Communication Breakdown

So, here I am in a hotel room in Detroit - 3700 miles from where I want to be.

The story of how I got here reads like a comedy of errors. It would seem that Delta airlines has never had a canceled flight before and they had to scramble to figure out how to handle this.

First, given that they were aware of the problem before 6 PM last night, you would think someone would be responible for contingency planning. When the "computer reboot" didn't work, shouldn't it have triggered some process by which contingency plans were drawn up for dealing with 300-plus irate passengers in a 767 should the problem not be an easy fix. At numerous points during the repair process, they had the opportunity to set up backup alternatives. Apparently nothing like that happened. We were left waiting and wondering as they changed the departure time from 10:00 PM to 10:30 PM to 11:00 PM to 11:45 PM to 1:00 AM before finally canceling the flight at about 1:30 AM. Did they really have to keep us waiting until that long before canceling the flight? Still, it was only after this that things really went down hill. There were actually two sub-breakdowns here as a result of the lack of contingency planning - why did it take that long to make the cancelation decision? and, why does it take 24 hours to get a replacement plane?

Breakdown Two: I should express some appreciation to the Delta Skyclub folks who kept the club open for all of us Heathrow and Minneapolis (another delayed flight) passengers until we left at about 1:30 AM. Although they put away all food and beverages at 10:00 PM, it was nice to at least stay in the lounge with access to a minimally comfortable chair and access to a power source and Internet access. But then, when we headed down to the gate, there was chaos. There were no clear signs or lines or any indications on what to do. People clustered around various gates where there seemed to be agents helping people. On asking around, we were told that we just stand in one of the lines at gate A28 or A25 (there were clusters of people and no lines) to simply pick up hotel and meal vouchers. The line I was in took ages even though there were only about five or six people in front of me. The printer wouldn't work and the agent had to keep running from one counter to the next. Then, there did not seem to be any meaningful order in which the hotels were allocated. Some got the Hyatt Regency, some got the Sheraton, and I got the Holiday Inn. No instructions were given as to where to go, how to reach the htoel, and how to get back for the rescheduled flight. I had to ask someone about amenities (since I had responded to overcrowded cabins by packing a VERY small carry-on that only had my book and laptop) and they directed me to a gate where there would be a box with the toiletery pouches. There was still no one directing people to appropriate ground transportation. Their meal vouchers were for a whopping six dollars each! The management of the process of allocating hotel and meal vouchers at the gate was a mess.

Breakdown Three: I followed the crowd heading to the ground transportation area. WHen I got to the area marked "Hotel Shuttles," I found a relatively large group of confused passengers looking around for a shuttle appearing confused. No one seemed to know what to do and where to go. I went to the board with the hotels listed and tried to find the "Holiday Inn Southgate" and came up blank. I called the number listed for the Holiday Inn Express and they said they have nothing to do with the Holiday Inn Southgate and had no idea how I could contact them. He did transfer me to their general reservation line and the person there had no idea how I could contact the Holiday Inn Sothgate. She gave me the number for what she said was the hotel, but when I called it, I was back to the Holiday Inn Express. Several of the passengers called the Holiday Inn Southgate and were told that transportation was the airline's responsibility and they had no information on how we were to get to the hotel. As we were standing around wondering what to do (it was a long walk back and back through security to the gate), someone came by and said and told a few of the people that we were in the wrong spot and needed to head to a different point where coaches were waiting. She just said this to a few people around one cluster and walked quickly away before the rest of us before we could ask her what she said. We had no choice but to follow the group that had spoken to the lady. We trooped back into the terminal and ended up at the luggage claim. Then, everyone stopped and looked around bewildered. I went to one of the people who had spoken with the lady and they still appeared confused "Where did she ask you to go?" I inquired. "Well, here, I think ..." came the uncertain answer in a clipped English accent. I then headed away from the lost group (since I figured the coach is unlikely to be inside the baggage claim area) and found two large coaches waiting outside baggae claim. I called the group over. There were two coaches engaged in deep conversation with a Delta agent. The coach drivers weren't sure which coach was going to the Holiday Inn, but asked us just climb into one of the coaches now. The driver got on the mic and told us that the agent wasn't sure how many people still needed a ride so we just had to wait until they knew if everyone had been rounded up. He also said that the agent had no idea what to do after we got to the hotel and had no idea when we would be picked up the next day, "It could be 2:00 or 2:30 PM," he said helpfully "because the airline wants you back three hours before the flight." Overall, the process of keeping passengers informed of the process of getting us to our final destination was botched.

Breakdown Four: We finally get on our way and find that this hotel is a good forty minutes away from the airport. Now, remember this - the hotel has been told that a flood of stranded passengers were on their way. Several of the passengers had called the hotel wondering how to get there. It is 3 AM. It is reasonable to expect that the hotel is all set up to manage the coach full of tired and angry passengers, right? We get to the hotel and crawl out of the coach in a big grumpy bunch and find there is ONE person at the registration desk to help us all. We find ourselves in a long line as this one lady tries to get everyone's name in, respond to the various prompts, assign rooms, etc. Couldn't they have had all this set up before the coach arrived? WHile the lady was pleasant and kept apologizing for the long list of prompts she had to respond to, it still took ages. I was near the front of the line and was in my room by about 3:15 AM.

Breakdown Five: Still primarily the responsibility of the hotel. We asked about breakfast and the lady said that breakfast buffet would run from 7:30 AM to 10:30 AM. Since there was a long line, a few of us asked again, "Until what time is breakfast available?" "Until 10:30 AM," she repeated and that time was passed on down the line in a loud voice. This morning, I woke up late, took a shower, wore my old stinky clothes and sauntered over to the breakfast place at about 10 AM. As I asked about a place to sit down, the waitress said, "you know, we close at 10 AM - we're just clearing away the food." I told her that we were told 10:30 AM and she said that the lady (who we later found out had worked at this Holiday Inn for ages) at registration was mistaken. The waitress was kind enough to bring the food back (there were a few others who wandered in after me) for which she earned a $5 tip from me. So, I got some breakfast and headed back to the room to type up this ridiculously long post. But, I need this reminder for my complaint letter to Delta!

The adventure is not over yet. Who was it who said something like "Getting there is half the fun?"

UPDATE: I wandered out of the room at about 1:40 PM to get some lunch before the 2:30 coach and found most of my co-passengers out in the lobby with their bags. They said that the coach was already there and planning to leave at 2 PM for the airport (they *did* say 2:15 OR 2:30 when we were dropped off). So, I went back to the room, wrapped up and we were brought to the airport at 2:30 PM. It's deja vu all over again. I'm in the Delta Skyclub waiting for the 6:15 PM flight ...