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A woman’s vacation to Sicily, Italy, turned into a travel nightmare when Delta Air Lines canceled multiple flights, leaving her stranded and out more than $1,600 in unexpected expenses.
Carmen Sansone (@csansone4) has now turned to social media as her last hope to recover the money she claims Delta refuses to reimburse her.
The ordeal began at the Catania airport in Sicily as she attempted to check her luggage. “The Delta agent just casually says, ‘I have bad news. Your flight’s canceled,’” Sansone explains in her viral TikTok. “No refund. Nothing. Just me stranded in the middle of a foreign country airport no one speaks English at.”
Delta rebooked her for the following morning, forcing Sansone to pay $205 for a taxi to a hotel an hour away. She stayed overnight, had meals that weren’t “crazy expenses,” and then spent another $200 on a taxi back to the airport early the next day.
Her troubles were just beginning.
The rescheduled flight sat on the tarmac for two hours — a delay that caused her to miss her connecting flight from JFK to Nashville. Upon arriving in New York, Sansone paid $60 for lounge access to wait out the five-hour layover before her next flight.
While sitting in the lounge “sipping wine,” she received another shocking email from Delta. “My flight to Nashville was canceled. No reasoning, nothing. Just canceled,” she recalls. “At this point I’m balling, crying, going on 24 hours of being awake, exhausted, feeling helpless, feeling like Delta’s giving me nothing. I’m spending all this money out of pocket.”
No Escape From New York
With yet another overnight stay forced upon her — this time in New York — Sansone had to book another hotel and pay for transportation. She also had to purchase clothes through Instacart since Delta still had her luggage. “Then I had to order clothes off of Instacart,” she notes. The clothes came from Target, so they were “not expensive.”
Finally, after taking an Uber to the airport the next morning, Sansone managed to board a flight to Nashville and make it home.
No Refund, Big Problem
Once home, she gathered all receipts and submitted them to Delta for reimbursement. The airline’s response left her stunned.
“They denied every single expense besides the one taxi that I took. One taxi,” she says incredulously. “Delta currently owes me $1,073.39.”
Sansone also points out that under European Union regulations, she’s entitled to additional compensation. “Also around another $600 for the EU compensation,” she adds. “That’s like a law for the flight they canceled on me in Catania. That’s actually a law, Delta, so you must pay me that.”
In total, she calculates Delta owes her approximately $1,600.
At her wits’ end, Sansone concludes her TikTok with a desperate plea: “Hopefully this helps out my case. I’m not really sure what else to do. So Delta, if it’s easier, I can just send you my Venmo. Thank you. Bye.”
Take It To LinkedIn?
Sansone’s video has garnered nearly 165,000 views and over 900 comments, with many viewers offering strategies to help her recover her money.
Several commenters specifically suggested using LinkedIn to get the airline’s attention. “Tag them on LinkedIn. They don’t like that at all,” wrote one user, to which Sansone replied, “On it.”
Others recommended filing formal complaints with the Federal Aviation Authority, the Department of Transportation, and the Better Business Bureau (BBB). One commenter shared a success story of receiving a full refund after complaining to the BBB about a different airline.
Some viewers suggested a credit card dispute as another avenue. “Just dispute the Delta flight ticket, probably worth $1k plus,” advised one person. “Say you didn’t get what you paid for, which you didn’t, they cancelled the flight.”
Sansone responded that she was pursuing this option “as we speak” and added, “Delta’s gonna be hearing from me everywhere.”
@csansone4
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Delta canceled two of my flights and now they’re refusing to refund me over $1,000. Please tag @delta let’s get their attention #deltaairlines #travelnightmare #deltafail #refundme #traveltiktok #storytime #chaos
