When Phone Agents Get it Wrong
 

I've had a bad run of luck being given info on the "Premium Services" line that turned out to be wrong. One agent will tell you "Double Miles Flown" means only redeemable base miles, while the next agent declares - with equal conviction - that the same promotion confers "double MQMs."

Book at your own risk and try to appeal later is the template.

DL assumes NO OBLIGATION to cover promises, assurances, rules and regs conveyed on the phone. There's likely no record of the call and your history of truth-telling is unverifiable.

It hardly helps to later say, "we're sorry for the misunderstanding." Entirely too much is riding on all this to disavow the declarations of a well-meaning, hard-working, but ultimately misinformed DL representative.

And I say this owing many of them a LOT in terms of past favors.

So we can't trust what delta says on the phone, we can't trust what they say on the website, we can't trust what they easy in DM/PM packages, guess you can't trust anyone these days.

DL Calls
 

Record the calls from now on.

I think that the DL promos (since you have to register for MQM ones) are pretty clear. The phone agents don't know all the promotions that are being run on delta.com and honestly most promos are just double RDM, not MQM. The FT community is a pretty good place to check for MQM promos since many on here are more in tune to the various promos out there than a DL phone rep would be. Sad but true but some phone agents don't really know the difference between RDMs and MQMs and never travel. The same phone agents will quote flight 201 from ATL-MCO as Business Elite since it is the same flight number of JNB-ATL that has BE, so they see DL selling J and I on ATL-MCO and think that means BE. Obviously they are wrong but they just see what the computer says and J=Business Elite, C=Business, and F=First. Unfortunately DL sells J seats on MD80s, DC9s, A320s, and 757s that continue on from a BE international flight which can be confusing to a non-seasoned agent and most FTers as well. Just look through the threads and you will find stuff like MSP-PHX BE???

Thanks, all. The example I cited was only the latest. Earlier ones had cost me money I was not able to recover.

I'm now conditioned to ask every phone agent to double check with the SkyMiles desk, Promotions desk or other authority to clear up ambiguities and language conflicts.

When a promotion hits your inbox, you might jump on it and book the qualifying itinerary only to realize you failed to register for the promotion first. The fine print giveth and taketh away in these instances. You can be assured by phone that the "Fly By June 20" written condition covers your mistake. But the next agent might ask a supervisor who declares that, no, only registration before booking counts toward redemption. The email text was hopelessly imprecise.

And so it goes.

Y'know... DL could eliminate the need for a ton of "sorry for the misunderstanding" emails -- and free up a whole lot of CS hours -- if they were clear and consistent with their messaging up front.

I refuse to call the regular Delta phone # for assistance any more. I have been hung up on numerous times (I am a polite person on the phone - just am usually trying to get a lot of things lined up for my family flights etc). They have also gotten the wrong flights & wrong names (and I spell everything out phonetically). Last time after the lady gave me the confirmation number she just stated "I can't hear you any more am hanging up now" because I wanted her to cross reference other reservations with seat assignments (more work). I now just call the delta premier line under my spouse's diamond level status and have perfect, wonderful help.

Also a side note - you have 24hrs to cancel a flight after booking over the phone with delta for no charge. The flight info will appear within a few minutes of paying on the website under your delta FF number - so you can check it there...