Detroit Airport Descends Into Chaos During the Weekend's Weather Delays

March 15, 2010 at 5:59 PM | by JetSetCD | Comments (5)

This last weekend, while the East Coast suffered under hurricane-force winds and rain coming down so bad and so hard that it stung your face, many flights were delayed or cancelled, and a few airports closed down fully. One of the first airports to close was New York-LaGuardia, which called off all flights from the late afternoon on Saturday, just about the time that our friends were flying on Delta from Detroit-Metro to LaGuardia.

Two hours into their flight and thus only a half hour away from LGA, the airport closed and their flights turned around to head back to DTW. Then, back at the tarmac at DTW, they faced the stress of rebooking for another flight, while their checked luggage (one bag, $23 checked fee paid online) caught the first flight out the next day. They waited for 3.5 hours in switchbacked lines to rebook their flight, and the first they could get was two days later—Monday morning. And a two-day delayed flight wasn't the only surprise of the experience, as we heard from their account of the ordeal at Detroit Airport:

Insanity! Chaos! Toiletry kits! After the jump...

Nobody said anything for like two hours, except for "I can't help." Nobody was on site, nobody knew anything. There were 180 of us at least. They sent us to the rebooking area, where there were two desks with Delta employees who would just leave and then we'd have one agent there to rebook. Some passengers were standing at the desks talking to a rebooking agent for an hour! Some people tried the phones, but they were on hold for an hour or two and they just sat on the floor at the phones.

Then, around hour 3, a manager got involved to get everyone some beverages. It was like hurricane relief. At first they brought out 48 cans of warm Coke. For 180 people! They just put it over on the side chair and didn't say anything. Eventually they wheeled out one of those little service carts like they have on the airplane, with giant bottles of water, pretzels and peanuts, pillows and blanket and toiletry kits. Everyone just scrambled to get one, but there weren't very many.

Our rebooking was very quick, but we feel bad for those who had rerouted trips. And no one could get their luggages, so even if you were rerouted, you would still have to go to LaGuardia to pick up your bags. The agents had promised us that our luggage would arrive before us and it'd be in a secure area until we picked it up. An agent did take us to our bag, but it was not in a secure or gated area. We were told that two jumbo jets from London couldn't land at JFK at were diverted to landing at Detroit. What'd they do with those hundreds of passengers?! I just didn't like the Delta reps skirting around all of us and not telling us anything. So much conflicting information.

Related Stories:
· Weather news [Jaunted]

[Photo of a Delta delay help brochure by Jaunted]

Comments (5)

Return to » Detroit Airport Descends Into Chaos During the Weekend's Weather Delays

I can't speak for Delta, but I can say that DTW is nowhere near 2.5 hours from LGA--more like an hour, 1.5 hours TOPS. My guess is that's not the only exaggeration in your pal's story...

Well you should have been there, like me. I was also on that flight which turned around to Detroit after being told by the captain that Laguardia and the east coast airports were closed. You should have been there....standing in line with crying babies, hungry pre-teens (they are always hungry), and just plain MAD passengers. Delta employees had no information for us, no procedures to follow, and, did I say NO INFORMATION!! And heaven forbid if we would leave our space in line and go potty or get food !!

For sure, the company was not prepared to such situations. A good company would have been. I've read a book in management which I downloaded at pdf SE http://www.pdfok.com . A good company should be ready to such situations. Moreover there was nothing extraordinary here. Such situations are quite predictable and happen from time to time. Well, I'm sure the passangers will not the company again.

I was also on that flight which turned around to Detroit after being told by the captain that Laguardia and the east coast airports were closed. You should have been there....standing in line with crying babies, hungry pre-teens (they are always hungry), and just plain MAD passengers.
torrent

Delta doesn't fly 'jumbo jets', as you call them, to LHR. All services to Heathrow are operated by B764ER aircraft. Also, you can't blame the airlines for weather delays. I can see where you're coming from regarding the way they handled the situation, but don't expect them to foot the bill for a hotel room.

Jaunted

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