Hi there,

I have been reading this thread for months and finally have something to post.

Sorry for the long 1st post

I was a Delta GM for years and then suddenly stopped flying shortly after 9/11/2001 due to a job downsizing. I started flying again early last year and have flown well over 100K/year since about January 03.

Early last year I gave the robots at Delta two chances to keep my business as I was about to loose my gold medallion status. I asked for an extension of my expiring gold as they could see that I had over 10,000 miles in Jan and Half of Feb ’03, of course I was denied. I asked for a comp silver and then let me earn my gold back. Denied!! From that date, I have only 500 miles on Delta.

United matched my Gold right before it expired and I did my 50K+ with them in 2003.
In July, I wanted a backup as I was flying to LAX and SNA a lot and Continental matched my UAL Gold instantly. I had over 40K with them in ’03 and have over 25K with them this year already. The kept me a gold thru 2005 as their policy is that after July when they match someone, they give them a year and a half.

I like having the backup of a second carrier, although my 2004 plan, (I know most of you prob have one as well) was to go for Plat in CO and Silver in UA in 2005.

If you have to fly coach, UA is the best with the Econ Plus, but CO is the best when you get free upgrades. I think of it like gambling.

Up until last week I loved CO. The planes are clean and about half a time I get upgraded when I travel to the west coast from my home base in MCO. The rest of the time the city ticket office gets me aisle emergency exit row.

Here is what really tweaked me and I have yet to get resolved.
I had booked online several different itineraries the week prior to booking and let them all expire as I was trying to dcide on a DL/El-Al codeshare or the CO flights. When I first made the reservation it was in mostly K and B classes, but when I went to look at it it has switched mostly everything to H. See below.

Route - Fare
5/31/04
MCO-EWR H
EWR-TLV H

6/9/04
TLV-EWR H
EWR-IAH H
IAT-SAT X

6/14/04
SAT-IAH X
IAH-MCO H

Price $1273

The price did not change, but the fare class went up.
In seeing this, I bought the ticket at the $1273 price. It was the final thing that made me buy the ticket.

I thought that this was great because now I could use miles to upgrade w/o having to pay $200 each way. Not to mention the huge EQM bonus. I even called my local ticket office and they said it was a good deal and for me to book it.

However, I then got an email saying that there was a ticket issuance delay and that there would be a delay.

Now they rebooked me back down to K class.
They eventually sent me a final confirmation email and everything was back down to K class.
When I called to ask why I was sent back down to H class they said that if I wanted to fly in H class that I would have to pay for the fare at H class prices ($1557 price vs $1273 for K) .

I have proof both in email and printouts that show that what I paid for was H class including the link that says “complete this purchase now” (prior to purchase) and the “your purchase is confirmed” printout after purchase, with the H fares. I am awaiting a call from a supervisor to resolve this.

They say that this is a known problem. I am asking the group. What would you do if you were me? I defiantly want to fly in H class. Should I fight the extra $300 on principle?

Jason
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