Originally Posted by
LarryJ
The father may have thought Delta said it was fine but I'd bet that there was less than perfect communication. The agent he spoke to didn't understand what he was asking, he didn't understand the agent's answer, or a combination of both.
For example, the agent may have thought he was asking if the infant could sit, in his car seat, in what was the older son's seat if it remained empty. It may not have occurred to the agent that the father was asking that the unused older son's seat be held open for use by the infant.
This is that "truth that lies somewhere in between" that I was referencing earlier.
And probably closer to what actually happened than what either the dad or DL will admit when they tell the story.
Originally Posted by
MrTemporal
People are blaming the FA and GA. Wrong, IMHO.
The FA an GA are simply trying to work with the goofy situation they have been put in by upper management of the airlines and new security rules.
The real fault lies with the people who run the airlines, the top dogs, who make is so hard to reissue a ticket ahead of time to another person.
I purchase two tickets three months ahead of time from Joplin to Tokyo for my wife and I. Alas, she runs off with the hunky pool boy, so I decided to take my good friend Gomer who has been supporting me through the divorce. Why should it be such a problem to re-issue the ticket to George assuming we do it ahead of time, Gomer is not on a no-fly list or terrorist watch list, and Gomer has ample ID to prove he is who he says he is? At best, there should be a modest fee, say $20 max.
Airline execs created a big swamp or rules, fees and limitations. Now their passengers and employees are getting bogged down in the swamp. Let's put the blame where it belongs - at the top. They created this mess in the first place.
Yes, the FAs and GAs are dealing with a difficult situation brought about by airline policies of which we can debate the reasonableness of. The policies are what they are, and it is the FA/GAs jobs to enforce them.
That said, there is a good way to do that, and a horrible way to do that. FAs and GAs are people who might not control the decision, but they do control their own personal behavior and words in a frontline customer service role. Threatening a pair of upset, but calm parents with jail time and taking away their kids just because they disagree with an airline's decision? Yeah, that one is 100% on the FA alone. Full stop.
Originally Posted by
porky
This. How does it work when someone of size has to buy two tickets for one person? Or when celebrities buy out the FC section? I read here in FT that Jay Leno buys the seat next to him in FC when he travels. How can all this be possible if one cannot buy an empty seat?
That situation is different because the extra seat has been purchased explicitly for use by the COS, celebrity, whoever in question from the beginning, in accordance with the published policies, etc. at the time.
There are provisions for people to buy additional seats for various needs, and ways to properly go about that. This family did not leverage those provisions and processes appropriately, which landed them in this situation.
Again, the statement I just made doesn't remove DL's fault for handling the resulting situation poorly, nor is it meant to address whether or not DL's policies are reasonable/sensible, as both of those are separate questions and issues.