Attn: DU folks...Never fly Northwest Airlines/Delta

[leftofcool]

Just a tip. I had a flight scheduled to see family on the 27th and retun on the 31st. My dear mother passed away suddenly right here before Christmas so I tried to contact them to extend my stay a couple of weeks, gladly paying whatever difference there might be and to try to leave earlier if possible. The first call I was on hold for 6 hours and no one ever answered. I missed my mother's funeral. On the second day, I called again to try to arrange flight plans with them. On hold for 4 hours, no one ever came to the phone. On the third try today, I was routed to 8 different people, on hold for about 4 hours and never did get anyone to help. Needless to say, I will simply cancel my return flight when I arrive at my destination and fly with a different airline coming back when I am ready to return from being with family. I have flown every airline in this country and have never encountered this problem. I have never asked for anything special from any airline company and have never changed a flight plan in 50 years of flying. So, good DUer's, don't fly Northwest/Delta. Choose another airline company, even if you have to pay a bit more money. And yes, I have submitted a BBB complaint, asking only for a letter of apology, not a refund.

[SidDithers]

1. WTF? You missed your mothers funeral...

because you were on hold with an airline?

Sid

Edit: that was harsh. My apologies and sympathies for your loss.

[leftofcool]

2. I missed it because I couldnt get them to come to the phone

so I could change flight times. Could not get on on computer to do it due to snow and weather.

[SidDithers]

6. Did you have to fly earlier to get to your mothers funeral?...

And you were trying to move your flight up from the 27th?

Maybe I'm just not reading it correctly.

Regardless, my thoughts to you and your family. :hug:

Sid

[leftofcool]

12. I was already scheduled for the 27th

I would have been happy if they had just come to the phone and said they didn't have a flight for me. Then I could have cancelled it altogether and chose another airline.

[Oaf]

3. Sorry about your mother

Hope you are OK.

[PeaceNikki]

4. Sorry about your loss.

But why would you sit on hold for a total of 14 hours? After 15 minutes (TOPS), I would have hung up and called back. :\

[pitohui]

24. what's strange abt it is that nw usually hangs up on YOU if the line is too long

i have never been able to stay online w. northwest because they give you the "all our agents are busy, please hang up and try again later" message ... this must be a recent change because it wouldn't have been physically possible to even be on hold that long, because of this policy

delta in my experience v. frequently just doesn't answer their phones

in this situation the best thing to do is go online and change the tix, apparently their home computer was down, in that case, i go to the public library and take care of business, failing the complete breakdown of every computer everywhere i would just go to the ticket counter at the airport and take care of it there

in one of the posts the OP seems to suggest that they went to the corporate office, what corporate office? in egan? in atlanta? why would you not just go to the freakin' airport and get the ticket agent at the counter to re-book the ticket? i mean you're practically at the airport anyway at that point... the person at the ticket counter could do this way better than some number cruncher in corporate? it seems like the poster was so distressed that they made some v. bad decisions and that nw/dl is getting blamed for not even knowing that there was a genuine problem in time to do anything

[T Wolf]

5. Condolences on your mother. Just two months ago, a similar thing happened to me.

I had to book a next-day flight to fly from Philly to Minneapolis. In contrast to your experience, the NW/Delta people my wife spoke to on the phone were very helpful and sympathetic, getting me the bereavement fare. I was even told that I could change my return flight to anytime without any penalty, etc. I did not change flights, so I cannot confirm that this promise would be kept.

I agree that you should complain and follow this up. There was an obvious breakdown in their system AND the people who are supposed to help you. Whether that warrants a boycott or not depends (IMO) on what ensues.

I would hope that most have the experience that I did, rather than yours. Under the circumstances, making travel arrangements is something that should not be a problem to any degree. Maybe I got into a special queue because of the initial request for the bereavement fare - I don't know.

All the qualifications aside, I support your actions in following up with the BBB and others.

And again, you have my condolences.

[leftofcool]

15. I would have been happy to pay what ever they wanted

I wasn't going to ask for anything special, just a change in flight dates and return times. I would have paid them thousands to get me what I needed. They wouldn't even come to the phone.

[Better Today]

7. Sorry about your mother. But I question the validity of asking all of

DU to boycott based on a bad experience that even you have never experienced before, with all the travel issues they face this time of year, the recent weather issues, and the idea that you foolishly stayed on the phone rather than attempting any other resolutive path.

[leftofcool]

13. We tired everything

We even went to the corporate office. Just go to consumer affairs and type in Northwest Airlines and see what ya get.

[HelenWheels]

22. Northwest deserves to be boycotted

I've had some nasty experiences with Northwest. Northwest pretty much serves the area I live in so I often don't have a choice. I'm considering Amtrack for my next trip.

[FLAprogressive]

8. Northwest stinks. RUDE "customer service". Sorry about your loss. :(

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. Northwest canceled my connecting flight with no explanation or apology.

They basically said tuff shit. The flight was to a job interview.
I never flew with them again.
On another flight, Delta kept our plane on the tarmac for 2 hours. I missed the connecting flight
and was 12 hours late for a scheduled meeting.
Never flew them again, either.
Fortunately, I no longer fly.
The airlines wonder why their revenues are dropping, Between TSA and rude airline service,
I am amazed anyone still wants to fly.

[leftofcool]

14. If I had been thinking straight

which is hard to do on a sudden death of a loved one, I would have just cancelled it and taken a bus. I think I could have made it on time.

[pitohui]

25. oh boy, if you are unhappy w. nw airlines, you think you're gonna be happy on a bus?

the last time i tried to book a trip with greyhound i couldn't even get them to commit to what DAY they were departing the bus station, not what TIME but what DAY

i think people need to manage their expectations during a blizzard/serious weather event that is going to ripple through the entire system

hard to do when it's your mom i understand but i don't think you're being real fair to the airline here

[Blasphemer]

9. I am very sorry for your loss

I do have to use NW/Delta as I have racked up quite a few frequent flyer miles with them. I've been pretty fortunate as far as airline problems go so I haven't had any issues beyond flight delays but you definitely have my sympathy as I know how frustrating poor customer service, especially in such a difficult time, can be.

[tblue]

10. Dang!!! I boycott a lot of companies (Whole Foods)

and I'll gladly put this one on my list. I am so so sorry, sweetie. I try to avoid big brands of anything, as a general rule, but you can't do that when it comes to airlines. I don't fly this one, but I will let other people know what happened to you. Again, my sincere condolensces. Idiots.

[StarfarerBill]

16. My condolences, leftofcool.

[skepticscott]

17. Did it never occur to you

after about 3 hours on hold, that something might be wrong with the connection and that it might be worthwhile to dial again? Or that there are people called travel agents who could have booked an early incoming flight, since you were willing to pay any difference in cost? And sorry...even with an airline, why would they route you to 8 different people just to change a reservation? If that's what you were really trying to do, why in the world would they need to do that?

[leftofcool]

18. You would need to ask them

Reservations are outsourced to a different country now so who knows. Fortunately, I just got a call from the secretary to their CEO. They are looking into it.

[Bozita]

19. Sincere condolences. ... "Northworst" has earned its nickname!

[leftofcool]

20. I believe it. I think I will stick with American or Southwest

[percussivemadness]

21. The main reason not to fly Delta, is that they fly all their planes to China to be serviced...

simple as that....

[pitohui]

23. um, you do realize that it's only the 23rd? don't you? t his story doesn't even make any sense

yes there was a huge wave of cancelled flights recently, and not just on dl/nw/klm but of course on all the other airlines too because of the huge and well publicized blizzard in the northeast, which you might have heard about on the news

i'm really sorry that your mother has passed and i understand that you are distraught BUT i don't understand how you expect DL/NW to control the weather, if any airline controlled the weather we would take them out of the tranportation industry and put them in the business of saving the world through re-directing hurricanes, blizzards, nor-easters, and all the rest of the bullshit weather patterns that have been afflicting this planet

dl/nw are always terrible abt answering the phone, and they are never "better" at answering the phone than during irregular ops

my first choice for changing my tickets is to go online at the website, nwa.com usu. works better but they've made a lot of improvements to delta.com, you can make your flight changes there in a few minutes and it really saves time -- now if you get the dreaded error message, then here are other things you can do --

next time, while making your phone call, ALSO stand in line at the ticket counter and get your ticket changed in person like everybody else, it won't take six hours, you can even be calling on the phone while standing in line so that if you do get someone on the phone to help you, then you can get out of the physical line

also there are the line of dedicated phones at the re-book centers you can find in many airports

finally if all else fails, get a friend who has gold, plat, or diamond status to make the call for you because they go to the top of the line -- i've done this for people before, to get their flights re-booked, it can't hurt to ask -- the elite flyer will prob. need to say they're a family member or in law or traveling w. you to get service for you but when i've done this for people it has saved the other person a lot of time

those are my suggestions, all a lot more practical than "avoid flying the biggest airline in the world, even if they happen to be the only airline that goes to such and thus destination"

yeah, unless you're gold or higher, you can't expect much over the phone with these folks, but it has been that way for years, so people should know the work arounds by now

always, always, try to change your tix online first, THEN call if you get something ridic -- for instance, the computer tries to land me in ATL and then i'm supposed to catch my connection in DTW, um, what's missing here, folks? that's right, i can run pretty fast but i'm prob. not able to run from atlanta to detroit in only 8 hours!!!!

i don't think you are entitled to a refund or an apology if the cause of the screwed-up flights was caused by weather or air traffic control, but sometimes they'll surprise you -- ask nicely and explain your distress--DON'T SAY YOU'LL NEVER FLY THEM AGAIN -- it is stupid for them to try to give goodies to someone who isn't a customer anyways -- i always try to find a nice thing to say and to explain that i would like to feel good about continuing to use their service, works a lot better in the end

[mainer]

26. Their pilots don't answer the phone, either.

Neither does Delta operations. There was an article about ATC trying to reach Delta/Northwest about an air traffic issue (they'd lost contact with a plane or something) and NO ONE ANSWERED THE PHONE. Because Delta/NWA had forgotten to advise everyone that their merger had led to the shutting down of several offices.

While they're still figuring out this merging of operations, they're a mess.