Being Canadian, I rarely fly out of Canada. I actually prefer flying out of the United States as for one, it is much cheaper, and two, you can find direct flights. Another bonus being that the customs is completely different and much swifter to go through.
Anyways, since I don't have a license and my mother is visually impaired, we had no choice but to fly out of Canada this time around which was a huge mistake. Mistake number two was choosing to fly with Delta...
As I mentioned before with the new regulations put into place for air travel, when you fly out of Canada, you need to be at the airport three hours prior to your flight. Since our flight was at around 6 AM, we got to the airport around 3 AM. We waited over an hour (standing) for the Delta check in to even open... There wasn't even any places to sit for those needing it. The woman checking us in was sort of impolite. My mother had requested airport assistance (due to her handicap) and the woman didn't seem all that interested. She even gave me a few weird looks. Aside from that, we did receive assistance from a lovely and friendly woman who helped us through customs (which was very swift) and gave us detailed instructions how to find our gate. Later on, after we were settled, she even came to check on us. She was one of the highlights of the whole airport/Delta experience and she didn't even work for Delta.
When we finally boarded the aircraft, we were on the tarmac for close to 45 minutes before the plane departed for Detroit. This put us way behind and made us miss our connecting flight to Orlando. When we got there, the airline didn't even seem to care they had made us miss our flight. They were able to find another flight for us which didn't depart for another 4 hours. The flight from Detroit to Orlando went smoothly. We arrived at the Orlando International Airport around 3 PM, instead of around 11:30 AM, which caused our plans to completely change for the day (basically, a day wasted).
Now, 10 days later, after a wonderful vacation, it was time to head back to MCO. Our first flight, to Atlanta, was pretty good, but unfortunately, the flight from Atlanta back to Toronto was not. First off, the woman sitting in front of me placed a cup of coffee on the floor and forgot about it. It wasn't until I went to get something from my bag I discovered it was soaked with coffee. Let's just say, I was angry... Then she had the nerve to place her seat back, causing me to have hardly any room to move around (she was sitting in 1A so she had plenty of room already). I pushed her seat letting her know I didn't appreciate it. My mother let her know what happened and she didn't even care she had ruined my bag (one I had bought only a few months prior to our trip; luckily it was a dark brown so when the coffee dried, it blended right in). Secondly, we had to stay on the aircraft when it landed for a wheelchair to meet us for my mother. Thirdly, we had to take stairs off the plane. This isn't exactly good for someone with barely any sight. My mother could have fallen and broke her neck or worse... Me, being someone with very good vision, was having a hard time with the stairs (I forgot to mention, but it was nighttime and dark when we landed). When we finally got our carry-on luggage (since it was a small plane, all carry-ons had to be placed below the plane), the airline had broken my mother's luggage. Since we were tired and wanted to head home, we didn't go the claims department. My mother phoned the next day to report what had happened to us, but Delta claimed they couldn't do anything for us and that we needed to head back to Pearson International to file a report on the damaged luggage (which isn't going to happen since it is a 3+ hour drive to Toronto for us). She also let them know about our other experiences (especially having to use the stairs). The woman on the line told my mother that Delta is supposed to let their passengers know if the flight uses stairs, which they didn't. When we booked, we let them know plenty of time in advance about my mother's disability (over 3 months).
When we actually booked, we each paid $411 (with taxes) for our flights, which got cancelled and changed numerous times which is just ridiculous. My aunt flew out of Rochester, NY and paid around $150 roundtrip and didn't experience any problems. My cousin, who also flew out of Rochester with her family (and chose Jet Blue), paid $60 roundtrip and had an amazing flight. They all had non-stop flights and were treated amazingly well. As for us, we got shafted.... Our previous trip, we flew from Syracuse with Jet Blue and received outstanding service. Our luggage was free (on our trip back from Orlando this time, we had to pay $20 for our one bag), we received a nice selection of snacks and beverages (loved the blue chips) (with Delta, we got one cup for our beverage and a tiny bag of peanuts or pretzels), and the entertainment was plentiful (each seat had its own television with a wide selection of channels) (with Delta, we had to share bad quality TVs that played the same movie, although one of the flights did show an episode of The Office, which I do watch).
Overall, I would recommend a) flying from America if possible and b) choosing an airline like Jet Blue because their service was fair superior to that of Delta.
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