Delta Air Lines review by Anton 2014-12-20

My last experience with Delta was one of the worst airline experiences I ever had with any airline. And my recent problems were entirely due to Delta regulations. My kids (12 and 16) were traveling on a non-stop coast-to-coast flight. They are experienced travelers: they traveled all over Europe, occasionally without parents. Just a month ago they took a similar flight on United, and we had no problems whatsoever: I checked them in at the airport, they went through security on their own, and were picked up by their mother at their destination. The whole procedure took me 15 minutes. So I did not expect any problems with Delta either. Big mistake. The first surprise was that Delta requires paying extra $100 for each unaccompanied minor under 14 (for United it is 12). OK, I paid the day before by phone, and, at the request of an agent, provided my own contact information, as well as the information of the person (their mother) who was supposed to pick up the kids at the destination. I thought was buying an extra service, instead I paid $100 for a headache. In the airport it turned out we cannot check-in with the rest of the passengers. Instead, we were first directed to a "Kiosk assistance", and after waiting in line for a few minutes were directed to yet another place, a glass booth called 'Special Services". There we waited for another ten minutes, watching how two agents try to deal with a single customer. After they were done with her, one of the agents turned her attention to us. I was directed to fill out some form, again giving my contact information (what was the point of asking it on the phone then?) Then the agent painfully typed with one finger for another 7-10 minutes, checked the kids' baggage and then told me that I have to take them through security and to the gate! And that I have to give the form I just filled out to the agent at the gate. They declared it is Delta's policy. What did I pay $100 for, exactly? Then we had to take the baggage back to "Kiosk assistance" and went through security. Luckily for us, it did not took us too long, or we would be cutting it very close (while we arrived at the airport 90 minutes before the scheduled departure, by the time we went through all this, there was only 25 min left). The gate agent suggested that we wait until the very end of boarding, and when I asked "why", she said that even after the kids board, I have to wait till the plane leaves the gate. That is also a Delta policy. After this I just told the kids to board, handed the form to the agent, and as soon as they were on board, I left. The whole drop off took 1 hr 25 min. Now, that would be bad enough. But when the kids arrived to their destination, they were sent to some special area to wait for their mother to pick them up. She also had to go through security, and since she was not a passenger, she had to spend a considerable time in a line waiting for someone to assist her. It took her more than 1hr to pick up the kids. All this happened because of Delta's asinine policies regarding unaccompanied minor travel. I will do my best to avoid flying Delta in the future.