Freefallin'
This begins a series of rapid-fire OC comics coming out this week, there's gonna be about six comics between now and Friday in which I relate to you my experiences at the 2006th Annual San Diego Comic-Con.
Here's the part I where advise you to never fly Delta Airlines if you can possibly avoid it. I landed in Atlanta half an hour after my connecting flight to San Diego departed because they overbooked the flight in Hartford and had to re-weigh the plane. After being told the next flight was at 8am (this was about 9pm in Atlanta) I was informed by a Delta service agent that there "ain't no more hotels in Atlanta" and I would need to spend the night in that miserable airport. I was standing in line with three women who were reduced to tears by Delta customer service. They need to change their slogan to "Delta. Cry, bitch. Cry."
I desperately pulled the "I will tell 50,000 people never to fly Delta Airlines again if you don't do something about this" card, and they didn't do anything about it, so here is me making good on that.
Never fly Delta Airlines if you can avoid it.
posted by jeffrey rowland at 3:07:00 PM
43 Comments:
But what of Joanna?!?!
Dude, for the future, if you live in MA, as you do, and are flying to CA, as you were, it is almost certainly worth the driving to drive to Manchester, NH or Providence and fly Southwest direct.
Yes, I second that motion. Delta is da stupid. Aren't they bankrupt by the way?
Seeing as she is already dead, I wouldn't worry much about Joanna. Nothing worse could happen to her. Seriously, if I were a zombie I would take advantage of those opportunities.
I was once told at 3pm, when they cancelled my flight, that the next flight they could put me on was 5am the next morning, because the rest of the flights for the day were booked. So I pitched a fit till they gave me a voucher for another airline, which was nice of them, I suppose. This was neither Delta nor Atlanta.
Even Zombies can explode on impact, miss elizabeth.
i bet she didn't even think that you had the ability to tell that many people that delta blows.
I have never in my life had a good experience in the Atlanta airport, and I've flown into it on three different airlines. It's as if all the stupid from Atlanta has been concentrated in the air traffic control tower at the airport.
So did you sleep on the floor of the terminal ala Tom Hanks like I recently had to do in Minneapolis?
I always stand way out in the hall and flush with a ten foot pole to avoid being blown out of the plane.
Getting that ten foot pole on the plane in the first place is the tough part.
All the airlines have been like that since they were deregulated (thanks, Republicans). A "good" airline these days is one that doesn't charge you for an extra plane ticket when your connecting flight leaves before you even land.
Did you shave on the plane?
As an (Atlantan? Atlanian? Atlantean?) individual from Atlanta, I feel compelled to join in this discussion -- the problem is twofold; first that Atlanta-Hartsfield is the busiest (most flights in and out) airport in the US, if not the world. Whether you're departing or arriving there, if you don't have all your ducks in a row for that plane to get off the ground or into the gate on time, it ain't getting off at all. The second problem is that, as Matthew pointed out, Delta is undergoing "adjustments" at this time. So their employees are feeling small and freaked out (as an employee who's been laid off due to bankruptcy, you can tell when the axe is hovering). How can you expect people to do a good job when they think that they might be canned tomorrow?
So, somebody freaks out, lets their guard down, and makes a minor screwup. There's no time to correct for it (busiest airport, remember), so it ends up snowballing down the line until there's a massive problem at the end of it all. Happened to me -- my flight from Philly to Atlanta was canceled because they didn't hae time to fix the AC for the plane on the ground when it left there to arrive at Philly, and by the time it got there it was 110 degrees in the cabin.
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I believe that it is still mandatory that they either put you up for the night or find you a flight that you can make on another airline. Either way, I fly Southwest when I can, because they don't dance around the fact that they are barebones.
Don't fly if you can possibly avoid it. Flying commercial is a miserable, stress filled, health hazardous act that does not need to be undertook.
Trains, people. Trains.
Regardless of what delta is going through, they still should provide the best service possible because we are paying for it! my flight was canceled out of atlanta a couple of weeks ago, and thank god they found me a hotel! it was a huge mess and i spent about four hours in four different lines! i agree, until they get their crap together, don't fly delta!!
*waits patiently for the "Fuck Delta" shirts to hit the store.
Uh, Scooter? Are you recommending AMTRAK? Seriously? Delta sucks, but Amtrak?
I have a nonstop Delta from my parents' home in Atlanta to mine in San Fran Friday. Wish me luck. Or don't. There's someone out there who deserves it more than I.
I find that almost all airlines suck. I have had a bad experience on almost every one I have flown on. And don't even get me started on the TSA assholes.
Sadly if you are bicoastal, the train is not a reasonable alternative; it is both 10 times slower, and 5 times the price.
Alas, I'm a Skymiles member with some 40,000 miles on me. I can't quit now, can I? =P
The flight from San Diego back to Atlanta had no A/C from what I could tell, everyone was sweating all night.
On the way out of San Diego when we were waiting at the terminal this guy beside me freaked out and just got off the plane and didn't come back. His seat was instantly given to a fat white man who had been on standby.
Better cash in those miles soon, Nam.
Never fly from Logan Airport... worst airport in the country. Delta is terrible too with my experiences
I too hate Delta. I have mirrored your frustrations at 8bit theater (if you are familiar).
If Topato's name is still spelt incorrectly, for the love of god forgive me. It was the alcohol.
I'm working in a travel agency now, and one joke about Delta is that it stands for:
Don't
Expect
Luggage
To
Arrive. We don't sell delta too much. or at all.
Shiney, you gotta tell me if you ain't got your book yet! Sometimes me or the post office messed up.
Email help@topatoco.com if you have anything like this.
See now, I have and probably always will love flying. I hate airports, usually, but being in the air is almost always fun for me.
But most people hate it! I don't understand why.
Delta does suck ass though.
Song is okay, but regular delta is a mess. Their employees are the worst paid of any airline and they strike all the time. You can transfer your delta miles to northwest, but so far within the US I have had the best experiences with United and American. I fly somewhere almost every week (this week it was texas) so I have tried them all.
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Thanks for the heads up! I will now never fly Delta, and I will do my dangin' best to avoid the Atlanta airport.
I also agree on the "Fuck Delta" t-shirts.
OK, I will never fly delta!
Of course, the fact that there are no Delta planes in Brazil helps a lot.
i can't stand delta either - they've cancelled flights on me and not told me. And my butt doesn't fit the seats and I don't have a big butt!
when i was 14 and my sister was 13 (a couple years ago) we had to fly to Boston alone, so our parents hired the flight attendants to make sure we didn't walk into the engines. Dispite not talking to us, and sticking us in near-closets for hours waiting for connecting flights, when we actually got to Logan Airport, they stuck us in the staff room and left us in there, for four hours. No one could find us and they hadn't told us to go anywhere. Eventually my grandma called lost luggage for delta and they found us that way.
Don't ever fly delta.
Jeffy Jeffy Jeffy... No matter how bad a corporate service is, there is one rule of civilty that must be obeyed: Don't make threats to get what you want. No matter what the scenario is, as soon as you say "or I will do something" you are dead wrong & deserve whatever shaft you're riding. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with telling everyone not to fly Delta (you go with your bad self!), I'm saying that if they ever capitulated to that threat then every customer being polite to those employees instead of trying to intimidate them would be getting twice the shaft.
I followed a link here from 8-bit Theatre. Nice strip, will add it to my list... However I had to comment after reading Valuedan's crack about airline deregulation...
Do you even know what you're talking about? Do you even know when deregulation happened? Or by whom? Read up on the Airline Deregulation Act. I was sponsored by Sen. Howard Cannon (D-NV) at the behest of Pres. Jimmy Carter (D). And at the end of the day, its effects have been pretty positive... I think paying 30% less to visit a sick friend or go to my cousin's wedding is pretty nice.
Don't make threats to get what you want.
The shaft was already fully implanted and was being twisted at this point. I don't say things like that ever and it was only when I was treated like a subhuman that it came out. The Delta employees made three grown women cry in three separate instances.
Between Ze Frank's admonishment and yours, I doubt anyone who enjoys funny things will want to fly Delta.
Delta's subsidiary Sun Country is the anti-Delta. I originally chose them because they happened to have the lowest fare, and I discovered their amazing service. They serve hot sandwiches, not a little bag of 6 pretzels. And one time when I checked in, the counter guy said "Oh, you're kind of tall. I bet you'd like some extra leg room. Can I seat you in an exit row?" I'm not making that up.
I've been pretty lucky. When I fly, I fly vegan. It's really important for them not to screw up the meals, as most of my flights have been ORD-KIX. United ain't luxury, but they only messed up the meals once, and they did a good job of apologizing.
I lost an entire day picking up a friend from the airport because an American Airlines flght that was supposed to arrive at 10:55 am actually landed at 4:20 pm. I could have gone to work, but AA (maybe Am Air is full of alcoholics?) didn't bother updating their electronic tracking until FOUR hours AFTER the plane was in the air.
When I explained to the AA reps that I was bored, and it was AA's fault, and that they could remedy this by letting me into the Admiral's Room so I could at least watch TV for the 5 hours, they all explained that they couldn't just let anyone waiting for a mistakenly 6-hour delayed flight into the room for free. Apparently they do this alot, so the room would be crowded. So instead I PO-ed off the saleswoman at the ultraexpensive airport gadgets store by sitting in their trial massage chair for 2 hours.
I guess this sounds unpatriotic, but don't fly American.
1. All airlines overbook their flights because so many passengers don't show up. If they didn't overbook then they would take off with empty seats while leaving behind people who would fly if given the opportunity to buy a ticket ... and one of them might be you. 2. Taking time for weight and balance calculations is a good thing. Several years ago a Beech 1900 airliner crashed because they didn't take the time to do that correctly. Most people would rather be late than dead. Are you one of them? 3. When hotels release rooms for airlines to make available for passengers, they do it at a reduced rate. If they can fill up their rooms without doing it at a reduced rate with the airlines then ... gasp! ... the airlines don't have any hotel rooms. Pay for your own room if it means that much to you. 4. Be a man and face life as it comes without crying about it. So you were late. Boo hoo. Deal with it. 5. And no, I don't work for Delta.
Deregulation happened nearly 30 years ago and the penalties that airlines pay for bumped travelers haven't changed thereby creating greater incentive to bumping passengers. Expect more bumping in the future. This hasn't been a problem because of crazy cheap oil prices in the 90's but now that oil prices have returned to normal and are now heading north, get ready to be bumped more often.
I know this is more than a year ago but I can't help but to chime in on the misconceptions and lies I've seen on here. First, Delta employees don't "always go on strike" as someone asserted. Delta pilots (and a small group of dispatchers) are the only union groups at Delta and neither one has ever gone on strike nor have the other employees ever done so.
Second, Sun Country is not not now or ever has been a subsidiary of Delta.
I don't know where you people get your information or are you so caught up in the "screw Delta" fever that you make up lies just to be one of the gang?
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