There is a road up by me that is notorious for this. people, and I mean just about everyone, drives about 10 mph slower than the posted limit. And when I come up behind them, what do they do? They slow down some MORE! And its not like I'm tailgating or being a jerk or anything . . . I don't get it.

 

Ok. Short version: 1: AirTran=WIN. Delta: EPIC FAIL!!!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!

So my flight to Tuscon AZ is canceled before I even leave MKE. It's resheduled for Saturday. Since I'm flying home Sunday afternoon, what then is the point of spending only 24 hours in AZ when I wanted to spend over 48? I call the number provided on their website and for a solid hour of redialing, I get nothing bu busy signal. So I go to the airport and talked to the clerk at the check-in kiosk. GREAT! They have a flight that will get me to Tuscon by Friday evening! I take it even though they throw me around to Detroit and then Atlanta before I get to Tuscon. First two flights are fine. I get to Atlanta and the snow is coming down pretty good . . . something that we see up here in WI aaaaallllll the time. My layover is something like 3 hours. Crappy. Fine I can deal with that. An hour before my flight, it's canceled. And I see a whole lot of "Canceled" up on the flight board. What the hell?!

So I immediately got into a line of people at the Delta rebooking check-in station that probably had about 800 people in it and moved at the rate of about three feet every half hour (exaggeration). After waiting three hours, and realizing that I was in the wrong line (there were three, but they were never marked very well, and the lines extended well beyond the actual "entrance") I had to go to the end of the other line. The guy in front of me is trying the same number I had problems with and he actually got through to someone, Oh, wait, that was an automated response to basically politely hang up on you.

After another hour, the guy in front of me gets called to the counter, and then the person supposedly helping him disappears for twenty minutes. After she comes back, she helps him, and then calls me up. Then she says that she is going on lunch, and walks away telling me I should get back into line. What the hell?!

Another agent was kind enough to realize the situation and redirected me to an open agent. At this point, I realize that getting to Tuscon was probably a lost cause, but I ask anyway.

The next available flight to Tuscon is AFTER I'm supposed to be flying home ON SUNDAY! Ok, then. So I ask the guy if he can get me back home. I didn't care if it was to Milwaukee or Chicago. I even asked if I could rent a car and drive it back home, but the rental car companies were refusing to rent cars one way. So it wound up being Chicago.

After getting my boarding pass, the gate number is really goofy. So I go to the information desk (not the Delta rebooking agents) and ask where that gate was. They looked it up and said that the flight was canceled.

What the HELL!?!?!!!

I tell them I just got that boarding pass two minutes prior and the guy said the flight was running! So being completely pissed off, I look at the line and it's longer now. So I decided I'm going to be very rude once and just go back through the exit. I talk to the guy again and found the issue, which was resolved: The flight I was on to Chicago was canceled for Friday, but rescheduled for Saturday morning, and running. Fine.

I go to sleep in the terminal. Very uncomfortable. I wake up at about 2:00 AM and look at the boards. My flight to Chicago, which had been canceled and then rescheduled, had been canceled. What the hell?!

I go back to the Delta agents and wait for about 1 hour to get help. This time, they book me on a flight to Milwaukee on a 2:30 PM flight on Saturday, and also put me on standby for an earlier flight to Milwaukee. Both were up and running. I even asked if I could get transfered to another airline, but NOPE!!!! They flatly refused to allow that kind of unpatriotic business and care for their stranded customers.

So partially satisfied, I go to the gate my SB flight is at and go to sleep. I wake up sick to my stomach, wanting to throw up, but I hold it back. I go to the boards and see that my SB flight had been canceled. I'm really worried and ticked off now. It was almost like I payed hundreds of dollars for Delta to hold me prisoner. I couldn't go anywhere or do anything. I wanted to GO HOME for crying out loud!

I get back in line at the Delta rebooking counter, in which there is NOBODY at right now. A Delta representative comes walking by and says that "This counter will not open until 7:00 AM, and that's IF we have the clerks to operate it. But you can go to the Ticketing stations outside of the security zone. Those are up all day." So I, along with several others go to the ticketing station, in which there is nobody there. So I go back through security and get back in line at the rebooking counter. I'm really hacked off. I've been hacked off, but my temper was beginning to show. Other people were red-hot mad, and some had been stuck in the airport for over 48 hours.... with kids! (So I guess I didn't have it TOO bad...)

I look at the boards again. EVERY DOMESTIC FLIGHT FROM DELTA HAD BEEN CANCELED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The International flights were still running, but SERIOUSLY!!!!!! Other airlines were on-time, boarding, and/or slightly delayed. SERIOUSLY DELTA....WHAT THE HELL IS THE PROBLEM????!!!!!
Then the same rep comes by and tell everyone in line that this line is for international flights only, and we need to go back a mile (yes Atlanta terminal is a mile long) and talk to the guys there when it opens. Then he says that we need to watch the boards in case one of the domestic flights opens up. And then.... he says.... "Not much of anything domestic is getting out of here today." and then walks away.

I look at the boards. Atlanta to Milwaukee via DELTA: Canceled. 2 AirTran flights from Atlanta to Milwaukee: ON TIME! At this point I loose all faith in Delta and defect to AirTran. I find someone at one of the terminal kiosks and get in the relatively short line (only about three people, all Delta Defectors, who are pissed off beyond belief at Delta's handling of the situation)

When I get to the person I ask if there are seats left on the 8:20 AM flight. YES and for an uber-price too! So she tells me to go to the re-booking phones and talk to an AirTran rep to get a ticket. After a ten minute wait, I'm booked! GREAT! I GET TO GO HOME!!!!

I talk happily (and ventishly) with other people who were all Delta Defectors, also very happy and venting their complaints about Delta Airlines. Apparently, Delta had plenty of planes, but they just shut everything down. (more on that in a little bit) And decided to "wait for the planes to thaw out and the snow to melt (it was 26 deg F mind you, and more snow in the forecast)

8:20 rolls around for boarding call. Flight delayed. Why? They were missing a stewardess. What the hell?! The lady at the kiosk tells me that AirTran was not answering her calls or giving her info. This worried me and many others. Some women even offered to volunteered for the position to get off the ground. The flight kept getting delayed again and again. The other MKE flight via AirTran was boarding. And there were reports of other flights not having enough stewardesses and one even missing a pilot. Now I was freaking out. Several people ran off to see if they could get on the boarding flight (they were on standby on that flight).

I'm super tired, having very little sleep and feeling sick, so I lay down in the middle of the floor to go to sleep after waiting about 1.5 hours into the delay.

I wake up to an announcement that they have their "lost" flight attendant and the flight was now boarding! There was literally thunderous applause and cheers at the gate.

I get on the plane and we start taxiing. As I look out the window, I see dozens of Delta planes just sitting there. Some at the terminals, others just out in the open. Covered in an inch or so of snow. Some partially melted off. Just DOZENS! They had the planes, so it wasn't like they were stuck in other cities. They were all sitting there. What the hell Delta?

Anyway, I'm home. Wasted a perfectly good vacation day, a ton of money (some I may get back as a refund, but have to call the busy line again) and got nothing from it but this very crappy experience.

 

Damn Paul that sucks!!!!

 

that definitely sucks

But on an unrelated matter..... some people just really suck!!! I'm having a "scream in someone's face" moment right now while I am calmly typing this thread

 

you actually read all that? wow awesome.

 

oh? but what happened?

 

That's why I put a simple "short version" on top, so people like you who have the patience of a highly caffeinated six year old can understand what the problem was without reading the whole thing.

 

God damn that was the short version?! Each one of ur post are like books!!! Can u help me write my papers for school? Pleeease?

 

Vent:

people who write long asssss posts, and have no sympathy for others diagnosed with a.d.d.! Very unfair!!!!!

 

The very first line says "short version"

THEN the long post follows.