On July 14, 2004 my family and I traveled to London on Northwest Airlines. An 11 hour journey took 42 hours. Compensation of $200 in the form of e-ticket vouchers is all that has been offered. Let me tell you in brief. We arrived on the airport checked luggage in. Airline employee assured us we would make it to Detroit with plenty of time to spare before our scheduled departure from Detroit at 09:40pm. So we boarded plane and stayed at gate until 08:15pm. Pilot made occasional announcements apologizing for the delay. During our wait in the plane I asked the staff in the plane if the London bound plane would wait for us. She assured me that with all the other flight delays they would wait. This turned out to be incorrect.Plane finally left.Pilot used his Cell phone to get departure clearance since Northwest's system was still not operational. We arrived in Detroit at 10:00pm. No Northwest staff met the plane. Looked on Departure Computer – flight to London was not listed and had obviously left. Went to ticketing. We stood in line for two and a half hours. We were rebooked on a Delta flight the next day out of Atlanta. Booking employee gave us hotel and meal vouchers and instructed us to reclaim our luggage and take a shuttle to the hotel. 12:45am, we located our luggage. I searched for a shuttle to the hotel. Shuttles ceased operation at 11:00pm. I called Hotel. Desk clerk asked why Northwest kept sending people to the Hotel when they had told northwest they were full and could not honor any vouchers. I located a Northwest employee at Luggage office. He had a list of hotels. Called several hotels and located one room in Belleville, so I gathered up my family and headed for Taxi stand with our luggage. On another day that is on July 15th, 09:30am traveled back to airport. And waited in line for another two hours. Checked luggage through to London, and at last reached London after 42 hours.
Sam
NA
NY,United States