Airline: Delta
Flight: TLV-JFK
Class: BusinessFirst
Incident: Original flight canceled after sitting on plane for four hours, then rescheduled for next night and then canceled again due to maintenance issues. Ended up making a one way award ticket with LH on my own, while some of my other not so lucky friends didn't get home for another day. Fired off a nasty email from the FRA Lounge.
Compensation: An standard email apology, including $200 of E-Certs, and a roundtrip ticket anywhere DL flies. Not enough in my opinion. Their version of the events that unfolded were totally skewed from the truth... was 10x worse than it sounds from the email.
Dear M,
RE: Case 916479
On behalf of Delta Air Lines, I would like to offer you my immediate and sincere apology for the inconvenience caused when Flight 269 from Tel Aviv (TLV) to John F. Kennedy (JFK) cancelled on July 7, 2010. Further, I regret the additional impact to your travel when extra section Flight 9856, scheduled to depart that evening was also cancelled and you incurred a second overnight stay in TLV. I recognize how upsetting and inconvenient these flight disruptions were for you, and again, I apologize.
Please allow me to offer some additional details regarding this incident.
- On July 7, 2010 Delta Flight 269 experienced a hydraulic leak. As it was anticipated this would be corrected prior to scheduled departure, a
decision was made to board the aircraft.
- Unfortunately this did not occur, and continued attempts were made to address the maintenance issue while the passengers were onboard.
- This "creeping delay" along with crew restrictions ultimately rendered the crew unable to transport the passengers to JFK.
- Flight 269 was cancelled and extra section Flight 9856 was created to depart that evening.
- Passengers were provided hotel accommodations, meal vouchers, and rebooked on Flight 9856 or on an alternate flight.
- Boarding of Flight 9856 was delayed approximately an hour due to a runway issue.
- Upon completion of boarding, the flight was further delayed due to mechanical problems. These items were resolved, the aircraft departed the gate, only to return due to another maintenance issue.
- Once again, on-going delays and crew restrictions necessitated the cancellation of the flight, and extra section Flight 9860 was created to transport the passengers to JFK on July 8, 2010.
- Passengers were provided hotel accommodations, meal vouchers, and rebooked on Flight 9860 or on alternate flights.
- Flight 9860 departed as planned.
As a gesture of apology for the inconvenience caused by these flight disruptions, in addition to the Electronic Transportation Credit Voucher
(eTCV) gesture already provided, attached is a roundtrip system-wide international ticket that has been reserved for you. Please keep the document numbers and the Terms and Conditions since the numbers are required for redemption. Both the eTCV and ticket must be redeemed within one year from the date of issue. There is no Direct Ticketing
fee for reservations made online at delta.com.
For details regarding the eTCV gesture, questions regarding the complimentary ticket, or assistance in redeeming either document towards future travel, please contact Delta Reservations at 800-221-1212.
I pledge to you that we are dedicated to providing dependable transportation. We look forward to a future opportunity of serving your air travel needs. Thank you for your understanding and for flying Delta Air Lines.
Sincerely,
Toby Broberg
Director, Customer Care
Delta Air Lines/KLM Royal Dutch Airlines