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The Travel Troubleshooter

Is Delta Air Lines out of line?

Q: I was flying from New York to Orlando on Delta Air Lines when I had an unpleasant experience. We arrived at the airport two hours before our flight was scheduled to leave. My four children and I waited patiently on the line for a security check.

As we were waiting, a Delta employee monitored the line. Every five or ten minutes, he would ask, "Anyone here for the 4:15 flight?" He pulled people from the back of the line, and whisked them straight in. When he called for the 5:35 and 5:40 flights, I told him that we were waiting for the 5:45. He rudely said "I know all about you and your people," and
ignored us.

We finally arrived at the check-in counter 25 minutes before the flight, and were told that the flight was closed. We missed our flight, and the five of us spent an uncomfortable night in the airport lobby waiting for the 8 a.m. flight to Orlando.
 
Had Delta not pulled some 75 people out of the line and put them in front of us, we would not have missed our flight. Had he not discriminated against us, we would not have missed our flight. I feel that we should be compensated as passengers who were 'bumped' from a flight and delayed 14 hours.

- Sara Karasik

A: I've reviewed the correspondence between you and Delta and I too am troubled by what the airline did. But I'm also bothered by your account, and after reading and re-reading the letters I believe Delta's response was appropriate.

First, let's talk about where Delta went wrong. It kept you waiting in a ticket line for more than an hour and even though you arrived two hours before your flight departed, you still missed it. The employee working the line was at best insensitive, at worst incompetent.

You wrote a letter to Leo Mullin, Delta's chairman and chief executive, describing your treatment, and to his credit, the carrier responded. It apologized and assured you it would address the employee's behavior. "Normally our agents are able to complete the check-in process very quickly, and we regret that your turn at the ticket counter was after the baggage check-in deadline," customer care manager Michele Schrader wrote in a letter to you.

Schrader pointed out that Delta doesn't offer any denied boarding compensation in a situation like this. Nor, in fact, does any other airline that I know of. You were flying to a popular destination at a busy time of the year and with all the additional security precautions in place, two hours wasn't enough to get you through security and checked in. At that time, Delta had advised all travelers to arrive "at least" two hours ahead of schedule.

Bottom line: Delta says you were cutting it close and won't offer anything other than an apology.

Delta's contract of carriage - the agreement between you and the airline - stipulates that it must transport you from point "A" to point "B" (New York to Orlando, in your case) and it clearly did what it was supposed to. The time to file a complaint would have been after you missed your first flight. Accepting the rebooked flight essentially meant that you
waived your rights to any additional compensation.

To be sure, there are several unanswered questions about Delta's story. Why didn't it have more staff working the counters that day? How many other people missed their flights? Why didn't the airline at least offer meal vouchers as a goodwill gesture to the folks who were stranded?

At the same time, there are gaps in your story. If you live in New York, why did you and your family spend the night at the airport terminal? If you were traveling at peak times, why didn't you leave a little early?

I can understand your disappointment at missing your flight, and I believe you were entitled to an apology from Delta. But nothing more.

Christopher Elliott is a travel writer in Key Largo, Fla. E-mail him at chris@elliott.org

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