Abject Incompetence and Offensive Behavior

Flight DL4018 Detroit to Erie depart 7:30. Arriived at gate C12 at boarding time 6:50. 10 minutes later informed by gate attendant that our crew is delayed, between their pre-flight check and scheduled maintenance to the plane the "earliest" boarding would occur is 8 please return by 5 to or 10 to.

7 people in our party, from a connecting flight 2 snack in the concourse 5 enter restaurant for quick bite. Return to gate at 7:50. Monitor reads boarding but door is shut so we sit down. 15 minutes later we inquire if there has been an additional delay or would we board soon. Same gate attendant informs us plane has already boarded. Gets nasty, yells swears she "never told y'all 8 o'clock" and refuses to call the plane (still at jetway being maintenanced) until we all agree she never said that. OK. She calls, we can't board. Openly admits she never bothered to page us.

No more flights to Erie until the next morning around 10:30 am. We ask about availability of other destinations (Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo), she of course "can't help us" sent to help desk who can't help us, call customer service, I wait on hold while all 6 others of my party rebook. Get on flight to Cleveland, after three gate changes (the last of 6 according to other passengers) we board, de-ice, fly to Cleveland and Drive home.

Will NEVER fly delta again.

So, you got back to the gate at the time the agent told you, the plane was boarding, but you waited for 15 minutes before asking a question, and it's all Delta's fault? Where is your responsibility? IMHO, if you eliminate every airline that annoys you, you'll end up driving everywhere.

Were you traveling as a group or individuals? Seems like the agent should have been aware of 7 missing passengers. Were you issued boarding passes?

This is an usual situation because agents are normally aware of passenger counts and will not shut the door until repeated PA's are made especially if you were issued a boarding pass.

With maintenance or air traffic delays it is advisable that someone in your party remain in the gate area. Most agent PA's are meant to be heard only in the gate area. Stray too far and you might miss an important announcement or update as seem to be the case here.

FYI, gate agents at major hubs are usually to busy for re-booking and most airlines have separate areas for doing so.

Was it a Delta connection flight? I have found that commuter flights differ on how they operate than mainline airlines.Detroit is also a Northwest stronghold and there are some issues with the merger.

That's incredible. Especially since it's a 50-seat CRJ.

Anyways, have you complained to DL using their online form? They replied to me within 12 hours.

And I agree with abram that you can't just say "I won't fly xxx airline" after an incident. You won't be flying very soon.

I find this most surprising. I fly through DTW on Delta all the time and constantly hear "paging XXX party, final boarding, flight XXX to Timbuktu" The flights must match up passengers with checked bags. The flight can't depart with bags and no matching passenger - hence all the paging for final boarding. Are you sure you didn't miss the announcements? Didn't you find it strange that the flight was listed as "boarding" and even though the door was shut there were no other passengers in the boarding area? To sit and wait for 15 minutes more is a bit unrealistic.

BTW, dutyfree -- Northwest does not exist any longer. Its all Delta now and has been since January 2010.

I smell a rat here... It is so easy to blame the airlines and I think this may be one such case. I find it difficult to believe that an airline or gate agent would leave 7 passengers behind.

It would seem someone should have heard the announcements!

TC, you are correct except the bag matching may not have been an issue in this circumstance (domestic flight). Bag matching is different for International flights.

I was connecting through EWR a couple of weeks ago on Continental.
For those of you familiar with EWR, our gate was C98--down the stairs from the main concourse with 6 or so doors and no facilities except restrooms.

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 4:15pm, I think, with a posted boarding time of 3:30pm.

At 3:30pm the gate agent made an announcement on the PA in the boarding area that because of icing in ATL, we were in a ground stop, the planned delay of 1 hour, and that she would let us know when the pilot received news from ATC.

Around 4:30pm, the gate agent made the announcement on the PA that the flight was now delayed another 2.5 hours, suggested folks leave the gate area to get food/drink and return by 6:30pm, and that she was leaving the area and another gate agent would arrive before 6:30pm. The gate sign changed to another flight that would depart before ours from the same gate.

About 5:15pm, two guys appeared at the gate and shouted (no PA) "business class and those needing extra time to board". We only knew it was our flight because of the door they were standing in front of. Within 5 minutes they called out all boarding. We warned them that the other agent had told people to leave until 6:30pm and we knew people were missing. They told us to hurry (I assumed we had a small ATC window for takeoff.)

After most of us were seated, some folks we had seen earlier in the waiting area came running on the plane. They said there had been no PA announcement in the boarding area nor any paging up in the main concourse. One fellow checked the sign in the main concourse and saw the flight said "boarding" so he made a dash for it. Another said he just happened to finish eating in the food court and was walking back down when he saw the boarding door open and no one around, so he too ran down the escalator to get on board. It was nuts. I have no idea how many people Continental left behind from our flight who had to find space on the later flights.

I had learned from previous experience not to believe that you can leave the gate area for more than 10-15 minutes. I've also returned after that much time to find a gate change, so that can add to the excitement of a delay.

I learned a long time ago to never trust what the gate agent says with regards to a delay in departure. Go grab a sandwich and bring it back to the gate but never wait until the time the GA told you. If something happens to move the departure sooner keep in mind that the airline is more concerned with "on-time" than they are with leaving without a passenger.
This is not necessarily the GA intentionally providing the wrong time but they may be told at 4:00 pm that the flight is delayed until 6:00 pm and then 15 minutes later told to board for immediate departure.
Stay close or as an earlier poster suggested, leave someone behind in case the time changes quickly.

Most delays are based on situations that can change on short notice. For example, mechanics fix the airplane sooner than planned, ATC delays are reduced on short notice or crews may be taken of another flight to work your flight.

The lesson to be learned here is, STAY NEAR THE GATE AREA when your flight is delayed.

IMO I wouldn't waste the time/effort responding. The OP registered to post her rant and then moved on. She probably won't see any of the comments (may not even remember which all websites she posted it)

Just like the SpritAir complaint thread - hit-and-run

janisj,

I think you are correct but may be others will learn and benefit from the posting.

It is a lot easier to complain than to face criticism and learn from one's mistakes