Deltas Airlines seating & Baggage trouble

Cornish_Pasty

I'm wondering if anyone else has had problems with Delta airlines concerning seating or lost baggage. On my last trip to the USA it seemed that both had regular problems.

We'd booked a party of 3 to fly to Atlanta yet when the tickets arrived we discovered we then had to reserve our seats online. We had only received the etickets a week before our flights and so by the time we discovered we had to book our seats, we were left with only 3 seats left - dotted all over the plane. I spent a fair bit of money phoning Delta but they were most unhelpful (there didn;t seem to be a freephone alternative!!)

On our return trip which was Thursday 11th Aug, a lot of passengers luggage went missing and it appeared to be a regular occurance. We filled in the relevant forms and were told our luggage would be couriered to us the next day once it had been flown back.

4pm the next day, 4 hours after it had landed, we received a phone call to say that because we lived 4 hours away, it would not be sent out that day, but would be sent overnight for delivery today Saturday 13th between 8am - 1pm.

At 4pm today when it had still not turned up, I phoned the expensive phone line to enquire where our luggage was. A very unhelpful and couldn't really care lady didn't really know but it should be with the courier company, but she wasn't allowed to tell me which courier company it was. I asked her if she could phone the courier company and then phone me back. She told me she could phone the courier company but despite having taken 2 phone numbers from me, wasn't allowed to phone me back as she was in a call centre!!!!

I then asked if she could then phone the courier company and get them to phone me so I could at least have some idea where my delayed but now missing luggage was. It's now 8.30pm and I'm still waiting.

Do I have any come back or rights for the inconvenience of delayed or now lost luggage. It's only really costing me in phone calls, however, there were items in the suitcase that needed to continue on their journey with another family member who has had to continue their journey without them, so postage will be involved should the luggage ever turn up, which clearly won't be tomorrow as it's Sunday. Also, someone is going to have to stay at home from work on Monday should the luggage appear. Items that are do-able without for a day such as my dads electric razor and chargers, and shoes are now going to be required in the next day or two.

Delayed baggage for 24 or even 48 hours is ok, but we're already at over 56 hours and now we have the weekend.

Any helpful tips or comments would be gratefully received:)

Caz3121

who did you book your flights through. When booking through Delta is says you can select during booking or at any other time Can I select a seat during booking on delta.com?

Yes. After selecting your flights, you will be given the opportunity to choose among available seats before providing the passenger information – look for the "Choose Your Seats" button. You may also select or change your seats at any time by visiting My Trips.

If you booked through an agent maybe the gripe is that they did not inform you of this, very few airlines issue tickets you should get e-ticket confirmation immediately

Re the delayed baggage, unfortunately this is fairly common with some airline more than others. The fact that tomorrow is Sunday should not mean that your bag cannot be delivered.
Airlines will often allow you to be refunded for essential items but this tends to be on an outbound journey more than the way back where they will assume you have other clothes etc
Have you checked your travel insurance to see how it treats delayed baggage claims

neilbond007

Sorry I can't actually help with your issues... But these are my experiences with Delta.

Living in Cincinnati I've flown Delta well over 100 times.

When you booked your flights were you not given a booking reference? I always have been. As soon as you have this you can change seats (you should have had seats allocated - providing there were seats available).

Luggage wise - I've had my luggage misplaced a couple of times with Delta. Both times I was given a reference number and could check the status of my luggage over the Internet. Once I was re-routed from CVG - CDG - MAN instead of CVG - EWR - BHX. Unsurprisingly my luggage went missing. I got it back 2 days later. That wasn't an issue as I was in no real rush for it.

I'm flying back to the UK in 10 days time with Delta. Fingers crossed!

ferf1223

agree with the others on the seating issue - that isn't Delta's fault...if you don't pre-select seats well in advance you will get what's left. I understand that for some reason you didn't know this until very late - but that's not Delta's fault.

Cornish_Pasty

My baggage has been delayed several times before but I've never had the problem - usually when they say it'll turn up it usually does.

The holiday was booked through Virgin - therefore I wasn't made aware of the seating arrangements until the eticket turned up. Virgin assumed Delta would put three together while Delta assumed Virgin would!!!

C_Mababejive

I have used Delta and booked on line via their website. As part of the booking i was able to choose seats on all four sectors of the journey no problem and had no issues with luggage.

rainbow_carnage

Booking seats with Delta doesn't guarantee you'll get them. We booked a flight from JFK to LHR months in advance. Selected a window seat and the seat next to it. When we turned up at the airport, they said that they had to change the type of plane, so our seats were no longer available. (How's that? Does this model not have windows?) Ended up sitting separately, in the middle section. Tried to complain, but no one cared. Apparently we were a lower priority than all the people who booked after us and still got to sit together.

Oh, and they ran out of veggie meals, though our booking clearly stated that we requested them. Again, months in advance.

Delta is the worst airline I've ever flown with, and I've flown with budget airlines in developing countries.

ferf1223

rainbow_carnage wrote: »

Booking seats with Delta doesn't guarantee you'll get them.

Pre-selecting seats does not guarantee you will get them with any airline...aircraft changes can happen and can throw the seating out the window...we got moved from our pre-selected seats the day before we travelled once and we're 99% certain it was because an air marshall was assigned to one of them.

But pre-selecting seats is the best way to have the best chance at the seats you want...and we regularly go into our reservation and check our seats as we have had it happen before where months in advance something changed and we were able to reselect our seats.

And I am also not a fan of Delta, in general though!

rainbow_carnage

ferf1223 wrote: »

Pre-selecting seats does not guarantee you will get them with any airline...aircraft changes can happen and can throw the seating out the window...we got moved from our pre-selected seats the day before we travelled once and we're 99% certain it was because an air marshall was assigned to one of them.

I don't think I'm one of those unreasonable travelers who complains about every little thing, regardless of whether or not the airline had any control over the matter.

I understand that things change. But surely they should make an effort to accommodate people who booked several months in advance before the last-minute fliers? It's a big plane. There are lots of window seats. Delta just erased out seat selection as if it never happened. I wouldn't have minded sitting in a different row than the one we selected. I prefer a window, but I'd settle for an aisle. But I would like to sit with my husband. That's not unreasonable, is it?

ferf1223

I'm not 100% certain how it works with a change of aircraft, but from what I've experienced - it seems all the seat requests are thrown away and it's down to whoever checks in first...so those checking in online will have a chance to pre-select their new seats (assuming the aircraft change was known at the time online check-in opened)...those checking in before you at the airport as well.

I'm sure someone who works in the industry can confirm what actually happens - just going on what I have seen...we have had aircraft changes that have benefitted us - we had crappy seats, aircraft change, we checked in super early, got better than what we had...just the way it goes sometimes.

One reason we always check in online as soon as we can, even for our return leg.

The layout of the plane could have been different - more seats in the middle, less on the sides, etc...so it wouldn't be possible to give everyone what they originally had - like for like.

I would be vastly annoyed if we were ever stuck in that sort of situation - separated and both stuck in the middle of the middle...we do everything we can to avoid that happening and so far, touch wood, we've been OK. On the air marshall flight - we were separated when we checked in online (had had seats together originally, but when we went to check-in online we were split up and several rows apart - not happy), but we got to the airport really, really early and they moved us. Had we not checked in online, we wouldn't have even known we were split up - so may not have gotten there super early in the hope that they would fix it.

So it's these sort of things that make me overly paranoid about it - and we check our seats all the time leading up to the flight - so if there is a change, we can get in and get our seats reselected ASAP.

rainbow_carnage

ferf1223 wrote: »

So it's these sort of things that make me overly paranoid about it - and we check our seats all the time leading up to the flight - so if there is a change, we can get in and get our seats reselected ASAP.

But you shouldn't have to do that, should you? You shouldn't have to waste your valuable holiday time sitting in an airport just to make sure that you got something that you requested six months in advance.

We usually check in online, too. I can't remember what happened with that particular flight (I've had several other bad experiences with Delta). They may have changed the plane after we checked-in.

The reason I like to plan well in advance is so that we don't have to worry about these things while traveling. It's stressful enough as is. I request seats and special meals as soon as I book the flights. I enter passport info online. I make sure that our cabin luggage is the right size for the specific airline. I check the status of the flight and check in before leaving the house. Basically, I do whatever the airline asks.

In return, Delta screws me in favour of someone who got to the airport before me. Is it any wonder I don't feel valued as a customer?

In contrast, I had to change a Virgin flight at the last minute because my grandmother was dying. Even though I was flying in economy, the Virgin cabin crew made sure I got off the plane first so I could catch my connection. I made it to the hospital in time to say good bye to my grandmother. That's customer service.