I was reaccommodated on a DL flight due to a cancelled flight. The CP agent gave me my seat assignment on the DL flights after consulting with DL. After hanging up I converted my e-ticket to a paper ticket and walked over to the DL count, the agent refused to place me on the flight b/c it was oversold even though I had a confirmed reservation on the flight. She said she had to protect her passengers first. I then called the CP agent back and she reconfirmed my reservation and was shocked that the DL agent refused to accommodate me. The agent then placed me on a FL flight where I had no problems. Who was wrong in this situation?

Well, if Delta guaranteed the flight they should have accomodated you. It sounds like a Delta screw up to me but I am no Delta fan http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

And DL owes you compensation for being bumped if you were confirmed on the flight.

[This message has been edited by longing4piedmont (edited Dec 19, 2003).]

depends on who the CP agent was talking to. If it was DL reservations on the phone, they are not the final authority--the DL agent working the flight is. Gate agent "protocol" typically means asking firsthand if you can have a seat on someone else's flight with an agent AT THAT AIRPORT.

Recently, I was working one of my airlines flights that had been cancelled. simple fare bucket classes lookd good over on a NW flight to MSP. I called over to the NW counter to make sure, and the flight ended up being oversold in coach. I wouldnt have noticed that if I didnt call the counter. NW would have had authority to send that customer back to me, and I would have had to deal with the same guy all over again.

Sounds like the CP agent didnt ask the right person. Maybe. IF, however, you got 2 different stories from two separate DL reps, its technically DL's fault but they arent required to do anything about it.

------------------
"A mile of highway will take you a mile,
but a mile of runway will take you anywhere."

If the departure was imminent (e.g., the airport was already working the flight), then US should have most certainly contacted DL locally at the airport to ask for the seat. Normally the local agent would say yes or no, and give their name to US. In addition, DL might even go ahead and book the passenger directly in their system wtih a remark "OK per agent so-and-so" to facilitate check in at the DL counter.

As many people know, just because seats are left to sell in the CRS doesn't indicate the flight isn't oversold. Especially during irregular operations it's nearly impossible to trust the inventory showing in the system; only the agent working the flight knows what's going on. I've worked for a few airlines, and I can tell you they all work this way.

Also, denied boarding compenstation only applies to passengers ticketed with confirmed reservations on a given flight, not to passengers holding another airline's ticket.

Purdue flyer is correct. FOr day of depature reroutes, proper procedure is to contact the other carrier at the airport, if possible. Since that is not always possible, at least the other carrier's res center. Some carriers have dedicated 800 numbers for reroute coordination.

If I may say one thing in U's favor. We have tradtionally been more liberal than several other carriers when it comes to sending customers to another carrier. (One major carrier will not endorse restricd tickets for delays outside its control (i.e. weather, ATC). At US the rule is to attempt on line reaccom first, but allows for reaccom when needed. (Such as when the difference in arrival time is more than 4 hours). Some stations are more stingy than others when rerouting. (I will not go into the reasons on this forum).

------------------
"I am serious...and don't call me Shirley"
(Leslie Nielsen as Dr Rumack in "Airplane")

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Dont call me Shirley:
If I may say one thing in U's favor. We have tradtionally been more liberal than several other carriers when it comes to sending customers to another carrier. (One major carrier will not endorse restricd tickets for delays outside its control (i.e. weather, ATC). At US the rule is to attempt on line reaccom first, but allows for reaccom when needed. (Such as when the difference in arrival time is more than 4 hours). Some stations are more stingy than others when rerouting. (I will not go into the reasons on this forum).</font>

I wholeheartedly concur with all of this.

U is usually great about trying to reaccomodate you either on U metal or with someone else. I've also found that when the local station is being chincy that a call to your favorite preferred desk and a stroll back to the ATO work wonders http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif (except in the smaller stations where the same folks work both gate and counter, and then it sometimes takes a call from the CP desk to get the ticket printed and off to the OA).

Merry Christmas, all.




------------------
Don't feed the trolls.

The key is to get whichever carrier you are booked on (in this case US) to give you a FIM (Flight Interruption Manifest). This form is the same as an unrestricted Y ticket. It is fungible (whomever takes it will get paid something), and you just keep going from airline to airline until you find a flight with space. Routings don't necessarily matter. In one case, during a snow storm at LaGuardia, I couldn't get to Detroit, but I found a flight leaving for Montreal. Once there, I got a connection to DTW. Last year I got one in Seattle. I was going to White Plains on a connect, and the USAir transcon broke down. Took my FIM to CO for a nonstop to EWR (which was close enough). CO even upgraded me with my Platinum status over there. I rented a car at Newark, and was actually home early. Carriers don't like to issue FIM's (because they cost them money), but a flyer with status, especially at the CP level, should be able to elicit one, once they know you know they have these.

I've gotten the FIM once or twice back when I was CP. Easy going then. But w/o it, US has been usually pretty easy to get them to reaccomodate me on another airline. I've had another airline (American in this case) ask me "Why did USAirways send people here?" but still let me on -- even though he called over to USAirways and told them to stop sending people immediately after me.

Could it be that the other airline's gate agent had already opened the flight for gate check-ins and your re-accommodation reservation crossed in the mail, messing up the gate agent's inventory count?

It is as if the other gate agent could not find you "in his computer" and when you showed up with a ticket, some confusion resulted. In that case, given such a short time between your re-booking and your being refused boarding, I would equate the situation to being told up front by your own airline's customer service rep. that the other airline's flight was full. Therefore no bump compensation.

Travel tips:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/travel.htm


[This message has been edited by AllanJ (edited Dec 26, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by AllanJ (edited Dec 26, 2003).]