ilene

I reserved a ticket on Delta to Italy and called back the next day to purchase it. At that time I told the Delta ticket agent that I wanted to purchse the tickets and so I gave her my credit card number when requested, my address, emergency contact number, wrote down the flights, etc. The ticket was for a flight to Italy purchased on Delta through a partnership arrangement with Air France. As is my habit, I requested paper tickets. About 10 days have passed and I didn't receive my tickets so I called Delta to inquire about when they sent the tickets, expecting that they sent them to the wrong address. Instead I was told that I didn't purchase the tickets (?*!?*!@!) and that their computer record showed only that my reservation was cancelled after three days. I was stunned and explained the situation, which as far as I can tell is that the Delta agent did soemthing wrong and failed to enter the purchase. Delta offered to do nothing. They told me that since the flight was on Air France they could not offer me a ticket at the same price and could only offer me a ticket at over twice my original price (of about $700). <BR>I don't know what to do. I don't have a paper record because Delta never sent me one. Reasonably I didn't tape record the conversation! So essentially this is my word against their's. I don't understand how Delta can book me on a flight operated by Air France but then tell me that now they can not rebook me on the same flight and offer me the original price.<BR> <BR>Apart from being appalled at the lack of customer service (and the insinuation that I am delusional in thinking I bought a plane ticket) I am not sure what my next step should be (other than just starting over and buying a whole new ticket and paying whatever the difference is). I continually asked to speak the supervisor's of the various people I spoke with. Does anyone have any advise on what I should do now? Whom I should speak with or how I can rectify the situation? Any advice for others on how to avoid getting into this situation? Thanks so much.

Leslie

When you made the initial reservation you should have received either a confirmation number or a record locator number. Did you get this information and write it down? If you have this information the airline will honor the pricing that was quoted to you. Secondly, check with your credit card company and see if a charge was recorded. If it was, there is your proof to give Delta. Otherwise, you're SOL, and in the future you should write down the confirmation number and you can also ask for email confirmation.

Suzy

I'm afraid Leslie's right, you're lost without a confirmation number or other evidence of your reservation. The credit card record might do it, so I guess your first move should be to call the CC company. <BR><BR>If a phone salesperson ever refuses to give you such a number, or any other sypt of satisfaction, just call right back, you'll get a different person who can handle things right. I suspect that you got a disgruntled or incompetent employee who slipped up deliberately, but I sure hope not!

Christina

I had the exact same thing happen to me on United. I had a confirmation number, it didn't make a bit of difference. If they just say they don't have that confirmation number in their system, what can you do. They also had taken my credit card number. In my case, I was so disgusted and didn't want to deal with them anymore, so I just drove to my destination instead of trying to get them to give me a flight for the same price. I could do that because my destination was only 450 miles away. I'm lucky in that I had a backup plan, but it did not make me very happy with United. They did not charge my credit card number, at least. I think the not having a confirmation number is sort of a cop out as I've had other airlines able to find my reservation with no problem just with my name. If what happened to you is the same thing as me, the reservations agent didn't enter the information in the computer correclty, so the confirmation number wouldn't be in there either, I'll bet.

Shawn

Ilene,<BR>I work for DL Air Lines and I can possibly help you if you get me a confirmation number. At least I can see who worked on your res. and see if they took your form of payment, etc. <BR>I just need the confirmation number. I am sorry this happened to you. I know we let you down and I apologize for the error by the agent you spoke to. I travel constantly to Rome but haven't gone on our partner AF yet. I really loved it when we partnered with Swiss and Sabena. But now we are also partnering with Alitalia, maybe you didn't know that. Please let me know if I can do anything for you. So sorry for all the problems, Shawn

wayne

US airlines should learn a thing or two about service from Singapore Airlines or Cathay Pacific, among others.

Betsy

Ilene, I hope this all works out for you, but in case it doesn't I received an e-mail from Auto Europe this week advertising some great airfares. For example, Atlanta to Zurich (closest to Italy) was $337. Check it out:<BR>http://www.autoeurope.com/specials.cfm?action=air<BR><BR>Buona fortuna

Betsy

Oops! That's a RT fare.

fran

Having a confirmation number won't do anything for you. When you make a reservation, you get a confirmation number, but if it's a ticket that has to be purchased by a certain date, and it isn't purchased, the reservation will "fall out" of the system. The agent that you gave your cc info to apparently screwed up and didn't set you up for ticketing. So, basically, you are screwed.

ilene

Unfortunately I think Fran is right. I did write down my confirmation number and gave it to Delta today when I called. The problem is, as Fran said, that the person I spoke with at Delta didn't set me up for ticketing or some technical problem occurred in the ticketing. The ticketing didn't go through so, being that it is 10 days later now, the reservation was cancelled out automatically. Curiously, all my information as far as flights was in the Delta system, just not the fact that I bought the ticket. And, no, my credit card wasn't charged which in this case makes matters even worse because my credit card company can not intervene on my behalf.<BR>The thing that burns me up is that Delta refuses to take responsiblity for this. A customer chooses their airline, buys a ticket, the agent takes all her info, I entrust my credit card number with them....then I am told that I did not in fact buy the ticket. Sorry, just had to vent.<BR>One specific question - is there someone other than just general customer service whom I should I ask to speak with? It sounded like the person I got today simply didn't have the authority to do anything such as book me on the flights (for which seats are available as I checked) and honor the price I was granted. Maybe I'll have better luck during the week. Looking at this from all angles I cannot see how I did anything wrong!

rebecca

ilene; Whatever you do don't speak to Celeste about this!!! (just kidding) <BR><BR>I think you should stop chastising yourself. You did nothing wrong. Somehow there was a gross miscommunciation between you and the agent. Having dealt with airlines and gross miscommunications many times, you probably will have no recourse here. I hope I am wrong but they can be very obstinate about stuff like this. The best of luck, however, in trying. Remember to always ask for a supervisor before beginning your story with the agent.<BR>

Leslie

Most of the calls that you make to the airlines' 800 numbers for reservations go to a centralized call center. The customer service people that you speak with are not employed by the airlines, they work for a company that has a contract with the airlines. Think of it as telemarketers waiting by the telephone, waiting for your call. Basically, that means that they don't have any authority to issue a ticket at the pricing you had confirmed. <BR><BR>I know that British Airways, Swissair and the defunct, Sabena subcontracted their reservationists to a centralized call center in New York. <BR><BR>Although I don't know if Delta's reservationists are employees or subcontractors, but I think that you should call Delta directly. If you're close enough to the airport, go directly to the airport. If not, find Delta's telephone number in Atlanta. Since you do have a confirmation number or record locator number, possibly someone can look at your reservation and see how it is coded. If your credit card number is anywhere on that reservation then one can only surmise that you had confirmed the reservation. At least the record locator should prove that you made two telephone calls. Obviously, Delta doesn't want to sell you the low priced ticket now because it is out of economy seats in that class of service. Bottomline, I wouldn't accept no for an answer yet. Be diligent.

Sue

Ilene, at 8:36 pm Shawn offered to help you out. Have you tried contacting him?

Garry

Did you check with your credit card company whether Delta charged this amount?

Tell us

We're all on the edge of our seats -- well, maybe half-way there.... how is it going?<BR><BR>And for the future (i know, the horse has gone, why check the barn door's hinges now) -- I not only make sure to get a confirmation number, I get the name of the agent I'm talking to. And I make him/her read me back all the information. I'm a pain for making them repeat stuff, but here's why.

Joanne

Tell Us, that's a very good point about getting the agent's name. I always make sure that I get it at the beginning of any service call. AND then use it a couple of times in the conversation -- this warms up the nice agents and warns the bad/sloppy ones!

ilene

Thanks everyone. No news to report yet. I am calling Delta today (no luck getting people on a Sunday) but don't know how far I'll get with the holiday weekend. Today I am back at work and have all my notes in front of me. Will let you know how it goes.

k

Good luck!

xxx

Would it be possible to contact air france to see what their rates for that same leg might be? <BR><BR>also, if one agent is giving you a hard time, I would just say thanks and hang up and call again, because it is centralized and you'll get another agent. I once went from a very rude person to a very nice person who apologized for the first and even filed a report. There are higher up customer service people who are trained to take care of these trickier situations. I went through one trying to work on tickets for my boss, and the one I dealt with was wonderful.<BR><BR>Otherwise I'd say go on the various travel sites and see if you can't arrange another flight that way. Sometimes you can find great last minute deals. Sorry to you had to go through the aggravation. Have a great trip!

A.J.

Ilene, did you take Shawn up on his offer to help? I thought it was generous of him.