Originally Posted by Pointfreak!

Hey all, looking for some advice from a co-worker.

We were all heading to São Paulo yesterday (Sunday eve), two from JFK and one from SAN, to rendevouz for some business meetings. My San Diego associate is 2+ million miler and chairmans preferred on United. Due to a change in company booking policy, this was his first trip on Delta.

When he got to the counter to check in for his flight to GRU via ATL, the agent refused to let him board because she said he had no Visa. He explained that when flying to Brazil, he uses his Argentine passport as no visa is required (he is also a naturalized US citizen with US passport). The agent, Cindy, insisted that he must have a visa even after he explained several times that he makes this trip bi-monthly. She supposedly "called someone at corporate" who backed her up. He was refused boarding. He walked over to the United counter and asked them "how is it that I have been doing this for years with you?". They said Delta was wrong, and even printed a screen shot of the requirements indicating that an Argentine passport needs no visa.

By the time he returned to the DL counter, the flight was closed. He showed Cindy the papers, she admitted her mistake, apologized and put him back on the same flights the next day (tonight/Monday) in a middle seat no less.

He is of course, livid. He was on time, did everything right and tried to calmly explain that this person didn't know what she was talking about. He missed a very important meeting this AM in São Paulo and jeopardized our entire deal. When he demanded to speak to a supervisor, she (Cindy) informed him she WAS the highest DL authority at SAN. She offered him a $100 voucher of some kind for the mistake.

Other than the typical complaint letter, what would you do? I told him I would demand they put him in business class, except he has no status yet at DL (and probably never will after this debacle. He's pretty sour on his first experience).

Thoughts?