Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 17, 1994 TAG: 9408180051
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Sandra Brown Kelly
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
My travel companion and I were on the final leg of 21/2 weeks of travel throughout Alaska. We had taken 10 separate flights on four different carriers.
Comair was to be our fifth carrier except that our Delta flight from Seattle to Cincinnati was late. Comair's 9:01 p.m. plane left before we could get from where the big planes arrive to where the little ones board, which anyone who flies knows is always a long trot.
The obvious question to Comair: "Couldn't you have held the flight a few minutes?"
"Delta was late. Our planes leave on time," the Comair agent replied in a not-at-all friendly voice.
But what about coordination between the carriers? The Delta worker who only minutes earlier had given us the gate number for the Comair connection didn't say a word about how we'd never get there on time.
And while we were in Delta's friendly skies on the way from Seattle, flight attendants assured many passengers that "we're doing all we can to see that you make your connections."
It turned out that the only people who made connections were those scheduled on a Comair flight that had been "delayed."
The remainder of us were sent to the Delta ticket counter to make arrangements for flights the following day. The ones we'd missed were the last ones out for the evening. Gone was the day to rest and do laundry before returning to work.
And there at the Delta counter to explain what happened was Not Me.
First, we were told it was "the federal government's fault" that we missed our connection because construction at the Cincinnati airport had closed all but one runway and air-traffic controllers couldn't clear the Delta plane to land.
Q: But did the federal government cause Delta to be an hour late leaving Seattle?
A: Well, since the flight originated in Cincinnati and was late leaving on its first trip of the day, it had been late all day.
Q: Then shouldn't you have told us in Seattle that we would never make the Comair connection?
A: We don't have anything to do with Comair.
Q: Doesn't Delta own part of Comair?
A: Well, yes.
Then Not Me moaned about how Comair makes even Delta agents angry. Plus, Comair's stock is doing great and Delta is having a hard time.
The upshot of it all was that we were given a voucher for a room at The Netherlands Omni in downtown Cincinnati, two $22 vouchers for a taxi to get to the hotel and back to the airport the next day, plus $20 for dinner, $8 for breakfast and $12 for lunch divided two ways.
The food vouchers pooled did not pay for a late sandwich dinner at The Omni, and the taxi driver, upon being given the $22 fare voucher, observed: "Delta is getting cheap; they used to give us $25."
And the Sunday afternoon Comair flight was a lot later than four minutes leaving for Roanoke.
I did meet some nice Delta workers along the way, however, and this week I had a long talk with Comair customer service representative Debbie Reynolds, who said things didn't happen as they should have. She also said Delta could have influenced the holding of the Comair flight.
The lesson in this experience is a reminder that airline travelers don't have any rights to speak of, but they do expect good, honest customer service; and when they don't get it, it feels so good to complain anyway.
by CNB