Justin026

After a mechanical delay like this, I wouldn't really have minded flying in coach TATL westbound, especially in peak season. I probably wouldn't have asked someone in the US to call in and intervene for me, either. Those kinds of calls, by their nature, can stretch the system.

rylan

I think some of you are forgetting that a paid upgrade to D1, either with miles, cash, or certificate, should be treated as a purchased D1 cabin ticket. This wasn't a free op-up or something like that.

Yes, if there are no seats then obviously the pax can't get accommodated. However, suggesting that because there were irops that the pax be treated like a Y ticket holder is absurd.

This brings back those heated discussions of people purchasing GAP fares and irops and some agents saying it was only a coach ticket with a 'free' upgrade... yet it cost more and was paid to sit in F.

Bottom line - DL should treat it as a D1 ticket and give irops and preferred handling as D1, and along with PM status. If there is a seat, they get the seat. If there is no seat, then they can accept a lower cabin, or other routing or overnight to stay in D1.

pvn

What do you guys think should happen here? How is an agent supposed to know whether someone is "high enough" up the priority chart to go ahead and confirm their seat? The agent is dealing with a pax who had a confirmed seat. If there's J on the flight he's asking about, then he should get it.

Are you expecting the agent to go through the whole manifest of the cancelled flight and examine every passenger to see if they're "better" than the one the agent is currently dealing with? And should the agent contact all of those pax and find out if they want to be re-routed on the flight the passenger is asking about??? It's absolutely insane. It's IRROPs, sometimes .... happens.

If you think it's acceptable to tell this pax "oh, yeah, you had a confirmed seat and there is a seat available on the flight you want... but you can't have it" then where do you draw the line? (clearly, MSP has already drawn it to maximally benefit herself)

DiverDave

Why would DL give the last seat D1 to a DM who has not used an upgrade instrument or paid for the seat? Sorry, but that's nonsense.

DMs get priority in many things, but they have no claim to an available D1 seat. The PM paid for it with miles, and does have a claim.

Yup, because now you need rebooked flights and a change of underwear and pants.


David

jdrtravel

MSP I have absolutely seen you argue in this forum that miles are a form of payment. OP's friend stopped being a confirmed coach pax and became a confirmed J pax when the miles were spent to upgrade the ticket.

StayingHomeIsBetter

Wrong. Emphatically wrong.

Exactly correct.

As has been posted in this forum multiple times, once you are confirmed in J (whether you used cash, miles, or a certificate to get your J ticket), you are a wholly qualified business class customer. The only thing that should then matter is whether there is a seat available... on a first-come-first-served basis. Upgrade inventory is not an issue.

cmd320

On a loosely related side note, it looks like the aircraft involved was N1608 operating DL31 on 8/13. Coincidentally, the same aircraft operating DL54 on 8/11 diverted back to ATL on that flight. Not sure if it was related to the same issue or something else entirely, but somewhat odd that the same aircraft would have two diverted TATL flights within two days of each other.

StayingHomeIsBetter

8/11... 8/13... 8/15

Let's see what happens today.

Robert Leach

Exactly.

The thing was, time was of the essence.

The disrupted flight was the last nonstop to ATL for the day. The offloaded passengers from the flight were waiting for bags when I made the call around 3:45p London time. The flight to JFK was leaving at 5:30p.

To make that flight, a passenger would have to pick up the bag, clear customs, head back to the counter to check in again, clear security again, and make it to the gate. It was doable, but there was not time for Delta to do an analysis of which customer was highest in the pecking order, contact that customer, make sure a flight to JFK instead of a flight to ATL was OK, and make sure the customer got to that flight.

Given the time constraints, I did not want to HUCA since the agent had escalated it to the supervisor level. I pressed the issue and ultimately won the battle. Frankly, otherwise that LHR-JFK seat probably goes out empty because I don't think anyone else was going to act so quickly.

But, bottom line, it was IROPS and in that situation, upgraded or not, there was no "rule" preventing the agent from grabbing that last seat, and certainly no reason to have attitude.

By the way, the passenger in question is based in London and does buy full J for some trips and when buying coach books in Y or B. He buys paid-First on domestic US flights. A look at his profile, and the secret scores attached to it, would have yielded a favorable picture to the airline IMO. Yet, I get lectured by the agent like I am trying to steal a seat for him and break some other rule by having him overnight at JFK, which he did at his own expense.

formeraa

It has always been a rare and "substantial" situation. But it sounds like DL made it right. That was often not the case, say, 30 years ago.

apodo77

SMH.

vincentharris

I find it interesting and hilarious that lots of people say "He didnt deserve the seat" or "That should have been reserved for DM or Paid J". I 99.999999999999999999999999999999% guarantee folks who say that would be on here complaining in the exact same situation because they didnt get the seat.

Who cares if it was the last seat? His buddy called and got it for him. During IRROP or any situation is DL supposed to "reserve" seats on the off chance someone will call asking for the same change? How about the fact that this guy was proactive he got the seat? It should go to who has the most fortitude in getting it, and if you chose to "hope" DL would change it right or didnt call/tweet right away then its you snooze you lose.