Trevor’s lung collapsed last year, flummoxing his plans to travel with Delta from New York to Toronto. Delta issued a voucher and promised Trevor that it could be redeemed anytime within one year. What they didn’t tell him, at any point, was that they started counting not from the date of his planned travel, or from the date he requested the refund, but from the date they issued the original ticket.
Trevor sent us his exchanges with Delta. His initial letter:
Dear Delta,
In June of 2007, I experienced a collapsed lung. At the recommendation of my thoracic surgeon to avoid flight for three to six months from the time of my operation, I was unable to use tickets booked on June 11, for a flight from NY JFK to Toronto—flight XXXXXXXX.
After being made aware I would not be able to use the tickets, I called a Delta representative who informed me that once receiving a signed letter from my physician, I would be given full cred ($365.58) for the flight. The credit would be available for one year. On both occasions I spoke with Delta representatives—when canceling the flight and when confirming my letter was received—I was not made aware that the credit expired on the date the flight was booked (June 11) and not the date of departure (Aug. 3). This information was only relayed when I attempted to use the credit on June 24, 2008. No email or letter acknowledging the restriction was ever offered, just the instruction to call when I wished to apply the credit. On top of that, nowhere in the confirmation information given to me by Travelocity is the booking date listed, only the flight date and I’m sure you can imagine, given my health circumstances, how that is unsatisfactory if you expect me to consider June 11, the key date in this situation.
I understand Delta must have restrictions and expiration dates for credit; however, I feel my medical condition was taken advantage of by inadequate customer care that neglected to communicate the central piece of information. I am using the credit in a window well within a year of the flight date. This is the first time I’ve booked a flight since my injury and am dismayed by a lack of sensitivity by Delta’s policies and customer care representatives.
I appreciate your consideration and understanding.
Delta’s response:
Thank you for your correspondence to Delta Air Lines.
We realize you expect to receive accurate information when you call us. Our Reservation Sales representatives are carefully trained in all our procedures, including providing a positive experience for our valued customers.
Please be advised most unused international tickets can be applied towards new travel, domestic or international, to commence within one year from issue date of the original ticket.
Delta tickets and other travel-related documents are valid for one year from the date of issue. Once a ticket or other document has expired, it has no further value and cannot be refunded, extended, or exchanged.
While we would like to offer special consideration in cases such as yours, we are unable to honor the many requests that we receive from others in similar situations. We follow a consistent policy to ensure that Delta is fair to everyone who travels with us. Accordingly, we must respectfully decline your request.
Again, thank you for writing. We recognize this was not the response you expected to receive and trust you will understand our position. We value your business and hope you will continue to choose Delta. Should you need to contact us in the future, or find information about our service or operations, please visit us at delta.com.
Sincerely,
Irene M. Roberts
Manager
Customer Care
Can’t you feel the love and care of their velvet-covered sickle?
Trevor responded:
Dear Ms. Roberts,
I’m sure it comes as no surprise that your response is completely unsatisfactory and no, I do not in any way understand your position. Due to human error, Delta has stolen—that may sound like a strong word, but is in fact the ONLY way to refer to it—almost five hundred dollars from me.
You can claim your “Reservation Sales representatives are carefully trained”; however, all experience in this situation points to quite the opposite. Just one example, it took two hours and the escalation of the issue to a supervisor before anyone could even figure out how to locate my reservation. I understand the challenges of staffing qualified people to low-paying positions, but don’t screw your customers when they slip up. If you have many requests from “others in similar situations” than you have an institutional problem that needs to be fixed and I do not feel I should pay the price for that failure. It is certainly not Delta being “fair to everyone who travels” with you. Quite the opposite in fact.
In a business whose success and failure hinges on the ability to create customer loyalty—one ticket, just one, bought by me could erase any loss you’d take from giving me MY MONEY back—it’s shocking to me that you’ve decided to give me the middle finger and I’m sure, a contributing factor to Delta’s struggles. I will NOT “continue to choose Delta.” In the internet age, I’m just shocked Delta doesn’t understand this costs more than it saves. You have no right to this money and with poor customer service from top to bottom, have taken advantage of my illness.
Attached you’ll find signed statements from just a few of the people who’ve heard my story and agree that Delta has abused its corporate powers and hidden behind policies that avoid accountability. This will be just the beginning as I feel it’s important people hear how your company approaches its customers.
I will be happy to forgive and forget if you decide it’s worth actually considering my case individually and realize the importance of respecting your customers especially when they are confronted with life and death health challenges.
We’ve shown that a well-crafted, reasonable Executive Email Carpet Bomb can decimate arbitrary airline deadlines. Send an EECB to Delta’s executives using previously published contact information, and don’t forget to cc the Department of Transportation.
PREVIOUSLY: EECB Scores Direct Hit On Delta’s $25 Extra Bag Fee
(AP Photo/David Kohl)
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@rellog: Your arguement MIGHT have some merit if the airlines didn’t consistently overbook flights. If I buy a ticket to a baseball game, I’m GUARANTEED my seat. Not so with airlines.
Airline overbooking has nothing to do with whether his ticket credit should be usable for more than a year. Just because they overbook periodically does not mean that all tickets should be valid from a year from the date of travel. Overbooking only affects a very small percentage of passengers. If he hypothetically had been able to take his flight and there was no overbooking, would you say that Delta’s expiration policy is valid then?
And just to clarify, airlines overbook exactly because their product is so perishable and valuable. And no one is involuntarily denied a seat with a confirmed ticket, until others are requested to voluntarily give up their seat in return for compensation. Rarely, it doesn’t go smoothly and people are involuntarily inconvenienced, but those are very rare cases.
@infecto: The OP wasn’t given the “FM,” silly.
@speedwell: …Anyway. The point of consumerism is to advocate for the consumer. It is simple good business. If businesses don’t care to do the simple things that guarantee goodwill, shame on them. It’s sad and ignorant that many businesses and their customers believe they are on opposite “sides” of a zero-sum game. But even if that were true, what side are you on, anyway?
Sure, that’s a good approach. But after a company puts in policies (including customer-friendly ones) because it has to deal with thousands of customers a day, what are you going to do about someone who still wants you to go outside the policy?
You sell oil rig equipment or something related. If a customer’s equipment breaks because of his mistake while not reading the manual, you might replace it, just to be friendly. What do you do if the customer says he’s been inconvenienced and should be given 2 pieces of new, expensive equipment for his mistake? And says you’re stealing his money because you don’t give him more equipment for free? And how would you react if he put his story here and people on this blog told you to “just give it to him, then I would respect your company. And if you don’t you’re evil.”
How far does it go after you’ve drawn the line on what’s reasonable to do for the customer? Sometimes, customers are unreasonable.
Airlines…the only corporations that seem to go out of their way to piss off customers and make enemies.
That really makes me want to sign theFuel Petition.
Next time I have a highly contagious disease, remind me to fly Delta. “Why yes, I do have the Bubonic Plague, but I know Delta will try to screw me on the ticket, so I figured I’d better use it.” Oh, and maybe I’ll bring a few ticks to let loose on the plane too
It’s been many years since I’ve flown, so I’m admittedly out of touch with the specifics of how flights get ticketed. When I read the OP was “issued a voucher,” I’m envisioning a piece of paper that the airline has put into an envelope, stamped, and mailed out to him. And I want to say, “Why didn’t the airline just print an expiration date on the voucher? That would seem to be a sensible move that would prevent a lot of confusion in these cases.”
However I’m guessing that all of this is handled “paperlessly” now. So the consumer ends up having no verifiable document to point to when there’s a discrepancy between “what the customer service rep told me” or “what the website indicated when I purchased this” and what actually happens when they try to use what they’ve bought.
@speedwell: This couldn’t have been said better. It’s the damndest thing, I’ve noticed that in my business if I bend over backwards and actually SPEND money fixing problems and not telling customers to go F themselves I make MORE money than if I told them to go to hell. The reason? They’re happy with the service, they tell others who then use the service, and they come back for repeat business. Your customers are probably your greatest investment. I know that sounds corporate-y stupid, but it’s true.
Lee Macenczak (lee.macenczak@delta.com) is the head of customer service at Delta. Shoot him an email; i’ve hear back from him pretty quickly.
While perhaps Delta should have been clearer over its policy, it boils down to the guy bought an unrefundable ticket. He traded a lower cost ticket for the risk of not getting a refund, which is something 99% of us do without even thinking about it. Delta didn’t have to give him anything.
@kepler11: “Airline seats on the other hand, are highly valuable, and one person taking a seat often means that another cannot use it. For that reason, if you miss a flight, on many routes, you have prevented someone else from having that seat, and should you not have to have some restrictions on whether you can expect a refund or how you can use the credit that they allow you to have even though you missed it?”
Here I think you’ve missed an important point. The OP canceled his reservation sometime in June ’07 for a flight scheduled for early August ’07. If Delta was not able to resell that seat in more than a month (quite possibly at a higher price than the OP had paid, since he booked nearly 2 months out) then that empty seat was really Delta’s fault, not the OP. Your point would be valid if the OP simply didn’t show up for his flight, then called Delta a week later and said “Oh, I was ill, here’s a doctor’s note, give me a credit.” That was not the case.
When something have a expiration date, it have be clearly indicated. i.e. you buy a gallon of milk, if the expiration date was not written on it, how your suppose to know it when will expire?
It is the duty of the airline to clearly indicate when the credit/voucher expire as that credit/voucher is emitted.
@kepler11: There’s a difference between the company having a right to their policies and being pro-consumer.
This policy is very anti-consumer thanks to the fact that they seem to be designed to keep the money rather than let the consumer use the voucher. Here’s an example:
- If you cancel the flight, the date is from the time of purchase. If Delta cancels the flight, it’s from the date of issuance. In both cases, the voucher must not only be used by the expiration date, but the flight must also be within the expiration date. Not only does this blow the “accounting” theory out of the water, since flight dates have no bearing on sales accounting, but in the case of customer cancellation, if the start date of the 1 year timer is on the date of purchase, not the date of the flight, why does it make sense that the expiration has anything to do with the date of the flight? And why do both vouchers that have different start dates depending on the person at fault have the same policies for the expiration?
- Most people who book a flight for non-business reasons do so for specific and unique situations: vacations, funerals, special events, etc. For Delta to expect these people to reuse the ticket in less than a year implies that Delta just wants to keep the money without providing a service. The fact that their policy used to be two years prior to 2002 shows that it is possible for them to do it.
Both of these are reasons why consumers believe this is little more than theft, and due to this perception, should be a good reason for them to review it.
I’m waiting for more routes on Virgin America; they seem to have a pretty good thing going so far.
Life isn’t fair, the policy is clearly outlined. He didn’t use it, this is exactly what I hate sometimes, while the rule might suck its still a private company and you have to play by their rules. Delta could just as easy make tickets non-refundable and have given him nothing. Sorry but its an unfair world. I’m tired of consumers who believe they are above the rules and entitled to everything, I love that Delta is sticking to its policy and not giving it to anyone past that date, finally a corporation that doesn’t bend over backwards and just take it from any customer that whines (unlike my company which will give vouchers for just about any reason). Straight of the Delta website (found within 2 minutes)
“
Nonrefundable Tickets
The policies regarding ticket changes for nonrefundable tickets vary. Bulk fare or tour fare tickets issued through certain third-party websites and travel agents are not eligible for any changes. Check Same-day Travel Changes to review your options if you only want to change the time you depart or request an upgrade. ” (also on the page you can find where it says vouchers are only valid a year from booking date)
His ticket was non-refundable otherwise he could have gotten an automatic refund from delta.com, but because he booked from a 3rd party he saved a little money, but then got screwed, another lesson on why you should book directly with the airline, honestly why would you try and save a couple of bucks and roll the dice on whether you will be able to make it and lose your money, pay a little extra and get a refundable ticket.
But i’m sure this will fall on deaf ears, consumerist has become a witch hunt lately.
@mannymix03: “I love that Delta is sticking to its policy and not giving it to anyone past that date, finally a corporation that doesn’t bend over backwards and just take it from any customer that whines”
You’re right, Manny. Finally, a multi billion dollar corporation that doesn’t take any shit from the “little guy”!! Take your collapse lung and get the hell out of here!!
You must be a real charmer.
@speedwell: I am very sure you will choose the cheapest option even if it is Delta.
@ConsequencesIX: Betcha can’t wait for Ron Paul to fix this.
Ooooopss!!!
Are there more trolls under the Consumerist bridge lately? Perhaps it’s time to fumigate.
I lost a ticket this way. Now I know, that when you cancel a flight, the ticket is only good until the date of purchase, not travel. It’s pretty much standard airline practice. Unfortunately, you usually have to learn this one the hard way.
@godlyfrog: …If you cancel the flight, the date is from the time of purchase. If Delta cancels the flight, it’s from the date of issuance….
what are you talking about? What airline is canceling a flight and giving you a voucher? your paragraph makes no sense.
…Most people who book a flight for non-business reasons do so for specific and unique situations: vacations, funerals, special events, etc. For Delta to expect these people to reuse the ticket in less than a year implies that Delta just wants to keep the money without providing a service… Both of these are reasons why consumers believe this is little more than theft…
Again with the theft argument. Delta doesn’t “expect” anyone to do anything but show up for the flight they booked. You miss the flight — that is your fault, no one else’s. For the airline to give them a year to use the credit off the ticket is their attempt to be customer friendly, by letting you use the value of a ticket beyond the date you agreed. How can they know how long is reasonable for you to take to use it? They have to pick an amount of time, and maybe you would be just as easily be complaining about a 2 year expiration if that were the policy? How can a company ever come out ahead if everyone expects it to operate according to what suits their particular case? Buy travel insurance if you don’t want unforseen events to leave you out of pocket on things you buy in advance and end up backing out of. That’s why that industry exists.
@GearheadGeek: Here I think you’ve missed an important point. The OP canceled his reservation sometime in June ’07 for a flight scheduled for early August ’07. If Delta was not able to resell that seat in more than a month (quite possibly at a higher price than the OP had paid, since he booked nearly 2 months out) then that empty seat was really Delta’s fault, not the OP. Your point would be valid if the OP simply didn’t show up for his flight, then called Delta a week later and said “Oh, I was ill, here’s a doctor’s note, give me a credit.” That was not the case…
That empty seat is because of the person’s not taking the flight, end of story. No airline is going to be giving out credits or refunds or policies based on whether the seat you agreed and canceled, was later able to be filled by someone else or not. That seat availability (its value to someone at the time) was sold and gone. Maybe some industries or small operations do allow you that kind of flexibility, but no airline will. He misses the flight — that’s a ticket that was bought and not used. And if it was non-refundable, that he gets to use the remaining value for a year after the purchase date should be viewed as a benefit. If you can find an airline that gives you two years, by all means give them your business.
@godlyfrog:
I’m sorry but what? If you take another flight the money remains on the books until the goods or service is rendered. So until that second flight accounting is required to handle it.
Delta is in the right here. A year is a long time. If you are unclear about a policy you should be able to call up and ask. You might even have been able to sell the vouchers to someone else in addition.
Now about the customer service problems, that’s a different story, and Delta has an issue there. But the fact Delta has an issue there did not affect the ticket purchase (he didn’t wait 2 hours from June 10th to June 11th.) Delta should have better trained people. But sadly that doesn’t mean they should have to change their voucher policy because of it.
@SacraBos:
Actually, it’s a great analogy. If he had bought a loaf of bread, and then, before he could eat it, his doctor told him that he needed to be on a no-carbs diet for six months, would the grocery store take the bread back?
Delta should have made the timing clear to him (and, since we only have his side of the story, maybe they did and he forgot/misunderstood/is denying it), but the policy itself seems entirely fair.
@speedwell
Oil drilling equipment, eh? Well, how’s an analogy for your industry. If someone hires a rig (at $300k a day, or thereabouts), and then can’t get their personnel together in time to actual manage the process when the rig is ready, is R&B Falcon just going to say “oh, okay, no problem, no charge?” I very much doubt it.
@mannymix03:
Pay a “little extra” and get a refundable ticket?
JFK-YYZ roundtrip, mid-August.
Non-refundable: $358 roundtrip.
Refundable: $1664 roundtrip.
Nearly 5 times as much is hardly a “little extra.”
@Cliff_Donner
I think a lot of people here haven’t gotten vouchers recently, if at all.
I got a voucher because of the wiring problem at aa a few months back.
A link to the voucher was provided via email. The email says the voucher is good for a year from the issue date. It doesn’t say what issue date. Now since the voucher has a date on it, a reasonable person would think that the date on the voucher is the date the year starts from, i.e. the date the voucher was issued. I believe the airlines are purposely misleading people. The issue here isn’t that the OP wants the rules changed for him, or over booking, or even whether or not the airline should give him anything. The issue is that they mislead him so they could keep his money without providing him with his service.
Thanks to this article, I now know I need to use my voucher a couple of months earlier than I had thought. One month for the time between buying the ticket and the flight and another month for the time it took to get the voucher. Now unlike what others said they would do, I would not have called and asked for confirmation as the email seemed clear enough to me.
I spent a good few years working for United Airlines and there seem to be a few misconceptions bouncing around here I’d like to try to clear up. First of all, an airline “ticket” is not like a public transit ticket that let’s you hop on and hop off and show up whenever you deem fit. It’s a contract between yourself and the airline for them to take you from Point A to Point B at a specific time and date. Terms like “changeable” and “refundable” are used to keep things simple, but what they’re really saying is, “Our cheapest contract must be followed to the letter. If you don’t show up, tough luck. But if you pay us a bit extra, we may be more willing to renegotiate the terms of the contract.”
This is no more anti-consumerist than being able to pay $100 for a 4GB iPod nano, or $450 for a 32GB iPod Touch. Both do the same thing, but you want more ‘stuff’, you pay more.
As for overbooking, there’s a reason that every single airline on the planet overbooks their flights: Sending planes out empty costs more than sending them out full, and people don’t show up for flights. The UA figure was somewhere around 15% internationally, more on domestic flights. Thus, they overbooked flights by about 15% which ensured that on average, all their planes take off full. As is true whenever you start playing with averages, this doesn’t always work 100%, but usually the flights where less than 15% fail to show are balanced by those where more than 15% don’t show up.
Airlines are businesses trying to make a profit, and while accomodating consumer wants and needs is important, a line must be drawn somewhere, since the best thing for the consumer would be if flights were free and departed to any concievable destination every 5 minutes. Of course, it would be rather difficult to run a profitable business under that model.
That being said, Delta’s behaviour in this situation is apalling. United had a similar policy, but when I was working there, it wasn’t difficult to have an exception made in the case of a serious medical emergency. Now, I admit, I’m no doctor, but a collapsed lung sounds like it would qualify as “serious” to me. His ticket had only expired two weeks before he tried to make a reservation, in my UA days I know for a fact there would be no question about letting him use his ticket (mainly because I’d be the one on the ticket desk making the decision, but that’s neither here nor there).
People try to defraud airlines dozens, if not hundreds of times every day, so it’s understandable that they’re a little bit twitchy about anything that even sniffs of someone trying to put one over on them, but this is taking things too far.
@kepler11: I think you misunderstood me, I asked when it became ok to take someone’s money for a service or product, and then not deliver that product or service, and still keep their money. I could care less about that seat not being filled, however, the way the airlines are going now, even if he didn’t show up on time, they could most likely fill the seat in 30 seconds. Still, not what I am talking about. I’m talking about, you pay for something, you have a problem, and can’t use the service, said company gets free money. I could care less whether it’s part of a “contract” or not, I asked, when did it become ok to do that. And also stated that any company doing it seems really shady in my opinion.
I like free money, too. But, unfortunately for me, when I get payed to do something, I have to do it, otherwise it’s stealing. Yet, if a large company does the EXACT SAME THING, it isn’t stealing?
I will stick with my original verdict, this is stealing, nothing less. Not that there is anything I can do about it. Because we have become a world full of people, just like you, who will defend shady practices endlessly, and cause people to basically give away their money for nothing.
So, I will say it again…
People stand up for yourselves.
And let me add, if the people providing the money to these companies stand up for themselves, and say “NO, I will not allow you to take my money, and receive nothing in return!”, then this BS will eventually stop. Except of course for the people who think it is ok and defend it.
@scerwup:
Your argument makes no sense. So, if a customer buys something, knowing that the purchase isn’t refundable, the customer should be able to get a refund anyway? If you think that customers should be able to say “I know that’s what I agreed to, but I don’t like it, so you need to change it,” then why can’t airlines as well? Under your rationale, they should be able to say “I know you booked a flight for that date, but we got a better offer, so you’re not getting on the plane and you’re not getting a refund, either. Tough luck.”
So if I am to understand correctly, then by the same token all colleges and universities should refund money to students who do not attend a class. The student is in fact paying for something they are not recieving. True they can ask the professor later for material, but valuable class discussion is lost.
I think the big issue here is that Delta represented one thing – “You have one year to use your credit (from today, or possibly from date of travel.)”, when they really mean – “You have one year from the date you booked – which you probably don’t even remember, since you booked it awhile ago…”
I actually had the EXACT same issue with AirTran today. I went to use a credit from a flight booked 362 days ago, for travel in late July, and they said that it had expired.
Unlike Delta, AirTran worked with me and said, “You know what, let’s see what we can do to get this credit reinstated.” – and they did.
Kudos to AirTran. Delta – have a heart…
@randalotto: Oops. I meant to put 372 days – literally one year and a week.
Interesting, the degree of poliarisation around this issue, but in the end I think its a question of Delta needing for a variety of reasons to stick to a policy versus the impact that the policy may have on customer relations. A couple of thoughts:
1) There’s been some comment around “having to clear the booking out of their accounts”. That’s not actually what’s going on. When you book a ticket you are entering a contract with the airline to deliver a future service at a fixed price with an associated set of conditions – one of which in this case is that the arrangement expires in one year. Why have that condition? Because prices are going up, particularly fuel prices for the airlines. The liability on their books is actually *increasing* over time as a result, and I daresay at a rate well in excess of any interest they may derive by having your money up front.
In this case the consumer got tagged with that rule, and at a particularly stressful time (the death of a relative), no wonder he’s unhappy. But Delta apparently broke the first rule of customer relations – set expectations up front. They should have made it absolutely clear what was going on, and confirmed it in writing, along with any other fine print that might apply. And that is SO easy to do in these email enabled days. They then broke the second rule which was, given the reason for travel the second time around and the closeness to the expiry date, they showed no flexibility or compassion. Consumers get cranky with you when you do that.
2) To deal with circumstances like this Delta should amend their policy to provide options at the time of the original cancellation. If you have special circumstances like this consumer did, the customer rep ought to be able to say something like “(a) you can rebook within 1 year of the original ticket sale, (b) you can have your money back, less a cancellation fee, (c) you can get another year by paying the difference between the original cost and the cost of the equivalent flight at todays prices”. This lets the consumer decide in their own circumstances what suits them best, and replaces the need for the airline to constantly consider special cases just in order to keep naieve consumers happy when they screw up.
3) As consumers we have to accept the risks to us of entering into a contract and having it go wrong as the result of our actions or circumstances (rather than the supplier being at fault), particularly when we are planning something way into the future. If you want a cheap ticket with no flexibility instead of an expensive one you can change, either accept the impact of something going wrong or mitigate the risk in some other way (like taking out travel insurance).
Having said that, I must admit I don’t agree with the “you lose the lot” approach currently being taken, that *is* rather akin to stealing given no service was provided for the money paid. Even with an inflexible fare there ought to be an option to get a refund less a cancellation fee.
@JustThatGuy3: scerwup: Your argument makes no sense. So, if a customer buys something, knowing that the purchase isn’t refundable, the customer should be able to get a refund anyway? If you think that customers should be able to say “I know that’s what I agreed to, but I don’t like it, so you need to change it,” then why can’t airlines as well? Under your rationale, they should be able to say “I know you booked a flight for that date, but we got a better offer, so you’re not getting on the plane and you’re not getting a refund, either. Tough luck.”
thank you.
I had a similar experience with Delta and had to be delayed for 2 days on international travel. This happened during February 2008.
On my Air France international ticket I made some changes and was booked to fly out of SFO to NY and on to Chennai, India. Air france confirmed and reconfirmed that I would be on a Delta flight to NY on 23rd Feb 2008 at 22 15. I called Air France before leaving for the airport to confirm that I will receive three boarding passes at Delta, but when I arrived at the airport Delta kept me hanging for nearly two hours and they had the reservation but said Air France failed to reissue the ticket for SFO-NY, they did not have the information, someone there said he was on phone to Paris and he came back to me to say that they did not still have the SFO – NY ticket. Delta wanted me to pay $ 800 and then $ 379 without the reissue cost as calculated by air france as INR 4700 plus. Delta refused to reissue the ticket as confirmed by Air France by phone and they refused to board me and I returned.
A day later I called Air France again, Air France simply apologized and agreed to put me on a flight – DELTA again – to NY leaving 25th and connect onward, I paid $ 120 by credit card.
Air France said that Delta must have sorted this out, Delta says that they did not have the information. But they had the reservation. I cant understand how this could be this up so much.
With so many related experiences may be you should consider a class action suit against Delta.
@kepler11: I guess you’re just not able to grasp the concept… the airline business is fairly complex overall, but this isn’t really rocket science. You were trying to make an argument that the airlines shouldn’t give any credit or vouchers for any reason once you buy the ticket, because “the seat” is gone forever. That’s simply not true.
If you fail to show for a flight on which you have a ticket, “the seat” wasn’t available to another traveler (unless perhaps someone was waiting on standby or they were overbooked, but I’m not arguing that point.)
If, like the OP, you have a life event for which the airlines have a policy exception (like a medical order not to fly) AND you notify the airline in advance of your flight, cancel your reservation and take a voucher for later travel, THE AIRLINE PUTS THAT SEAT BACK INTO THE POOL OF AVAILABLE SEATS TO SELL.
In the OP’s case, if the flight is on a well-traveled route, the airline probably re-sold it in the 6 weeks or so between his cancellation and the day of the flight. If you think the airline just sits around bemoaning the evil customer who demanded a voucher but prevented that seat from being used, you’re not dealing with reality.
The argument you tried to make would be applicable if someone simply missed a flight because they were late or they forgot or whatever and then wanted the airline to take care of them. It has no merit in the particular case of the original poster and you either don’t understand what he wrote or you were trying to score internet debate points by skewing reality to match your argument.
@SexierThanJesus:
In customer service you realize the reality that is the “little guy” actually bosses the big corporation around and usually the corporation bends over and takes it in the interest of “good customer service”. Then the “little guy” expects everything his way and wants the rules bent for him because “the customer is always right”
People feel too entitled these days
im not blamming the victim here..but people need to realize the company does not revolve around just them, they are running a business that services thousands of people. and they cannot fit every need of every special person. this person just happened to fall beneath the cracks of a a or many bad csr’s.
it sux that everyone feels there entitled to have major corporations feel more sensitive or understanding..it is ur job to be more understanding and more sensitive. it is also ur job to get the necassary info on ur problem that ur satisfied with. if ur not satisified with the information given, search for more. there are many ways to obtain information on anything.
@JustThatGuy3: Sigh… No, if you had read my first comment, you would have saw that I said, it isn’t so bad when it is stated from the get go that a purchase is not refundable, at least then you know that you may get nothing for something. However, nowhere in the original post was it indicated that the ticket was non-refundable. I don’t fly, ever, so perhaps all tickets are non-refundable, but that would be an issue that would prove exactly what I am saying, that it is perfectly acceptable to have a policy that says, you buy something, you don’t receive it, but because of our policy, we still keep your money.
And if you had read everything I said, you may realize that I stated that people should stand up for themselves and their money, and if enough people decide to stop buying non-refundable tickets, then the airlines would most likely HAVE to change the way they do things. I’m sure they could find another way to rip people off, and I’m sure plenty of people would defend the airlines right to take their money and not give anything in return, but, you know what…. nevermind, continue to defend the airlines, have a great time. If you want to give me some money for nothing, I will be happy to take it. Just know, it’s non-refundable.
@mannymix03: @FuryofFive: I thought it was the customers that keep the corporations in business, no customers means no business, simple as that. So, yes, the customer should always be right, and the business should do everything in their power to make them happy. And FuryofFive, a business DOES indeed revolve around customers, otherwise it doesn’t exist. Have fun everyone trying to rip on me for being entitled to service, I won’t be back to this post, too many people here who want companies to be able to do anything they want to their customers with no consequence.
@scerwup:
So companies should bend over backwards and take it for their customers no matter how inane their requests are?
Are you serious? The point of a company is to make money, and while this guy will whine to the internet, i’m sure delta isnt quaking in their boots about it. Really, to delta this means nothing because other people are happy with their service, sometimes you NEED to be strict and some customers are actually WORTH losing because they cause a lot of problems, trust me in this line of work we want the customer to be happy by providing the best service possible, but we would frankly lose a lot of money if we just broke our policy for everyone. Oh you want a refund? Well its past the limit but OK here you go. They might not come back and then other people start expecting it, however if you stick to your policy (but still STRIVE to provide the best service possible) you might lose one or two customers but its worth it (monetarily speaking). What I’m trying to say is that companies need to stick to their policies for EVERYONE, no exceptions otherwise they get walked over. But they should still strive to provide excellent an excellent service.
If you work in a large business and deal with complaints from customers you will know what i’m talking about and how unreasonable some people are. I had one guy complain that he wasn’t satisfied with a movie (when i used to work customer service at a large national chain). when I asked if it was a projection problem he said “No, It just wasn’t funny”. I politely explained our first 40 minute policy, and how because he finished the movie he technically got what he paid for and there was nothing on our end that we did wrong. He left yelling about how he would contact our corporate office and blah blah blah. That is a customer you can afford to lose
@scerwup:
The ticket was clearly non-refundable – in fact, the vast, vast majority of tickets are non-refundable. Fully-refundable tickets are much more, and generally only purchased by business travelers traveling on very short notice who need flexibility.
The OP would have been told a number of times during the purchase process that the ticket was non-refundable – the fact that he accepted a credit, rather than a refund, shows clearly that he KNEW the ticket was non-refundable.
Frankly, if you never fly, I can’t see how you could claim to have anything close to the experience necessary to have an opinion on this policy.