NOT!Delta Flight Cancelled:
Our friend Marlene and her daughter Ilse had boarded their Delta flight from Cape Town to New York this evening. Then they were told that the entire flight crew had food poisoning and the flight was cancelled. Yeah, right.
An American on the plane said the same thing had happened to them flying out to South Africa.
An American on the plane said the same thing had happened to them flying out to South Africa.
Passengers were left stranded or scrambling for other flights. Lucky for them Cape Town is ranked as one of the top ten world airports. Er...I kid you not.
So WTF? Hello? What's going on?
I found this article about a similar cancellation in June this year. In late March, of course, Delta and American Airlines voluntarily grounded many of their planes, cancelling hundreds of flights, after an audit by FAA and American Airlines inspectors.
So when you fly to SA to see the spring flowers in September, fly BA, fly SAA, fly anything, but don't fly Delta.
So WTF? Hello? What's going on?
I found this article about a similar cancellation in June this year. In late March, of course, Delta and American Airlines voluntarily grounded many of their planes, cancelling hundreds of flights, after an audit by FAA and American Airlines inspectors.
So when you fly to SA to see the spring flowers in September, fly BA, fly SAA, fly anything, but don't fly Delta.
And if you're a compulsive link-clicker: The reason flights might be cancelled. What if your flight is cancelled? Rule 240? And...what happens when your Delta flight is cancelled midair: The Onion.
My wife is on that flight. Well, was supposed to be on that flight. She described it as complete chaos. They had to "re-enter" South Africa and go through immigration again. People with any connecting flights were screwed. Looks like she's leaving tomorrow at 6 p.m. or 8 p.m. And she said there was one person from Delta working. Argh.
ReplyDeleteI think we're going to keep using it though because it is a direct flight to Cape Town and cuts the time down to 18 hours.
Looks to me as if Delta is trying really hard to put itself out of its misery... Maybe we should help.
ReplyDeleteThe Onion: wow, I hadn't read that in a long time. Always funny. :)
Anonymous: sorry for your wife - it sounds awful. I'm still not sure where my friends are or on what flight they got themselves. Either we're having dinner in New York on Sunday or not...:-)
ReplyDeleteBut is Delta that much less expensive than SAA, which also flies via Dakar? I think that trip is about 20 hours, incl. the time on the ground at Dakar? Oh...but that's from Johannesburg, right?
Centvingt: Yeah, in the big scheme of things it's a blip, but for people who have been planning a trip or vacation, or saving for one, and to whom every detail matters, it's momentously horrible.
I hope your friends made it over? This airline are a law unto themselves. x
ReplyDeleteYes, they made it over on BA via Heathrow, and then flew business class to New York on Delta from there after throwing a hissy fit...
ReplyDeleteGreat write-up, the more things like this are exposed the less they'll happen. I work for a travel site (www.southafrica.to) and we have chosen this as our travel blog posting of the week. You can see it in our weekly newsletter (at the bottom).
ReplyDelete