This picture shows a happy girl sitting on her plane ready to take off to Vegas from Florida. My trip was amazing but I was ready to get back to normal life, and a normal schedule and sleep in my comfy bed. I was smiling, although Delta had been EXTREMELY rude and tried to nickle and dime me when I requested TWICE that they reroute my already rerouted flight direct to Vegas, instead of sending me to LAX BEFORE Las Vegas but they refused.
I get on my flight from Jax to Atl and before I even get on the runway my nightmare begins with a message from the pilot "Due to unforeseen weather issues in Atlanta we are waiting 30 minutes to depart." You have to be kidding me! I look at my ticket for my connecting flight from ATL to LAX and realize I literally have minutes to get from my arrival gate to my next departing gate. Finally we take off, and this is by far the WORST flight in my entire life! The turbulance was so bad I was sure we were going to die! I am not one for panic attacks and anxiety, but this flight definitely had me out of my norm.
We finally land in ATL, and my gate is HELLA far and I have to catch a tram to my next gate. I RUN thru the airport and arrive to my gate to find they are closing the doors. I should've let them close them but instead ask to board. Unfortunate for me they let me on. Had I just allowed them to leave without me they would've had no choice but to put me on a direct flight to Vegas. Oops.
I board the flight to LAX, and once again I get a special message from the pilot stating that due to bad weather and hail storms in ATL the runway has been shut down until further notice and they anticipate 30 minute before we know whether we can attempt to depart. 3 hours later, still LOCKED on the plane and sitting at the gate we get the ok to leave. My 5 hour flight begins.
We get in the air and I realize it's been a good 8 hours since I have eaten and ask the flight attendant if they will be serving food or have food for sale. I was annoyed when they said they had a limited amount of over priced snacks for sale. And, that it was pretty obvious I had missed my connecting flight to Vegas and wouldn't be able to get another flight to the following morning.
Hungry, angry, irritated, exhausted and stressed I tried to remain calm. They were so nice to play a movie "Silver Lining Play Book" which was a good movie and ONLY highlight to my trip. We arrive to LAX around 10:40pm and told to go to the customer service desk to obtain a voucher for my flight to Vegas. I get in line to wait 30 minutes to be greeted by one of Delta's most rude customer service agents. He gave me my voucher for a stand by flight for 8am. I clearly lost my cool.
As I continued to go off on him about how I made attempts to avoid this and they are the rudest customer service ever, he then decides to send me on a wild good chase for my luggage. I leave the secured area of the aiport, stand in ANOTHER line for 30 minutes to ask about my luggage to find out that the guy at the counter already knew it had been transferred to my final destination. Ok, I am more than annoyed and I peeped the line to get back into security was hella long. Not only that but ALL the restaurants were closed! But no worries I wouldn't have to worry about that. Why?
THEY WOULDNT LET ME BACK IN!
Oh hell nah! Yeah... Federal Reg apparently has a rule that if you leave the secured area and your flight isn't before the airport closes, you cannot re-enter. I am beyond livid and ready to rip someone's head off! I go to the ticket counter where I explain my story and he says... "Nothing I can do, its federal regulation.. blah blah" I tell him I want to speak to his manager and he proceeds to say that his manager will tell me the same thing. My reply?
"I don't care if your manager tells me the EXACT same thing word for word what you said as long as he says it in a more professional manner and not so uncaring!!"
And that's exactly what he did. He was very concerned and even admitted that there were 2 direct flights they could've placed me on in Jax, and that they were aware of the weather conditions in ATL long before I checked in and could've EASILY changed my fight with NO charge. Although it was too late to do anything about it, he did put me on a confirmed flight with a "big comfy seat up front." It didn't make up for my inconveniences, and frustration but at least he was trying.
I had to sleep outside the airport in the cold in my spaghetti strap dress and no way to charge my dead cell phone for several hours. Due to the riff raff outside I was unable to actually sleep and waited until the security gate opened so I could get in the terminal and grab something to eat.
It's 4am, I am starving, exhausted, freezing but first in line for security. I get through with no issues and start heading to my gate which happens to be near a McD's which would be opening at 5am... tried to charge my phone and wait for my flight. 8am came, I boarded and landed within the hour. Picked up my luggage, and had to figure out how I was going to get home since my ride had come the day before to get me and I wasn't there and no way to reach him to tell him I wasn't going to make it because my phone was dead.
I go to turn on my phone and it's not booting up! YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME! Thank GOD my smart ass figured out a way to reach someone while waiting for 2 hours... Thanks to Google Voice, I logged into my laptop and texted a few ppl. Someone was finally coming to rescue me! The nightmare was FINALLY ENDING!
I officially HATE Delta. They were the most unaccommodating and rude people I have EVER had to deal with. I will avoid travel with them as much as possible.
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