Delta is really over doing it with their sched. changes

[dougp26364]

Delta is really starting to annoy me with their schedule changes. I know all airlines make changes but Delta has gone into hyper drive with all the changes their making.

Yesterday I was notified at 3:00 of a schedule change, then I was notified again at 7:00 of yet another schedule change to the same flight. I think this is the first time I've had a flight change four hours after the last change. For that matter it's the first time I've had a flight changed twice in 24 hours.

Unless Delta's is by far the cheapest airline around, I think I'm pretty much done with them once the bookings I have are completed. It's to the point where booking a flight with Delta is as bad as booking through Priceline. With Delta, you only think you get to choose your flight schedule. By the time you actually get to your travel day it will have been changed a dozen times or more.

To top it off, Delta's FF program has to be the biggest joke in the industry. In order to book a FF awards ticket for less than 40,000 miles you have to have the flight leaving during a hail storm on the fourth of July and be riding a zebra backwards to get to the airport.

Delta has slid to the point where they're an impossible airline to work with. They may be the largest airline in the country but they're far from being #1.

 

[Twinkstarr]

Delta is really starting to annoy me with their schedule changes. I know all airlines make changes but Delta has gone into hyper drive with all the changes their making.

Yesterday I was notified at 3:00 of a schedule change, then I was notified again at 7:00 of yet another schedule change to the same flight. I think this is the first time I've had a flight change four hours after the last change. For that matter it's the first time I've had a flight changed twice in 24 hours.

Unless Delta's is by far the cheapest airline around, I think I'm pretty much done with them once the bookings I have are completed. It's to the point where booking a flight with Delta is as bad as booking through Priceline. With Delta, you only think you get to choose your flight schedule. By the time you actually get to your travel day it will have been changed a dozen times or more.

To top it off, Delta's FF program has to be the biggest joke in the industry. In order to book a FF awards ticket for less than 40,000 miles you have to have the flight leaving during a hail storm on the fourth of July and be riding a zebra backwards to get to the airport.

Delta has slid to the point where they're an impossible airline to work with. They may be the largest airline in the country but they're far from being #1.

I swear they have nothing to do so they change flight numbers/times just to keep themselves busy.

Last night got an email with "flight changes" for our direct flight DTW-HNL in July. Expected the worst, but they changed the arrival in HNL by 5 minutes, and the arrival back to DTW by 15 minutes. Went in to double check my seat assignments, just to be on the safe side.

They'll probably change the flight numbers next just for the "you know what" of it.

Summer 2008 we flew them to SLC, I think they changed the flight numbers 3-4 times, but ending up with the original #'s.

At least they just send one email per confirmation number, Spirit sends one to every passenger. So when they kept playing with flight times to Myrtle Beach(nothing over 15 minutes) I'd get 4 emails for every change. Luckily my last flight with them to Orlando, no changes.

 

[Carolinian]

DL has been bad about having a lot more changes than other airlines for the last few years, but it has gotten even worse with this takeover of NW. And when they shut down the NW website on Feb.1 and mirgrated the data from NW flights to Delta.bomb, they scrambled some of the seat reservations, leaving elites who had booked exit rows sitting in middle seats in the back of coach instead.

They call themselves ''best in class'' but the class involved must be nursery school!

What they have done to destroy their once excellent ff program is the reason I am now flying Continental!

 

[bass]

Every time that I book Delta - I always know that the schedule will change at least weekly. It's so frustrating. I always end up changing airports just to accommodate my schedule!! I try to avoid them if I can but it's usually not possible.

Nancy

 

[markbernstein]

I'm hoping the number of changes will settle down as they complete the technical side of the merger.

As to the changes themselves, not all of them are bad. When I first booked two first class FF tickets for our recent Hawaii trip, the best I could get was Detroit to Cincinnati to LAX to Kauai going out, and Maui to Salt Lake City to Atlanta to Detroit coming back. By the time we left, we were down to one layover in LAX each way. And we still had first class. (Caveats: Even though the trip was a mix of NW and DL flights from the start, I booked it through nwa.com. And when flights changed, not just times, I did have to go in and rebook seats.)

 

[Carolinian]

I'm hoping the number of changes will settle down as they complete the technical side of the merger.

As to the changes themselves, not all of them are bad. When I first booked two first class FF tickets for our recent Hawaii trip, the best I could get was Detroit to Cincinnati to LAX to Kauai going out, and Maui to Salt Lake City to Atlanta to Detroit coming back. By the time we left, we were down to one layover in LAX each way. And we still had first class. (Caveats: Even though the trip was a mix of NW and DL flights from the start, I booked it through nwa.com. And when flights changed, not just times, I did have to go in and rebook seats.)

Unfortunately nwa.com is gone effective Feb. so all you have left to use now is delta.bomb

 

[Twinkstarr]

I'm hoping the number of changes will settle down as they complete the technical side of the merger.

As to the changes themselves, not all of them are bad. When I first booked two first class FF tickets for our recent Hawaii trip, the best I could get was Detroit to Cincinnati to LAX to Kauai going out, and Maui to Salt Lake City to Atlanta to Detroit coming back. By the time we left, we were down to one layover in LAX each way. And we still had first class. (Caveats: Even though the trip was a mix of NW and DL flights from the start, I booked it through nwa.com. And when flights changed, not just times, I did have to go in and rebook seats.)

I'm just south of you in Perrysburg, OH! I doubt if it's going to change once the whole NWA integration is done. Had this happen with a Delta booked flight changing(not anything major, just annoying) pre-merger.

I think that's the way Delta rolls.

Though NWA did a pretty good job pretending to be DL, a few years ago with a flight to I think Orlando. Big swings in take off times by a few hours plus an equipment change after the 90 day window. Scramble to get my 5 seats somewhat together.

 

[STEVIE]

I always used Delta, but I am tired of the flight changes and the worst for me is how we lose our assigned seats when they make the change. It irritates me when I make a reservation months in advance, choose our seats and then Delta makes several flight changes and my family no longer has seats together. This has happened way too many times for us, so this next vacation in March we are trying another airline. Hope things will be better. Sue

 

[IuLiKa]

Just got two emails (20min apart) with changes to my flights. The changes are nothing just couple of minutes on the arrival at the end of my trip.

I am also giving up on delta. Their FF sucks. It used to work pretty well before the merger. Plus every time a check a price, there is a big difference i prices, that it's not worth it being loyal to them. I got enought out of it. If I can get two tickets first class next year to go to Europe, I can call it done. Who knows what other changes are going to come by next year.

J

 

[Carolinian]

Just got two emails (20min apart) with changes to my flights. The changes are nothing just couple of minutes on the arrival at the end of my trip.

I am also giving up on delta. Their FF sucks. It used to work pretty well before the merger. Plus every time a check a price, there is a big difference i prices, that it's not worth it being loyal to them. I got enought out of it. If I can get two tickets first class next year to go to Europe, I can call it done. Who knows what other changes are going to come by next year.

J

Don't expect to find Biz class to Europe on DL. See this thread at FlyerTalk:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...tier-mileage-awards-no-longer-seem-exist.html

or this one:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-skymiles/1039311-rate-delta-skymiles.html

or this one:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-skymiles/1048562-ive-had-enough.html

 

[nygiants11991]

Scared

This really has me scared. I have never flown Delta, we usually fly Hawaiian or United from the west coast to Hawaii. But Delta had a great deal $389 SFO to HNL (yeah, I now see United has flights with a comparable price, but they didnt' when I booked).

I booked through Expedia, not directly with Delta. I was going to choose my seats and when I looked on expedia seat chooser, they had different seats available than Delta seat chooser. I was thinking I better use the Delta seat chooser, but it sounds like it really doesn't matter. There are six of us flying three different confirmation #, so I get three different emails for each change. Yesterday, Expedia sent me 2 in a matter of a few hours. But it doesn't look like anything different has changed.

Here is another wacky thing. Originally our reservation was departing SFO at 5:30 pm. Expedia sent me a change to 5:55 pm, but when I look at the Delta site using my Delta confirmation it shows the flight still being at 5:30.

Our flight is not until May 30, so I guess I will wait until closer to that date to really pay attention. But I did want to make our seat assignments now, any advise????

 

[scrapngen]

make seat reservations directly on the Delta site!!

This really has me scared. I have never flown Delta, we usually fly Hawaiian or United from the west coast to Hawaii. But Delta had a great deal $389 SFO to HNL (yeah, I now see United has flights with a comparable price, but they didnt' when I booked).

I booked through Expedia, not directly with Delta. I was going to choose my seats and when I looked on expedia seat chooser, they had different seats available than Delta seat chooser. I was thinking I better use the Delta seat chooser, but it sounds like it really doesn't matter. There are six of us flying three different confirmation #, so I get three different emails for each change. Yesterday, Expedia sent me 2 in a matter of a few hours. But it doesn't look like anything different has changed.

Here is another wacky thing. Originally our reservation was departing SFO at 5:30 pm. Expedia sent me a change to 5:55 pm, but when I look at the Delta site using my Delta confirmation it shows the flight still being at 5:30.

Our flight is not until May 30, so I guess I will wait until closer to that date to really pay attention. But I did want to make our seat assignments now, any advise????

Posted my horror trip in Dec on Delta, everyone with seats from 3rd party companies like Expedia found themselves separated from their children and all over the plane! Everyone's advice was should have picked seats directly from Delta's website. Even then, don't count on getting them, as Delta is VERY clear that your flight booked through the third party only guarantees you a seat - not a specified seat.

I will (hopefully) never fly Delta again. Only ended up with them due to their takeover of NWA.:annoyed:

 

[Born2Travel]

I think that's the way Delta rolls.

This IS the way Delta rolls... and has for quite a while so I don't see it changing. We have flown DL once or twice a year for several years because they usually have the flights we need, and flyng that route with AA has landed us at disgusting hotels in DFW overnight due to mechanical problems twice. DL has always changed the flight times by a minute or two multiple times and we always lose our seats. We have had flights booked with Hawaiian for almost a year and they just recently made a change of about 2hrs. We still have the same seats. I don't see why DL has to make it so miserable and time consumig - I'm sure it causes many more calls to their customer service people.

 

[Cp3tk3]

Doug;

You need to relax and know that Delta or NW has control of your travel schedule. I've been a platinum NW flyer since 2000 and have flown over 1.3M miles. You have to understand that there are things that take place that are outside of the airline's control. If you consider that you still made it to your destination, it's a good day and alive, even better.

I have been quite impressed with the transition from NW to Delta. And yes, while FF tickets aren't cheap, there're less than paying full fare

 

[dougp26364]

Doug;

You need to relax and know that Delta or NW has control of your travel schedule. I've been a platinum NW flyer since 2000 and have flown over 1.3M miles. You have to understand that there are things that take place that are outside of the airline's control. If you consider that you still made it to your destination, it's a good day and alive, even better.

I have been quite impressed with the transition from NW to Delta. And yes, while FF tickets aren't cheap, there're less than paying full fare

I use to fly once per week for work. As it is now, we fly on average 4 to 6 times per year. I understand there are changes and accept that. But Delta has taken it to extremes.

For instance, the very flight changes that prompted me to start this thread (two changes in four hours) has changed yet again. So, from Feb. 7th to right now, Delta has changed the flight THREE times.

By contrast we have a flight to Kauai on American that's been booked for over 6 months. How many changes has American made to their flight? ONE!

Last year we had a flight to Honolulu on United. That flight was booked around the height of when airlines were drastically reducing service to Hawaii. The flight was booked probably 9 months in advance and, the first flight change came within 24 hours of booking our flight. Over the next nine months that flight change another four times for a total of five changes.

Delta, on the other hand, has changed this one flight three times in just two days. But that's not all! The flight has already changed another three times previouse to these changes. The bad thing is we have another three months before we leave on this flight.

Sure I understand change but, it's tough to relax when you relize that all you booked was transportation with no idea of when you might arrive or when you might depart. All airlines make changes. That's a given. But Delta has taken it to such extremes that they're fast becoming the last airline I want to book. If any other airline is close to the same price or, if any other airline has a reasonable price, I book them ahead of Delta.

Yes they all change but, I want some degree of certainty that my fight plans don't change on a daily basis. I want to be able to rent a car and have my arrival/departure time be within an hour of what I originally booked. I want to actually believe that the seats I choose will be the seats I sit in when the flights depart. Delta is failing on pretty much everything I want when I book a flight. They're just not worth it anymore.

 

[Carolinian]

Doug;

You need to relax and know that Delta or NW has control of your travel schedule. I've been a platinum NW flyer since 2000 and have flown over 1.3M miles. You have to understand that there are things that take place that are outside of the airline's control. If you consider that you still made it to your destination, it's a good day and alive, even better.

I have been quite impressed with the transition from NW to Delta. And yes, while FF tickets aren't cheap, there're less than paying full fare

Read some of those threads on the links to FlyerTalk above. Since DL imposed its ripoff 3-tier award chart finding award tickets at anything close to a reasonable number of miles on DL has just about evaporated, and that is if you can find them at all. Other airlines have much better availibility at the low miles level. I bailed out of DL back in the Rob Borden / www.saveskymiles.com days and found NW to be a much superior airline. Now that DL has taken over NW, I have bailed out to CO, which has comped my elite status. The changes that Jeff Robertson has made to SkyMiles are far worse than even those of Borden.

 

[Twinkstarr]

I have been quite impressed with the transition from NW to Delta. And yes, while FF tickets aren't cheap, there're less than paying full fare

That's how I look at FF tickets also, if less money leaves my wallet when I book than I'm ahead of the game. Also a former NWA elite.

I will agree that the transition has gone well, and it looks like Delta will keep DTW as a major hub. Plus they gave Detroit a direct flight to HNL, which I'm taking advantage of this summer.

 

[dougp26364]

If it was all about the miles it wouldn't be such a big deal for me. Miles are essentially a bonus when price tends to be my number 1 concern. There is a difference between cost and price and the cost of flying Delta has become to high. For me, that cost is knowing with some reasonable certainty that the flight times, route, seats and equipement (planes) I've booked will resemble what we finally end up flying. Booking on Delta doesn't fit my expectations anymore than bidding and booking on Priceline. There comes a point in time where it's just not worth saving a few bucks.

 

[Twinkstarr]

If it was all about the miles it wouldn't be such a big deal for me. Miles are essentially a bonus when price tends to be my number 1 concern. There is a difference between cost and price and the cost of flying Delta has become to high. For me, that cost is knowing with some reasonable certainty that the flight times, route, seats and equipement (planes) I've booked will resemble what we finally end up flying. Booking on Delta doesn't fit my expectations anymore than bidding and booking on Priceline. There comes a point in time where it's just not worth saving a few bucks.

To be honest, for the past 4-5 yrs I've not flown NWA/Delta that much. For Florida trips, I've been using Airtran and Spirit to MCO and FLL. Better times for me and prices for direct flights. And with the new North terminal at DTW, it's less crowded than the "Big Terminal".

I've mostly been flying Delta/NWA to Europe and the West Coast.

I like to fly direct when ever I can, that is one of my major factors in picking a flight(leads to less headaches in the long run).

 

[Born2Travel]

Doug;

You need to relax and know that Delta or NW has control of your travel schedule. I've been a platinum NW flyer since 2000 and have flown over 1.3M miles. You have to understand that there are things that take place that are outside of the airline's control. If you consider that you still made it to your destination, it's a good day and alive, even better.

I have been quite impressed with the transition from NW to Delta. And yes, while FF tickets aren't cheap, there're less than paying full fare

The point IS that other airlines don't roll this way - why is it necessary for Delta? Folks can understand a necessary change once in a while, but not the repeated changes DL sends, or the changes by a minute or two where you lose your seats and have to rebook them before someone else takes them - why should it be necessary for DL to do this when other airliens don't have to -