In all fairness to Delta, below is the return letter I recieved from my letter to them.
Dear Mr. Jacobsen,
RE: Case Number 8359510
Thank you for sharing your concerns regarding the service provided while traveling with us on August 31. On behalf of everyone at Delta Air Lines, I sincerely apologize for the poor wheelchair service provided in Atlanta.
We truly appreciate the time you took to share your experience. After reading your remarks concerning your experience transferring airplanes, I certainly understand why you wanted to bring this matter to our attention. It was disheartening to hear you missed your flight due to the vendors delay in transporting you. Please know we want to make travel with us a convenient and trouble-free experience for all our passengers with special needs.
Further, if a customer requires wheelchair assistance, we want to provide them this help in a timely and caring manner. Unfortunately, there may be times when the demand for such service will momentarily exceed the supply of wheelchairs and a short wait may result. However, because the delay caused you to miss Flight 2057 you were handled improperly.
Additionally, I have taken a moment to carefully review your communication and your Electronic Ticket Record (ETR). Allow me to explain my findings. According to your ETR, we received an advance wheelchair request indicating you required assistance with long distances, including to, from, and between gates. Your advance wheelchair request alerted team members at the airport and onboard your flight to the type of assistance you needed.
Moreover, my review also shows there is a very unique process for deplaning wheelchair (WCHR) passengers off international flights and getting them through Customs and Immigrations, which involves several different handoffs between our WCHR agents. It is important to note there are agents assigned to deplane passengers and get them through immigrations via a dedicated special assist line for WCHR passengers. Depending on the volume of special assist passengers, this part can take a little time. Then the agent leaves the passenger with another agent(s) who is responsible for getting them through the line and to the baggage claim/recheck area. There are dedicated agents also outside of the security screening area who then take the passengers to their connecting flights.
In this instance the correct procedure was followed, however we failed to properly communicate the process to you and regrettably left you not knowing what was going on. From my research, it also appears that once you cleared security we realized that you was not going to make your connection and took you back into the service area to be rebooked by Delta personnel. You were then taken to our concourse transfer point to be driven over to your new flight connection.
Finally, I have shared a copy of your correspondence with our Airport Customer Service leadership team in Atlanta so they can review our procedures and take appropriate internal action. We want to ensure that we are providing the very best service possible when special assistance is required. While I hope that I have addressed your concerns in a satisfactory manner, you also have the right to contact the U.S. Department of Transportation Consumer Protection Division if you wish to
pursue this matter.
For future reference, it is always helpful for passengers to review their needs for assistance with both the team member at the gate and with the flight attendant onboard their flight. We also ask that passengers who need boarding assistance or who wish to pre-board identify themselves to our team on arrival at the gate as a passenger
who will pre-board, and to indicate whether or not they will need wheelchair assistance at that time.
As a gesture of goodwill for the delayed service which caused you to arrive in Tampa two hours later than originally planned, I have issued an Electronic Transportation Credit Voucher (eTCV) in the amount of $100.00. Please note the voucher number and associated Terms and Conditions will be arriving in a separate email. Please keep the voucher number and the Terms and Conditions since the number is required for redemption. It is also important for me to mention that no charge is assessed for reservations confirmed online at http://delta.com/
Mr. Jacobsen, thank you for your support and for trusting your business to us. I value the opportunity to address your concerns with our service in Atlanta. Be assured, we will make every attempt to serve you well; we are focused on the future and look forward to our continued business relationship.
Sincerely,
Coordinator, Customer Care
Northwest/KLM/Delta Air Lines
