If, before I sat down at the restaurant, the maitre d’ handed me a set of T&Cs that said the restaurant reserved the right to hand me my food in a bag and send me on my way rather than serve me at a table, I wouldn’t be able to complain if it did so… But restaurants don’t. Airlines have T&Cs for a reason…but no one wants to read them or be bound by them.

Complaints about no refunds for fare decreases always kill me… Love ‘em.

I hope the tone of the responses does not discourage you from coming back.

Airlines are infamous for their point A to point B position. You should see how they treat people bumped from FC to coach. The refunds are pennies compared to difference the person paid vs the lowest cost coach ticket the day they booked the flight. And it gets worse -- what if they delay you for hours at a connection point and you miss your meeting/wedding/etc. Don't even ask because you'd get mad at the answer.

Flying is full of risks. Weather, equipment failures, crew issues and more come into play. Often we who fly feel like we were not properly compensated for whatever inconvenience we were caused. Sometimes to our surprise the airlines are overly generous with miles or even discount coupons.

Sorry for your troubles. Hope the lack of a power port caused you no harm. The lack of a refund when prices dropped though was fair. Buying low cost seats is always a gamble and as others said -- if prices go up they do not charge you the difference so why should it be different if they go down.

I am flying to Cancun soon. I started watching prices six months out and grabbed tickets at what I felt was a fair price. Since then they have varied from almost $200 more to over $50 less. If they less had been $200 I'd be mad at myself but not think the airline owed me.

Anyhow, please keep posting here. If you haven't tried it, also look at www.milepoint.com, another excellent community of frequent travelers.

Economy Comfort is wonderful. And yes, food and restrooms on international flights are complimentary. Usually there will be food, not necessarily your choice but I've ended up on one flight where I asked to be served later without food. And where I never flew (oops almost never) on an international flight without restrooms, I have had one or more out of order and had long lines for those remaining.

The almost never was an Air Canada commuter from CLT to Toronto. It was a bit over two hours and before we boarded we were told to use the bathrooms on the ground as those on-board were out. We were offered the next flight out (next day) but no compensation. We crossed our legs and flew.

refare
 

One of OP's whines is that he's stuck with the higher fare if it goes down later. I split my travel between Southwest and DL and have status on both (well, it's a stretch to call FO status). Both airlines have their plus's and minus's but it's definitely nice on Southwest to change or cancel & rebook without penalty if the fare goes down, which it does more often that you might think. I use this benefit quite frequently. It's true when flying either using money or on RR points.

Where to start? You talked to "a bunch of people". Exactly how many times did you call customer service to ask the same question about power ports? Your res shows the scheduled equipment, and seat guru indicates which seats have power ports. Sounds like you were trolling for the "promise" in anticipation of being rewarded if the "promise" was broken.

"Someone" assured you "100%" that your seat had power ports? Either 1) the CS rep needs more training or 2) the CS was just getting rid of you or 3) you may have "misquoted" him/her. But wait. You RECORDED the conversation. Assuming this was a phone conversation, did you ask for and receive permission to record the call? One consent or two consent state? Oh never mind. Just be sure to tell Delta in writing that you recorded the call. At any rate, how about providing us with a transcript of the call? I'd love to read that. It could really bolster your position. :rolleyes:

Where do you get such a mean spirited conclusion? This is why I stay mostly at www.milepoint.com where people spend less time attacking each other and more time helping. Flyertalk however has far more members and is a great resource. Too many of us however use FT in an unfriendly manner.

This was important to him and he wanted to be sure an outlet was available. seatguru, etc is not always correct so calling the airline seems sensible. getting a mixed response however would warn me that there was a risk I'd have to do without and I'd carry a spare battery or booster of some sort.

Usually a recording with one sides ok is legal. But that is not so in all states. Before OP tells airline about the recording, he should check this out. This advice is likely a little late since the OP has been in contact with the airline.

I doubt that any compensation is due and would have discouraged the OP from complaining. However, I would not fault him because he did.

I complain over little things at time. To emphasis that the complaint is not a ruse for a reward I often say -- NO COMPENSATION IS SOUGHT AND I REQUEST THAT NONE BE GIVEN.

However, when flying cross country in a broken seat or when my entertainment set-up is broken on a full flight I do complain and Delta has usually been fair.

OUTRAGEOUS!!!!

You shall be banned from FlyerTalk for spewing such HERESY!!!!

:):)

^ I second! :p

Why were the threads merged? They are not about the same thing.

I thought someone would suggest stoned. :D

Wow, with some of the comments you guys have made I would think you either work for Delta or you just really, really like them for some reason.

As a general comment, I'm not an idiot, naive, or a "whiner". Believe me, if someone took almost $250 from you, lied to you, and then when you said that's not fair basically told you to go screw off, then I doubt you'd be happy either....

I fly enough, and I honestly didn't want to believe that airlines would be dumb enough to spit in the face of customers.

Maybe that's how it's "supposed" to work, but in terms of business, they are sacrificing long term gains for short term ones.

Maybe on most flights it doesn't happen, but that doesn't mean that excuses the person who said "yes" when I said are you 100% sure. If you're not 100% sure, don't say yes.

Yes airlines. Airlines that compete with each other not only based on the fares but also based on in-flight amenities. So if they advertise having a movie theater on the plane and there isn't one, I expect something in return.

Luckily for airlines they don't switch planes or change routes all too often. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to get away with throwing a little bit of money and coupons at you (a little in comparison to the ridiculous fees they charge you).

It's not more clear than saying they'll reimburse me if their advertised in-flight amenities don't work. What I mean is - it's not. The Economy Comfort is an upgrade, not passage from point A to point B.

Yes, however, their advertising would easily lead you to believe that in-flight amenities are part of your fare. I bet you have to dig somewhere deep to find that they're in fact "complimentary"

Those may be the rules, but they certainly aren't smart if you want to keep customers. Unfortunately, I doubt other airlines are different, and as you say maybe one would surprise me and actually give me something reasonable in return, but that's a gamble, and it shouldn't be.

Why would you give anyone loyalty when they treat you like crap the whole time before than? How much more are any of you willing to spend of your own money (not your company's) so you can fly on the airline that you are supposedly "loyal" to? (I'm saying before you've flown with them a lot and gained all the perks)

Oh they tried. $25 or 1000 SkyMiles (pesos haha), but when the guy acted like he was doing me a huge favor. I wasn't going to let them say they "compensated" me... for $25...

Yup pretty much my feeling exactly, but as others say, I bet the international carriers, while offering better amenities (which are probably also "complimentary") would treat you the same way in the end.

My example was, since this is travel after all, that you get a hotel room that advertises air conditioning and high speed internet. Sure it may be "complimentary" (and when it comes to high speed internet they make it obvious too in some places), but you can be pretty certain that people EXPECT it as part of their nightly rate, and that they would be pretty angry if it wasn't working. And the AC... well now I'm scared that that could also be "complimentary" too :rolleyes:

If they continue to push their capabilities, enough people will get pissed off at them and they'll be in some doodoo. Also, real estate isn't a good example because one it's much longer term, and two it involves A LOT more money.

For certain I won't be making the same mistake again (or trying not too) But the airlines will go bankrupt (again, except for American) if they only think about short-term profits. Maybe the restaurant does "reserve the right"... but they don't hand the T&Cs to you. They just put a line in tiny print under a big advertisement saying how great they are, and that line says you have to ask for a copy of our 50 pages long T&Cs that most people probably won't understand anyway even if they try to read them.

At least Air Canada TOLD YOU; they did give you the option. With the other one, where one wasn't working maybe they should have given you free food or something, but that would have just made the bathroom situation worse... I know how much first class tickets are, and if I had that type of money and and airline booted me to coach and didn't give me a FULL REFUND (plus more I would say) then needless to say that airline wound never see a dime from me ever again unless I had no alternative.

You seem like a lawyer... No I won't provide a transcript because I wouldn't try to sue them over something as trivial as this. But I will tell you that your idea that I'm "trolling" is utterly insane. Why would I waste my time "trolling"... about power ports... ? I called multiple times because I wanted someone who knew what they were talking about which leads to WHY I recorded them - in case they tried to screw me later - and because I've learned if you don't have evidence you get nowhere. For your 1 and 2 - Delta Airlines is responsible ultimately. For 3 - I ASKED them are you 100% sure? And they said yes. I gave them plenty of times to "protect" themselves.

The airline was in a period of transition (and still is) concerning their Economy Comfort section. When I flew, seatguru did not even show that that section existed. My whole bottom line is that if you're not certain, don't say you are.

For the power port, they should give me something because their employee lied and didn't know what they were talking about. The whole idea of T&Cs is kind of crap. I doubt the CEOs of companies even know what's written in them. I would also believe that they would not hold up legally if they are abused (there was a South Park episode making fun of Apple iTunes T&Cs). For the higher fare, in the end, I can't really do anything, but it's BS. If the airline was smart they'd give me SOMETHING. Maybe not the $250 but like something like 5000 miles or free 3rd bag just to show that they value EVERYONE (and not act like they're so amazing and great for doing so) and not just the people who are... "loyal"... to them. Anyone who's loyal is probably only so today because it's the airline they are loyal to is their best/most valuable option for one reason or another.

Wow, if you made it this far... I only responded like this because I'm pretty shocked that people are so defensive about Delta. To those people who are so defensive, what have the airlines done for YOU? If you're a high-status member, they're nice to you because of that. But are you high-status because you love Delta so much... or because Delta was the best option for you (whether it was for low fares, certain routes out of your airport, certain amenities, company paying for it, etc)? If a business treated you like garbage, could you honestly say that you'd continue to patronize them unless it was very much in your best interest to do so?

No, we are just realistic about our expectations

Are you serious? Happen all the time on shorter flights, and quite frequently also on the long haul.

Actually, it isn't. EC is not a different class of travel. So it's not an upgrade.

If you ask enough times, you'll find someone who says yes, even wrongly. This is true of any carrier and any call center, actually.