Rules Changes for using Delta Dollars
 

Dear Delta Customer Service

I am writing concerning the distribution of Delta dollars as compensation for denied boarding or volunteering to take a later flight when the flights are oversold.

As a Medallion, I spend a lot of time on your airplanes. In the last 2 months, I have experienced a significant number oversold flights. As I had some flexibility (rarely happens), I was willing to help out the pleading gate agent by taking another flight for Delta dollars…not anymore!

Last night I went to redeem $518 Delta dollars to send my wife to Kansas City for Mother’s Day. I was informed by the agent that Delta dollars were no longer transferable and could no longer be combined to purchase a higher priced ticket. The certificates are now more of a discount since most tickets are over $400.

I understand from the agent last night that this rule was changed in December of 2011. The changes to the terms and conditions were not disclosed and are definitely not disclosed when the gate agent is pleading for volunteers. Had I known about the changes, I would not have given up my seat as this severely limits my ability to use Delta dollars. I travel so much for work that getting my wife and I to fly on the same flights is highly unlikely unless we are both travelling for vacation. But with a $400 limit I'd rather use Skymiles than Delta dollars.

The agent informed me that the change was the result of fraud occurring in the program. I can’t believe that a multi-billion dollar operation like Delta could not institute a password to protect the certificates. Instead Delta changes the terms of use that penalizes everyone that does a good thing that benefits the airline and its customers. The alternative is denied boarding, US currency compensation, delayed flights and most of all very unhappy customers.

This reminds me of the expression of “No good deed goes unpunished”.

I look forward to further discussing this issue.

Delta does respond to posts here, you would want to fill out the complaint form on their website.

However, as this rule is over a year old and is strongly enforced you really will not have much luck in getting them to accept a waiver, they know people are unhappy but don't really worry about that.

Good luck getting a dialogue going with Delta. They are not known for being particularly loquacious.

Delta loves to blame things on "fraud" when their real objective is a unilateral change in the way things are done, and screw the customer.

That said, we've managed to rack up quite a few bump vouchers on DL, NW, CO & WN over the years. Such restrictions would have been a royal pain at WN where we managed to fly free (exc. for $5-10 taxes per ticket) for a quite a while (there we actually relied on being able to use her vouchers for me), but I don't think they would have prevented us from spending any of our Delta vouchers.

This really could be Delta's slogan - maybe they could re-work it, like Lily Tomlin's "We don't care. We don't have to. We're the Phone Company. Snort, chuckle"

What exactly should the GA say. If you want to volunteer, you get a $400 voucher, and if you just happen to know what the rules were back in 2011, those have changed. And, if you just happen to know what the rules were in 2007, those have changed. And . . . . . .

In other words, these are the current rules. How is the GA supposed to know what rules are in your head? Current rules are printed with all vouchers. It seems simple to me. :)

No what I expect is that they provide the terms and conditions for the contract prior to getting off the flight and the flight leaving instead of providing the terms after the flight has left.

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They offered you a $400 voucher. You got one!

Do you read the fare rules and contract of carriage every time you click "purchase"? They do change from time to time. Of course not.

The fine print on the vouchers changed a long time ago. There was a HUGE hoopla on here about it - I'm surprised you missed it. If you wanted to know the current terms for usage of the voucher, you should have asked.

Besides, if you turn down future vouchers, there'll be more of them left for those of us who don't care about the combinability or tranferability.

Then ask for the full T&C and review them prior to accepting the offer.

For those suggesting the OP do a better job of reading the fine print--same to the GAs.

Not sure what his GA said, but I (who am aware of the change) have heard a GA say something to the effect of

"Christmas is coming and won't this make a great Christmas present to a family member?"

She was selling the voucher as if it could be used as a gift. Personally I am one of those people that read what they sign, and try to ask about the restrictions, but even so I think the basic tenets of customer service would be to inform people EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE OFFERING. How about "Who will take a $400 voucher, good for your own use only?" Just prevents getting good customers upset with you for no reason.

And OP - I bet there is some leeway...I was told once they would let me stack two "new" vouchers due to my status (though in the end I didn't). Call and ask, though mine was closer to the "new rule" date.

Yes the GAs absolutely should not be making false statements like that. Another case of so many DL agents not knowing the rules.

Did the GA refuse when you asked? Or, are you suggesting that the GA stop boarding and read through 15 mins. of t&c over the pa system?

Just like all other voluntary changes, make sure you know the deal you're cutting and that it's acceptable.

Serious question: How many GAs are gonna give you the time to read through 15 minutes of T&C before deciding you will accept their offer?

Old news in 2011.@:-)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...ng-15-dec.html

This is a fair point. While they obviously aren't going to tell you the rules, I have been on multiple flights where the GA implies it is more usable than it truly is

I had a similar issue about a month ago on an ATL-LAX flight. Try asking for a CS manager. They may be able to offer a one-time exception to the rule especially based on the circumstances with which the delta dollars were promoted (i.e. Gate Agent said to use it as a gift as stated above). They will mark this in your FF# so its a one-time fix.

The T&Cs clearly state now that it is only for the person flying. However, if you buy one ticket (such as through your corporate TA) and then attempt to purchase a new ticket and link the PNRs, then you will be able to use the certificate (because technically your flying as well).

As always, YMMV.

Long time lurker, hope this helps!

I think it depends on how it is presented.

If they say simply it is a voucher good for $300 on Delta and don't at a minimum say "with restrictions on use", or simply say "non-transferable, only one voucher per ticket, good for one year", they have fraudulently concealed pertinent facts from the customer.

Given the fraudulent concealment, one should be able to rescind the contract, in which case you would then be entitled to Involuntary DB compensation.

In California (can't speak to other states), small claims courts have the authority to grant rescission.

So, if Delta is asserting terms of the "Delta Dollars" that were not disclosed, one course of action would be to file a small claims court action asking for rescission of the agreement to accept the "Delta Dollars", and for payment of the involuntary denied boarding compensation.

A decision each pax has to make. Anytime you accept funny money instead of cash/check, there's a reason.

There are one thousand "blurbs" given to a traveler during a trip that summarize complex rules. Think "3-1-1." One more couldn't kill them.

Seems that some English major could come up with something to say during VDB that would keep customers from being P.O.ed. Maybe as simple as

I would think that would cover 99% of the upset VDBers.

Also, in practice this is not a rush situation. When people volunteer online they can be given a link to the rules to review. If people volunteer at the airport, they can be given a slip of paper to review while they are waiting to see if they are needed.

Just like the AMEX shills who imply you can easily find low coach for 25K pesos. Deceptive marketing phrasing is part of the culture.

My 2 cents...
 

Note: Correction (removed "...or a companion...").

Unless the Ts&Cs vary by status (or some other factor), you can only use these on the VDB owner ticket. I just used one last month, and had a $37 balance left, which I assumed would be applied to my companion's ticket. It was not, and the 2nd ticket was not discounted. I called DL Medallion desk, and they confirmed this is now policy.

I now have a $37 partial credit remaining on that VDB, which I will use.

...but I don't understand the logic: If I use it next month, or they had applied it the 2nd ticket last month, DL is still going to lose the $37. It seems like a needless customer service SNAFU.

Some would argue that leisure flyers might forget about the cert, or not have available vacation time, etc… OK then, have a 2nd set of Ts&Cs for Status level members. These are people who are far and away less likely to not use the cert, and they are also those who DL may want to keep flying on DL.

However, based on all the recent “enhancements”, perhaps DL’s core business is no longer getting people to fly, but selling SkyPeso to the Amex.

I'm with the OP.

Lots of people will assume what's being offered is the equivalent of a Delta Gift Card. Good for whatever Delta sells, used by itself or combined with others of its sort.

AND THAT'S WHAT IT SHOULD BE.

What a crappy company to bribe people off the plane, and then scam them on redeeming the bribe.

CE Woolman's desk, my .... (another word for donkey)

OK, so how do AA, UA, and US handle VDB vouchers. Let's compare apples with apples.

Might be of interest, but doesn't matter.

A used car dealer is not off the hook for cheating just because all used car dealers cheat in the same way.

How do you figure that not allowing people to combine or transfer vouchers is cheating customers? That's what I was referring to when I made reference to UA/AA/US's vouchers - - The poster above who said - "THAT'S WHAT IT SHOULD BE" - similar to a gift card - - his words.

Not allowing combination or transfer of certificates is not cheating the customer - failing to apprise customers of the restriction is cheating.

Doing a fairly rudimentary legal fraud analysis, the question is - is the concealed information material, is it something that the recipient of the certificate would like to know before agreeing to the transaction?

I thin the answer is clearly yes - if a passenger is told that in exchange for giving up a seat they will receive a $200 voucher for use on Delta, I think it is reasonable for that person to assume that the $200 is essentially like cash.

Moreover, it would be a very minimal burden on Delta to announce at the time volunteers are sought that the certificates are not transferable or combinable and are only good for one year. Also a minimal burden to Delta to mention that on the website when volunteers are sought. However, the result of concealing this information is that the offered vouchers seem more attractive than they really are, and more people are willing to accept them (and at a lower face value) than if Delta had made the minimal disclosure of the restrictive conditions.

yes of course they could easily mention this but that would reduce their chances of finding pax willing to accept a VDB. So of course they don't mention it.

This thread got me thinking, what percentage of VDB's go unused by kettles? I would venture to say as high as 20 or 30% go unused or forfeited.

To a kettle who accepts the voucher thinking "oh great I can use this next time I go to ____" And then by the time that comes around they forget about or it's expired or AA/UA has a better fare. All kinds of things happen that would cause vouchers to go unused.

Delta claimed fraud in changing the rules and yes there was some of that. Just a few years ago, I personally purchased vouchers from resale sites for less than face value as people were selling vouchers that expired soon and had no use for them. So the seller got some cash that would have otherwise gone to DL and I use their voucher. so DL was cheated out of the money. With the rule change, now the passenger gets cheated rather than the airline. All is fair in love and air travel?

So I get why Delta has these rules in place, but how long will this last? All these restrictions and rules and exceptions and blah blah. Soon enough pax are going to start refusing VDB's and it will be tougher to manage an oversold flight. DL starts paying out 1-3 IDB's per flight and they'll change their tune. Just wait..

Another very important point I forgot to mention:
 

The residual value is now only good through the original expiration date.

Formerly, when you purchased a ticket and did not use the full value of the VDB, they (NW or DL - I don't remember who it was last time I used one) would issue a new cert for the residual. This new cert would start the clock over, with another year to use the balance. Now it is considered the same VDB #, with a singular expiration date.

I don't understand how this can work. AFAIK you must first purchase the tickets, then call to link the PNRs. So the voucher wouldn't be associated with the other person until after their ticket had been purchased.