My Delta Experience

[sluggozmom]

I bought 2 non stop round trip tickets to MCO 8/14-8/20 in November... for $324 after the $100 credit for a purchase at Delta after opening a Gold Delta skymiles credit card, and 30,000 miles if I spent $1,000 in 3 months. Thought that was a GREAT deal.
So then my sister is coming in mid trip and takes a flight home on the 22nd, oh yes you know the wheels are now turning.... cost way too much to exchange the tickets, so I went and bought a couple more tickets home for 10k miles each, departing on 8/22..now we can stay as long as my sister. I figure free miles anyways, I'll just eat the cost of the original trip home, and I'll hope for a change to the 8/20 tix and maybe just maybe get lucky and get a refund.

Let me say right now that when I call anyone in customer service that I treat them with respect. I do not ever makes demands and I do not ever speak in an entitled tone.

Sooo I get an email informing me of flights changes..... ding ding ding!
My 8/20 flight leaving at 6:30 pm has changed to a 3:30pm departure. After an hour on hold I told the agent this wouldn't work for me and I would like a refund. She told me because my tickets were non refundable she could only offer me a credit.. don't settle for a credit. When I told her I knew I was due a refund because the change was more than 2 hours she said oh you're right, I'll transfer you to refunds. 5 minutes later I had $116 refunded for each ticket! (That'll pay for my car rental).

My 8/14 flight to WDW also changed... from 9:30am to 11:35 am.. after checking flights and talking to DD14 we decided we rather get to WDW at 10am than 2:42pm. Back on the phone.... I'd like to be put on the 7am flight please.
I get a man that sounds like a kid and he talks too fast. He tells me he's gonna take care of me but he has to talk to a supervisor. Comes back and starts talking about the cancellation earlier in the day, that I should have been charged hundreds for it, and keeps putting me on hold while I'm talking. Finally he comes back and tells me that this change is going to cost me $95 for each ticket. Well no thank you very much, I am not paying a penny for a change that I am entitled too. His reply was "then are we done"... yes thank you very much.

Of course I call right back, horrified at the treatment I just received, not knowing where to begin I tell the agent about my awful experience, that's he made me feel like I was trying to steal from them, and I thought anything more than a 2 hour change qualified for a free change or refund. She apologized for the last agent and corrected me, telling me it was only 90 minutes and made the change right away. She even put me in the seats I wanted.

Come to find out (having an insider at Delta) the BOY put comments on my tickets saying not to make any changes to my tickets without speaking to a supervisor, that I wasn't entitled to anything and shouldn't get it.
To which the last agent I spoke to added, the previous agent was in error and changes due to the customer were made to these tickets.

You are entitled to a ticket change or refund if your flight is changed by more than 90 minutes. There are agents who will not tell you this right away, or not at all. There are agents that will try to make you pay anyways. And there are agents that will put comments on your tickets that shouldn't be there.

There are also very knowledgeable agents who will treat you with the dignity and respect you deserve.
If you do not get satisfaction, thank them very much and call back.

 

[DebbieB]

I bought 2 non stop round trip tickets to MCO 8/14-8/20 in November... for $324 after the $100 credit for a purchase at Delta after opening a Gold Delta skymiles credit card, and 30,000 miles if I spent $1,000 in 3 months. Thought that was a GREAT deal.
So then my sister is coming in mid trip and takes a flight home on the 22nd, oh yes you know the wheels are now turning.... cost way too much to exchange the tickets, so I went and bought a couple more tickets home for 10k miles each, departing on 8/22..now we can stay as long as my sister. I figure free miles anyways, I'll just eat the cost of the original trip home, and I'll hope for a change to the 8/20 tix and maybe just maybe get lucky and get a refund.

Let me say right now that when I call anyone in customer service that I treat them with respect. I do not ever makes demands and I do not ever speak in an entitled tone.

Sooo I get an email informing me of flights changes..... ding ding ding!
My 8/20 flight leaving at 6:30 pm has changed to a 3:30pm departure. After an hour on hold I told the agent this wouldn't work for me and I would like a refund. She told me because my tickets were non refundable she could only offer me a credit.. don't settle for a credit. When I told her I knew I was due a refund because the change was more than 2 hours she said oh you're right, I'll transfer you to refunds. 5 minutes later I had $116 refunded for each ticket! (That'll pay for my car rental).

My 8/14 flight to WDW also changed... from 9:30am to 11:35 am.. after checking flights and talking to DD14 we decided we rather get to WDW at 10am than 2:42pm. Back on the phone.... I'd like to be put on the 7am flight please.
I get a man that sounds like a kid and he talks too fast. He tells me he's gonna take care of me but he has to talk to a supervisor. Comes back and starts talking about the cancellation earlier in the day, that I should have been charged hundreds for it, and keeps putting me on hold while I'm talking. Finally he comes back and tells me that this change is going to cost me $95 for each ticket. Well no thank you very much, I am not paying a penny for a change that I am entitled too. His reply was "then are we done"... yes thank you very much.

Of course I call right back, horrified at the treatment I just received, not knowing where to begin I tell the agent about my awful experience, that's he made me feel like I was trying to steal from them, and I thought anything more than a 2 hour change qualified for a free change or refund. She apologized for the last agent and corrected me, telling me it was only 90 minutes and made the change right away. She even put me in the seats I wanted.

Come to find out (having an insider at Delta) the BOY put comments on my tickets saying not to make any changes to my tickets without speaking to a supervisor, that I wasn't entitled to anything and shouldn't get it.
To which the last agent I spoke to added, the previous agent was in error and changes due to the customer were made to these tickets.

You are entitled to a ticket change or refund if your flight is changed by more than 90 minutes. There are agents who will not tell you this right away, or not at all. There are agents that will try to make you pay anyways. And there are agents that will put comments on your tickets that shouldn't be there.

There are also very knowledgeable agents who will treat you with the dignity and respect you deserve.
If you do not get satisfaction, thank them very much and call back.

I've also used this to my benefit with Delta. I used to travel a lot for work and had a lot of miles built up. I got tickets for a friend & I to go to Orlando but the early morning one I wanted PIT-ATL-MCO was high miles. So I booked PIT-JFK-MCO for lower miles, with the hopes that there would be a time change and I could move it. Sure enough, the first flight was changed to arrive at the same time as the second flight left. Called them up, asked about the flight through Atlanta, bingo! Changed for no additional miles. For the return, the latest flight I could get for low miles left at 12:30pm. I really wanted late afternoon. Booked it. Sure enough, time change. Called and got the late afternoon for no additional miles.

 

[MillauFr]

A great thread and shows why these boards are so useful.

 

[emmabelle]

that's the thing with Delta and time changes, they happen all the time. It's the main reason I usually book with SW or Jetblue, but I did book with Delta for July because the other airlines were so much higher. The flight home has already gotten two hours earlier. Hoping they don't change it even earlier.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Stuff happens; life is too short to waste time getting so upset about something so insignificant, let alone wasting time ranting here about this.

 

[brockash]

Stuff happens; life is too short to waste time getting so upset about something so insignificant, let alone wasting time ranting here about this.

I'm sorry if you were having a bad day. I'm happy to get informative posts. The OP was explaining what the options for customers were when dealing with Delta, and helping others to not be taken advantage of. I def. don't think it was wasted time.

 

[AngiTN]

that's the thing with Delta and time changes, they happen all the time. It's the main reason I usually book with SW or Jetblue, but I did book with Delta for July because the other airlines were so much higher. The flight home has already gotten two hours earlier. Hoping they don't change it even earlier.

I often wish ours would change so I could alter our times for free. Maybe it's because we fly from here to ATL and then MCO but our flights never change or get cancelled. Well, I take back never, on our 10 flights last year 1 changed, leaving MCO. Is it because ATL is their hub and it stays more regular?

 

[sluggozmom]

Stuff happens; life is too short to waste time getting so upset about something so insignificant, let alone wasting time ranting here about this.

Hello?? looks like you're upset and ranting.
I was sharing my experience hoping to help others.