Denied boarding by DL, who's at fault?
Hi All
My parents were refused checkin last weekend by DL on an Expedia itinerary. Hoping for some advice.
Originally:
1 PNR, 2 pax:
BDL-ATL-MID-ATL-BDL
BDL-ATL was DL and ATL-MID was AM
A few months after booking, a schedule change on the return involved missing the DL ATL-BDL leg.
Parents called Expedia, who split the PNR into two and changed the ATL-BDL return to a later flight to make a legal connection in ATL. Not knowing the intricacies of etickets, my parents pulled up both PNRs on DL's site and everything looked intact and good.
Fast forward to last weekend:
Try to check-in online at DL.com - only 1 pax is successful. Other pax told to go to the airport (I was thinking SSSS, but nothing indicated there was a problem). At the airport, it turns out when Expedia split the PNR, they only updated one of the etickets, and left the other eticket was an illegal connection on the return. DL wouldn't allow one of my parents to checkin, nor could they touch the ticket since it was issued on AM stock. In the end, DL wasn't able to help and refused to transport both parents as far as BDL-ATL-MID and sort out of the rest once there.
I'm sympathetic here, as this could happen to anyone who doesn't understand that a PNR doesn't always equate to a reissued ticket. My questions:
1. Who's at fault? I think Expedia for not issuing the ticket correctly.
2. If the ticket wasn't issued correctly, why would DL indicate to head to the airport check-in rather than calling to fix the issue beforehand?
3. Could DL have done anything at the airport rather than telling my parents to pound sand?