Traveling Pleasures…

Every time I travel on Delta Airlines (www.delta.com) whether it is for business or pleasure, there is always a problem. I can’t remember the last time I flew and didn’t have my baggage lost, didn’t have my flight delayed or didn’t miss a connection — all faults of the airline.

When my family and I went to Denver, Colorado in February, the plane which was supposed to be non-stop, was changed to a one stop flight a week prior to our departure. When the plane finally landed in Cincinnati after sitting on the runway at JFK for more than two hours, we missed our connection and got into Denver at 11 pm. A four hour flight ended up taking us nearly 13 hours!

Last year, when we were going to Eagle/Vail Airport from JFK, we had the same situation. Our flight didn’t take off from the runway and we ended up missing our connection. We landed in Minneopolis and stayed there for three days until we could get a connecting flight to Eagle! (At least we got to experience Mall of America, which was pretty awesome!)

We’re going to Panama in April and we were just notified that our Delta flight was canceled and they offered us another flight that had connections out of Newark. The new flight leaves two days before the original one and comes back the day of my birthday. We had to rearrange the entire trip!

I’ve come to realize that to have delays and to miss flights are typical. I also realize that the people who bring their bags on the plane get out of the airport at least an hour before those who check their luggage. I can’t tell you how many times our bags were lost from JFK airport!

Recently, my kids and I stayed at a Marriott (www.marriott.com) in Coral Springs, Florida to visit my parents. We checked in late and went to sleep. The next day we were running around with my folks and went back to the hotel around 11 pm. As we were walking down the hall, my 16 year old daughter said, “I hope they changed the sheets!” When I asked why, she told me it had a blood stain.

“What?” I asked…

When the stain was still there, we screamed and called the concierge. Since all the housekeepers went home for the evening, the security guard sent up a change of linens.

The difference between the Marriott and Delta Airlines is that after screaming at the day manager and getting threatened to be thrown out, the Marriott agreed to give me two days at no charge. Whereas Delta Airlines has never offered us anything for our inconvenience. Delta feels that if you fly with frequent flyer miles you have no reason to complain. So, why do they have a frequent flyer program?