southwest Air, however, never lost sight of customer service as a major component of financial survival. For Delta, customer service was something Delta thought it could "run a tab" with. It did--for the almost 30 years since deregulation. Now Delta is trying to figure out who will fly their planes (the pilots are being asked for a pay cut) along with tanking-up at over a dollar a gallon (and crossing the Atlantic Ocean burns a LOT of gallons.) Delta flights are pulling-away from the gate with more empty seats than it can afford. So, guess what, the "tab" is being presented for payment. One problem, there's no money to cover it. San Fran: If you haven't used all of your vouchers yet, I would try to use them up before the end of this month (Sept., 2004.) Come Oct. 1, you won't even be able to board a city bus with one of those vouchers. If you wade though Delta's bankruptcy you might--if you're lucky--walk away with $50 for each unused voucher--if anything at all. If Delta is still flying to Japan, make your last trip there. With the money Delta loses on your trip you may (figuratively) may have the honor of driving the stake through the Vampire's heart.

Your comments about the treatened arrest are appauling. Like so many other professions, flight attendants very frequently abuse their little realm of authority. I use to travel very frequently for business, and have had countless experiences with flight crews. While most of these encounters were positive, I have had several very negative encounters with flight attendants who claim that Federal law requires passengers to "comply with flight crew instructions". I have heard this phrase quoted to me as well as to fellow passengers on several occassions. I can tell you that this phrase IS NOT TRUE!!! Or at best is a distortion of the truth. Federal law does require that passengers comply with SAFETY indicators such as "no smoking" and "fasten seatbelts". The law also requires passengers to comply with flight attendant instructions as to these SAFETY ISSUES. However, the flight crews never seem to remember the essential second part of the sentence regarding safety issues. An outrageous example happenned to me on a Delta flight from New Orleans to San Francisco. I had made special arrangements to have a particular seat on the first row in the coach section. The 1st flight I was on was oversold, so when asked, I agreed to give up my seat PROVIDED that I be given the same seat on the next flight. This was all arranged. I showed up for the next flight and checked in at the gate. The gate person told me that the tray table on that seat was broken, and they could not serve meals to that seat. They asked me to move to a different seat. I told the gate person I did not need to eat and wanted the assigned seat. She gave me my boarding pass, and I sat in my assigned seat. Once on board, a different uniformed person came on board and told me that I had been "re-assigned to another seat because the seat I was in had a broken tray table". I again said I didn't care, and wanted that seat. Then a 3rd flight crew woman came up to me and said to me "you have to move. There is a problem with that seat." I told her that I knew the tray table was broken, but I didn't care. I did not want to move. ( I should point out that I am a very large "ex-football player" with a bad back and the flight was full and the seat they wanted to move me to was a center seat 3 rows back. There were no isle or window seats left - or even any other center seats for that matter.) After telling her I didn't need to eat, and wanted to keep my seat, she became very irrate. She spoke to me in a very loud angry voice telling me "flight crew procedures required HER to sit in that seat." And that she was "a memeber of the flight crew". And that "Federal law required me to comply with her instruction or she would call a sky marshall and HAVE ME ARRESTED." This was the 1st that anyone stated any reason for me to move other than the "broken tray table". I moved 3 rows back sitting between 2 other large guys for a very long flight. As we pushed away from the gate, I saw the "flight attendant" that had ordered me out of my seat under threat of arrest lean over and kiss the guy that had been sitting next to me. Once the flight was under way she sat next to this guy chatting and flirting for the entire flight. She never served meals, drinks etc. When we landed, I got her name, and the names of the real members of the actual flight crew. As it turned out, she was not a working member of that flight crew. She used her position with the airline to take a vacation with her boyfriend. Nothing wrong with that. We should all be able to take advantage of such percs. However, she should not abuse her position or inconvenience others so that she could have a romantic get-away. In fact, what she did is called "threat of arrest under false color of authority." In other words, had I called her bluff and she actually had me arrested it would have been "false arrest" which would have been a crime. Needless to say, I was outraged. I immediately went to the Delta counter and spoke to the supervisor who confirmed that this woman had not been a scheduled member of the flight crew. Apparently airline employees have free flight benefits, but only on standby. To get around this, flight attendants (as well as pilots) sometimes put on their uniforms and "volunteer" for flights that they would otherwise be pumped from if the flight was full. I demanded some sort of compensation, but didn't even get an apology. I was told that what she did was within policy. I then called Delta customer service. Got the run-around. Wrote letters, phone calls, etc., etc. Only after I filled a lawsuit did I get any kind of meaningfull response. I settled the case for 5 first class round trip flight vouchers. I used these to fly my wife and I first class to Europe twice, and I used the last ticket for a trip to Chile. These 5 first class round trip tickets would have cost well over $10,000 if I had purchaed them on my own, so I was happy with the settlement. But I never got an apology, and as far as I know nothing ever happened to the B*!@#@&!!! that threatened to have me ARRESTED so she could sit next to her boyfriend.

Since "9-11" (and probably some time before) customer service, and comfort, on all the large domestic US airlines has dropped to a level where an "improvment" in service would mean that one of the "criminals," identified in the header, is now providing service comparable to what Greyhound Bus Lines offers. You are absolutely right--the large domestic US airlines really don't see any distinction between a customer who travels with them, transcontinental, 12 to 18 times a year on full fare, and the family traveling from New York to Orlando, once a year, and paying $150 round-trip for each ticket. Accordingly, the person who expects upgrades or, worse yet, free travel, from a Frequent Flyer Program is, sadly, living in an era when Flight Attendants were called "Stewardesses." Even if, by some quirk of fate, you get free travel you may seriously regret it. On a flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo a couple, with a small child, and traveling on a frequent flyer award, were threatened with arrest by a Northwest flight attendant because they questioned the non-delivery of a child's meal. Depending on the Frequent Flyer program you may be able to "salvage" your, essentially, unusable miles with a useful "ground" award. I recently "cleaned-out" my American AAdvantage account and transferred all 50,000 miles (accumulated from TWA travel) to my Diners Club "Club Rewards" program (where gift certificates, car rental and hotel discounts are available.) In your case, there may be hope. It looks like you live in the Atlanta area. As you may know Air Tran has its "hub" in Atlanta. Along with Jet Blue and Southwest, Air Tran hasn't lost the meaning of the words "decency" and "civility." In addition all three of these airlines offer something that "died" with deregulation--HONESTY! None of these airlines make any claims to first class seating (having the same leg room as coach!) or gormet meals. True, Air Tran has its 8 "Business Class" seats. But all tell you, up front, you sit in one class, and you either bring food with you, or you eat peanuts. They are also able to do some things the "majors" can't--or won't. They get you from "point A" to "point B" in substantially less time than it would take to drive, and, they don't threaten you with arrest if you ask for a can of soda.