Delta Airlines Reviews and Complaints

We flew Delta from Springfield, MO to our connecting flight 1905 in Atlanta, GA, and then to our destination in Orlando, FL on July 5, 2018. We’ve had problems with Delta in the past but this experience was bad enough to where when we fly next year to Spokane, WA, I would rather change flights three times with another airline rather than give any more of my money to Delta.We’ve always been told to show up at the airport several hours before departure. When we showed up at the Delta check-in desk in Springfield, MO, there was no one at the counter at 3:55 AM. My wife looked for someone from Delta while I stayed with the bags. She found someone from Delta walking around the terminal & asked if she could send someone to the desk, as we were there and so were about 6 other people. She said she would but no one showed. A few minutes later, she knocked on a cipher-locked door that the employee disappeared behind earlier and someone answered & said they were in the middle of some sort of “debriefing”. By now, it was 4:25 and this person said the desk should’ve opened at 4 AM!! Apparently showing up at the airport when told is a waste of time since you have no employees there to help your CUSTOMERS anyway.Another problem we encountered was on the connecting flight from Atlanta, GA to Orlando FL. My wife and I decided to treat ourselves to flying First Class for the first time. This was for the entire trip to MO and home. Turns out, it was a WASTE of our money. Our flight attendant “Valerie” asked us if we wanted something to drink – I’d asked for orange juice, my wife asked for Sprite. We never received our drinks or another visit from Valerie, and frankly we shouldn’t have to beg her or remind her for what we ordered – especially when she was the one who asked us. Plus, we were “treated” to a screaming 3-year-old in the seats across from us. Anytime the pilot made an announcement – which cuts off the audio on the in-flight entertainment system – she’d scream (and I mean LITERALLY scream!) in protest, then cry. Not only did “Valerie” NOT try to intervene, she kept bringing the kid and her mother drinks. Would’ve been nice if we even got ONE drink. Can’t help but wonder that in today’s world if color had anything to do with it, as Valerie is African-American and so was the mother and her screaming kid. Plus we were watching Fox news, so I’m wondering if she had us figured for republicans and decided we weren’t worthy of her attention. The way things are in this country today, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.We paid for First Class expecting to be treated better than “comfort economy” or coach. As it turns out, we were treated worse. Besides the inexcusable service we received, we expected a quieter, more relaxing flight. Again, it was just the opposite. We were more aggravated and stressed when we landed than when we took off. I’d like to know WHY small children are allowed in First Class to begin with – why should people who pay a premium for better seating and overall treatment be subjected to a screaming child with a parent (AND flight attendant) who couldn’t care less??!!! I’ve heard numerous times about incidents where airlines actually DO something about unruly kids so they don’t disrupt others, but apparently Delta has no such policy or procedure in place for this.As I said, we will be travelling again next summer but switching planes 3 times is more appealing than flying Delta. We tried to give Delta “one more try” but what a mistake that was, especially since we wasted a LOT more money for the “First” Class experience. At this point, the thought of being dragged off of a United Airlines flight is more appealing than flying Delta again. We’re done since this is the worst in a series of problems we’ve had with them in several years.