Flight cancelled due to weather, but now weather issues
 

My wife is currently trying to make a cross-country flight. She had a layover in Detroit where she was supposed to make a connecting flight into Portland, Maine. Her flight was scheduled to depart at 4:30 tonight for a 7:30 arrival in Portland. However, when she arrived in Detroit she called to say her flight had been cancelled due to "weather". However, I'm sitting here in Maine, about 10 miles from the airport, and all is fine - no rain, snow or wind. In fact you could still see stars in the sky when she first called me. Flights are leaving and departing from the airport here as usual. The weather for tomorrow is rain/snow/wind but after hearing the forecast it doesn't sound bad enough to cause major flight issues tomorrow.

I then figured maybe the inbound flight was delayed, but that wasn't the case either. Per Flight Aware the inbound flight arrived on time so that wasn't an issue.

I suspect Delta cancelled the flight more for their own operational convenience than for weather. Perhaps they didn't have a full flight or something. They offered my wife a "discounted" hotel but the reality is I could have booked for the same price online. To my wife and I it was a hollow gesture of good will. Obviously, we're not happy about this since we think the reason for cancellation is BS.

As a family on a tight budget incurring extra food and lodging costs that don't seem truly necessary has really rubbed us the wrong way. We feel, considering the circumstances, these costs should be comped. Is this even worth pursuing at all with Delta, or would we be wasting our breath?

It might be worth filing a complaint with the DOT with the information you have... and state that you believe the airline has misled passengers and asked them to investigate. It would be great to catch them at it...there is a link on this website to the official site. There is a way to tell when a Delta employee is lying to you.... just look to see if their lips are moving.

For many years passengers and airlines alike have grappled with the problems associated with the effects and disruptions imposed on flight schedules due to weather events. In all this time it has never occurred to anyone that the entire problem could be solved by following this poster's simple suggestion that we base all weather related flight operations decisions on the weather in Portland, ME at the present moment. As I write this post, for instance, we are beginning to notice cancellations in Richmond, VA on flights into EWR, JFK, BOS, LGA, etc. Obviously, there is no reason for these disruptions if the weather in Portland, ME is not an impedment to flight operations. If you can find the time, could you please look out your window and contact the FAA and all the major airlines directly with an update on the weather in Portland, ME. If you could do this, we would then be able to clear up all the cancellations/delays that are currently impacting today's flight schedules.

Rather than contacting DOT, you should probably contact their supervisor concerning the implementation of your excellent thought. His name is Barack H. Obama, and his mailing address is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington DC, USA. I am certain that he will be most interested in this, and any other suggestions, that you might be able to make regarding flight operations or the weather in Portland, ME. It may also be productive to contact William J. Clinton, George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, James E. Carter, Willard M. Romney, Willard Scott, or Harry S. Truman. If you wish to take legal action concerning the airline's obvious failure to properly account for weather events that may be impacting the northeastern portion of the United States, I can recommend the firm of S. Claus, E. Bunny, and J.H. Christ. They were able to win my suit against DAL concerning the obviously frivolous weather related cancellation of all flights into LGA on 10/30/2012.

Give me a break. The weather news was all about a massive nor'easter on the heels of Hurricane Sandy that was dumping over 14" of snow on the northeast. So between Detroit and Maine, all hell was letting loose weatherwise.

It amazes me on how you think Maine and Michigan are so close and share a boarder. The reality is , is that there is at least 600+ miles of space between the 2 states.