Tell me about flying Delta

[siren0119]

Delta and Southwest are my go-to airlines. Yes, you pay extra for choosing seats ahead of time, but the only time I did that was when we wanted to guarantee our kids would be seated with us. Hubby and I generally sleep/read on the plane so being next to each other isn't really a must-have. They allow one carry-on plus one "personal" item, which includes a backpack as long as it fits under the seat in front of you - we were able to travel with 2 adults and 2 kids on an 8 day vacation with one carryon and one backpack each, with space for souvenirs.

 

[_19disnA]

I was simply stating what actually happened, I never said it always works that way. A PP indicated you need to know how long of a time is scheduled between flights and that has NEVER been a concern of mine. Airlines know what they are doing when setting up schedules, especially regarding connecting flights. Things can happen to cause delays, some are within the airlines control and some are not.

Experienced travelers know to check the departure boards and listen for gate change announcements. You shouldn't waste 30 min. in the gift shop if you need to walk to a different terminal to get your connecting flight.

 

[cinnaminny]

My parents had an issue with them once. They will never fly with them again. My mom is disabled and their connection flight was a few minutes late. They got to the area before the plane left, the doors were still open, the boarding bridge still connected and they wouldn't let them on. My dad is still mad.

I had a connection on a Delta once. We had some cheap seats and were worried about seat assignments. But outside of that, I liked the setup.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I was simply stating what actually happened, I never said it always works that way. A PP indicated you need to know how long of a time is scheduled between flights and that has NEVER been a concern of mine. Airlines know what they are doing when setting up schedules, especially regarding connecting flights. Things can happen to cause delays, some are within the airlines control and some are not.

Experienced travelers know to check the departure boards and listen for gate change announcements. You shouldn't waste 30 min. in the gift shop if you need to walk to a different terminal to get your connecting flight.

Connection time has been a concern for me in Atlanta. 35 minutes when you land at one of the furthest gates is too tight if everything doesn't go perfectly. When I have had flights that close, I made sure to be in at least Delta Comfort to get off the plane faster. The last time, we hightailed it across the airport, skipped taking a bathroom break, and ended up at the tail end of the line to board our Orlando flight. Given a choice, I like an hour and a half in Atlanta, but an hour is enough.

 

[KPeterso]

the best non-stop, time-wise for us is Delta out of Orlando. Never flown them. Great price, but we’ll have to pay for bags & seat selection.

Tell me it’s a good airline (we flew mostly Virgin America but since Alaska bought them, I’d have to fly to Seattle then to LA)

Same boat as you. Loved the Virgin America flights from LAX to MCO and back. And flying to Seattle to go to WDW is not a connection I am interested in. We flew Delta for the first time last month from LAX to MCO, and overall, we were very pleased and will consider them again. We did get the Comfort + seats and were in the kind of sort bulkhead, and it gave us a lot of legroom. All seats had tvs with several options of things to watch. I look at price and schedule for my flights from LAX to MCO and they are definitely still a contender (United, AA, and Delta are really the only ones based on schedule at the moment for me).

 

[sam_gordon]

I was simply stating what actually happened, I never said it always works that way. A PP indicated you need to know how long of a time is scheduled between flights and that has NEVER been a concern of mine. Airlines know what they are doing when setting up schedules, especially regarding connecting flights. Things can happen to cause delays, some are within the airlines control and some are not.

I don't doubt that you had planes held for you. I just don't want people to think "well, they did it for _19disnA, they'll do it for me".

Experienced travelers know to check the departure boards and listen for gate change announcements. You shouldn't waste 30 min. in the gift shop if you need to walk to a different terminal to get your connecting flight.

But not everyone is an experienced traveler. And also, just because the airline decides a minimum time for a connection doesn't mean it will work for everyone. If you (or someone in your travelling party) moves slower than normal (age/injury/etc), it's good to allow extra time.

 

[klacey1]

We're Delta people! My SO has their Amex and his father is a grandfathered in lifetime Diamond Medallion member. We've always gotten amazing service and I can appreciate that they fly virtually everywhere. I used to be a JetBlue girl and SO split Delta/Southwest, but now we've fully converted over. I really like the Comfort+ experience and of course thoroughly enjoyed first class the one time I've been blessed to experience it!

 

[Turn the Page]

Eh, it is a standard, nationwide airline. They aren't bottom of the barrel but they aren't top of the line either.

I have had a lot of problems with them in the past but I have also had good customer service.

Their equipment is getting old and needs to be replaced. On a trip to Orlando a few years ago we were scheduled for 4 flights, we didn't have direct flights. Three of those 4 flights had mechanical problems which ended up with us being delayed over 24 hours. Beware of the rolling delay.

Last year we found out through our travel agent that the flight we were booked on out of our local airport had been cancelled because the airport was going to be closed due to runway repaving. They didn't notify any passengers. People were showing up to the airport for their flights only to find the airport was closed. They tried to strand my parents in Detroit because their connection had been cancelled due to the same issue. They very helpfully tired to book them on a flight to LaGuardia. I'm really not sure why they thought that would help. The closed airport resulted in us having to drive 5 hours one way to the airport and pay for a hotel overnight. They compensated us $150 each. The extra airfare we paid was more than that.

 

[_19disnA]

I don't doubt that you had planes held for you......

I never said it always happens, just commenting that airlines know what they are doing when making up their schedules.

Even infrequent travelers need to be aware of the current rules/requirements to avoid confusion and delays. Each airline has plenty of posted travel tips on their website along with the TSA site.

 

[sam_gordon]

I never said it always happens, just commenting that airlines know what they are doing when making up their schedules.

Even infrequent travelers need to be aware of the current rules/requirements to avoid confusion and delays. Each airline has plenty of posted travel tips on their website along with the TSA site.

I really don't understand what you're arguing. You said you have had connecting flights held for you, I said travelers should not count on that happening. If they hold for you, great. But they may not, and you can get to your connecting gate with the plane still parked, the jetway still extended, but the door closed and you won't be able to board.

 

[_19disnA]

I am not arguing, just pointing out my experience. Usually on these 'what do you think of.....' type of threads, mostly bad things are posted. Myself (and a few other posters) are also pointing out some good experiences we had. People my have good or bad examples of things that happened to them.

 

[smokeyblue]

I've been exclusively flying Delta for years because they are the only carrier I can take out of my regional airport. I have had my fair share of problems with them in the past, but things have changed for the better in the last two years or so.

The one problem that I have flying out of Orlando is that the food selection in the terminal is poor. if you go over to the Southwest terminal they have all kinds of great options!

Also, I would download their ap. If there is a change or delay with the flight, you'll usually see it there first.

 

[disneyseniors]

We only fly Delta,as it is the hub airline at Minneapolis/StPaul. We get a delta connector to Mn. then a flight to Orlando. We have never had a problem with any of these flights, and we fly 1 or 2 times a year at the difficult winter months here in Mn. No lost luggage, cancellations, etc, etc.
(I hope I didn't jinx us for our Dec. flight
I only have experience with Delta and have no complaints.

 

[nkereina]

I've flown Delta twice and had one good experience and one bad experience. So like anything else, it totally depends and can vary.

For the good experience, we flew them round trip to Honolulu from Buffalo with a connection in Atlanta. All of the flight segments were on time, early in fact, and we had no issues whatsoever. They provided all fare classes including coach free meals and alcohol on the long haul flight, and they had hundreds of free movies and TV shows on the seatback TVs. Couldn't have been a better flying experience.

For the bad experience, they lost my luggage on a nonstop flight from Rochester to Atlanta. I spent two hours at the Atlanta airport waiting for assistance or an update, and finally threw my hands up and went to the hotel. When it was finally located hours later, they refused to deliver my bag and I had to pay a taxi $50 to deliver it to me. When I called after I got home to get a refund, the customer rep told me he couldn't find my name on the manifest so there was nothing he could do. Never escalated it after that, I was just completely done at that point!

 

[klacey1]

The one problem that I have flying out of Orlando is that the food selection in the terminal is poor. if you go over to the Southwest terminal they have all kinds of great options!

In general, I hate the food setup at MCO. I wish the security/food court was flip-flopped so the main food court was after security. It hasn't been as much of an issue since I got TSA Precheck, but the security lines at MCO are so unpredictable (and often long), I imagine most travelers want to go through security as soon as they get to the airport to be safe.

For the bad experience, they lost my luggage on a nonstop flight from Rochester to Atlanta. I spent two hours at the Atlanta airport waiting for assistance or an update, and finally threw my hands up and went to the hotel. When it was finally located hours later, they refused to deliver my bag and I had to pay a taxi $50 to deliver it to me. When I called after I got home to get a refund, the customer rep told me he couldn't find my name on the manifest so there was nothing he could do. Never escalated it after that, I was just completely done at that point!

Ugh that sucks! We did have an issue once where our original flight was super late coming into ATL and we had to run to make our connection. Our luggage predictably did not make it on the plane. Weirdly, our four bags got separated into two groups. Two were delivered to our resort in Vegas via courier—we landed in Vegas around 1 pm and we had confirmation early on that we'd get them by 9 pm. We could track those bags the whole time via the luggage tracker in the Delta app. The other two seemingly vanished and the app wasn't recognizing the bag codes from the tag stubs.

We spent forever on the phone with Delta trying to find out where the missing bags were—they were eventually located at the Vegas airport and we chose to pick them up ourselves because the next courier wasn't leaving until midnight. They gave us a phone number to call for a refund for the Uber to the airport and a voucher to give to a cab driver for a free ride back to our hotel.

It was a super frustrating experience but I was pleased with how Delta handled it, ultimately—I would not have been happy with how they handled yours!

 

[skyblue17]

I'm flying Delta to the Caribbean this January, simply because they have good flight times and more options if by chance I run into weather.

For me, a flight is usually a flight. JetBlue is my favorite airline because it is a comfortable plane, snacks & drinks are included, there are personal entertainment systems and there are many routes from where I live to most places I like to travel.
However, a plane for me is a way to get from Point A to Point B. All airlines have the potential for issues. The best airline ever could end up with a plane that has a mechanical problem that delays you or makes you miss your flight. Airlines some dislike could end up being the most convenient for your dates/times/locations and provide a good experience.

I don't have super high expectations for service and mostly book for convenience, so when Delta comes up, I'd go for it.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Ugh that sucks! We did have an issue once where our original flight was super late coming into ATL and we had to run to make our connection. Our luggage predictably did not make it on the plane. Weirdly, our four bags got separated into two groups. Two were delivered to our resort in Vegas via courier—we landed in Vegas around 1 pm and we had confirmation early on that we'd get them by 9 pm. We could track those bags the whole time via the luggage tracker in the Delta app. The other two seemingly vanished and the app wasn't recognizing the bag codes from the tag stubs.

We had a strange experience like this a couple years ago coming from from Disney. We were super late leaving MCO and I was sure we were going to miss our connection in ATL. As we landed in ATL, the flight attendant announced that since there were a large number of people on this plane trying to make the connection to Louisville, they were going to hold the plane for us, but we needed to hurry. Luckily it was in the same concourse, so we all ran like crazy people down there, got on the plane and they quickly closed the door. As we were all getting settled, the pilot came on and said something about hurrying to make the plane, but that they had decided to wait for luggage to get loaded before we took off. So we sat there for almost a half hour waiting on the luggage from the MCO plane. I'm glad we waited because it was nice to have our luggage on the same flight we were, but it was annoying that they had us run like that and then we waited for 30 minutes.

 

[macraven]

I did my first rt with Delta this month and quite enjoyed it.
Seats, staff, etc were great.

The check in counter for Delta was fully staff and lines moved quickly.


Plan to use them more in the future.