Ruth S.

I am writing about my recent experience with Delta which has left me shocked and in utter despair. I hope that I can get through to someone how badly this airline is perceived and how shabbily my daughter and I have been treated throughout our experience.
I will await an acceptable response but if none is forthcoming I will begin posting our experience to all travel sites I can think of.
Chapter 1
My daughter and I were booked to fly DL 1425 Baltimore to Atlanta and DL 108 Atlanta to Madrid on July 25.
We arrived at Baltimore airport where we were met by the most sullen officious Delta ground staff representative. No pleases or thankyous, just barks orders to give her our passports and put our cases on the carousel. I attempted to engage but got nothing but monosyllabic responses. By this time the flight had been delayed 3 times in increments of minutes.
We then went to the departure gate to discover that our flight had been delayed yet again, initially told that it was a mechanical issue and then due to weather conditions. When we finally boarded, the plane took off but began to circle several times to await the passing of a storm but wind sheer forced the plane to divert to South Carolina. We sat on the tarmac in South Carolina for over an hour before the plane eventually took off again for Atlanta.
As we were descending, I asked the flight staff for information on the Madrid flight which, by this time, we knew we would miss. They were pleasant but reassured us that we would be taken care of by ground staff in Atlanta.
Of course by the time we got to Atlanta, the Madrid flight had left and it was disarray/chaos. I used the phone service to attempt to rebook but still had to stand in an eternal line to get boarding passes re-issued. 45 minutes later I got to the desk and was issued boarding cards now for the 11.25 to Paris and then ultimately from Paris to Madrid. I asked about our cases and was assured that they would be transferred and that Delta had a flawless record for ensuring that passenger belongings always follow the rerouted journeys. However, no apology for the delay. Fascinating that the first rule of customer service, at least in my view would be to issue a personal apology it helps.
When we finally got to Madrid 9 hours delayed, we stood in line for our cases. Of course they didnt arrive.
Noone knew who to make contact with but someone suggested that we go to Deltas partner airline, Air France as the last airline we flew to arrive in Madrid slowly followed by several passengers in the same position.
The staff was obnoxious, rude and totally unhelpful. They said that one of our cases had arrived and insisted we hadnt looked properly. They had no clue about the other case and threw a piece of paper at us with an international telephone number and told us to call it. I asked if there was any compensation, emergency money for nightware whilst we awaited our luggage. The response was to give us a flight kit with toothpaste and advice to go buy what we needed but that compensation wouldnt exceed 100 Euros. In other words, we had to be out of pocket and wait months for any compensation at all.
The worst part - there was no apology. They just didnt care and had no vested interest in even attempting to reassure us.
Chapter 2
We arrive at our hotel and try to call the number given to us. The office is already closed. I try the US number cant get through. We call the following morning we wait on line for 45 minutes with no luck. We asked the hotel to call on our behalf. I called Delta in The United States. My husband called Delta in The United States. When we eventually spoke to someone, the stories ranged from:
One case is on its way but we dont know where the other one is
Both cases are still in Atlanta and coming today
One case will be here today
Ultimately my daughters case arrived at the hotel the evening of the following day. I called yet again about my case and was told it was still in Atlanta.
I called again the following morning and was finally told that it was on its way but no guarantee of when it would get to the hotel.
My husband in The United States and I spent probably 2 or 3 hours on the phone, on the internet and asking hotel staff to keep calling on our behalf.
I was in Madrid for a 5 day trip and was without everything I had brought for 3 out of the 5 days so had.
We had to purchase clothing essentials and cosmetics since a lot of those items were in my case.
From arrival at our hotel at around 5:45 pm we spent the next 3 hours trying to find essentials in a city we had never visited.
I am absolutely devastated by this experience and spent 3 days, including our travel arrival days stressed about how to go about trying to get someone to listen to us and above all be honest with us.
Major problems:
Honesty. Dont just say anything to placate the passenger at least be truthful and communicate.
Apology. So important.
Pleasant/friendly. Your airline is light miles away from accomplishing this predominantly at the ground staff level.
The only mitigating factor was the service in the air but given our experience, it really didnt help. Your flight staff, for all except the return flight home on July 31 from Madrid to JFK, were pleasant and generally provided decent customer service.