#TheSwindle

So, I blasted on Twitter about the horrible experience I had with the Delta Airlines staff in JFK. So much so that I was inspired to write a letter to them, especially after their assistant tweeted me the customer service link! I thyink we need to write more letters and voice our concerns when we get sh*tty service. I don’t know about you, but my dollar counts and I refuse to be treated like crap! Check my letter below to see the fckry that occurred:

To Whom It May Concern,
On Thursday, October 7th, I arrived at the Delta terminal in JFK to check in for my flight. My flight was scheduled to depart at 3:59PM. I arrived at the airport at 2:55pm, and while being directed to the correct kiosk to use, I checked in electronically. By the time I reached the kiosk, it was 3:01pm. Upon my initial log-in, I received an error notification, which stated that I could not check my bag because “I was too late to check in”. I asked an attendant if I could bypass this notification, since I was already in the airport and just didn’t log-in to the Kiosk until 59 minutes before my flight. She harshly told me “you can’t check in your bag you’re too late” and continued to help other customers.

I decided to wait online to speak to a representative at the check-in counter. When I arrived at the counter, and explained my situation, I was met with disgustingly rude attitudes and condescending tones. I was told that I was too late and whether I was a minute or 15 minutes late, there was nothing they could or WOULD do for me! They also informed me that “the machine would not allow them to print out a tag for my luggage so they couldn’t check it in”.

I offered suggestions that I have found to be very helpful and feasible while I travelled on other airlines. I asked if my luggage could be sent on a later flight, to which I was denied. I was told that I had to travel with my luggage and the next flight wasn’t until 8pm. I could not fly that late to my destination, as I had meetings to attend at specific times. The attendant than dismissed me, saying that unless I call someone to pickup my bag, buy another carry-on to bring on the plane, take the later flight, or dump everything in my check-in bag into my carry-on, that there was nothing they could do, and told me to move to the side as she called the next customer before I could even finish a sentence.

I felt insulted, disrespected, and that my business meant nothing to your organization for many reasons.

1) To tell me that your machine would not print a ticket past a certain hour, when on other airlines that have a shorter cut-off period than Delta have printed these same tags and made the same concessions for me, is ridiculous. Especially to someone like myself who works in the IT field, auditing the same machines you use daily, displayed a lazy and unenthusiastic attempt at customer service.

2) Other airlines have printed out tickets, and even international boarding passes, at times I have arrived 5 minutes after the cutoff. Had I reached 30 or 20 minutes before takeoff I would understand. To dismiss me for being a few minutes after the cutoff, and being rude in general when I treated the entire staff with respect, was disheartening and discouraging to my flight experience

3) The different scenarios and feasible alternatives I suggested in order to get my bag to its destination were dismissed as if the requests were outrageous. In these times, customers have many different options and airlines we can fly. I didn’t complain about paying $25 for baggage check, when other airlines would offer the first bag free. Despite the many complaints I’ve heard about Delta, I chose to fly your airline to see for myself, and this experience, the inability to work with customers to get them to their destination safe and happy, and the blatant disregard for my situation and feelings is what angers me the most. I can understand if I was rude and obnoxious, but to receive the attitude and condescending tones in speech from the representatives, was uncalled for and disrespectful.

I ended up having to leave a $100+ piece of luggage at JFK, pack EVERYTHING into one small carry-on, while carrying the rest in hands. I was told to wait on a line when I already had a boarding pass printed. 10 minutes later, I realized there was no need for me to stay on this line despite what the representatives said, and made my way to security. This miscue on the reps end almost caused me to MISS this flight!

So I ended up on the airplane with an over-packed carry-on, remaining items in my hands, and a lost over $100 in luggage, all to get on my flight timely (which I almost missed due to the inept and rude customer service representatives). This was the worst experience I ever had on any airline. Period. To say that Delta has lost my business is an understatement. In the future, I will recommend against anyone flying this airline, because if your representatives at the airports don’t respect my business, than Delta doesn’t respect me either. If you don’t respect my patronage, than I’m sure American, JetBlue, United, or any other airline will treat my business respectfully.

Sincerely,

Let me know what you think. It’s crazy how many people roast Delta on a regular basis. #NoCountryFor DELTA!!

**UPDATE**

So This AM I got a response from Delta apologizing, saying they will look into the rude bustdown that almost made me  miss my flight the attendants and gave me a $50 voucher. Y’all cosign?

What’s good everyone,

I haven’t written a GC in a minute. Been meaning to but [INSERT EXCUSES HERE].  Anyhow, I have a mental log of a few misadventures, and figured I’d drop one weekly for your reading pleasure. So today, I’ll speak on a quick story regarding my trip to Vegas in July. Yes, I said July. I wasn’t BS’n when I said I was stuntin’ on these stories!

So I was on my way to the City of Sin for my frat’s convention, and to try to come up on some $$$ (another blog on this next week, smh). So I rolled out there with the boy L. West on the incomparable Jet Blue airlines.  Jet Blue was actually the first Airline I ever flew. Since that time, I haven’t had anything remotely bad to say about them (I’ll bitch about price here n there but that’s normal), until today. Although I do subscribe to the train of thought that “Any flight that you walk away from is a Good Ass flight”

We get ready to land in LV, and for people who’ve flown into AZ or LV know, the turbulence in that area can be a little unnerving. However we got through that, and as we’re ready to land, I experienced something on that flight I only heard about from others, and hoped I never had to experience: An Aborted Landing.

Whats an aborted landing? Well I can show you better than I can tell you:

or

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_p_7zNApSY&feature=related]

I wish there was a camera to take a picture of the face I made! I literally looked over and said “The plane just went back into the air didn’t it.” and threw my hands up in disgust. it was crazy too, because when the wheels touched the runway, I heard the plane revving up and NOT slowing down. Speechless isn’t even the word! Some dudes in the back requested a round of drinks for the plane to calm everyone down. Ignant!!

I believe this occurs when anything disrupts the landing, or when a pilot overshoots the runway and has to reset. Funniest thing is, the captain didn’t give us an update until like 10 minutes after!! He came on the P.A. system and basically said “my bad”. 20 minutes later we landed, and I contemplated walking back to NYC.

For someone who travels frequently, it’s sh*t like this that puts fear in my heart. Oh well, I’m back in the air this weekend! Let’s get it!! -__-

Hoping that’s the only type of successful abortion I’ll need in my life,

Guess who’s back!

Well.. the site’s been back as of a week ago (full force), but I thought it was time to bring back my GlobeTrotter Confession series. For those who don’t know, this series chronicles my travel around the world, and the crazy sh*t that I encounter. I pride myself on being the modern-day Carmen San Diego, minus the grand larceny and infinite travel budget. SO without further adieu, let’s dive into it shall we? [||]

I took a business trip last week to the farming capital of the northeast Upstate NY. Trust me, it’s as glamourous as you can imagine. Anyway I had to book two separate flights on two different airlines due to time constraints. Going there I flew US Airways. As I enter the travel gate, I see the attendants cleaning a plane, which couldn’t be any bigger than an average tour bus. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that I didn’t have to deal with that… until they tell us to go through the tunnel and we have to walk ON THE TARMAC and up THREE STEPS to the plane! To give you an idea, here is the plane we took:

This plane has propellers. iQuit!

The plane had about 40 total seats in it. It had a backseat. I’m going to let that marinate for a sec…

I’m always nervous before takeoff. I think landing is the best part of flying because you know it’s going to be over. I hate turbulence with a passion and on a plane this small, you feel every bump, every movement. It’s the closest you get to flying a car, I swear! I was unnaturally calm for this flight though. I think I still couldn’t believe that I was on a plane this small. I felt a rush of adrenaline flying as well, well, but I can’t call it.  This plane was so small it reminded me of the classic Street Fighter II biplane:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDPYRCMgEJ0#t=0m42s]

I made it in the end. Unless I’m on a Caribbean island or somewhere overseas, I don’t think I want to fly in a small plane again. I’ve never flew in a helicopter though and I want to badly.

How do you get over fear fo flying? If you have it how severe is it? Have you flown in a chopper before? Let me know

-Streetz

What’s good!

As you know, Last week your boy went on Vacation. It was a dual vacation to Panama and Miami.  I told you I would have stories for days, so pardon me in advance if the stories don’t follow a sequential order. As I remember and feel compelled, I’ll share my stories accordingly. Now,  here’s a funny story from my continuing adventures with Airlines.

I decided to hit Miami after Panama, mainly because the last time I hit South Beach was in 2001 (!!!) and my connecting flights to Panama were in Miami. I have family in SoFlo, so it made perfect sense. There was only one issue: I finalized these plans after pressing “send” when purchasing my tickets online. So in essense, the minor change I needed to make was cutting my flight short in MIA (since they connected their anyway, and either A) extending my layover until I was ready to leave or b) just booking a one way flight back to NY. Sounds easy right? Not when you’re dealing with airlines looking to get plenty money(c) Plies from their customers.

So I call AA and explain the situation, they explained to me that because I did it on the web and through Expeida, they’d have to charge me $150 to change the flight in any way. This made no sense because they got my money already and weren’t losing anything my just cutting my flight short. The fact that it was an international flight didn’t help either. Then when they priced the cost of a return flight to NYC, they were talking $900+ (when I clearly saw return flights online $140).

So when I decided to say yes and bite the bullet [||] on price, they inform me that it’ll cost an additional $20 to book it because I did it through Expedia. I kindly tell them “FCUK your couch” and call Expedia myself. I explain the situation and they tell me that I can just get off at MIA and take the L in frequent flyer miles for the duration of the trip and book my own one way flight (through them of course which would also be a $20 over the phone fee!). My only concern was the bag I checked in. The representative tells me that I’ll have to take the bag off the plane anyway to bring it through customs so after that I could just leave. Sounded like a plan to me, but the rep didn’t seem too sure. So I had a backup plan. I brought a duffle bag inside my check in suitcase, and packed everything I’d need for MIA, so I’d have it as a Carry-On.  I got to MIA and the Rep’s words held true. I was able to take my bag without having it go all the way to NYC for no reason! What a WIN!

Although I took a minor L in frequent flyer miles, I booked my return flight and saved the stupid flight change fee. I really thoguht I’d be in trouble, but I made it happen. I wouldn’t suggest doing what I did, but desperate times call for desperate measures feel me? LOL

That’s it for now. Next week I’ll touch on more of my trip and MAY even post a VLog of my trip (so help me God, lmao!)

Peace!!

Streetz