joellg

Hey there, my name is Joel, Im 35, and Im a diamond member with delta, and have had an extremely awful experience with them. Ill try to give cliffs-notes here, stick with me. Im getting married on Oct 7th in St. John, USVI. First thing we did was book our flights back in the spring (along with 14 others going to the wedding) and use 200K miles to do so for first class for me and my bride-to-be. Leaving Tuesday the 4th, back on Tuesday the 11th. So we booked 2 villas for those dates, and all the arrangements. I get call from my father saying they cancelled our flights. So I look, and yup, flights canceled, re-booked on Wed the 5th. So I call, and they tell me that they no longer service STT on Tuesdays. I explain to them, everything is already set, and we need to get there on Tues.
1-They offer all of our money back, which sucks because I was using miles, which doesnt do me any good on another airline, and everyone elses fare would now be 1 1/2 times what they were when we bought them.
2-They offer to rebook to WED, but I tell them, the villas are already booked, the wedding is on Friday, which would give us way less time to get ready, and other people are already booked on other airlines.
3-After many calls, they gave us the option to fly to San Juan, but didnt get in till like 7PM, starting at 555 AM with 2 connections.

The reason we chose this flight was because it was Aelta, I had lots of miles with them. B:We got in on Tuesday afternoon, with time to go to the St. Thomas courthouse and get the paperwork done, and get tuxes, ect.

So after emailing and calling, we mananged to move our villas to Wed to Wed, and changed the peoples flights who were on other airlines to Wed to Wed. Costing us more money.
Now we have that afternoon to get there and get all things done that day (I pray there wont be ANY hiccups in the travel), no time to get anything done. And all they have offered were 20K measly miles. I told them to keep their crappy miles. All I really wanted them to do, was to put us all on another airline. And being a diamond member, I figured they would have called me, or notified me of this change. I feel that them doing this has begun to really stress me out, and have costed us more money, any which way you look at it. Is there anything I can do, or at least get something back from them. I feel like they really dropped the ball this time, and I almost just want to leave them, and go somewhere else. If Im in the wrong, then fine, Ill let it go. Thanks for whatever comments.
Joel

joellg

Also, now that the flights have changed, they have moved the departure time up, and the connection in ATL coming home is now 3 1/2 HOURS! It just doesnt end. Worst part is, I sold Delta to everyone, and now this.

tkey75

You asked to be put on another airline and they said what? That'd be pretty much the only alternative as you're not going to get them to reinstate the Tues flight. It's good you were able to move your acommodation dates. That would have been a real mess.

Zomba

I understand that it is probably very frustrating, but airline schedules are prone to change. Am I understanding correctly that DL didn't notify you about a cancellation?

Congrats on the engagement, and I hope that all goes well. Sorry about the added stress from the schedule change

3Cforme

Airlines adjust schedules to seasonal/tourist destinations all the time. Airlines change flight times all the time. Forums on FT deal with questions of rebooking every single day. The OP isn't picking up the right lesson: get married at home.

MR_MAMA

You should call Customer Care not the DM line. They are not going to fly there just for you (sorry). I'm sure that service is seasonal. However I feel they should work with you on detouring, cover the change fees, etc. Other then that, not much else they can do.

RatherBeOnATrain

First of all, "Bride-to-be and I" is how you should be phrasing things, Joellg! She comes first - always!

Is there some reason why you couldn't extend the trip and leave on Monday, or Sunday?

You mentioned that the trip is booked for Tuesday thru Tuesday, which I presume is because the only way you were able to get the ticket for 200k skypesos was to fly on Tuesdays. (There was probably no award availability on the other days.)

Going earlier would require paying for an extra night or two of accommodations, but if your lovely bride and you are the only ones that need to be at the Courthouse for the paperwork, why the heck not get there earlier and enjoy St. Thomas?

mikeef

I'm sorry about the wedding plans. That really sucks when everything has to get changed at a destination wedding.

Having said that, I'm sorry to say that I also agree with the others on this thread. Airline schedules change daily. That's not to say that you shouldn't feel upset. You have every right to. But you're probably not going to get a lot out of them.

You can request that they help you with the change fees and, while it would be nice of them to do so, I wouldn't count on it.

Sorry.

Mike

mikeef

Yup, learn that lesson now.



Didn't even notice that. Sounds like a great idea.

Mike

joellg

Ive been in contact with customer care, and the DM line. I just wanted them to put us on another airline, thats it, I would have been happy, but they said they couldnt put us on another airline-it was never an option. But it took at least a week for them to come up with the whole Puerto Rico gimmick. And yes, my father, who never flies, got a phone call, but I didnt. Im an adult, I realize they dont care at all about me. Im just wondering if theres anything I can do, or get from them. 20K miles is an insult, to be honest. I cant even get a L/U/T domestic fare with 20K. Im just so pissed on how they dealt with this, and the stress they put on us. Now we get in on Wed, and have to get everything done that day when we get in. No margin for error at all. And the fact that they dont care really pisses me off.

joellg

No, I get home Monday from a race. And were having a home-reception the next weekend, so getting home on a Thursday would be cutting it too close too. I mean, there is a reason we booked all this how we did. It just seems, the one thing that could have screwed all this up, did. I know schedules change, and what not, but canceling all flights on a certain day, doesnt seem that common to me.

MR_MAMA

I agree with the earlier post, go a day earlier, stress free that way. Gives you some alone time before others arrive. Also would ask for more mikes or vouchers (to covet change fees) but since it seems like you accepted the 20k, I think it's too late to go back and ask for more,

BobH

+1

Putting a pad day into a schedule for an important event is always a good idea.

Just think of it as one more day of fun.

and welcome to FT

Bob H

BusTrav8yrs

While they did not bend over backwards it does sound like DL tried somewhat to work with you. Having it be a award flight is what prevents them from transferring you to another airline, it is not simple to transfer the fare to the other airline in that instance.

It's always tricky planning accomodations around award travel, it has bit me in the past, part of the "risk" of using miles. Being there was no monetary outlay, you are not out any existing expenditure, it will just cost you more than had you ponied up the fare to start with, so cancel and purchase on another airline. It is after all your once in a lifetime wedding event.

joellg

I cant go earlier. Its not possible. And I didnt accept the 20K, I literally told them to keep their bulls$@t miles, but they gave them anyway. Thanks for the replies, Ill just deal with it. Wondering if changing airlines would make me feel better.....