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Passenger Alert - Delta Airlines
I believe that as a regular visitor to the United States for the past 10 years that it is my duty to bring to the attention of my fellow travelers the manner in which Delta Airlines recently treated us. Highlights: ·My wife and I were booked on Delta Flights 1417/36 from Orlando via Cincinnati to London departing Orlando on Monday 16th October 2006. ·On the 9th August 2006 we received the sad news that my wife’s mother had un-expectantly passed away and naturally we immediately made plans to fly her back for the funeral and to be with her family in this time of grief. ·On the morning of the 10th August I called Delta Airlines Reservations to request a date change for her return flight to London, explaining the circumstances of the case. Despite several appeals and offering to pay for the date change the Delta official was adamant that it was not their problem and that if my wife wanted to get back earlier, she would simply have to purchase another air ticket. ·Due to the urgency of getting her back as soon as possible there was no way that I could take this matter up with Delta at that point and I was therefore forced to purchase another ticket for the flight to London at a cost of $1164.50. ·I subsequently checked my e-ticket and it clearly states on the ticket "This is a special fare ticket. Changing your reservation may result in penalties.” This clearly confirms that the nature of this ticket was such that changes were permitted but could incur penalties. The Delta official had refused to offer me this option. ·On the 1st September 2006 I E-mailed Mr Lee Macenczak, the Executive Vice President of Delta Airlines, bringing the circumstances of the case to his attention and requesting confirmation that the manner in which this matter had been handled was indeed official Delta policy. ·Mr Macenczak passed the enquiry onto an Executive Assistant Tina Umland for investigation and she first contacted me by E-mail on the 5th September 2006. ·On the 25th September I received confirmation from Tina Umland regarding their official policy regarding such circumstances and I quote from her E-mail “Under bereavement circumstances, we would normally rebook passenger, charge difference in fare but waive all penalties.” ·Tina Umland went on to say that under the circumstances they would be prepared to refund the return portion of my wife’s original ticket. Facts: 1.Delta Airlines confirmed that it was not their official policy to force passengers to buy another ticket under bereavement circumstances. 2.The ticket in question made specific provision for changes against payment of certain penalties. 3.Delta Airlines confirmed that under such circumstances they would normally rebook passengers but waive all penalties. 4.Delta Airlines failed to inform their staff of their policy and as a result I as a passenger was forced to purchase another ticket for my wife at a cost of $1164.50. 5.Now Delta Airlines have agreed to a refund of only the return portion of my wife’s original ticket and expect me the passenger to carry the can for the additional costs of $614.40, which have been incurred by me as a result of their failure to adequately train their staff. In my opinion it is truly amazing that a huge international organization such as Delta Airlines would confirm that the matter had been handled in a inappropriate manner yet still expect the passenger to foot the bill for their failure to adequately train and inform their staff on company policy. If you believe that their actions are reasonable, then I suggest that you continue using the services of Delta Airlines. If on the other hand you agree that Delta should indeed refund the additional costs that I have incurred as a result of their inefficiency then may I suggest you carefully consider your options before booking flights with this carrier? -- hoggi |
#2
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Passenger Alert - Delta Airlines
may I suggest you
carefully consider your options before booking flights with this carrier? One of which is to take out travel insurance to cover the costs of an early return home in such circumstances. |
#3
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Passenger Alert - Delta Airlines
yawn
-- Best Greg "hoggi" wrote in message ... I believe that as a regular visitor to the United States for the past 10 years that it is my duty to bring to the attention of my fellow travelers the manner in which Delta Airlines recently treated us. Highlights: ·My wife and I were booked on Delta Flights 1417/36 from Orlando via Cincinnati to London departing Orlando on Monday 16th October 2006. ·On the 9th August 2006 we received the sad news that my wife's mother had un-expectantly passed away and naturally we immediately made plans to fly her back for the funeral and to be with her family in this time of grief. ·On the morning of the 10th August I called Delta Airlines Reservations to request a date change for her return flight to London, explaining the circumstances of the case. Despite several appeals and offering to pay for the date change the Delta official was adamant that it was not their problem and that if my wife wanted to get back earlier, she would simply have to purchase another air ticket. ·Due to the urgency of getting her back as soon as possible there was no way that I could take this matter up with Delta at that point and I was therefore forced to purchase another ticket for the flight to London at a cost of $1164.50. ·I subsequently checked my e-ticket and it clearly states on the ticket "This is a special fare ticket. Changing your reservation may result in penalties." This clearly confirms that the nature of this ticket was such that changes were permitted but could incur penalties. The Delta official had refused to offer me this option. ·On the 1st September 2006 I E-mailed Mr Lee Macenczak, the Executive Vice President of Delta Airlines, bringing the circumstances of the case to his attention and requesting confirmation that the manner in which this matter had been handled was indeed official Delta policy. ·Mr Macenczak passed the enquiry onto an Executive Assistant Tina Umland for investigation and she first contacted me by E-mail on the 5th September 2006. ·On the 25th September I received confirmation from Tina Umland regarding their official policy regarding such circumstances and I quote from her E-mail "Under bereavement circumstances, we would normally rebook passenger, charge difference in fare but waive all penalties." ·Tina Umland went on to say that under the circumstances they would be prepared to refund the return portion of my wife's original ticket. Facts: 1.Delta Airlines confirmed that it was not their official policy to force passengers to buy another ticket under bereavement circumstances. 2.The ticket in question made specific provision for changes against payment of certain penalties. 3.Delta Airlines confirmed that under such circumstances they would normally rebook passengers but waive all penalties. 4.Delta Airlines failed to inform their staff of their policy and as a result I as a passenger was forced to purchase another ticket for my wife at a cost of $1164.50. 5.Now Delta Airlines have agreed to a refund of only the return portion of my wife's original ticket and expect me the passenger to carry the can for the additional costs of $614.40, which have been incurred by me as a result of their failure to adequately train their staff. In my opinion it is truly amazing that a huge international organization such as Delta Airlines would confirm that the matter had been handled in a inappropriate manner yet still expect the passenger to foot the bill for their failure to adequately train and inform their staff on company policy. If you believe that their actions are reasonable, then I suggest that you continue using the services of Delta Airlines. If on the other hand you agree that Delta should indeed refund the additional costs that I have incurred as a result of their inefficiency then may I suggest you carefully consider your options before booking flights with this carrier? -- hoggi |
#4
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Passenger Alert - Delta Airlines
Delta is bankrupt ("in bankruptcy").
They are trying to survive. They formerly spent zillions of $ to brag how superb & terrific they are. I suppose that image is by-gone. No longer does that smiley-face public relations attitude ring as true. As the glib guy said, "travel insurance, " and it is not the worst idea for the future. You're also allowed to complain, and to do what your are doing in calling the naive public's attention to (imho) a shabby practice. Imho: They should've allowed you to change the date for a $50 or a $100 fee per ticket. They seem to be filling-up seats perhaps by shrewdly (duh) conducting less flights--so I especially don't like why they think that alienating/(perhaps) opportunistically scalping customers whom are in a funeral crisis is not unethical/counter-productive. So, continue to post your individual experience--at the least others will know--buy travel insurance in the future, and re-consider the expenses, hassles & risks of airplane travel versus the utility thereof. B-t-w: Would your Virgin, BOAC, and the others have treated you better? I personally would not fly within Italy again because of the cruddy way I was treated by Al Italia, which walked-out and cost me a $100+ for a motel room. hoggi wrote: I believe that as a regular visitor to the United States for the past 10 years that it is my duty to bring to the attention of my fellow travelers the manner in which Delta Airlines recently treated us. Highlights: ·My wife and I were booked on Delta Flights 1417/36 from Orlando via Cincinnati to London departing Orlando on Monday 16th October 2006. ·On the 9th August 2006 we received the sad news that my wife's mother had un-expectantly passed away and naturally we immediately made plans to fly her back for the funeral and to be with her family in this time of grief. ·On the morning of the 10th August I called Delta Airlines Reservations to request a date change for her return flight to London, explaining the circumstances of the case. Despite several appeals and offering to pay for the date change the Delta official was adamant that it was not their problem and that if my wife wanted to get back earlier, she would simply have to purchase another air ticket. ·Due to the urgency of getting her back as soon as possible there was no way that I could take this matter up with Delta at that point and I was therefore forced to purchase another ticket for the flight to London at a cost of $1164.50. ·I subsequently checked my e-ticket and it clearly states on the ticket "This is a special fare ticket. Changing your reservation may result in penalties." This clearly confirms that the nature of this ticket was such that changes were permitted but could incur penalties. The Delta official had refused to offer me this option. ·On the 1st September 2006 I E-mailed Mr Lee Macenczak, the Executive Vice President of Delta Airlines, bringing the circumstances of the case to his attention and requesting confirmation that the manner in which this matter had been handled was indeed official Delta policy. ·Mr Macenczak passed the enquiry onto an Executive Assistant Tina Umland for investigation and she first contacted me by E-mail on the 5th September 2006. ·On the 25th September I received confirmation from Tina Umland regarding their official policy regarding such circumstances and I quote from her E-mail "Under bereavement circumstances, we would normally rebook passenger, charge difference in fare but waive all penalties." ·Tina Umland went on to say that under the circumstances they would be prepared to refund the return portion of my wife's original ticket. Facts: 1.Delta Airlines confirmed that it was not their official policy to force passengers to buy another ticket under bereavement circumstances. 2.The ticket in question made specific provision for changes against payment of certain penalties. 3.Delta Airlines confirmed that under such circumstances they would normally rebook passengers but waive all penalties. 4.Delta Airlines failed to inform their staff of their policy and as a result I as a passenger was forced to purchase another ticket for my wife at a cost of $1164.50. 5.Now Delta Airlines have agreed to a refund of only the return portion of my wife's original ticket and expect me the passenger to carry the can for the additional costs of $614.40, which have been incurred by me as a result of their failure to adequately train their staff. In my opinion it is truly amazing that a huge international organization such as Delta Airlines would confirm that the matter had been handled in a inappropriate manner yet still expect the passenger to foot the bill for their failure to adequately train and inform their staff on company policy. If you believe that their actions are reasonable, then I suggest that you continue using the services of Delta Airlines. If on the other hand you agree that Delta should indeed refund the additional costs that I have incurred as a result of their inefficiency then may I suggest you carefully consider your options before booking flights with this carrier? -- hoggi |
#5
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Passenger Alert - Delta Airlines
It appears that you did not purchase travel insurance along with your fare or you wouldn't have written your message in the first place. Next time, buy travel insurance! That being said, you can't expect the airline to believe every story about a death in the family (even if its is true as I do not doubt in your case) as that is one of the oldest scams done by passengers to get out of paying for changes in their fares. But the airlines do have what they call "compassion fares" and they do often waive change fees. Again, on a major travel purchase, "opt in" on the travel insurance. Hope you have better luck on future flights. Santalisa. -- Sontalisa I love to travel. Visit me at TRAVEL.com. |
#6
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Passenger Alert - Delta Airlines
On Sat, 25 Nov 2006 23:44:30 -0600, Sontalisa
wrote: But the airlines do have what they call "compassion fares" and they do often waive change fees. When my father-in-law died in 2000, my wife was already there and our daughter and I had to fly down in a couple of hours. When I called Delta, the compassionate fare was almost double the regular last minute fare. The only advantage would have been that it would have been an open return. We didn't need that since tentative plans had been made and we knew when we we'd return. Delta did give my wife a really hard time about changing her return flight. They tried to charge her more than what was advertised on the web for a one way fare plus the penalty. Eventually I was able to get it worked out but it was an unneeded hassle at a difficult time. |
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