AirMileMillionaire

How should I handle this?

A few months back I booked an award ticket on Delta partner. Business class 150,000 points. Plans were changing, so over weekend figured I'd cancel and rebook later.

Went in to dl.com and noticed a green alert that due to a schedule change I could change my ticket without fee. Why not check availability now, just to see...

Found dates in spring, but oddly enough it priced me at 100,000 not 150. Everying I selected was business class. Even checked the seats, front cabin. I jumped on this incredible offer, even if the taxes were oddly $100 higher or so. My itinerary printed, also lists both legs as business. Notified my clients of dates... Weren't ideal but too good of a deal to pass up.

Sure enough, I was tickets economy. Even though everything on screen and on receipt says business, Delta CS won't budge. They pulled the extra 50,000 points back out of my account to fix seat.

I know it was a mistake, but I still feel a little screwed. It was 100% the ticketing error of DL.com, not me. Should I just accept or fight; if so how. CS supervisors don't seem to care, won't look at my receipt... Just tell me it's 150k like it or get refund. Not an option as my clients now now I'm coming those dates...

I mean the receipt says business... My credit card was charged for fees.. Some redress?

MotorCityMike

They are low-class. Simple as that.

MSPeconomist

This sounds like travel on Virgin to Australia. Low is 150,000 miles RT. IMO if DL refused to place you in business class for 150,000 miles or refused to let you change without a fee to business class at 150,000 miles for another date on which business class award seats are available, then I think there would be grounds for complaint.

If you think of this like a mistake fare, your ticket was never issued in business for 100,000 miles. Mistake fares aren't considered to be a contract until the ticket is issued. In such cases, the passenger is issued a refund (without a fee) if a credit card has already been charged.

MSPeconomist

Now I'm confused. Were you ticketed in economy or business. First you say that you were ticketed in economy, but then you say that the receipt says business class.

It might help to check the VA fare classes for business class and award tickets carefully.

AirMileMillionaire

Ha, I'm well aware of the fees, etc. Not that new to the game.

My confirmation lists business. Everything was business on screen. The email I receive for confirmation seated me in economy.

I guess I will have to look at this like a mistake fare. My rub is I would have simply canceled the first ticket and waited to rebook, were it not for this. Now I am a bit inconvenienced...

United is clearly much better at this whole CS thing...

MSPeconomist

What do you want DL to do? Will they let you cancel the current ticket without a fee, or would they have let you do this rather than changing it to business for more miles?

AirMileMillionaire

I feel like they should honor the ticket, 100K for biz. That is what it says on my receipt. That is what DL.com told me would be the cost for business. I really don't care if it was a mistake on their part or not. I'm the one inconvenienced.

I've made my mind up..not a big deal. if Delta doesn't honor it or do something to make this right with me, I'll simply never book a Delta flight for myself of staff again. Screw Delta. None of us operate out of a city were we have to fly this airline.

fti

I just looked at an award ticket to Europe yesterday. Interestingly enough even though the screen on delta.com said "business" and 100K miles, if you clicked for more details, some segments were not in business class but coach. Perhaps this was one of the issues.

That will only help DL and hurt you. It will also help those of us who want to use DL miles, since you and your staff won't be vying for any more award seats. Thank you!

DiverDave

A distinct possibility. The Continental award booking engine used to be really good at this particular trick, and you didn't find out until you had your itinerary chosen and ready to purchase.

You might actually want to check with some of the folks who got the erroneously priced UA award tickets not so long ago.

David

MSPeconomist

When I use delta.dumb to try to book award tickets, I often see the notification that seating is in a different cabin than requested. I wonder whether this warning appeared when the OP did the 100,000 mile booking.

I'm assuming that the ticket in question is on Virgin to Australia, but I wonder whether it includes USA domestic connecting segments or even VA domestic segments or flights to/from NZ. It would also be good to know how the fare class appears on the itinerary and ticket receipt, as well as exactly what appeared during the booking process.

It's not unusual for FF programs to be confused about partner award inventory codes. Not all airlines follow the same conventions. There can especially be a mess if the partner is changing the definitions of its fare classes.

AirMileMillionaire

The flight was LAX-BNE RT, no connects. Everything was business on screen, and my printed itinerary after paying listed business for both legs. I even checked the available seats while booking so I could call VA to reserve window. The first fare code came with the emailed receipt a few minutes after paying, for which I was booked in economy (X).

After several calls, one agent knew about the issue and said they were working on it. It came up over the weekend, apparently. The supervisor split the points difference with me. I thought it was a fair compromise; but it took a lot of effort and explaining to get there.

Not fun, but resolved.

mbwmbw

That's crazy. Glad they got it resolved for you. So in the end you saved about 25,000 SkyPesos which is enough for an additional ham samwich.

Often1

OP got a good result. It may have been a mistake fare, but by his own admission, all he had was a confirmation and no ticket. The ticket was in steerage. DL just threw OP a 25K CS gesture.

Once ticketed (not just confirmed), DL would likely be on the hook.

MSPeconomist

I hope OP is sufficiently happy about the outcome. It was a good compromise.

mbwmbw

The question is what the OP will do with the additional 25,000 miles. That's really what I want to know.