RealHJ

No, with Delta your loyalty expires at T-72 and DL realy, trully doesn't care about its customers. At all.

But, thankfully DL has inherited the truly superior NW CS, that has improved pm-DL abysmal CS many, many, many fold over. So, in as much as their hands are often tied behind their backs, the (now) DL CS really does try to help their customers as much as they can, and is the one bright spot in DL.

javabytes

I don't know what the timeline was. But the sequence of events sounds rather strange.

June 27, 2008: He receives a call from NWA telling him his status was being revoked.
July 18, 2008: He receives a letter advising him he will no longer be provided compensation every time he writes.

dickinson

HJ your comments are over the top. I know you are more than upset about the award change rule, but your allegation that DL doesn't care at all about its customers is demonstrably false.

forty-two

... gets booted.

http://consumerist.com/2011/09/can-y...omplainer.html

brad9696

Really - 24 times in 6 months - that's 1 "problem/complaint" per week. So if this guy was a really heavy duty flyer (125 segments / year) - he would have had a major issue to complain about (sufficient to contact CS) at a minimum - every other flight. Moreover, receiving 78k in skypesos during 6 months - that was probably equal to the MQM's accrued during the same period.

I know DL has some customer service issues - but - let's be real.

Have to agree with those siding with Delta on this one.

aubreyfromwheaton

I haven't read the whole thread, but if he's complaining about frivolous items, can't they just say "no" to his compensation requests and then ignore him?

Why bother cutting him off?

davisew

For those of you sharpening your pencils over the latest enhancements:

Supreme Court today granted review of the 9th Circuit's decision in Northwest, Inc. v. Ginsberg (12-462) to address whether state consumer-protection laws are preempted by federal law (Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 among others) as it relates to frequent-flyer programs.

Of note is that Delta (Northwest) has hired former Solicitor General and general Supreme Court bigshot Paul Clement, of US v. Windsor and NFIB v. Sebelius fame, to represent them at the court.

Also noteworthy is that this case was put on hold by the Court for months, apparently for the decision (issued last week) in Dan's City Used Cars, Inc. v. Pelkey (12-52), which also addressed federal transportation statute preemption of state consumer-protection claims. In that case, the Court ruled unanimously that the claims were not preempted.

Key to this case will be whether frequent flyer programs are "related to" a "price, route or service" under the terms of those laws, and whether Justices Scalia and Alito prefer Tanqueray or Gordon's.

flyerUSA

I'm fascinated by this story. Delta (nee NW) agreeing to compensate him for each complaint kind of undercuts their own argument that he misused the program - he asked for something, Delta chose to give it to him, and then seemed to regret making those outlays. A change of heart seems to be Delta's problem, not the flyer's - they should have just said no to his requests, and thus taught him to either stop complaining or to fly elsewhere.

Revoking somebody's miles and then hiding behind an arcane federal law to avoid arguing the case on the merits of the contract claim is some seriously shady conduct - bad PR - even if the guy was a total pain in the a**.

It sounds like SCOTUS will rule for the guy, too, in light of the other case.

csdripps

Can someone be blacklisted Delta's system so that every customer representative knows to give this guy nothing when he calls? Maybe like a "Gamer?" checkbox so that every rep will know in the future to listen to his complaints and then give nothing.

I agree that cutting off the guy from freebies without revoking his membership was probably the way to go, but that may not have been feasible at the time, if one rep says no hang up and try another. If Delta loses, I wouldn't be surprised if they create a way to track if you make frivolous complaints (if they haven't already).

I'm fascinated and annoyed by this story. Fascinated that a FF program case is going to the highest court in the land, annoyed that our tax dollars are being spent to hear this case.

MSPeconomist

DL could cut off the freebies, but he could still waste a lot of DL staff time, much more than his business was worth.

csdripps

I bet Delta would rather this guy waste the CS rep's time than the lawyers they are paying to defend this.

Admittedly, it would be hard for Delta to know in 2008 that it would probably cost them more in defending a lawsuit than in the waste CS rep time. But, looking forward, I bet Delta trains reps to "just say no" and end the call for "problem" FFers.

Unless there is some blatant and provable violation that occurred, like selling an award ticket, I would think Delta would avoid kicking people out for complaining too much.

BTW, I do agree with Delta actions, but if they lose this case I see them changing their approach to these cases dramatically.

MSPeconomist

I bet other airlines don't want to see DL lose, given that it will set precedents. Other businesses that fire customers are probably following carefully too.

puddinhead

DL probably has a large staff of lawyers working full time. Many companies will pay $20k or $30k to avoid litigation as that is cheaper than going to court and winning. But not all. I worked for a casino in NJ that took on every lawsuit and wouldn't give in, spending $100k a month on retainer with 3 of the states biggest law firms.

davisew

Absolutely. In such an event, I'd expect to see an arbitration clause jammed down our throats in short order. If DL is smart they've already written up revised T&C's even though the case won't be argued until the fall. We'd probably be seeing them today in the event the court had denied cert.

For those interested, petitions in the case can be found here: http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files...nc-v-ginsberg/

LADELTA777

The USA Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case so there has to be merit to his case and the way the lower court ruled against him and in favor of DL ( NW )