# DELTA-What an airline



## Jimster (Jun 9, 2011)

I suspect most of you know by now that the jerks at Delta have outdone themselves.  They charged returning troops  from afghanistan excess baggage fees.  One soldier was charged $200 for an extra bag and the unit was charged $2600 in extra fees.  Now Delta, according to one poll i saw was rated the 9th most hated corporation in the United States.  Maybe we can get a new poll and see if they move up even higher.


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## Ridewithme38 (Jun 9, 2011)

Jimster said:


> I suspect most of you know by now that the jerks at Delta have outdone themselves.  They charged returning troops  from afghanistan excess baggage fees.  One soldier was charged $200 for an extra bag and the unit was charged $2600 in extra fees.  Now Delta, according to one poll i saw was rated the 9th most hated corporation in the United States.  Maybe we can get a new poll and see if they move up even higher.



Did the soldiers HAVE extra bags?


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## Talent312 (Jun 9, 2011)

Ridewithme38 said:


> Did the soldiers HAVE extra bags?



Yes. Apparently, their orders authorized them to travel with four bags and Delta had only agreed to waivers for three. Hence, the extra charges, which BTW, the government will reimburse (if the soldiers submit a claim).

Apparently, some "rules are rules" moron at Delta failed to see the PR implications.


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## LisaRex (Jun 9, 2011)

They've since reversed their policy, though no word on whether they'd reimburse the fees for the troops whose complaints led to the backlash. 

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18236462?source=rss


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## Ridewithme38 (Jun 9, 2011)

LisaRex said:


> They've since reversed their policy, though no word on whether they'd reimburse the fees for the troops whose complaints led to the backlash.
> 
> http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18236462?source=rss



I thought the Government was going to reimburse them? Do they get reimbursed twice?  Seems like a sweet deal for them


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## Jimster (Jun 9, 2011)

*reimburse*

Have you ever been reimbursed by a government entity?  If so, you know you could die in the interim.  As the soldier's wife said on CNN, we have a very tight budget and it will  hurt to wait for that check.  But yes they get reimbursed, except as pointed out Delta has now waived the fee for the fourth bag.  So they don't get any added benefit.  Obviously, they don't get a double dip here.

To me, the issue is why Delta is so inflexible (and frankly stupid) to have this occur anyway.  In every encounter i have ever had with Delta, they always display the same mentality.  More than any other airline with the possible exception of Ryan Air, I have found them to be greedy, inflexible and  unreasonable.  Did I mention i never fly them any more? LOL


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## Passepartout (Jun 9, 2011)

No question- Delta is getting some well deserved egg-on-the-face over this incident. It reminds me of the United 'mangling the guitar' incident of a couple years ago. 

In both cases, the bad actions of some employee causes mega public relations problems for the airline that will take years of exemplary customer service to smooth over. If ever.

By contrast, I was on a SW flight recently where the attendants passed out hand drawn sheets of paper for the passengers to slip between the windows and the shades before deplaning at a very hot airport. They spelled out: T-H-A-N-K-S L-I-N-E G-U-Y-S-!

What a difference in corporate culture!

Jim Ricks


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## dddone (Jun 9, 2011)

*ARG!!!*

Maybe Delta can send the person responsible for this CRAZY policy to a new assignment at Kandahar International Airport for a few years.


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## scrapngen (Jun 9, 2011)

Can we reinstate a very SELECTIVE draft?????


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## Poobah (Jun 12, 2011)

*Delta Got the Message*

Our daughter works for Delta and she told me that Delta has just changed the policy and returning servicemen get five bags free.

Delta is capable of some amazing behavior.


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## bobcat (Jun 12, 2011)

Ridewithme38 said:


> I thought the Government was going to reimburse them? Do they get reimbursed twice?  Seems like a sweet deal for them



They put their lives on the line for the U S. If they get paid twice how is that a sweet deal. Yes, I am a Vet. Maybe you  should go over there and you can get a sweet deal on return.


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## bjones9942 (Jun 12, 2011)

Delta forced me to give them $100 a few years back.  I'd made a change to my (company paid) ticket over the phone and the rep said I was all set to go.  Got to the airport a couple of days later and the clerk at the check in area told me I could pay $100 change fee or stay where I was.  Nice.

I'll never fly Delta again, and I'm not surprised at their recent behavior.


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## STEVIE (Jun 12, 2011)

Delta should be so ashamed! Our boys serving our country to keep all of us safe should be treated much better than this. Sue


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## Talent312 (Jun 12, 2011)

bjones9942 said:


> Delta forced me to give them $100 a few years back.  I'd made a change to my (company paid) ticket over the phone and the rep said I was all set to go.  Got to the airport a couple of days later and the clerk at the check in area told me I could pay $100 change fee or stay where I was.



Yeah, the change fee should've been billed to the company.
Yeah, it should've been discussed when it was made.
I'd say that, since it wasn't, it was reasonable to think it was waived.
Hopefully, you put in for reimbursement.

--------------------------------------------
_"Our boys serving our country to keep all of us safe..."_

Uhh, that's a bit dated, isn't it?
Shirley, you meant to say, "Our men and women..."


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## Jimster (Jun 13, 2011)

*Right*



Poobah said:


> Our daughter works for Delta and she told me that Delta has just changed the policy and returning servicemen get five bags free.
> 
> Delta is capable of some amazing behavior.



Yes, Delta, United, American and a couple of others  have all changed their policies.  SO........???  Do you really think they did that for altruistic reasons or because they were complete jerks before and needed to correct it for public relations purposes.  Given my experience with Delta I vote for the later and it was no accident that the culprit here was Delta.  They are so unreasonable.   If it hadn't made the news, they would have been more than willing to continue zapping our servicemen with their exhorbinate fees.


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## short (Jun 14, 2011)

*$100 voucher for late departure.*

My husband and I received a $100 voucher each for our DTW to LAX Delta flight being late.  Entire plane received one. 

My flight from MSP to LAX a couple days ago was 1.5 hours late and I did not get a voucher. 

Delta is not all bad.  You have to give them some credit for getting it right in the end. 

Short


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## jerseyfinn (Jun 14, 2011)

*A Different Point Of View*

Now that we have rushed to judge Delta on the basis of *hasty moralism*, let's try to get back to planet Earth and figure out exactly why/how these troops encountered problems.

I speak from the perspective of a parent of a son who is active duty in the US Air Force, specifically, AF Security Forces ( this means at his home base he functions mostly as law enforcement, and when deployed, he functions as infantry complete with the 50 cal guns and everything else in their work kit ). Our son served a 6 month deployment in Iraq last year. I can't speak specifically to how Army and other armed forces units deploy/travel, but I do speak here with personal insight of how our AF troops are moved about along with their belongings. And besides, his journey is an interesting thing to share as I think it gives folks an approximate idea of how most of our troops experience deployment travel.

On his outbound deployment, he flies on a commercial flight to a convergent airport where he and other AF Security Force troops being deployed to Iraq meet up and fly on a *charter airline * from America to Germany. They get "stuck" here for undefined flight issues ( could have been the lack of a FC to do the next leg ). Because this charter company is a DoD-designated carrier, they encounter no issues with their personal baggage, or any of the additional gear they carry personally. If there was paperwork or restrictions, the paperwork was already cut and no operational issues crop up. Likewise, each SF wing brings along it's own 50 cal guns and other essential deployment gear. These are carried in the cargo hold to Germany. 

Our son spends a few days in limbo at an airport in Germany as the continuing flight issues are worked out. They could not leave the airport and were held in a special area where lots of US troops come and go. Our son speaks of an open sleeping area with cots where one morning he wakes up to discover a bunch of US Marines who arrive in transit in the middle of the night. The Marines filled in the empty cots and their gear is stacked up all over the place -- " the Marines snored really loud & they were a lot bigger & more muscular than us " my son recalls :zzz: .Finally, after a few days, they board the same charter flight with a new FC and they fly to Qatar ( where a larger AFB is located for staging operations in the Middle East ). Once again, all of their materials are transported with them, and a few days of more limbo follow except that they are accomodated in outdoor tents with airconditioning and "lots of good food" according to our son. Finally orders come and they board ordinary USAF transport planes which take them to their deployment airbase in Iraq.

I won't go into deployment details as that's another interesting story. But when his deployment is complete, there follows a reverse process of assembling gear and materials and accounting for both AF and personal belongings. The SF guys have one large rucksack with personal belongings ( boots, clothes, night goggles and other parts of their kit ) as well as those airman assigned to transport the 50 cal and other weapons. They have at least one suitcase & a carry-on back pack ( filled heavy and full of course ).They move out of their seperate dorms and are consolidated in one dorm. They are never given specific dates of travel and know only a window of dates, any of which they may depart on. This is how things work in the military . . . everything is indeterminant.

Finally they get an USAF transport plane back to Qatar followed by a charter flight to Germany. This time, they are taken to a US AFB for several days where they are put up in dorms. The entire time they have their personal bags and all other belongings in their possession. It's December and none of the guys have heavy clothing with them for the snow that's on the ground in Germany. Our son purchases a hoodie and finds this sufficient to go to town with his fellow wingmen ... he prefered to spend his money on food and beer ( he turns 21 while in Iraq and Germany is where he drinks his first legal beer  :rofl: )

All of this is happening about a week prior to Christmas and a few days go by before the guys and gals get their orders home. They are transported to a civilian airport and given vouchers to queue up for their flights home. Not all people are traveling back to America on the same flight, but they are all flying commercial flights home. Our son describes the airport as chaos so he and a buddy do not stand in the waiting queues which snake out the doors. They wait for things to settle down and finally get in line ( he ends up with a group being routed home on Lufthansa <LH> ). He and his friends luck out when they are assigned bulkhead seats just behind the business class cabin.  section. He ( and his wingmen ) do not recall much of the 12 hours of flying as they were up all night before enjoying the last of their German shnittzel and beer . . .  these guys sleep most of the way accross spraweld out in their leggy seats. He arrives in Denver where he takes another commercial flight on United to Tucson where his base is located. They arrive 8PM Tucson time, just in time to be picked up at the airport and shutled quickly over to the base to drop off gear and then out to a restaurant where the Saturday Christmas party is getting underway. They're greeted like Roman legion heros as the commander and the master sgts buy the guys their first drink. A pretty interesting way to end a journey undertaken in the service of our nation.

I hope that my words describing our son's experiences helps to flesh out how many of our troops travel and how the travel dynamic works. On that return trip from Iraq, it is not by charter or military aircraft by which they fly, but rather on commercial airlines. It is important to realize that commercial carriers must necessarily operate under the rules and laws of their respective nations. This means that *all* pax must fly in accordance with the established policy of the airline. I can not find fault with Delta agents who enforce the airline's policy of charging for 4 or more bags as they too are following orders. That said, one can also see how nerves get frayed as one caqn only imagine how many hours these troops have been flying. So from the troop point of view, those extra bag fees most definitely come across as a slap in the face . . .  I suspect that some soldiers may not have had the cash to ante up ( it's the nature of military life and some of the younger guy/gals do not have credit cards . . .  or they've blown ouot their credit scores . . .  our troops are ordniary, vulnerable people jusdging by what my son tells us.

Speaking specifically about our son's return experiences. On the return, his unit was not able to have their 50 cal weapons carried on the LH flight to America. They had to arrange other shipping that was paid for by the Master sgt overseeing transport. There were also issues with checked bags which did not make it to Denver, so some of this involved personal bags and some of it chekced bags with mitilary gear in them. The bags arrived the next day, and the big guns came a few weeks later via other shipping methods.

So once again, It's my opinion that the media and vociferous pundits err when they turn up the heat on Delta for a bumpy transition for those troops who are indeed heros. There is a complexity of issues occuring here which overlap between the military, the airline, and troops in transit. There is no doubt in my mind that Delta and every American carrier have the utmost respect for our troops.  But we are all human, and under certain circumstances, things do go wrong and tempers flare. The media is always there to exploit these situations ( until the next disaster pre-empts the story   ). I suspect that the reason the You Tube video disappears is that cooler heads on the Army side prevail and a superior "suggests" to the Army poster that they remove the video while details are worked out. As to the anger of our troops? Completely understandable ( and forgiven ) after a long deployment and long fligiht home.

Hats off to our men and women in uniform and the citizenship and valor they demonstrate on behalf of a grateful nation.

Barry


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## Patri (Jun 14, 2011)

Talent312 said:


> Yeah, the change fee should've been billed to the company.
> Yeah, it should've been discussed when it was made.
> I'd say that, since it wasn't, it was reasonable to think it was waived.
> Hopefully, you put in for reimbursement.
> ...



Surely you  meant to say 'surely.'


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## Talent312 (Jun 14, 2011)

Patri said:


> Surely you  meant to say 'surely.'



I was paying homage to the movie, "Airplane!" (1980), in which the following exchange is ranked by the American Film Institute as among the top 100 movie quotes of all time:

Striker (Robert Hays): "Surely you can't be serious?!"
Rumack (Leslie Neison): "I am serious... and don't call me Shirley."


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## ampaholic (Jun 14, 2011)

bobcat said:


> They put their lives on the line for the U S. If they get paid twice how is that a sweet deal. Yes, I am a Vet. Maybe you  should go over there and you can get a sweet deal on return.



Lots of people are Vets and most would not want to be improperly reimbursed.

Most people consider being double dip reimbursed to be improper - I'm pretty sure this is what Ride was pointing out.

My "over there" experience happened when Ho Che Minh was the bad guy not Osama Bin Laden and I sure would never have wished "Maybe you  should go over there" on anybody - I think a lot of current Vets might feel the same way.

So please don't wish "going over there" on folks for speaking their mind - tens of thousands of Vets have defended the right of folks to speak their mind with blood.


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