FYI-,
So I thought I would give Delta Airlines a try. One stop in Atlanta each direction. Needless to say I did not look at the connection time in Atlanta…which really should have been the airlines job in my view. Stated connection time was 45 minutes. Now that is kind of a rush even with the use of the airport tram and in most cases American Airlines would not book closer than 60 minutes between flights. So I paused and thought about that for a moment. Still Delta’s current management maybe found a better way…(heh-heh). I also made the stupid presumption the connections were still guaranteed and that if the arriving flight was a mere 10-20 min late they would hold the departing flight for me. Ha-ha, NOT!!!.
Inbound flight was 20-25 min late. Even with Olympic sprinter fitness levels there is no way I am going to connect a flight Arriving at Atlanta’s Terminal A and Departing Terminal T in about 15 min or less, especially with the close and latch the airplane door 10 min prior to departure practice. So of course missed the connecting flight. It’s only 6:00 p.m. Atlanta time though so maybe a rebook?
Nope, Delta could not find an empty seat until 8:05 flight the next morning. So since the delay was weather related Delta got away with only partial compensation for the stay at the Atlanta Westin Hotel (better than nothing and 50% off market rate of room). Westin told me at checkin that all room service is suspended so I needed to eat in the cafe as soon as possible as it would close in an hour after I checked in (wonderful).
So next day I try again this time I am on a flight to Minneapolis, apparently Delta does not have seats open to Chicago or Milwaukee the entire next day so Minneapolis it was. Again, and this time having to do with aircraft handling th
Delta posts its connection times. If you missed it, well…
The minimum legal connecting time in ATL is 35 minutes for domestic connections.
https://renespoints.boardingarea.com/2019/09/23/delta-seems-to-be-relenting-on-30-minute-legal-connection-rule-well-at-least-in-atl-just-what-is-the-new-minimum-connection-time-rule/
American books closer connection times all the time. They will post a warning on the booking that says “note connection time”. They just changed my flights around with a 45 minute connection in Philly, vs the 1:30 that I booked. No worries.
They haven’t been in a long time, if ever.
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This one I made but this time downgraded from First Class to Coach, still Delta was smart enough to attempt to preserve some of the First Class experience and cleared the coach seat next to me. The only one in Coach with an open seat next to me it seemed.
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It was 2 and 2 seating in coach on a regional jet and both seats were booked in most cases on my flight from Minneapolis to Milwaukee. Perhaps everyone that had a booked two and two seat was related? I have no idea. I guess I should say since officially it was not DELTA but Skywest a DELTA contractor using DELTA paint on the side of the plane.
Sounds like a really unpleasant trip; hope Amtrak goes ok on the way back!
Well Delta could have done a far better job. For example having a tram waiting for me at the gate of the arriving to flight in an attempt to help me make the connection. They could have verbally warned on the reroute via the twin cities but didn’t. They could have had warned on the downgrade to coach on the twin cities to Milwaukee (which I spotted). So many fails at customer service by Delta, it’s performance was far below my worst Amtrak experience. So I do not see how Amtrak could do any worse actually. Which helped me make the decision to refund the return tickets and let someone else suffer in my place.
The FIRST class snack they offered was horrible as well. Though I cannot single out Delta for this because all airlines suck in this department. If your sedentiary for travel, starchy-sugar laden snacks are really not the heathly way to go…they spike your blood sugar levels significantly. I brought trail mix onboard and ate it instead. Again though reflective of airline management thinking that they are moving slabs of beef not human beings.