Originally Posted by
reed2x
My flight last night ATL-GSP went mechanical and got canceled. One of my students was on the same flight and we shared stories after class this afternoon.
Freshman: non-medallion in coach
Confirmed 9:40am flight next morning
$16 meal voucher
Hotel Voucher @ Marriott
Professor: Diamond-medallion in first
Confirmed 7:15pm flight next evening
$22 meal voucher
Hotel Voucher @ Clarion, (a real dump, they wrapped the sofa cushions in a pillowcase and plopped them on the bed)
At least I got more meal vouchers.
It was probably my fault. The instant the flight got canceled I was on the phone with the diamond line and the agent put me on hold for a long time while she tried to SDC me onto the 9:55pm flight that evening. That didn't work out. In the meantime the other pax who went to the rebooking counter took all the confirmed seats on earlier flights. Then I hung out in the skyclub to watch the end of the Jets-Steelers game. By the time I picked up the hotel voucher all the good hotels had been booked.
In the end I was standby on the 11am flight, which after a couple more calls to the diamond line, they turned it into a SDC.
The lesson from my lecture today is that when you call the diamond medallion line in a rebooking situation, get the confirmed seat first, and then try for the SDC.
My experience with three similar situations last year was flawless. Each time I was automatically booked on the next available flight. I then strolled to the Skyclub, while making a reservation via the Marriott Plat line for an airport property, were I explored my options for finagling earlier flights and got my hotel voucher.
I then used the voucher to pay for my reservation.
It is a little tricky booking your hotel reservation in advance of the voucher since Delta may not want to give a voucher for were you booked and/or the hotel may decide they have had enough vouchers for one night.
I pulled this one night when I knew I would miss-connect in ATL because my flight into ATL was delyed due to mechanical problems. Even before my flight left for ATL I booked the Marriott and asked the DM desk to put me on the first flight out next day. The couldn't do it then because my mis-connect was not official but they did protect me on the next flight (I'm never sure what that means but is a very good thing to do) which then turned into a confirmed flight when the mis-connect due to mechanical problems became official.