Atlanta was hit with a significant storm that brought Delta Air Lines operations to its knees. The air traffic control tower at the airport had to be evacuated. Planes on the ground there on Thursday required inspection prior to flying. Delta cancelled 360 flights on Thursday, and 554 flights so far on Saturday.
Major cancellation events always have significant knock-on effects, as planes and crew are out of positions. While Atlanta led the world in cancellations, other Delta hubs were impacted as well. A tough week for weather overall, the American Airlines operation suffered too though not to the same extent.
@eastcobbsnob Will we make it to New York City? #atlanta #atlantageorgia #atlantaairport #airport #airportlife ♬ original sound – eastcobbsnob
Fortunately, as aviation watchdog JonNYC flags based on an internal Delta document, the carrier is making significant accommodations for passengers, going far beyond what’s legally required. They aren’t blaming weather as a way of containing their cost or responsibility for cancellations and passenger displacement.
In, fact they are agreeing to cover:
- Costs incurred by passengers during delays (e.g. hotels)
- Costs as passengers make their way on their own to their destinations, such as reimbursing rental cars
- And paying for travel on other airlines
Here’s the memo:
DL
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) June 28, 2025 at 6:07 PM
In past events, like Crowdstrike, they’ve been slow off the gate to fully assist passengers. This time they aren’t waiting. If your travels were disrupted by Delta’s operational meltdown, be sure to ask for full reimbursement and whatever assistance is necessary (if you can reach customer service, that is).
In the meantime, you’ve managed to get through a disaster of biblical proportions. Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria. Be grateful for what you have and for what Atlanta’s hometown airline giveth.
Kudos to Delta for getting out in front of this weather-related event. Will easily cost ~$100M against Q2 earnings, but then again it consistently has operating income in excess of $1.5 Billion per quarter, before extraordinary expenses.
I like your Ghostbuster’s reference. Great movie.
what happen to passengers that pass up purchasing travel insurance for these types of circumstances… accept responsibility. Cudo’s to Delta by covering the expense of canceling flights due to weather not in control of Delta. so folks watch out for lots of fare hikes to cover
some of the cost of incovience… good luck…
the memo is posted on a.net.
Jon doesn’t have access to anything that a person with 2 eyeballs can’t find.
Some sources say that DL pulled 100 aircraft out of service to do hail inspections and repairs.
This was a wicked storm
Banned from a.net Tim Dunn sure does love combing a.net despite saying he’s above it.
were you able to resurrect one of your many banned usernames?
Good on Delta for cancelling flights and resetting the system. It’s really the only way to recover from weather events like this. Sadly, it’s something Delta has learned the hard way many times in ATL and had to copy AA in DFW — Cancel, reset, and start again tomorrow especially since Delta has such awful crew tracking software (evidenced from previous weather events).
I read all kinds of things, Max.
You can’t stand that someone posts facts including that there is nothing secretive about the memo that Gary thinks Jon found.
and I could care less about engaging in the incessant childish arguments that go on at that site. but there are some topics that are worth reading.
isn’t there where you are supposed to tell us that DL competes unfairly in the Atlanta area by preventing competition?
and, as usual, you can’t read.
Delta pulled 100 aircraft from service for hail inspections.
This wasn’t a cancel and reset tomorrow operation.
Let us know when AA last pulled 100 aircraft for inspection. Probably would have been the bungled repairs on the MD80s.
and the DOT has posted on-time performance for the first 3 months of the year. DL was #1 in March, #3 YTD. AA is #8 so no DL didn’t copy anything from AA.
“and I could care less about engaging in the incessant childish arguments that go on at that site. but there are some topics that are worth reading.”
Well, that’s good. Because you’ve been banned under multiple names for years 😉 Let’s call a spade a spade and you’re banned there because of your multiple personalities and actual personality. 😉
I don’t really understand why employees of any airline choose to give company info to Jon, but I don’t fault him for his sources. Good for him. Pick your battles. You look stupid attacking a provider of info.
But your weird obsession with him and delta is just amusing.
“isn’t there where you are supposed to tell us that DL competes unfairly in the Atlanta area by preventing competition?”
And I follow you from website to website? lol. Yes. Everyone knows Delta pays fake community groups to prevent a second Atlanta airport. Get a life. Your current one is pretty sad
“Let us know when AA last pulled 100 aircraft for inspection. Probably would have been the bungled repairs on the MD80s.”
lmao.
it was for hail damage you idiot lol
Of course AA checks for hail damage, just like United does.
Sorry. in your current fake reality. Am I united management? Do I still work for America West or have you imagined me differently now?
how dumb are you? I’m not sure I have time for your idiocy tonight.
as usual, you can’t win on the basis of facts so you resort to name-calling.
I will read and post wherever I want. Unlike you, I understand that AA and AS are not in a JV and have to be told that by Brett.
And the memo is not top secret nor did Jon find it.
Calling a spade a spade apparently only matters when someone posts the facts that YOU don’t want to hear.
THAT Is what is childish – and it perfectly fits you.
Answer the damn question when AA or UA had to pull 100 aircraft from service for mandatory inspections for any reason, Max.
go crawl in your hole, Max
lol
Oh god. You’re tragic. Get some sleep. Your reply is mired in nonsense.
You’re sad.
The spade is you in case you missed the reference. You are banned from a.net. BANNED multiple times from posting. Despite multiple attempts to recreate new screen names.
AA/AS JV… It’s like you read things no one said? I think you missed the 420 convention.
Thanks for the insults. this is so stupid lol.
Seriously lol
“Answer the damn question when AA or UA had to pull 100 aircraft from service for mandatory inspections for any reason, Max.”
lol. What are you even asking? LMAO Do AA and UA do hail damage inspections? Yes, Tim. They do. What are you even mad about? You brought this up 🙂 You pick fights on stupid Sh*t that you don’t understand. Answer the damn question? Do you know what hail damage inspections are?
You’re drunk. Stop posting
@Tim Dunn
“I could care less about engaging in the incessant childish arguments that go on at that site”
Yet…
“You can’t stand that someone posts facts including that there is nothing secretive about the memo that Gary thinks Jon found.”
the only person that is not just drunk but stupid is you. You can get over being drunk but there isn’t much of a cure for stupid.
Just answer the question as to when AA or UA last had to pull 100 or more aircraft for mandatory inspections on immediate notice.
and then explain the factual basis for thinking that DL learned anything from AA given that AA dramatically trails DL, UA and WN in on-time performance
When someone has to tell you that you can’t count AS capacity or traffic as belonging to AA, you are the one that doesn’t know what you are talking about.
If you spent half the time thinking and researching as you do looking for reasons to attack me, you might be able to contribute something to the internet… but that is way too much to ask for you.
One of us was fired from Delta — Tim Dunn.
One of us was banned on a.net — Tim Dunn
One of us has been banned by Cranky or Omaat for a period of time — Tim Dunn
You’re a fun distraction but honestly just stupid.
“Just answer the question as to when AA or UA last had to pull 100 or more aircraft for mandatory inspections on immediate notice.”
Yes, Tim. United and AA do hail inspections. What are you even stupidly trying to say? Your margaritas at Zocalos are far too strong tonight. You want someone to look up hail inspections for you? Are you an idiot?
“and then explain the factual basis for thinking that DL learned anything from AA given that AA dramatically trails DL, UA and WN in on-time performance”
1. D1 Clubs — Copy of Flagship Lounges and Polaris Lounges but well done to DL, after ten years they improved the concept. But again, I’ll remind you that you told EVERYONE that Delta did not need a D1 club because the sky clubs are so awesome. Your comments are preserved. Delta realized they did need to copy AA and UA. And they did and they did a great job but it also just shows that you should stop trying to defend current policies when DL clearly doesn’t consult you on future consumer projects.
2. How to deal with IRROPS — Delta has a strong history of failure on IRROPS at ATL and trying to keep the operation going when it has failed to everyone except Delta. AA is far from perfect, but learned long ago that it’s better to reset the operation and start again. Delta seems to have learned their lesson. It’s nice to see you pushing the narrative that I wasn’t even pushing
How far are we going here?
3. onboard wifi? Delta doesn’t have it on 14 hour flights. AA has for years. Delta kept gogo on 717s for YEARS knowing the 717s weren’t leaving the fleet
4. All-aisle access Business class for 14 hours — DL claimed it as a big thing 10 years ago then decided it didn’t matter anymore. Now it’s a United and AA selling point, not delta.
Tim, Chill out. AA sucks on a lot of measures. Delta has some great metrics and it does some things pretty poorly. But basing your entire life around an airline like you do? It’s honestly sad. It genuinely seems to ruin your day when United beats DL on pre-tax margin.
DUDE. DELTA FIRED YOU. Stop caring and get a life.
This is good to see. Was prepared to write a long email to DL…as my LGA flight was cxld today (were only two other cxls I saw at LGA at the time I was there, surprisingly). My inbound was SEA-MSP-LGA – nothing to do with ATL…but I suspect it was a crew positioning issue. Agents at LGA were telling pax the cxl was weather-related and not offering any accommodation. DL could not get me out of NY LGA or JFK) until Monday afternoon, unless I wanted to sit around for an eternity waiting for a standby seat. B6 and AA had no options – but I was able to get to HPN and fly B6 ($800 for two).
If DL compensates me for the B6 flight, i assume it would be minus the value of my DL flight…which seems fair.
Someone go check out Tim Dunce’s contention that this was on airliners vs. the reality.
What an incomparable, jealous, lying assmonkey Dunce is — embarrassed for him when he goes -this- stupid.
max,
as usual, you opened your flapper and make a patently false statement
“Good on Delta for cancelling flights and resetting the system. It’s really the only way to recover from weather events like this. Sadly, it’s something Delta has learned the hard way many times in ATL and had to copy AA in DFW”
that is 100% a patently false statement and you prove that you are not only incapable of admitting that you are wrong but also launch into a full scale assault on someone that posts the actual facts.
DL cancelled flights today because it had to pull aircraft for hail repairs and inspection.
the only person that needs to chill out AND SHUT UP is you.
and then learn to admit you are wrong instead of making up falsehoods about other people when they prove YOU wrong.
what a pathological liar you are, Jon.
it is here
https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1502987
what a pathological liar you are, Jon.
It is under the topic “chaos at Atlanta right now”
post #47
Put the drinks down, Tim.
Enjoy your night.
But sure. Feel free to disprove the falsehoods about getting fired from delta or banned from a.net on multiple fake accounts. They’re true and you know it. As does everyone on a.net including many delta employees that love to share your real name.
You have mental health issues. Multiple. Get them checked
Happy Saturday and good night.
the only mental health defects are people like you that can’t admit you are patently wrong.
about AA/AS and the JV that you had to be told they don’t have.
about the reason for DL’s cancellations
and the list goes on as long as you bother to post.
You make up lies about me because you are incapable that you talk out of your backside every time you post.
further, Jon, there is a page on delta.com specifically highlighting the recovery measures that DL customers that were impacted by the storm can take and seek reimbursement for.
let us know, max, where we can find that same form for AA.
In fact, Gary JUST posted a story about the pathetic hotel that AA sent its customers to.
DL, in a crisis, is telling its passengers to find their own accommodations or get home via other means and send DL the bill.
THAT is why DL consistently gets less than half of the number of complaints with the DOT that AA gets even though carry about the same amount of domestic revenue
“about AA/AS and the JV that you had to be told they don’t have.”
A topic no one is talking about except the guy with voices in his head, as it turns out. I’ve never once said AA/AS have a JV. Even Cranky said he misunderstood my comment on the comment from MONTHS ago that you’re referencing. Do you really follow me this closely? lol. You are referencing a post from me on another website from MONTHS ago that even Cranky knows I’m well aware that AA/AS don’t have a JV? Are you this dumb? I know they don’t have one. lol. Your mental issues are nuts.
“You make up lies about me because you are incapable that you talk out of your backside every time you post.”
prove them wrong, Tim.
It’s well known on a.net Delta fired you. Delta employees brag about it because your’e so annoying.
Prove me wrong. Are you saying Delta did not fire you?
It’s also a fact you’re banned on a.net under multiple usernames. But… Prove me wrong. You’ve mentioned twice on separate websites how closely you track airliners.net but… are you back on? Should I let the Mods know your new name? I know your past names you’re banned under. 🙂
Get some sleep. You don’t know when you’re defeated.
Did C*********e issue a weather update for Atlanta this week?
This incident and its fallout definitely affected more than just ATL. While NYC area also had some ‘wind,’ supposedly (I didn’t think it was much), ATC apparently significantly limited flights for all three major airports at least on Friday (as well as earlier this week), average delays 1-3 hours, and some cancellations as well. There was also talk of strikes in other areas (DTW?)
Anyway, yeah, it’s been a challenging week for Delta (and others), though nothing like Crowdstrike last summer. Quite a fee diversions, which stressed rental car agencies, as people sometimes decide to drive in those circumstances. Hoping everyone gets things back to ‘normal’ by tomorrow (Sunday), but it’s looking a bit rough out there lately.
@Tim Dunn — I know this is anecdotal, but, on the bright side, I eventually made it to where I was going, and got my Shake Shack cheeseburger in First, too. Not bad.
1990
As is typical,
DL by virtue of the size of the ATL operation always has a harder fall when things go bad.
And yet other airline hubs simply fail fall more often. CLT has had ground stops for far more hours this week than ATL has.
max can’t win any argument based on facts so he engages in lies and attacks against other people.
It isn’t anyone else’s job to prove someone else’s lies wrong. It is THEIR responsibility to post facts.
I am glad you got your burger which everyone recognizes puts every other airlne’s burger to shame.
Delta looks very favorable compared to AA’s issues this weekend. Computer glitch delayed hundreds of flights Friday leaving crews and planes out of position all over. But somehow all cancellations that day were “weather” related. No compensation.
On Saturday, lots of aircraft and crews still out of position, more cancellations and as far as I know, all blamed on “weather” again.
A perfect example is AA3997 on Saturday evening, cancelled for “weather.” Cancelled 7 hours before departure. The expected plane was put on a DSM-PHX route instead of DSM-DCA almost definitely for operational reasons. Crew probably couldn’t operate the DSM-DCA-DSM turn? Especially considering the aircraft sat on the ground for 3 hours in PHX after operating DSM-PHX it seems like a crew issue(waiting for a new crew at the hub?). How can you possibly chalk that up to weather when the aircraft arrived on time in DSM and no weather In DSM or DCA?
Who knows, maybe there was a very odd way to legitimately call that one weather. Even if there is, it seems like a bad look compared to Delta with no Friday computer glitch and just weather coming through for its customers.
Tim you useless, flupping MORON— “post 47” — look at the bottom of that post— the SOURCE of the image — you total hapless, clueless douche!!
Post 47– you see it now?
The bottom?
How stupid are you trying to look?
Get a clue you brain-dead imbecile.
@Joe D: The travel insurance is for suckers.
Love the Ghostbusters quote and while I’m always ready to criticize Delta for something they’ve done wrong in this case I can only say bravo, well done!
@Tim – You do you but you really are sounding a little out there. I know that I have yet to recall a single time in many many comments that you’ve ever remotely admitted to being wrong but you’ve moved a little further out than that now. You’re not even trying to effectively refute anything they’re saying but are just retorting with nonsensical responses and that looks pretty bad. One response was basically “I know you are but what am I?”. Maybe a few days of no blogs might be helpful.
This is not a Delta event, but an ATL event. No airline should be blamed or praised, but all ATL airlines and ATL airport should be collectively lauded for avoiding any injuries.
Question — will DL reimburse Hertz extortianate AI damage detector fees? Hopefully it got struck by lightning and was obliterated.
A very good lesson to the climate denying, money crazed gangsters that have taken over America’s government and are in the midst of destroying country and economy.
Wow, are you two married? Or running for POTUS?
Gene
We agree on this.
It was a massive storm that parked right over the southern part of Atlanta. Made national news that there were interstates near the airport that were immediately flooded.
DL had to pull 100 planes from service in order to inspect them for hail damage. That doesn’t happen often and hasn’t happened for any reason for AA or UA. This wasn’t a cancel and reset operation.
There is footage of Braves fans on the opposite end of town that posted pics of the storm while waiting out the game.
and jon AND GARY, I know you want to think that everyone should come to you for any information but DL posted the same guidelines on their public website to passengers. It is not and never was a secret.
Lady,
intense thunderstorms have happened since creation. you think hail just started happening
@Tim Dunn — Welp, Sunday’s off to a better start, thankfully. My aircraft with DL today is flying (on-time for now!) I’ve got backup plans with AA and B6 using points (easy to cancel, refund, etc.) if needed. That’s the only reason to ever have a spare 20-50K points lying around with each carrier.
On the burgers, yes, actually. Outsourcing to Shake Shack for the branded partnership was actually brilliant. United’s is worst, floppy bun, always overcooked. And I’ll admit, I haven’t tried AA’s sliders yet (they’re illusive, practically hiding from any flight I’ve taken recently with AA.)
Tim Dunn, do you Jerk Off to DL commercials ?
I hope your hangover isn’t too bad, Tim.
That was pretty pathetic for you last night, even by your extremely low standards.
Let’s see. You went off on JonNYC and got owned.
“and jon AND GARY, I know you want to think that everyone should come to you for any information”
I guess you’re mad at Gary now but still can’t resist posting incessantly on his site.
You clearly monitor airliners.net incessantly to the degree that you post Thread and post # despite your ban and despite saying how you don’t need that site.
And let’s be honest, didn’t refute a thing I said and also don’t seem to know what a hail damage inspection is.
I hope your sunday is better than your Saturday night.
you and jon can “get off” all day long on the “exclusivity” of what Gary found.
All Gary has to do is have enough frequent flyer activity or even check delta.com
this message was readily available on delta.com. It is not a secret and was never intended to be.
further, AA and UA have done no such thing this year in allowing customers to spend what was necessary to get out of a weather induced operational meltdown and send the bill to Delta.
pointing out facts, regardless of who it is about, is something you resist – because it eliminates the basis for you calling people names and slandering them.
jon gets most of his information from AA with UA a close second. Very few other airlines – including DL – have employees that leak internal documents.
As much as you or he or Gary thinks otherwise, this was not a secret internal document.
and DL does have aircraft that were damaged by hail and are being repaired.
This was not EVER a cancel the remainder of the schedule and reset the operation event.
You, as usual, opened your flap and spouted stuff which is factually incorrect.
lol. Look at you refreshing ever 10 seconds to reply with 9 paragraphs asap.
Get a life. It’s tragic to get so hot and bothered by a company that fired you. Or to monitor a website that banned you. Or to obsess about a twitter user that has better information than you (honestly, better info than you isn’t difficult for anyone though, but JonNYC certainly does have lots of sources, I’ll give him that).
Have a better Sunday. Time to put your keyboard away.
Bla bla bla,
At the end of the day it’s just another Premium Disaster by Delta Airlines.
Good Lord, I haven’t heard such temper tantrums since naptime was delayed at the daycare center. Grow up, both of you…
Geesh. This site has turned into a total joke. A few on here need to have “Dad” pull the car over and give them a good old fashioned a$$ whooping and make them GROW UP!
The hypocrisy from Max is stunning
He worries about me refreshing the page and he is replying just as fast
The simple fact which Max cannot accept is that there were substantial hail, risk and damage and Delta had no choice but to cancel flights. This had nothing to do with a cancel and reset operation as he opened his flap and said.
Max has proven over and over and over and over again that he is simply a vindictive, tiny brain child that can’t admit he is wrong
When bloggers like Gary and others cling to stories about American flight, attendants not being able to use gloves, then it comes as a big surprise to find out that Delta is allowing its customers to figure out how to get themselves home if Delta can’t help them and then they can send the bill to Delta
A storm of this magnitude in an operation as big as Atlanta would overwhelm any airlines resources
Delta published the guidelines on its website. There is no secret.
@Tim give it a rest.
Facts for you: the first mention on this post of the word “secret” is from you. Gary did not suggest the memo was secret because the word “internal” does not necessarily equate to secret . The “internal” description is accurate and perhaps (I’m not checking) there’s useful info in the instructions to staff not found in public updates.
You lose more credibility by being so incessant and nit picking the slightest detail than just moving on.
The tower did not evacuate. They sent as many as they could down, out of the cab but kept what they needed in the cab to continue operations, however, nothing was landing, taking off, or moving on the ground so they didn’t need that many. It never evacuated.
As “Tweety Bird” used to say on the Looney Tunes cartoons, “Doodness dwaysous”. The amount of childish back and forth over thunderstorms and cancellations. YIKES! Y’all go into your corners and settle down!
Ovr,
I may have called it “secret” but Gary’s title is “internal document”
Jon acts like he is providing some breaking news and Gary fails to understand that the purpose of an IROP recovery plan like this is to let customers get moving however they can.
Delta put the program and reimbursement form – which the memo doesn’t even link to – on its site.
I like Gary but when he couches half of what he writes as sensational news that nobody else knows about and jon acts like he is supposed to be the clearinghouse of any relevant information, I am and will accurately note that, while they can do that kind of think about AA’s flight attendant glove wearing policy, it is the opposite of what DL is doing w/ this memo.
The only goodness gracious is those that can’t understand how different DL is in the way it does business than any of its competitors and refuse to acknowledge they don’t understand the difference.
DL is down to 1% cancellations after double digit cancellations yesterday. We are back to the usual summer Texas, NYC and Florida cancellations.
@Joe – that’s literally an evacuation
AA could learn something. Couple weeks ago when Dallas had their morning storm AA canceled numerous flights to prioritize others and left us on our own.
I love Delta. They always go beyond the call of duty..
My husband and I were stranded by Delta at the ATL airport along with 40 members of our church choir on the first leg of our 2 week choir tour in Ireland and Scotland. Our flights were rebooked, which kept us at the airport in anticipation. They canceled our flights 4 times, but only after we had waited for hours at each gate. We spent 28 hours at the airport until we rebooked on British Airways and Eire Lingus for flights the next day. It was horrible.
lol. You’re too funny, Tim.
You need a life and some reading comprehension skills.
Don’t believe the bs. Delta refused to reimburse me for a rental car after my flight was canceled 2 weeks ago.
Soon everyone will have a flying car no more airplanes,no more nasty chips,no more wasting time.
United should take a page from Deltas playbook. They left me and my family stranded for 2 days at Dulles in May. Trying to rebook flights and find hotel rooms at midnight with 3 small children was oh so much fun. Their ticket agents walked off the job at the end of their shift with a hundred people waiting to be helped. The flight cancellation cost us $1,000 and United refused to cover any of it.
max
EVERY sources – except for you – can figure out that DL pulled 100 aircraft from service for inspection and a small handful of those aircraft – in line w/ expectations – suffered hail damage and need repairs.
YOU are the one that needs to learn to admit that you opened your flap and made a completely wrong statement that the cancellations on Friday night and Saturday were due to an intentional cancel and reset operation.
But we have seen over and over and over again that you spout off about stuff that you don’t understand and then launch into endless attacks on other people – like me – when they point out how wrong you are.
Kristy,
I am sure it was a bad experience. having a severe storm sit on top of an airport for a couple hours is not what DL planned.
I’m glad you got to where you were headed. Sing pretty
Sunday has been better than Friday evening or Saturday, but still many delays, and ATL is suffering. Thankfully not routing through there today. Mercy to you if you are…
Former Pats tight end Benjamin Watson’s Delta flight spent 7+ hours on the tarmac after a diversion due to the thunderstorms. He says: “Hang in there!” Trying!
as of right now, DL’s mainline on-time is 25% delayed while AA is at 24% delayed.
ATL is 39% delayed with 1% cancellations while CLT Is 37% with 3% cancellations.
There is flow control across JAX center so just about everything going to/from Florida from the north is delayed
It isn’t a surprise that the two largest hubs to Florida are impacted but that has nothing to do with the Friday night storms which explains WN’s 27% delay rate.
The only reason why UA’s delays are “only” at 19% is because they are so small to Florida.
@Tim Dunn — Oh, so, Florida’s the issue tonight? *gulp*
yes
Most of DL’s delays in the summer are related to summer thunderstorms in Florida.
@Tim Dunn — Hope you like the movie Airplane: “…looks like I picked the wrong week’ to fly through MCO! *snorts glue*
Disney hasn’t figured out how to keep thunderstorms out of Central Florida.
@Tim Dunn — Bah! I wouldn’t bet against the mouse (or its lawyers)… *wink*
I was stranded Thursday night in Minneapolis for a 10:30 p.m. flight. they canceled it at 2:00 in the morning and left us just hanging. no way to get home 250 mi. it’s very frustrating but I know they can’t control the weather but at least they could give you an option. that’s better than waiting 2 days for the next flight
This is absolutely wrong, I was there and heard Delta gate agents tell people they dont cover hotels for weather events. Multiple times. Nobody was informed and it was an absolute mess.
“ Be grateful for what you have and for what Atlanta’s hometown airline giveth”.
This is such a stupid and plain rude thing to be saying. It’s awesome that Delta is going beyond according to the industry’s law and standards in the US. But it’s way past the time for us customers to realize we must not beg for assistance in circumstances like this. Law, regulations and competition should work on customers behalf not the contrary. After two consecutive days of cancellations and a third which almost made me lost my connection to a 10+ hour international flight out of Atlanta, to which I was booked in Delta one but had to fly coach, I was offered a standardized email apology and a $250 voucher as compensation despite the fair class itself being priced at the 3000s. Notice I am not complaining about extra nights in hotels nor extra car rental fees. And you cynically say we should be grateful for what they give us?
Peter…..2 weeks ago is not this past weekend.
DL ran a near normal operation yesterday – 36 hours after the massive ATL storm.
all of the big 3 had delays in the low 30% range with AA and DL – which have the largest operations in the southeast – each cancelling 1% of their mainline operation.
CLT had 5% cancellations compared to 2% for ATL even though ATL is a much larger airport in terms of number of flights.
weather targets different areas of the country at different times of the year. the SE including FL is more prone to summer thunderstorm activity.
No other airline has had to pull 100 aircraft for damage assessments as DL had to do Friday evening and Saturday.
the difference between how DL handled its operational mess at ATL and what other airlines have done is that DL allowed customers to get themselves out of the situation in ATL and send the bill to DL afterwards if DL staff couldn’t help them because of the sheer number of people, something that other airlines have done after much larger operational meltdowns.
Hopefullly what DL did is change the threshold for the industry as to when customers can take control of getting themselves back on track after a major operational mess regardless of who was at fault.
DL’s PR machine is amazing, but it’s BS. . .my past experience has been “figure it out yourself” and I generally find another airline helping. What I find strange is CLT has similar weather and some CX and delays but nothing like ATL. HMMMM is AA’s AI better than DL PR?
@Tim Dunn — Yes, Delta is unique to offer reimbursement here (as with Crowdstrike last summer). That may be little consolation to those affected in the moment, though, after the fact, it is indeed a big deal, especially if you had to stay at hotels, rent cars, purchase new airfare.
As always, I wish we had better passenger rights regulations in the USA, like EU/UK 261 or Canada’s APPR, though, even with such laws, airlines use the ‘severe weather’ exception. The question there is how far can that exception extend?
Here, arguably, the *main* ‘weather’ event for DL was Friday evening ATL, but it clearly cascaded into Saturday. It’s a real ’cause,’ but for folks with cancellations or significant delays on Saturday or Sunday, the link to the original ‘weather’ is attenuated.
I know, I know… it’s thunderstorm season in the US (as with every summer), and that’s gonna be ‘problems’ for the east, the south, ATL, NYC, FL, etc. Often, these are 3-5PM storms, that pass quickly, and then operations can resume, albeit a bit delayed. It’d be swell if there wasn’t hail and it didn’t cause day(s) of problems, though.
Hopefully lessons are learned here, though, with this administration’s recent defunding of the FAA and weather-related services… this may get worse, not better. Airlines need that support so they can better route, plan for such disruptions. Delta (and others) may need to hire more folks to prepare, otherwise, passengers will be disappointed. Then again, what choice do we really have…
Again, anecdotally, I fared alright between NY-FL this weekend, but I know others did not. Hoping everyone eventually made it to where they were going. And I feel for the crews, maintenance, ground staff, baggage handlers, call center folks, everyone that did their best under the circumstances.
sunviking,
the simple STATISTICAL fact -not your anecdotes – is that AA’s CLT hub has a much higher rate of cxls and delays than DL in ATL even though both hubs get very similar weather.
Even on a normal day, ATL is not near as over scheduled relative to facilities including airspace and runways as CLT is.
and 1990
many people legitimately were looking at how quickly DL recovered from an event that did require pulling 100 aircraft from service for inspections which is far beyond the norm of other weather-related IROPS.
DL did that within 36 hours and returned to their normal operation by Sunday morning.
It sucks if you are in that 36 hour period but that can happen at other airlines and has happened at other hubs on a more frequent basis this year than DL at ATL.
Actually that is false.
Delta is refusing to pay for accomodations or other expenses incurred by customers who had their flights cancelled and missed their business meetings and vacations. They are even causing additional cancellations when later flights are delayed and people miss their connections.
My own flight was cancelled on Saturday and I had to book a hotel for another night. And then Delta screwed up the connection on Sunday and I was stranded for another 6 hours — even though the plane was still at the gate — and waited an additional half hour for our luggage to be loaded on the plane (and we were not allowed to board).
Other passengers were told by Delta to book another flight at their own expense or wait until Tuesday. They lost thousands of dollars they paid for a family vacation in addition to incurring additional expenses.
@Tim Dunn — Pleasant surprise: My flight back to JFK last night arrived EARLY! So, from my point of view, Delta is back!!
heck of a lot better than Qatar at DOH for sure.
@Jon F — Sheesh! How’d everything work out for you, anyway? Hope you eventually made it out of AUH! Apparently, #47 ‘authorized’ the ‘face-saving’ attack by Iran (hence why all of the US aircraft were mostly already outta that airbase in Doha beforehand.) Odd times. Quite ‘performative’ it seems. Shame it had to negatively impact regular folks like yourself.
Still do not understand why Delta and AA ever decided to have their HQ in storm, hurricane, and other high frequency weather problem locations. Look, Atlanta is in the cusp of the Gulf winds and so is Dallas. What were these executives thinking at the time; it was always money driven as labor in the south is always more cost-effective. Now, they get to suffer in their terrible decisions with cancelations. United having it in Chicago will usually face one, at most 2 weather disruptions per year and that’s in the form of snow. Honestly, they should have their HQ and operations in places without these issues, cue LA, Phoenix, Seattle, or SF. The most the west coast sees are earthquakes and that does not impact flights as much.
Hi @1990 — QR provided no help at all, which was annoying. I did book a hotel and then a flight out by myself (also on QR). left around 2 days late. It was tiring but tolerable, and I did get a chance to see the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi (dazzling).
QR’s crisis management is terrible. I hope they fix it up. Certainly they have no shortage of money.
@Jon F — Glad you made the most of your extra time. I haven’t been to Abu Dhabi, but would like to visit some day. That Grand Mosque does look impressive!
Even the ‘best’ airlines can’t ‘bat a thousand.’ When things go wrong, many times, we, passengers, really are ‘on our own.’ I’ve been burned plenty over the years, not by Qatar (but that’s only a ‘yet,’ I presume), by Delta ample times, but that’s because I’ve flown them more frequently. Usually, they make it right in the end, but it can be tough, both in the moment and with the attempts to recover.
And the only thing travel insurance seems to be good for is finding ways to deny coverage for such delays and cancellations. (Oh, your delay, umm, actually, it wasn’t ‘long enough’ to qualify… turns out 2 days late, nah, ya need 72 hours or more… that happened once. Sheesh.)
Don’t let it discourage you. Still worth it to get out there and see the world.
@Gary
Just FYI. DL cancelled my flight Saturday morning and offered no alternative booking. 4 hour 30 minute callback time. I rebooked myself on AA. DL has declined to reimburse that cost.
So they were not as generous as reported. I had no expectation that they would be.
My husband and I were stranded in atlanta this past weekend. I know things change for the weather and safety is the main concern… weather happens all the time…Delta should have better emergency plans in place. There were thousands in a line and only 5 people helping. We found out that you have to scan a delta bar code at the front of the line – after standing in the line over two hours. A customer told us this then you can wait for a text message. Disabled in wheel chairs like my husband was in horrific pain and stuck in a chair. You could see It in their faces they were in pain.. There were no car rentals or hotels that I could find. We were on a plane from 9am to the next day at 3 am. No food till 6am when the resturants opened. Our terminals changed 4 times. It could have been handled a little better.
Delta is the legitimately the worst airlines ever. I highly doubt that they cover any costs that passengers incur. Over last 6 months, I had two flights with them and both of them got canceled. They never apologized, never offer any types of accommodation or anything. They say they cant h3lp and their employees never show an empathy. Hotrible experience horrible employees never again
This is absolutely NOT what is happening. My June 28 direct flight from LGA to Florida cancelled with little notice, no other flights to anywhere south of new jersey. Forced to drive 19 hours straight to catch family vacation cruise out of Port Canaveral. $1600 total in ubers to/from airport, gas, hotel on return drive, meals, rental car cancellation charge. Delta has agreed to reimburse $70 — zero explanation on how they came up with that number. Doesn’t even cover one of the ubers to or from the airport. Perennial diamond medallion with 25+ years of business and personal loyalty to Delta — I feel very foolish for that loyalty now. In the process of trying to escalate, but so far without any satisfactory resolution.