The FAs and ground crew will always count to make sure their numbers match up on RJs. I had a flight held up for 15 minutes when the FA's count was off from that of the gate. FA recounted multiple times then pilot did his own count. GA was called down as it was a mistake on the GA's part.
With mainline planes where there are more seats, I haven't observed a count by the FAs whereas I've seen it numerous times on RJs.
And at JFK, as soon as you walk down the "jetway" to the tarmac, there is another DL official checking boarding passes to ensure that each passenger is routed to the correct flight. Many a times have I seen people get on the wrong flight, only to deplane in embarrassment. I tend to think that instances of people "boarding" flights when they weren't on the flight are more prominent on the RJs as DL has a lot of RJs attached to 2-4 gates.
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I am guess from these posts, that this situation is rare. Anyways, I am just going to stick with my plan of disputing the charge with my credit card company.
I am just glad I did not pay cash for this "flight."
Originally Posted by colpuck
Ok this is starting to make more sense. They were taking volunteers for the flight and I initially volunteered and the GA took part of my BP. When I had to leave I went to get it back, he said "let me hold on to this," and did not return the piece. I didn't think much of it at the time but he must have boarded me using that piece of my BP.
Volunteers for an oversold flight? You should have received a voucher for VDB and a BP for your new flight.
Were you booked to CLE? If so, did you eventually go there? The above sounds like you were at least at the podium.
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Andy, I know you've encountered connex carrier GA's in ATL. You really can't see how they'd see a BP sitting there on the desk, and just scan the OP's card, assuming he was on the flight, shut the door and go?
Or one of the standbys was boarded using the OPs BP. Either it was given to the otherperson, or the GA just scanned it and told the person to a specific (or any empty seat).
It sounds like the OP was very close to boarding the plane when he got called away. After all, he had already engaged the gate agent in a discussion about volunteering to give up a seat.
In defense of the carrier, it can't simply give refunds to every person who calls and says, "But, I didn't take that flight!"
I don't think there is any sort of definitive seat count done on board mainline flights. If the count was off, it would be impossible -- absent a huge delay -- to figure out why it was off (i.e., who was missing).
In the end, I have no idea how this could ever get resolved unless the carrier would accept an affidavit.
This is just a thought, but wouldn't you have some sort of physical evidence to prove that you did not board that flight?
Maybe you can fax DL a parking receipt showing that you only paid for 1-2 hours of parking and pulled out of the garage around the time your flight was scheduled to depart?
What about any email correspondence requesting that you leave the airport and miss that flight? Did you SEND any emails during the time the flight was actually in transit?
Worst comes to worst, you can even use your cell phone records to prove that you were making and receiving phone calls while supposedly 30,000 feet in the air.
Good luck with the chargeback through Mastercard, but I'm not sure if they would take your word over the "physical" evidence from Delta...
I have a pretty high level dispute contact at Amex, and we once had a discussion about exactly this. MC's not as good with disputes, but Amex here, if you could show any documentation that you weren't on the plane (preferably an Amex charge!), will refund you immediately.
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Let's see I bought dinner at around 5:30, and I paid my cell phone bill that's of from cc charges that day. I am going to get my money back from dl even if I have to go to small claims court.
So what ended up happening? Believe it or not, I'm in the same situation for a LAX-ATL flight. Imagine my surprise when I went to cancel and it said the e-ticket had been used. Then I checked and the miles posted to my WP account.
I called DL and they said I would have to go to the airport ticket counter, sign an affidavit stating I wasn't on the flight, and fax it to refunds.
Most interesting. Similar thing happened to me last week on in LAX. I was on stand-by for an earlier LAX-SFO. Had the inbound from Chicago been on-time I would have made it, no problem, but it was late and I had to wait for my original flight. I caught it in the Admiral's Club and the agent was quite amused with me standing in front of her while the computer swore I was in SFO. The gate agent had cleared and then put me on the flight. A couple minutes of typing fixed it and I only got credit for one flight.
I had the opposite happen to me recently. Flying Comair on a CR2 JFK-YYZ I had asked for bulkhead at the gate. They took my ticket and after 5 minutes of furious typing, gave me a new one- I chalked it up to a novice agent. Flight is uneventful.. I go to check in for return flight a day later and itin is not online. Call DL and they cancelled my flight because "I didn't board the first leg". Looked online and didn't get miles for the leg and it appeared as if it was totally gone. Apparently the GA did something goofy and I had to spend at least an hour swearing that I actually took the flight. They were going to make me sign an affadavit as well, but seeing as I was already in Montreal, they took my word for it and ended up restoring my flight. Wasted over an hour of my life and had to send in boarding passes for credit.
Same thing happened to me...I checked in online for my ATL-FLL Y ticket, but didnt make it to the airport. I knew something was up the next day when I saw the miles posted. After speaking with corportate, I went to the airport in PIT to try to get the affidavit taken care of. After a long time looking for it, and a phone call with corporate, the agent found it. I am still waiting for the refund.
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on a CR2 JFK-YYZ I had asked for bulkhead at the gate. They took my ticket and after 5 minutes of furious typing, gave me a new one- I chalked it up to a novice agent. Flight is uneventful.. I go to check in for return flight a day later and itin is not online. Call DL and they cancelled my flight because "I didn't board the first leg". Looked online and didn't get miles for the leg and it appeared as if it was totally gone. Apparently the GA did something goofy and I had to spend at least an hour swearing that I actually took the flight. They were going to make me sign an affadavit as well, but seeing as I was already in Montreal, they took my word for it and ended up restoring my flight. Wasted over an hour of my life and had to send in boarding passes for credit.
