Traveling with Delta this time *little bit of complaining here*

[Canadian Harmony]

And probably never again.

It's not that they changed our flight twice since we booked in July.

It's not that they charge you for every.little.thing like WiFi, better seats, drinks, snacks.

It's that they charge you $25 for checked-baggage when you're a member of the Canadian Military. Why does this bother me?

Because they're 'partners' with WestJet, and WestJet doesn't charge CAF or Veterans a baggage fee for the first 2 bags. And because the flight is originating out of Canada, so you'd think they'd honour OUR service, right? I mean, my 25 years, and DH's 23 years aren't worthy like some US Military guy's year? Gee.... thanks for that.

So Delta nickels and dimes you for everything. And I'm not impressed at all by that.

Yes, I know - many airlines do charge. Yes, I had the choice to go with WestJet or A/C. Yes, yes, yes, I get that.

I'm just saying, that if you think you may want to fly with Delta, add up all the 'extra' charges first and see if it's still cheaper (plus the tickets are in USD) once all is said and done.

I haven't even gotten to the airport yet and I'm already dreading the flight. Not a good way to start our vacation.

 

[Carolynleanne]

Ohhh i hear you! We booked Alaska and it turns out that our flight home is actually being operated by Delta. So, we were put into basic economy and I didnt realize that this meant we had NO control over our seats. We're flying with three kids under the age of six! Alaska kindly arranged all of our seats together in advance because of our situation, but Delta basically told us 'they'll try to deal with it at the gate.' STRESSFUL.

 

[MarcJ55]

I'm booked on Delta for my upcoming trip. Thanks for letting me know.

Things like this bug me too. Not for the money, but for the principle of it.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

As a update: When we left YYJ, the attendant isn't there the whole time. They show up about 2-3 hours before the flight. They have a sign showing when they'll be there.

The lady who checked us in was wonderful, and waived our fees on the way there.

The flight was delayed out of Seattle to Victoria (to come get us), and we sat for an extra hour (better than those who were sitting in the plane on the tarmac for that hour) in the airport. Even though it wasn't their problem, they made things good by putting our family in First Class for the trip down to Santa Ana. We missed our connection, of course, but by filling up the next flight with the 21 of us who missed the flight, and offering vouchers and hotels to those who could wait til the next day, they did the best they could to rectify the situation.

On the way back, they did NOT waive the fees and I was okay with that because one bag was 56lbs, and the other bag was 36. We juggled some stuff around a bit, and ended up at 53lbs... and by this time I was quite prepared to pay the $100 for the overweight, even if it was only 2lbs over.

Kim, our new favourite, waived the overage fee for us, so we paid $40 instead of $140.

So while things didn't go exactly as I'd hoped, it all worked out in the wash.

 

[RipperSB]

Delta is, currently, my airline of choice. Flying to Orlando from Saskatchewan is a bit challenging as only Westjet flies direct (from Regina) and only once/week. This last trip (5-19 Dec 17) flying with Delta (Comfort+) from Saskatoon was $1000.00 cheaper than Westjet or Air Canada out of Regina. Even including the drive to/from Saskatoon AND two nights in a hotel, it is still considerably cheaper than the Canadian airlines.

 

[deedubb]

Delta is, currently, my airline of choice. Flying to Orlando from Saskatchewan is a bit challenging as only Westjet flies direct (from Regina) and only once/week. This last trip (5-19 Dec 17) flying with Delta (Comfort+) from Saskatoon was $1000.00 cheaper than Westjet or Air Canada out of Regina. Even including the drive to/from Saskatoon AND two nights in a hotel, it is still considerably cheaper than the Canadian airlines.

Same experience here. We have flown direct with Delta multiple times and have always had a great flight. We also like the comfort seats and love being one of the first off the plane when we land. I wish we also had more than once weekly direct flights with Westjet, but even then, it is still much more expensive.

 

[pangaeanshift]

I can certainly understand the frustration with the "nickle and dime-ing" of the airlines. When there's multiple people on a trip, $25 per bag is not an insignificant amount of money when you expect not to have to pay. I certainly get that. That said, we should look at it in some context. Delta is an American company, and has discounts and perks for American Military Personnel.

Westjet, while a partner of Delta, has their own policies, including discounts and perks (no fee checked luggage) for Canadian Military Personnel. Much like Delta doesn't have anything for the Canadian Military, Westjet does not offer anything to US Military. At least as far as I can tell by reading each airlines luggage policies.

Partnerships between airlines only go so far unfortunately and does not usually extend into replacing one airlines policies for another. I did a 16-month trip around the world that was with a Round-The-World ticket through Star Alliance (Air Canada, Continental, Egypt Air, Turkish Air, Air New Zealand, among others) and I had to follow multiple Airlines rules including fees, rules for seat selections, how much time they require for check in, etc. The partnership/alliance merely allows me and anyone else to book a multi-stop trip without breaking up the bill between different airlines if one does not serve the entire route you require. In the end, this actually makes things cheaper than what it would be otherwise.

I'm actually very curious as to where you booked your ticket to have it in USD. I've booked directly with Delta through the app, through the website, and most recently through a Travel Agent, and each time it's been in CAD. I work in a hotel, and this is actually pretty common. People will go on third party sites, think they're booking an amazing deal, and find out that it was in USD and they just spent way more than they anticipated. Always be careful when you're booking tickets or rooms through a third party and not the airline (or hotel) itself.

What I will say as a good warning though is that Delta has created a new lower fare class (Basic Economy I believe it's called). This does not give you the option to pre-select your seats at any time during the process (from my understanding). When you check in, you're put where the system puts you. I got lucky though that I have an amazing Travel Agent who booked us into Basic Economy for the cheaper fare, then somehow got us the upgrade to "Regular" Economy so that we could pre-select our seats.

Hopefully your trip goes amazing though and that this is merely an inconvenient blip!

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Thanks for the response.

The trip was just fine and I did update earlier in the thread.