Delta DL200 September 21, 2024

[Rickmt]

Upon arrival in Atlanta from Montana we were informed that our flight to Johannesburg SA would be delayed from 9:10 pm until 11:15 pm . At about 11 we boarded the plane and were looking forward to the chicken dinner we ordered in select seating.
At 1:00 am the flight was cancelled.
We were told that we would be rebooked automatically and our luggage would follow us wherever our rebooking took us .
We were told to hurry and catch the last shuttle to our free accommodations for the night.
Arriving at a Raddison we went to sleep at about 3:00 am
I got up at 7:30 am and saw no rebooking on my phone,so I called Delta at 1 800 221 1212 and got to a person after jumping over their bullshit hurdles (auto attendants)and a nice lady said we could fly to San Paulo Brazil on Tuesday, wait a day and then Wednesday fly to Johannesburg arriving Thursday and then fly to Port Elizabeth on Friday.
Our trip went from a Monday arrival to Friday. Our 10 day hunt had dropped to 6 days . My son could not extend his already 2 weeks vacation.
I pulled the plug and was able to make an 11 am flight ( without any luggage / guns of course) yesterday . We ate nothing but airplane snacks for 24 hours.
Our luggage is to be delivered 90 miles from Bozeman sometime this afternoon . Not all our luggage . One gun is on its way back from somewhere to Bozeman today and should get here tomorrow.
I rebooked with John X safaris for same time next year and Delta is refunding our flights.
On the bright side we got a free plane ride home in the last row (45) right next to the shitter !
Next year we will do it all over again .
I am going out bird hunting with my boy Rusty right now.

 

[Mike B.]

Sorry you had to scrap the whole trip. We were on the same flight but we are still going. As I type this I am still stuck in Atlanta in hopes that the flight tonight goes. I got downgraded from Delta One to Premium Select on this flight. Having my rifle with me made getting on a new flight with a different airline or going through Europe almost impossible. Not the end of the world getting downgraded but I will get zero sleep on the flight now. I also saw that the flight taking off from Joberg this morning was late again by 13 hours so my blood pressure and anxiety are through the roof that we will be going through all the same damn delays again. Our flight hasn’t shown that it is delayed at all so I’m guessing this time we are on a different plane and don’t have to worry. When they were delayed that long leaving joberg on the previous flight, the delta app showed immediately that we our flight was delayed and we hadn’t even gotten to the Salt Lake City airport yet.

Having to stay in Atlanta did have one perk. We decided to catch the Falcons game last night which was cool. I hate the Chiefs with a passion but it was still a fun time.

 

[Doubleplay]

If this would have happened with an airline out of EU zone not only you would have got your money back but also compensated a lot of money based on mileage of the flight.
Unfortunately here in US we have no meaningful consumer protection when it comes to airlines and that's coming from someone who's wife has been working for a major US carrier for 25 years.
What a shame.

 

[Mike B.]

I forgot to mention, I was not going to allow them to keep my luggage for a few days. I tried to get it back that night, we stayed at the airport until 5am and everyone that requested their luggage there got theirs. My buddy and my luggage never came. The guy said he was done and went home. They had one guy pulling the luggage. One guy!!! Went the next morning and got the same run around and after another 3 hours of waiting they finally said it’s in some different location and they can’t get it and to check back today. I was only able to get my rifle back. Luggage is still at the airport and we are being told that it was rerouted and should be on the plane. I have zero confidence my luggage will get there as I can’t physically see the luggage tag or even see the luggage in my delta app at the moment. It’s a complete disaster. But I’m pretty hopeful that my rifle will make it since I will be rechecking it here in a few minutes when we head back to the airport.

 

[Hunt anything]

What was the cause of the cancellation?

 

[Rickmt]

Failure in the autopilot system is what we were told

 

[Mike B.]

It was mechanical. They had a mechanical issue for the delay when the flight left joberg and I assume the same or related issue popped up again when they landed.

 

[Hunt anything]

Sorry to here about the troubles! Has Delta switched over to Air Bus or are they still flying Boeing? I heard they are switching just don’t know if they have yet.

 

[TnKen]

Sorry to here about the troubles! Has Delta switched over to Air Bus or are they still flying Boeing? I heard they are switching just don’t know if they have yet.

I flew Air Bus in July. We were delayed on the tarmac 2.5 hrs for a storm, but made it.

 

[trperk1]

Always the concern with international flights and why trip insurance may be worth it. Glad that your outfitter was reasonable. This is more of a risk than ever as there's a reduced amount of flights everywhere. Sorry to hear this as I can't imagine having my safari with my son cancelled.

 

[kdenn]

Sorry you had such an awful experience. The joys of air travel.

 

[sgt_zim]

What was the cause of the cancellation?

Delta sucks.

 

[sgt_zim]

Upon arrival in Atlanta from Montana we were informed that our flight to Johannesburg SA would be delayed from 9:10 pm until 11:15 pm . At about 11 we boarded the plane and were looking forward to the chicken dinner we ordered in select seating.
At 1:00 am the flight was cancelled.
We were told that we would be rebooked automatically and our luggage would follow us wherever our rebooking took us .
We were told to hurry and catch the last shuttle to our free accommodations for the night.
Arriving at a Raddison we went to sleep at about 3:00 am
I got up at 7:30 am and saw no rebooking on my phone,so I called Delta at 1 800 221 1212 and got to a person after jumping over their bullshit hurdles (auto attendants)and a nice lady said we could fly to San Paulo Brazil on Tuesday, wait a day and then Wednesday fly to Johannesburg arriving Thursday and then fly to Port Elizabeth on Friday.
Our trip went from a Monday arrival to Friday. Our 10 day hunt had dropped to 6 days . My son could not extend his already 2 weeks vacation.
I pulled the plug and was able to make an 11 am flight ( without any luggage / guns of course) yesterday . We ate nothing but airplane snacks for 24 hours.
Our luggage is to be delivered 90 miles from Bozeman sometime this afternoon . Not all our luggage . One gun is on its way back from somewhere to Bozeman today and should get here tomorrow.
I rebooked with John X safaris for same time next year and Delta is refunding our flights.
On the bright side we got a free plane ride home in the last row (45) right next to the shitter !
Next year we will do it all over again .
I am going out bird hunting with my boy Rusty right now.View attachment 635913

Fly Qatar, Turkish, or Emirates next time. This exact horse shit is why I won't fly Delta or United.

 

[Rem700stw]

I WAS scheduled to fly Delta dl201 Johannesburg to Atlanta on Sept. 20. We were told at airport flight was cancelled. No prior notice by Delta or travel agent.

Eventually Delta flew us out on Saturday morning, the 21st. Heard 3 different stories for cancellation. Arrived Atlanta about 10 pm on the 21st.

Perhaps this impacted the dl200 flight on the 21st.

 

[Rickmt]

Sorry to here about the troubles! Has Delta switched over to Air Bus or are they still flying Boeing? I heard they are switching just don’t know if they have yet.

I don’t know the difference maybe Mike b noticed

 

[MontanaPat]

Rick, that’s a real bummer, sorry you guys had trouble getting there but sounds like pulling the plug was the only reasonable option. I was looking forward to hearing your report. Maybe we can get together to chase some huns

 

[Mekaniks]

That sucks...

 

[BryceM]

Yup. Coming home in June the Delta flight from Joberg to ATL was cancelled. We had a nice lovely visit to São Paulo and had a delay of 4 days for some of our luggage. No rifles, fortunately. We ended up getting home just one day late, but others on our flight were put on flights 3 and 4 days later.

I’ve been a lifelong Delta customer, living close to one of their hubs, but I’m about ready to try something else. Too bad you had to bail on the whole trip. Sucks for everyone.

BTW, starting next year US citizens will need a visa to travel to Brazil. It can be applied for electronically, but will take a couple of weeks to process. That will take that re-route option off the table.

 

[Mike B.]

I am finally in South Africa sitting at Africa Sky getting ready to have breakfast. All my luggage got here just fine. Our flight last night was late again. The flight coming from Johannesberg was late by about 12 hours. I didn't hear what the issue for that flight being late was but that caused our flight to be late again because of cleaning, etc. So twice that flight from Joberg to Atlanta was late by a significant amount of time in just a few days. Maintenance did have to come on the plane again before we left to fix the intercom/bell system. It was quick but I got nervous seeing the guys in yellow vests walk onto the plane.

It was a decent flight over so no complaints there. I was originally downgraded from Delta One into Premium Select on my replacement fight. My buddy was downgraded into economy from Premium Select. Right before our flight, a Delta One seat opened up and I was able to have the nice lady at the Sky Club assign that seat to me and my buddy got my Premium Select seat. I was super happy about that.

 

[CAustin]

Damn