Due to a traffic accident on I-45 I got to the counter Thursday 25 minutes before the flight but was denied a boarding pass since I was checking bags on a flight from IAH through ATL to CMH. Delta rebooked me at no charge on a leter departture but charges me $.40 for the tax difference. I refused to give them a credit card so the counter sales agent noted that the record showed I "owned 4 thin dimes." I gave her 2 quarters and of course she couldn't make change. I told her to credit it to the bottom line and she said she couldn't do that either.
No wonder the airlines are in the shape their in. I think upper management must be all ex-school board members,
Jack
Originally Posted by bdschobel
I had a full-Y ticket on the 3:30 Shuttle from LGA to DCA and needed to change it to the 2:30 Shuttle. I really didn't need to do anything because, after all, it is the Shuttle! And I could always fly standby for free (or same-day confirmed, to be technical about it). But I wanted to check in on-line and wanted my boarding pass to be for the right flight, so I called SMS.
Well, the original ticket was purchased in 2004. Apparently, a new ticket purchased in 2005 has 10 cents higher taxes imposed. The guy asked me how I was going to pay this 10 cents additional cost.
Now, let me be very clear. I can afford to give Delta 10 cents. Really! It usually doesn't come out of my pocket, anyway. But it just seemed to me that collecting 10 cents over the phone, which requires a credit-card charge, had to be more trouble than it's worth for me, Delta and even AMEX. So I innocently asked, "Couldn't you just waive 10 cents?"
You would have thought that I had asked for a free airplane! The guy, apparently horrified, said, "That's a government tax. We have to collect it or we would get fined." Not quite satisfied with that answer, I suggested that Delta could certainly remit the 10 cents to the government, thereby avoiding the dreaded fine, and simply swallow the cost. The guy, clearly not the brightest light, said that it would be illegal for Delta to do that.
In the end, I gave him my AMEX number and let him put through a charge for 10 cents so that I could fly an hour earlier without any hassles at the airport. I will not put that charge on my expense report because I would be too embarrassed.
Bruce