Kate Hanni, the founder of the passenger advocacy group FlyersRights.org, has filed a lawsuit against Delta Airlines in which she claims they hacked her email account and acquired personal email messages sent between her, some journalists, and a guy who was at the time working for Metron, a company hired by the FAA to investigate Delta.
DELTA
Delta Doesn't Even Have A Customer Service Number Anymore
By 9.9.09
Are you unhappy with your recent experience with Delta airlines? Would you like to talk to someone about it? Using a telephone? Too bad. Delta doesn’t even have a dedicated customer service phone number anymore. If you want to talk to them, like Time’s Richard Zoglin did, you will have to call their corporate headquarters on an unpublicized number. You will then be told that they don’t accept customer complaints by telephone and be sent back to the website.
Delta Doesn't Care About Your Honeymoon
By 8.14.09
[Note: Sandals has already responded to the post, expressed sympathy, and reached out to Autumn. We’ve removed their name from the headline to more accurately focus the blame on Delta, which is the company really behind the problems.] We get that Delta employees just flat out hate their jobs at this point—that would explain the surly flight attendants on my last Delta flight, at any rate—but why would you take that out on newlyweds, who have their whole lives to be disappointed and deserve that one week of happiness at the start? The least you could do, angry Delta employees, is try to help out after your employer utterly fails to deliver the passengers anywhere near their destination. No, a dingy one-night stay in a hotel room in NYC is not the same as a week in Antigua.
Genius Baggage Handlers Steal Retired Police Sergent's Handgun
By 7.31.09
The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that several baggage handlers working for a company contracted by Delta Airlines were busted in a sting operation that was launched following the theft of a handgun from a retired police sergeant’s luggage.
Delta Plays Keepaway With Buddy Passes, Messes Up Honeymoon
By 7.28.09
Melanie and her National Guardsman husband snagged some free Delta passes that they thought they’d use on their honeymoon. Delta had some other plans in mind and things didn’t work out so well.
Delta/Northwest Employees Wear The Same Uniform, Expect You To Be Able To Tell Them Apart
By 7.27.09
Reader Matthew writes in to tell us that Delta at Minneapolis/St. Paul airport is “still in Beta.” The employees all wear the same uniform, but they still work for different airlines — sorta.
Delta Adds The "Fee For Not Paying A Fee" Fee
By 7.21.09
Following in the fee-laden footsteps of US Airways, Delta has added a $5 fee for not paying your baggage fees online in advance.
Delta Screws Man Out Of Family Trip, Business Conference, WSJ Interview, And Two Flights
By 7.15.09
Wow, the folks at Delta really must hate the creative director behind and star of those UPS whiteboard commercials, Andy Azula. On the open letter he published today, he notes that he’s a frequent-flyer with Platinum status on Delta, and until this past June one of their “biggest fans.” Then Delta forced him, his wife, and his twin seven-year-olds to wait 13 hours in the Richmond, VA airport, while their luggage remained trapped on a plane that was forever “almost fixed.”
Genius TSA Officer & Baggage Handler Caught Stealing From Decoy Luggage
By 7.15.09
Two workers at JFK airport fell into a trap set by Delta Airlines and the TSA, says the Daily News. The two men are accused of stealing a Macbook Air and a T-Mobile Sidekick from decoy luggage. The first man, a TSA officer, was videotaped rummaging through a Miami-bound suitcase in an airport screening room while a baggage handler watched.
Delta Fined $375,000 For Bumping Passengers
By 7.11.09
The Department of Transportation smacked Delta with a $375,000 fine for ignoring federal laws that require airlines to offer bumped passengers adequate compensation and an explanation of their rights. Inside, a listing of your options if an airline tries to bump you off their flight…
Never Pack Your Jewelry In Checked Baggage
By 7.3.09
My suitcase had been opened, my jewelry bag unzipped, and my fine jewelry (gold, diamonds, sapphires) had been hand picked out of the jewelry bag and the inexpensive jewelry (plastic, glass, metal) left strewn across my belongings inside my suitcase.
Delta Is Going To Flip Out If You Wear A Neck Brace In The Emergency Exit Aisle
By 6.14.09
Ned wears a neck brace when he flies, not because he’s injured or disabled, but because he prefers it to one of those floofy neck pillows. This didn’t sit well with a Delta flight attendant who was intent on keeping disabled-looking folks out of the emergency exit aisle. The attendant wouldn’t leave Ned alone, even after Ned demonstrated his range of mobility and explained that the brace was from a minor car accident thirty-three years ago. Ned managed to hold onto his seat after a chat with the senior flight attendant, but the original flight attendant later came back, “got in [Ned’s] face ñ literally, just inches away” and complained that Ned had “bucked his authority.”
Big Airlines Cramming Even More Seats Into Coach
By 6.5.09
If you’re looking for the most legroom, look to the low fare carriers because the big airlines are cramming more and more seats into coach, says the WSJ.
Delta: Not Receiving Any Additional Goods Or Services From Us Is "Free!"
By 5.18.09
Here’s a little something that sums up the state of air travel in our nation. Reader Drew was checking in to his Delta flight yesterday when he noticed that not checking any bags was described as “free.”
Delta Can't Be Bothered To Sell The Obese Two Adjoining Seats
By 5.17.09
Evan’s on the large side and wants to buy two adjoining seats, but Delta doesn’t seem to care whether or not he inconveniences other passengers. The airline won’t assign two seats to the same passenger name, and if he buys a second seat under a different name, it won’t necessarily adjoin the first. Delta also warned that “they will give [his] second seat away if they need it, even if [he] paid for it.” One agent thought he had a solution, but it was going to cost Evan $200 more than Delta’s online fares.
The CEO Of Delta Reveals His Secrets
By 4.27.09
Richard Anderson, the CEO of Delta Air Lines, was interviewed by the New York Times and shared his tips on hiring (ask about their family life), running meetings (no Blackberries!), and dealing with customers: “I find myself, more and more, writing hand-written notes to people,” he says. “I must write a half a dozen a day.” These are apology notes, we’re guessing.
Delta To Blind Woman: Can You Sit Somewhere Else? This Flight Attendant Doesn't Like Dogs
By 4.27.09
Natalie is pretty angry. Lately whenever her mother, who is blind, has to travel, she seems to run into trouble. As Natalie puts it, as far as airline regulations go a guide dog is equivalent to a wheelchair, and the appropriate accommodations should be made without hassle. It’s too bad on her last flight, Natalie’s mother had to sit in the bulkhead next to a Delta employee with a fear of dogs.
Delta, Everybody Else, Officially Fed Up With Foreign Call Centers
By 4.20.09
Delta Air Lines is the latest company to “repatriate” call center jobs previously outsourced to India. It’s not just that the economy is down and fewer people are flying, but more specifically that absolutely everybody hates dealing with foreign call centers.
