crepes_a_go_go

I posted this on the airline forum, but I thought some of you might have experienced this and could help me out.

When checking prices for flights to Paris, Delta's website shows a base rate of $813 plus $99 taxes and fees for a total of $912. Since the all segments of the itinerary showed that they qualified for Pay With Miles, I decided to take advantage as a way to (1) save some money (2) use some of my miles which I've never done before and (3) save some money.

When I selected Pay With Miles, it quoted me the same price, $912, and took me to the next screen for travelers names and credit card information to pay for the balance due after the discount from my miles. When I click to Book/Purchase, I get a screen that so nicely informs me that there has been a "slight" increase in the ticket price - a "slight" $758 increase per ticket!

I hit the Live Chat button and asked the representative who said that obviously the seats had sold out and that it takes "a while" for the website to update. Hmmm, wonder how long it takes as I have been getting this increased fare screen for two days and on about five different itineraries out of two different airports. Plus every consolidator site shows these flights available AND at the price Delta's own site shows before you hit Pay With Miles.

So, back to Live Chat where I'm told this time that Delta's online reservations system does not work with Firefox browser and to switch to Explorer. Imagine how surprised I was to find on Delta's own FAQ page that their website supports Explorer, Safari AND Firefox! When I tell the chat rep this, he says, well, try Explorer and I should be able to complete the reservation.

Has this ever happened to you? Is this bait and switch, false advertising or what? Has anyone been successful paying with miles without having the quoted fare jump over $700? Does anybody know any way around this increase? Thanks as always.

JanisV

Not sure if it's B&S (but it's BS for sure!), but I can tell you I had a similar experience booking for Italy a few weeks ago on Delta. I'd pick the fare and get all the way to paying for it when the "Oops - we're out of that price ticket" screen came up and indicated that I'd need to choose tickets for $400-$700 more!
I quickly zipped to Travelocity and found no problem booking the original low(er) priced tickets. But not before the air got fairly blue with my indignation, thinking I'd lost those good fares!

michele_d

Hi crepes_a_go_go,
Have you tried to call and book with a representative? We had a great experience with a Delta rep when we could not book online. My story is long and dragged out but the point is that the rep saved us over $500 in additional fees and charges and 20,000 points. I have nothing but praise for our experience with Delta. I hope you get this resolved to your satisfaction.

Good luck,
Michele

docdan

Michele's advise is not a guarenteed solution, but it is worth a shot, as the airline obviously has a small incentive to reward a customer it is in danger of losing, who is trying to do business with itself. You may get a doofball who doesn't know what they are doing - politely thank them and call back another day, with some luck you may get an experienced rep who can fidn a workaround.

joannyc

If you call Delta directly to book the flights using miles, check to see if there are any fees for doing so. Often, airlines charge a fee for booking through a live person.

grandmere

Wonder what's going on with Delta? All of a sudden our only non-stop PIT- CDG is costing hundreds more than stopping in Atlanta.

greg

I have seen this with Delta. But since it happened before I actually paid the ticket, I saw this as an annoyance having shop for an itinerary again. I think the bait and switch is what the CC companies used to do: sell a loan at one interest rate, and after you start paying the loan, they raise the interest rate.

travelgourmet

Airline pricing can be relatively complicated and it does happen that certain fares are seen as available by one system or another, but end up not being bookable. There are a lot of variables that come into play, and computers sometimes end up hiccuping on you. I have had this happen with many airlines and with many 3rd party sites. Indeed, I've had Orbitz spit out a fare, then tell me it isn't available, and when I go back and search, the fare shows up again. It is frustrating, yes, but I don't think there is anything devious going on.

My suggestion would be to call and speak to someone directly. Yes, it would cost you $20 to book over the phone, but if you want to do the pay-with-miles thing it might be worth it. You could also ask for a waiver, as you can't book it online - take some screenshots to support your effort.

As for the 3rd party sites, did you actually go through and try to book the tickets? That they show the same fare could just be a symptom of the same problem.

rbnwdlr

Call em. If you get someone who doesn't know what end is up, call back and hope to get someone else who can help.

avalon

That's weird. I wanted to see for myself so I tried a trip in Sept and it came in at $984. with taxes, then I looked at the exact same flights for pay with miles and it also came in at 984 less 300 dollars for 30,000 miles.

gracejoan3

avalon

I fly Delta all the time from here, so decided to check, too. Not a problem. Found some pay with miles available for both directions..which you must do, to use the pay with miles program..it was (00 something or other total then less my FF miles for the pay with miles program. Don't know what the problems were with the previous posts.

docdan

I have had precedence with stressing to the agent that I was trying to do something over the internet, and after clearly stating exactly where on what website I was having the trouble - the extra fee was waived.- Again, can't guarantee that, but calling the airline directly seems to be your best option.

crepes_a_go_go

Took your advice to call and happy to say that in the end, I was able to make a satisfactory booking. Rather than pay with miles, I was able to buy one ticket for the original price that the website was showing and getting the second ticket as an award ticket. The agent could not tell me why the internet booking was increasing the price of the ticket by $700 and up or why the site intermittently showed the seats as no longer available once I hit purchase.

At any rate, I dealt with one of the most helpful airline employees I've ever encountered, got all the legs of the itinerary that were most desirable to me, and all without having to pay any fee for doing it by phone, thanks to my Skymiles status.

Appreciate the help of all my travel buds here. Merci!

docdan

Wrong! Immediately wire $1000 to my account. <snicker>

Seriously, that's great news! Defintiely makes me want to send Delta my business! Now we can startto work on your agenda. Tell us all about it!

HImom

Please make sure you write to the president of Delta about your great customer service so they retain that wonderful employee!

I have also been able to get fees waived when I had an issue on the internet with the airline's website that I could resolve. The airline helped resolve the issue and waived any fees relating to talking to <gasp> a LIVE person!

Glad persistence paid off for you!

autier17

I recently booked tickets through delta.com to Nice. Although I did not use pay with miles, the same thing happened to me. When started the price was one amount, but by the time I completed all the screens and clicked "purchase" I received a nice note telling me that the price had increased during the intervening 5-7 minutes it took me to enter my information by more than $300. I was more than a little frustrated by this, but I went ahead and bought tickets. If this happens ever again, I will no longer use Delta.