Short story: Delta messes up, they toss me on another airline, make me pay baggage fees, treat me like a criminal. Should I ask for vouchers, dispute the credit card transaction or sue them?
Long story:
I bought tickets for MNL to PDX via NRT for me, my wife, and 3 kids(11,9 and 2 months old). The one way tickets were quite pricey since I bought them 2 days before departure.
DL 172 from MNL pulled away from the gate on-time but then they couldn't get the starter to working on the number 1 engine so we went back to the gate for a replacement part. We sat for an hour waiting for the part to be fixed with the airplane doors open.....and air conditioning unable to cope with the tropical heat. That delay was understandable.....
With the part fixed in about 75 minutes, we were back out to the runway in the number 1 position where we sat for 30 minutes. The pilot came on the intercom after 20 minutes and told us he was waiting for some load-balance numbers from Atlanta. After another 20 minutes of waiting, we went back to the gate to refuel. This delay is 100% Delta's fault. We waited at the gate to refuel and push back from the gate a third time.
Normal departure time was 800 but we actually departed at about 1115. We arrived in NRT an hour late for our connecting flight. Missing the connecting flight was caused by Atlanta headquarters according to the pilot, not a mechanical problem. Instead of putting us up in a hotel for the night in NRT, they decided to reroute us.
Our new routing was NRT-HNL-PDX with the domestic portion on Hawaiian Airlines. The 845am arrival time in PDX changed to an 2315 arrival in PDX. We were given a 9 hour layover in HNL. I went to the Delta counter and explained that it was unacceptable to arrive at 2315 since I had to travel into Washington state so they offer to change it to 2140 arrival in SEA with a 6 hour layover in HNL. They gave us meal vouchers in NRT, but they were unused since we didn't have the time to even get food since it was go from the arrivals through security and then check in to the next flight.
We got into HNL. We had carried more than enough formula, bottles and other baby supplies to get us to Portland, but not for an increase in our traveling of 15 hours so in HNL we got our bags and decided to transfer some stuff out of our bags. We were told that if we needed to do that, we had to check in our bags at the Hawaiian Airlines counter. We said no problem.
So we carry all of our bags to the Hawaiian Airlines terminal. While my wife waited there feeding the baby and letting the other kids sleep, I went to the Delta counter to ask for meal vouchers for the delay. I was given a paltry $10 each for the 4 tickets. Ridiculous. I asked for access to a phone to call the mainland and let my sister(who was waiting at PDX) know that I was delayed. They said, sorry we don't have any phones, there is a payphone over there.
I went back to the Hawaiian Airlines terminal. They are far away from each other in case you didn't know. I went to check in the bags for the HNL-SEA flight. I was told by Hawaiian Airlines that I needed to pay $25 for each of the three bags I had checked on Delta, which were free. I said no way and went back to the Delta counter to complain. It's a 10 minutes or more.
So hot and sweaty and very tired I arrived again at the counter. I asked to speak to a manager and they brought out some woman who is supposedly the HNL station manager. I told her this is ridiculous. I already paid for the bags in my ticket. Why do I need to pay for bags again? She told me, this is a Hawaiian Airlines policy. It's not Delta anymore. I told her again, this is ridiculous. Her reply: "Sir, I have nothing more to say, if you persist, I will call the Sheriff."
She threatened me! What kind of BS is that?
So off again to the Hawaiian Airlines terminal. I went to check in again at their automated kiosks when a nice Tongan woman at the first class counter asked me if I needed help. I explained what happened. Her words: "That's ridiculous. Wait here, I will check those bags in for you for free."
Kudos to Hawaiian Airlines.
After going through the boarding area, I logged into my Orbitz account and did a courtesy cancel on my return tickets on Delta from SEA-PVG. I'm not giving Delta one more dollar ever again.
I'm exploring what I should do.
1) How much compensation should I ask for? I was told in HNL that if I wanted any compensation it would come from Manila, not even Atlanta?!?!? I'm leery to accept any compensation until I know what I should ask for.
2) I bought a ticket MNL-NRT-PDX with 8 free bags. I was flown MNL-NRT-HNL-SEA and as far as Delta knows I had to pay $75 for bags. Do I have grounds to dispute the credit card transaction? I charged them on my Navy Federal mastercard.
3) What about going to Small Claims court over this?
If it wasn't for the witch station manager at Delta HNL, I would be inclined to just move on, but threatening with police action just because I said it was ridiculous that I needed to pay for my bags that I already paid for in the ticket. Delta didn't live up to their end of the bargain and didn't do what I paid them to do.
Long story:
I bought tickets for MNL to PDX via NRT for me, my wife, and 3 kids(11,9 and 2 months old). The one way tickets were quite pricey since I bought them 2 days before departure.
DL 172 from MNL pulled away from the gate on-time but then they couldn't get the starter to working on the number 1 engine so we went back to the gate for a replacement part. We sat for an hour waiting for the part to be fixed with the airplane doors open.....and air conditioning unable to cope with the tropical heat. That delay was understandable.....
With the part fixed in about 75 minutes, we were back out to the runway in the number 1 position where we sat for 30 minutes. The pilot came on the intercom after 20 minutes and told us he was waiting for some load-balance numbers from Atlanta. After another 20 minutes of waiting, we went back to the gate to refuel. This delay is 100% Delta's fault. We waited at the gate to refuel and push back from the gate a third time.
Normal departure time was 800 but we actually departed at about 1115. We arrived in NRT an hour late for our connecting flight. Missing the connecting flight was caused by Atlanta headquarters according to the pilot, not a mechanical problem. Instead of putting us up in a hotel for the night in NRT, they decided to reroute us.
Our new routing was NRT-HNL-PDX with the domestic portion on Hawaiian Airlines. The 845am arrival time in PDX changed to an 2315 arrival in PDX. We were given a 9 hour layover in HNL. I went to the Delta counter and explained that it was unacceptable to arrive at 2315 since I had to travel into Washington state so they offer to change it to 2140 arrival in SEA with a 6 hour layover in HNL. They gave us meal vouchers in NRT, but they were unused since we didn't have the time to even get food since it was go from the arrivals through security and then check in to the next flight.
We got into HNL. We had carried more than enough formula, bottles and other baby supplies to get us to Portland, but not for an increase in our traveling of 15 hours so in HNL we got our bags and decided to transfer some stuff out of our bags. We were told that if we needed to do that, we had to check in our bags at the Hawaiian Airlines counter. We said no problem.
So we carry all of our bags to the Hawaiian Airlines terminal. While my wife waited there feeding the baby and letting the other kids sleep, I went to the Delta counter to ask for meal vouchers for the delay. I was given a paltry $10 each for the 4 tickets. Ridiculous. I asked for access to a phone to call the mainland and let my sister(who was waiting at PDX) know that I was delayed. They said, sorry we don't have any phones, there is a payphone over there.
I went back to the Hawaiian Airlines terminal. They are far away from each other in case you didn't know. I went to check in the bags for the HNL-SEA flight. I was told by Hawaiian Airlines that I needed to pay $25 for each of the three bags I had checked on Delta, which were free. I said no way and went back to the Delta counter to complain. It's a 10 minutes or more.
So hot and sweaty and very tired I arrived again at the counter. I asked to speak to a manager and they brought out some woman who is supposedly the HNL station manager. I told her this is ridiculous. I already paid for the bags in my ticket. Why do I need to pay for bags again? She told me, this is a Hawaiian Airlines policy. It's not Delta anymore. I told her again, this is ridiculous. Her reply: "Sir, I have nothing more to say, if you persist, I will call the Sheriff."
She threatened me! What kind of BS is that?
So off again to the Hawaiian Airlines terminal. I went to check in again at their automated kiosks when a nice Tongan woman at the first class counter asked me if I needed help. I explained what happened. Her words: "That's ridiculous. Wait here, I will check those bags in for you for free."
Kudos to Hawaiian Airlines.
After going through the boarding area, I logged into my Orbitz account and did a courtesy cancel on my return tickets on Delta from SEA-PVG. I'm not giving Delta one more dollar ever again.
I'm exploring what I should do.
1) How much compensation should I ask for? I was told in HNL that if I wanted any compensation it would come from Manila, not even Atlanta?!?!? I'm leery to accept any compensation until I know what I should ask for.
2) I bought a ticket MNL-NRT-PDX with 8 free bags. I was flown MNL-NRT-HNL-SEA and as far as Delta knows I had to pay $75 for bags. Do I have grounds to dispute the credit card transaction? I charged them on my Navy Federal mastercard.
3) What about going to Small Claims court over this?
If it wasn't for the witch station manager at Delta HNL, I would be inclined to just move on, but threatening with police action just because I said it was ridiculous that I needed to pay for my bags that I already paid for in the ticket. Delta didn't live up to their end of the bargain and didn't do what I paid them to do.