ComplaintsforKorean Air

• Initial Complaint

  12/04/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  Korean Air ticket sold operated by Delta Air denied elderly 72 years old passenger on wheelchair service due to the flight was full offer no assistant to passenger plus airlines representatives were rude and ignore helpless passenger and her interpreter on the phone. Original Korean (KE) Booking Ref - ******** (6K4IP5)? $822 Ticket Number - *************?******** (***) ************) ************ (***) **************** (***-*******)VO/THIANH MS *** mother 72 years of age on wheelchair service transit at ******* for connecting flight on KE/DEL departed from ******* to ************.Booking wheelchair service all routes on her original Korean air booking; as she cant walk long distance due to arthristis, heart issues, high blood pressure with minimum English speaking.When ****** landed at *******, nobody took care wheelchair. She was so nervous and afraid of missing connecting flight. Therefore, she tried to make her way to Delta counter with *************** staff support (We appreciate and would like to thank you to a ******* staff who guided her on the way to check-in counter). She was then bounced back and forth between Korean Air and Delta Air until they finally refused her due to the flight was full and shes late. Shes a transit passenger with checked through bags to final destination; so I dont think it took that long time to accept her on board if airlines agents really wanted to. The flight was full was not her fault. But they gave her hard time then blamed her for all the delays. She was totally confused of the refusal at that point, as it was still more than 30mins until departing time, thus she asked for a ********** interpreter. Around 9:59am, a ********** lady still confirmed that the airplane was full and refused her boarding. She called me at 10:10am to tell me she still in *******; couldnt get on board after a long time struggling but failure. Flight time at 10:20am and they left her there by herself helpless, anxiety, didnt know what was going on and what to do. .*** sister was on the phone with my mom as interpretor and I was on the opertator lines from ******* to Korean Air then ****** ****** to seek for help. 1.First big frustration came from the way a flight manager told my sister that he only make sure she can flight to her final destination. Thats all. She was late for her flight, he continued you can talk to Korean air if you want. Im not spending any more time talking to you on the phone. I am wondering if that manager understood that a well-knowledge and healthy passenger would not need a wheelchair assistance?! He should go back to training center for wheelchair and special passenger handling procedure and stop blaming elderly wheelchair passenger for the delay. He then said he already printed ticket for her, but my mom had nothing but her original Korean ticket on hand. Without a helper, she wouldnt understand whatever they gave her in English. ******* is an international hub airport, therefore airlines agents stop expecting all passengers speak English. They should be helpful to listen to remote interpreter on the phone to understand the need of passenger in front of them. Being a flight manager but he brutally responded to my sister as an interpreter for my mother who was in panic distress of missing flight, its unacceptable.2.Then my mom had to ran around to find another agent; so that my sister could help to ask for printing the new Deltas booking for 11.30.2023.That agent was annoyed as if they were bugs on her back with the answer No, I dont want to talk to anyone on the phone. We were helpless*** sister had to type a message, sent to my mom, told her to show that message to any agent at counter for helping with new ticket printing so that we ensured my mom could go home on 11.30.2023. My mom sat at Delta counters area 20hrs overnight before next 20 hours flights and kept telling us forget all about what happened; as long as she could get on board to go home tomorrow, everything would be ok. Shes sleepless, so were we.Of course, wouldnt have this complaint if there werent another awful thing happened again at 5:55am this morning 11.30.2023 at gate A4, and its the last straw.3*** mom was brought to gate A4 around 5:32am. Shes didnt see her Delta flight number. She started to worried of missing flight again. I told her its too early for the flight number to show at boarding gate. Ill send a message for her so that she could show airport agent for helping boarding gate check. While we were on the phone, she found 1 agent standing at gate A4; and she hand out her phone over so that we could get quick answer for DL0197 boarding gate. Before I could say any word, I heard a voice No, no, I dont walk to talk to anyone on the phone then my mom told me the agent already walked away. ..We begged for information and hotel accomodations so that my mother didnt have to sit 24 hours overnight alone on the hard chair waiting and griefing. She couldnt understand why they ignored and avoided her; and treated her badly as if shes a leper. Passengers with good air travel knowledge understand their rights and get good services. If the flight is full due to airlines overbooking sales, lots of options are offered such as: credit vouchers to volunteer give up seats before flight; upgrade to First/business class or hotel plus food vouchers while waiting for connecting flight, etc but none was offered to my mother.She was offloaded after her first flight during her long-haul multiple flights trip. Shes not only did not get any help but also was ignored; shes even not worth for any airline agent to look at.Delta agent on operator line advised me to book hotel for my mother then send them to reimburse with Korean air. But my mother already was afraid of getting lost inside the airport, therefore she dared not to go anywhere far from ************** counters.If I booked hotel online and told her to get out of the airport, into the cold weather and get shuttle bus to hotel and back, she would be lost in the midst of *******. Thank you for taking the time to read to the end of this long complaint and help to forward to related departments.Sincerely,*******************

  Customer response

  12/15/2023

  Dear ******,

  Thank you so much for quick action of BBB regarding our complaint Korean Air.

  Please Kindly find the attached files for your information of our communications between Korean and Delta air.

  Thank you so much for your time to follow up and your support to protect air travelers within *****************.

  Sincerely,

  *******************

  Customer response

  12/18/2023

  Dear *****,
  
  Thank you for your kind response regarding my updated information.
  
  English is my second language, therefore its never be my advantage and good enough in communications especially in written under emotions instead of rational complaint. It cannot express what we truly we feel inside and sometimes *** lead to discrepancies or misunderstanding that I overruling after asking BBB for help. 
  I do apology if any inconvenience *** have caused and would like to explain as follows:
  
  1.We filed the customer feedbacks on ******* customer care, ********************** and Delta Air website on   11.30.2023 right after my mother safely on board to *******. 
  
  2.On 12.04.2023 we continued to file on BBB for help to protect air travelers for my mother. Because we realized that from the attitudes of airlines agents at the ***************, we would never get any better response from a feedback filed on their website, either.
  
  3.On the 12.5.2023, we got responses from Korean; ******* customer care on 12.07.2023; and Delta on **********. 
  
  At the beginning, I wanted to wait in order to gather all 3 replies from previous communications to submit to BBB for further handlings.
  But upon receiving Delta customer care reply, I was so emotional and got angry by the irresponsible and oppressive ways of Korean and Delta air to passengers. Thats why I immediately replied them on 12.14.2023 without realizing that I *** cause any misunderstanding or overruling BBB in the process helping us for this is the first time we know about BBB and seek for help. Again, I do apology.
  
  We paid for the service but not only we got it right but also got mistreated; that *** harm my mother health. High blood pressure is dangerous to the elderly. It caused a severe stroke to my grandfather that leaded him bed-riding over 9 months before his passing away. My mothers blood pressure was unstable because of anxiety and nervous especially during the time of missing flight, but luckily still under control by medications; but can be dangerous for her heart if it kept going high. It took several days for her to recover to stable level after arrival in *******. Thats why we are so emotional and got angry right upon receiving irresponsible replies like that. We couldnt believe how come Korean and Delta representatives are that irresponsible and awful. We hope BBB would comprehend and continued to do whatever is good to passengers.
  
  We really dont know which outcome to expect; for my mother already used the flight service but its such a miserable experience. We cannot return service like a bad product. We only wish BBB with authority can warn or stop Delta and Korean air provide horrible services to passengers especially with special needed passengers like elderly, handicapped,.
  
  Thank you for your understanding and kind support. 
  Best regards,
  ******************* for Vo/Thianh

  Customer response

  12/19/2023

  Dear Amber, 

  On behaft of *******/Thianh
  Dear *****,
  Please kindly find the Korean air's recent reply on 12.18.2023 as per file attached. 
  We purchased ticket on Korean air website. However the service was failed causing the health threatening to my mother passenger Vo/Thianh due to missing flight.
  We would like BBB to assist us in claiming for the full refund which we made to Korean Air.
  Thank you so much for kind comprehension and prompt attention to this matter.
  Best regards,
  ******************* for *******/Thianh

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩