Our dance studio had schedule a trip to have the children perform at Disney World Magic Kingdom. Some of the flights were scheduled thru Delta Airline some thru American Airline Jetblue and so on. Some of our kids come from low-income house hold or single parent house hold so we know it's not easy for some of us to afford a trip to Disney World but we made it happen for some of these kids by conducting several fund raisers selling candy & pizza doe to pay for their trips.
Our trip was schedule for June 28, 2007. When we get to the airport the ones (parents and children) that were scheduled to fly thru JFK Delta airline flight was canceled and we were advised to re-book our flights. It was to our surprise to see how a big airline like delta had canceled so many flights domestic/international. I just know the area where we were in was in total chaos, no managers to be found. Now the representative was helpful up until the point when she realize that she had to re-book 24 passengers which was our group and did have nothing for us and indicated it was due to weather and it was out of their control. We asked if they can transfer our group to another airline being they couldn't accommodate us. The answer was no, due to weather and not mechanical difficulty they couldn't. We did advise them (Delta) of our urgency and situation that the kids were scheduled to perform over the weekend and that the kids were able to afford the trip thru fund raiser. No one was able to accommodate us.
We also asked for a refund to be able to take the kids else where. The airline representative response was to go to a black phone to place the call to have a refund request placed. Well we had one of the parents go to the phone while we stood on another line to re-book for standby flights. After the parent waiting on the phone for several hours (3 hrs to be exact) Delta's response for the refund was that the purchasers will receive the refund within 7 days after filling out report, but that we can purchase others for other airlines while waiting for our reimbursement or refund. Our dance studio has been in business going on seven years, while being successful, I wish I can say that we purchase the tickets and wait to get reimbursed. We ourselves can't afford to pay for 24 airline tickets. So we waited on line to re-book our group for standby it took another 3 hrs.
Finally when it's our turn the representative again indicated she couldn't help she did try and seem to be trying to help but with no success. After trying several times with no success she advised us it was out of her control and due to weather she couldn't help us any longer. She also mentioned they pulled her from a different area to help when she was scheduled to go home, but to wait around and try again later. This was our second attempt to get help with our situation all along there is chaos thru-out the Delta terminal. Well after several hrs I tried again to book our groups flight again with no success and the same response out of their control. I noticed a group of boy scouts experiencing the same issue. But they were helped, one of the counselors mentioned they were there over 12 hrs. Another group was heading to Spain to play soccer and they were there for 24 hrs. Both were finally boarding a flight.
As for us still trying to standby again being told we couldn't help to wait some more. I was receiving phone calls on my cellphone that parts of my groups the had scheduled with other airlines were fine their flights was on schedule. I fail to mention the thunder storm was the day before and that the bookings for the trip was back in February 2007 and that we showed up at the airport 3 hrs earlier to prevent this from happening to give ourselves plenty of time to get to Disney world as scheduled, or as close to enable the kids to perform. Well I finally got a manager which helped book us on a flight to Miami not to Orlando Florida. Oh yeah standby not confirmed. Well we put our luggage on the flight being advised by the manager that he placed us on top priority standby. Thinking okay we're set we waited. When it was time to board our names were not listed, not to mention the time for the flight kept being changed. We asked the agent at the gate what should we do, can she help us to avoid going back downstairs to re-book where the chaos was. Did I mention that it seemed like everyone at the terminal was on standby. The agent said no because it was out of her control we had to see a re-booking agent at the kiosk downstairs. I advised her that we keep getting the run around due to weather, she mention oh yeah but that was yesterday, today it's because of lack of employees and flight crew members.
She did help get the director of the dance studio on board that Miami flight. Well we felt a little comfort because the director can go to Miami and have a baggage claim report to have the baggage re-routed to the hotel in Orlando Florida, which never happened. The director making the flight to Miami because after waiting several hours for the plane to take off because delta kept changing the time on the flight 640pm, 750pm, 830pm, 930pm, 1015pm, 1045pm. Finally at 1115pm, the director boarded only to be taken off because the seat went to a delta fellow employee flight attendant, I guess flying to Miami, bumped off the director. Of course panic settled in because now we have no one to go to claim our baggage. We have no one going to Orlando Florida to make arrangement with Disney and the hotel reservation. And when we returned to the terminal for re-booking it seem the chaos in the Delta terminal gotten worse before it can get better. People yelling at the representative because no one was being able to get a straight answer from any representative, but it's out of their control due to weather, but all the time my cellphone kept ringing from other group members that went thru different airline as to where are we their in Orlando already. Well it's safe to say everyone that took flights other then delta made it to Orlando except for us.
At about 2am Friday 29th, we had someone help us but now we had to split the group of 24 up to get individual bookings. After being re-booked we were noticing that the confirm flights the representative was giving us was for after our performance date, and some of the kids were only scheduled to go the weekend because thats all they could afford, plus they had to be back by July 2nd. And the re-book was for flights to take the kids to Orlando Florida July 1st which made no sense at this point. We had to call the parents of the kids that couldn't go. It's unfortunate these kids and others had to take such a loss... airline tickets, hotel reservation, park hoppers (this is amusement park tickets that allow the kids to go from several different parks while stay at Disney) I believe there's a time frame on them. It's a shame a company like Delta with such a stature can take advantage of children and people of low-income or people who normally can't afford a trip like this by hiding behind FCC regulations "due to weather condition" in order to bend the way the company takes a lost or gain, while other airlines re-enforced their work crew delta decided to cut some edges, and the bottom line is their gain is our loss for the next quarterly report. Not to mention the insurance even if it means to take advantage of vulnerable children by breaking their hearts and dreams because again, "It's out of their control due to weather" and nothing else they're not accountable due to that. Something is wrong when a big company can take our money and say this is what it is, take it or leave it. How do you educate your children to do the right thing and not do something like this considering their hearts and dreams have been broken.
Oh yeah I'm still waiting to board the plane to get to Orlando Florida to resolve the luggage issue and consult the remaining group that did make to Orlando Florida. Any help you can send our way would be gratefully appreciated. Sorry about spelling and grammar I'm jetlagged even though I have not left New York yet! Once again let me thank you ahead of time for any help possible, it would be great if you can make my kids dreams come true and mend their hearts, with all my sincere gratitudes.
Thank you for at least the opportunity to voice my experience maybe it reach others that experience the same and we and group to show FCC what's going with guide line and how they can police it!
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