Today I innocently planned to finish my post on why I hate American Airlines, thinking no airline can be worse…then I checked my email. One message and I now hate Delta Airlines more than any company. Orbitz, is only slightly better, but still guilty in this story. I have never been treated so poorly by two companies. Let me share my story as to just why I hate Delta Airlines so much, hopefully helping you avoid a similar problem. If there is one moral I want everyone to get from this story, it is don’t fuck with our vacation. I have said it time and time again, I am not a full time traveler. I am a normal working guy, travelling the world…my vacations are important.

The Email

My earliest recollection of Delta Airlines was when I was in my 20’s. I recall a flight attendant, pulling a pillow from underneath a sleeping man’s head, saying “this is for first class only.”

Thinking this was a one-time thing, I buried it in the back of my mind. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. Here I am leaving in a week to go to Croatia, Split and as usual it is my focus. I open my email at noon, about a week before we were supposed to leave. 

I received a message from Orbitz telling me there has been a flight change and they can no longer fulfill their promise. At first, I thought this was a scam, so I asked my wife to call. I quickly find that this was no scam, they moved our return flight by 15 MINUTES, and we would miss our connection in Munich.

My first point to ponder is this; if I alter my flight they charge me $200, yet they can change their mind at will and attempt to ruin my trip. Why can I not have an emergency, but they change the flights willy-nilly with no penalty? Orbitz proceeds to tell me they can switch my flight to Tuesday, two days later or they will refund me the cost of the package. No other options were given to me even though other airlines were flying out of Munich that day.

I booked my flight 4-months ago, dissected the hotels to find the best deal. I don’t travel on the seat of my pants, I look religiously for a great price and location. Yet now, I am to decide what to do for a vacation that is a week away, in the 10-minute phone conversation. Dear Delta and Orbitz, trying to book a European vacation is not possible a week out without a ridiculous cost.

Who do I hate worse?

I blame Orbitz as much as Delta Airlines. After all, I gave my money to them, the charge said “Orbitz” on my credit card. Yet somehow, they tried to put all the blame on Delta Airlines. Don’t get me wrong, Delta Airlines is a sorry pile of dog manure. Sorry to break it to you Orbitz, you are just as responsible. This is my first experience with Orbitz, and for sure it is my last. My wife spoke to a “customer service agent” for about two hours, and all they could do was to get us on a flight on Tuesday or pay 100s more to rebook the same trip. So what do they offer for this inconvenience? Nothing.

Well at least Delta will help us right? Delta had the option of putting us on another carrier, Lufthansa has multiple flight times out of Munich, but Delta would only put us on another Delta flight. Again, two companies could fix the mistake THEY MADE. Instead they decided to screw their customers. Orbitz told us to if we wanted to fly using Lufthansa it would be an additional $2000.

We decide to extend our trip until Tuesday, of course we have to pay for an additional hotel, and of course Orbitz gives us nothing. An extra $500 later and lost PTO, we are ready to go…. 

Our Seats

So, our seats that were formerly together with an aisle seat, are now separate, both in the middle. Let’s see Delta, I plan over 4-months in advanced only to not get the flight or seats I want. My wife called Delta and they were nice enough to change our seats, so we can sit next to each other (you know like we had before they tried to ruin our flight back).

To piss on us after they shit on us they had the nerve to charge us an extra $130 for a seat change. This was not an upgrade, this was a seat change, to get us back to where we were before THEY fucked us. I hate Delta Airlines; Delta Airlines sees nothing wrong with pouring lemon juice on the wound they caused. What in God’s name was so important that a week in advance they moved the flight up 15 minutes? Again, there were other flights on other airlines, but Delta thought it was too expensive to fix the mistake they made. Then they charge us for a seat change.

So now we are out $500 + $130 and we aren’t even travelling when we want. I am so mad I call Orbitz to complain, and of course they offered me vouchers and money for my trouble, but they didn’t…

Orbitz Customer Service

You would get better customer service from the DMV if it was run by terrorists, than by Orbitz. I call them up and of course they do nothing but stick to the script. Hey Orbitz, most of us have worked in a corporation, we know you fanned out your customer service to robots in another country. The lady nicely puts me on hold for 25 minutes and then hangs up on me..

So, to recap, two companies, both of whom I gave money, neither will take an ounce of effort to help us.

Let me take a slight step off my soap box to give Orbitz some credit. After I complained to them one more time, they called me back. They fought Delta for the $130 fee to change our seats. This was refunded to us, which is something. It only cost me time and aggravation, not $130. This made realize I hate Delta Airlines more than Orbitz. It was after all, Delta who cancelled the flight and they tried to skim more money off from us afterward.

I hate Delta Airlines

A little update we did take this trip, and upon the return we had such a limited layover that the Delta agents were rudely calling us on the loud speaker…in Germany. They knew we just got off the plane, but we had to sprint. I felt figuratively shit on, but it could be worse. Delta Airlines literally shit on one of its passengers when it the forced him to sit in a one of their crappy seats, covered in feces. The story is all over, but you can read it here: Delta makes man sit in Feces.

Apparently shitting all over one’s plans isn’t good enough for this airline, they have to take a crap on your person. Once again, I ask a simple question. Why can they cancel a flight with no consequences, yet I lose my money If I try to cancel? Why can they be late, screw up my plans, yet they would hardly hold the plane for me? The airline industry is out of control, treating their customers like crap. So many questions…I dislike American Airlines, but I hate Delta Airlines. 

I did try writing a complaint to Delta Airlines, but they had the nerve to call me back and tell me I had the wrong department, I should contact reservations! Why wasn’t my message forwarded to reservations? How dare you call me and tell me my complaint to customer service was the wrong department. If you had a similar experience with Delta Airlines, I would love to read your feedback …

The post I hate Delta Airlines (and Orbitz): How they tried to ruin my trip. appeared first on Man in Flight.