ilene

No I have not yet taken up Shawn's generous offer but may drop him a line tomorrow if I don't get anywhere with Delta. I called the customer care office in Atlanta (thank you to whomever suggested that) and spoke with someone much more reasonable. they can't do anything today because the people they need to talk to are out on holiday. I checked with both Air France and Delta (re: the same co-shared flights) and there are tickets available through both airlines. THe issue is how much Delta expects me to pay for them. The person at Delta offered me a "credit" for $100 on Delta, i.e. not even enough to cover an entire ticket which means I would have to give Delta more of my business. not to mention this $100 is to compensate for an extra $1300 they expect me to spend on their mistake. I'll let you all know how this turns out but am still open to other suggestions!! And yes, I have another ticket on hold wiht another carrier but it is still more expensive and different dates.

A

Dear Ilene,<BR>Best advice, NEVER use Delta. We have our own nightmare story coming back from Hawaii.36 HOURS FROM START TO FINISH. We live in New Jersey. They cancelled our flight enroute. We had our seats, and had to REBOOK, do it all over again in Atlanta with a several hour delay. They put us next to the emergency door, ususally good seats, but it was freezing and they didn't have blankets! No apology, no nothing.<BR>It is the worst airline that we have ever had to deal with. Sorry for your Delta horror story.

Krista

One way to avoid all this in the future would be to call back later that day or the next after giving your credit card number. That way you can verify they acutally ticketed it. It may be a hassle to have to keep calling back, but at least you'll know when your ticket is issued.

Curious

Soooo, what happened?

kit

Ilene,<BR><BR>Hope it all works out for you. I had the exact same thing happen to me on a transatlantic flight on American. Even if you do everything right, i.e. get names, take notes, get confirmation numbers, call back to re-confirm, etc. someone else's incompetence can always foil you. Looking back over my situation, I believe it was when I called back to confirm that indeed I had been ticketed that the mistake was made. Too many people looking at/touching the record leaves more room for a screw-up.<BR><BR>I would have never known I'd been canceled if I hadn't called a few days before the flight to inquire where my paper tickets were. The only recompense I received was an additional 5000 miles in my ff account. At least ask for that...

fran

If you had used a travel agent to purchase your air fare from, they could have requested a waiver from the airline and may have been able to ticket you at the original fare.

Pthh

Fran aka all your other names: you don't give up, do you? When did they rename this forum the "Why You Should Be Using Travel Agents Instead of Doing It Yourself"?<BR><BR>If Ilene had booked through a travel agent and there had been the same screw up, it's possible Ilene could have held the TA responsible and gotten the money out of her. Ahh-- a benefit (one of the few) of using a travel agent for booking trips you can do yourself: taking money out of their hides when things go wrong.

Carol

If you do get the airline agent's name, you also need to get their city. All they will give you is their first name (I can't blame them)so there could be 10 Carol's in the system. My TA taught me that. <BR><BR>While I am certain this will turn into a Delta bash, I have to point out that I have had good service and lousy service on EVERY major american airline except Southwest (where I have only had good service, they just don't go to Europe!) I travel a lot and I have decided that is the price of deregulated airlines.

fran

to Pthh: I post under my own name only. I am not a travel agent. I am merely pointing out that a travel agent can obtain a waiver from the airline. Get a life.

ilene

And here is how the story ends...People who responded that I was SOL with the getting plane tickets on Delta, you were right. I got no where with anyone I spoke with over several days. we still wanted to go on our trip and needed to go on those particular days. So not wanting to wait for a response from Delta because prices were rising, we purchased tickets on another airline that were more expensive by about $120/ticket. I was happy to get those tickets for that price compared to what Delta offered me.<BR><BR>I was still mad about what I went through and how I was treated by everyone at Delta I spoke with so I decided to head for the top. I wrote a very long letter to the VP of Marketing whose name I found off the corporate website and cc:ed the customer complaints person I was supposed to deal with. <BR> <BR>We went on our trip, had a wonderful time and I figured I wouldn't get anything out of Delta. Then today, about 5 weeks from when I sent the letter, I got a call from Delta telling me that they were giving me and the person I was traveling with each a $350 certificate for use on any Delta flight. Of course we had to pay the extra cash and the gift certificates are not redeemable for cash, however, I travel frequently and will definitely use them. Undoubtedly Delta screwed up and I hope no one else has to go through that but I give Delta credit for attempting to rememdy the situation.<BR>Two lessons I learned from this:<BR>(1) Complain in writing to someone who actually can rectify the situation. When I called the complaint bureau and spoke with a regular Delta employee, she said the best she could do was to offer me a gift certificate for $100 (for the both of us). Of course that would not cover a single flight. Speak with the person in charge. Also better to write a factual letter detailing exactly what happened, complete with dates, names (if you have them), etc.<BR>(2) a poster above said this, when you buy a plane ticket ask for an email confirmation. that way you will immediately know there is a problem. air fares change so much it is much harder to deal with a situation weeks later.

jim

Congratulations ilene,<BR><BR>I've also gotten results by tracking down customer relations at the airline and complaining whenever they've screwed up. Even if I wasn't put out to the extent that you were, I've gotten discount coupons or upgrade certificates because of the agrivation I expressed to them.<BR><BR>The other suggestion I have, though (which may or may not apply in your case) is this:<BR><BR>Sometimes you sense when an agent answers the phone that he or she is going to be incompetent. Don't go on with the call. Just hang up, saying that there's somebody at your door or something. <BR><BR>One of the main cutbacks the airlines have been making is in the number of people manning the phones, so it's just hit and miss whether you'll get somebody attentive and helpful.

Uncle Sam

Ilene,<BR><BR>A Delta employee tried to help you on this thread, and you ignoired their offer. <BR><BR>Delta then gave you two $350 flight certificates and still you complain.<BR><BR>I'm a million miler, gold medalion Delta flyer and I can tell that they make mistakes. They are human..so quit your whining and get over it.<BR><BR>Delta is a great airline, trying to make money in tough economic times....and what proof did you have that they should reward you with less than standard price tickets?<BR><BR>Quit complaining already!!!

Annie

I can't believe how many people tried to convince ilene to accept Shawn's offer to help. Some of you even made her look foolish because she didn't allow him to help. He said that he worked for Delta airlines - do any of us know this for certain? He said to give him all the information, including form of payment, and he would try to help her. Would you really give a total stranger on the internet all the information needed to straighten this problem out? I don't think so. Shawn may work for Delta and he may really have wanted to help, but I wouldn't give anyone all that info unless I dialed the Delta phone number and the stranger said, "Delta Airlines, how may I help you?"

k

Glad it worked out as well as it did.

Dallas

Annie, you have a very valid point! I really think ilene did the right thing.

xxxxx

Ilene should consider herself lucky she didn't fly with Delta. They are the armpit of the airline industry and bring new meaning the phrase "a flight from hell!"