Last Friday April 15th, I boarded DAL fly 5260 Atl to Charlottesville VA. Prior to taking off the pilot announced that the flight would be a bit longer and somewhat noiser as we were going to be flying with the nose gear locked in the down position creating drag and excess noise. We were assured that there was no safety issue involved. 35 min into the flight, the pilot announced that the plane would be returning to Atlanta not for safety issues but because the next day's weather in Charlottesville ( icing at high altitudes) would prevent the plane from returning to Atlanta because the locked wheel position could not be flown in such conditionsand they did not want the plane to be " out of position" the following day. . The pilot even said" I wish they had told me that before takeoff. ". So Delta made the decision to disrupt the travel of a full capacity plane already half way to its destination rather than have a " plane out of postion"
Upon returning to Atl, we were informed that no other plane was available and the flight was terminated and cancelled. I was able to book a later flight to Richmond Va. which arrived 3 hrs later forced me to rent a car ro drive an 75minutes to Charlotesville.
After many years of flying ., I have never been involved or even heard of an in flight abort due not to safety but to the next days flying condition.
My request to Delta for a refund or future ticket was met with a " sorry, there is nothing we can do about it"
The locked wheel issue was known and discussed with the passengers before take off. It was according to the pilot, not a safety issue. If that is true, Delta level of service to 54 passegers is nothing to be proud of.
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