delta + northwest = disaster (part two)

i posted about delta + northwest yesterday (read that post here). and the story continues:

i tried to check in online a day before my flight but couldn't for some reason. i got an error message telling me i needed to go to the airport to check in.

so i went to the airport. there were three women at the delta + northwest counter but they were all talking to each other and none of them had time for me. that's cool, i was pretty much over this company by then and preferred to use the self-check-in kiosk anyway. but i couldn't. the kiosk found my reservation but told me i needed to speak with a delta-northwest agent. oh, lord, they were making this hard.

i got a woman's attention. she asked me my last name. i told her. "sadie?," she asked. yep. "you don't have an electronic ticket," she told me. "do you have a paper ticket?" nope. electronic. as of an hour ago i had confirmed seats, too. geez! what is going on with these people?! i told her i was on the second leg of my trip and had gotten this far on an electronic ticket. "oh, it was a one way ticket?," she asked me. NO! is she serious? sadly, i think she was. i was quickly losing my patience but let her know my ticket was electronic. apparently there just wasn't anything she could do to for me unless i could prove i had a ticket. this was the worst service i'd had in a long time.

luckily i had the ticket number in my email which i was able to access from my phone. i gave it to her and she disappeared for five minutes. when she came back there was obviously a problem (shock). she had a couple of other women with her. they were all staring at the screen together. "oh!, she's going through atlanta!," one of them said. i let them know i HAD been going through atlanta and in fact preferred to go through atlanta but had been rerouted through minneapolis. this was just getting worse and worse. aren't the airlines supposed to know who is traveling on what plane to what city? a little thing called security? wow, delta + northwest can not be trusted.

finally, finally, they gave me these weird 'boarding passes.' the passes said, "flight coupon required" on them. they told me not to worry, to try to board and if there was a problem to just let the gate agent know they said it was ok to board without these flight coupons. oh, ok -- i wont worry. because this has all gone so smoothly so far. right.

on the edge of your seat? i'll be back tomorrow with the conclusion of delta + northwest = disaster.