Bumped from First Class- What should I do?
 

I sent the following note to Delta after finding out from my parents that they were bumped from first on one segment of their LGA to Vancouver flight. They are older, and I feel that just offering them a $200 flight voucher each was taking advantage of them. I wouldn't have settled for that- what would you ask for? Here's the note:

"I just caught up with my parents about the surprise cruise to Alaska I sent them on as a Christmas gift. As part of this surprise, I included first class tickets, which cost me a total of 180,000 skymiles. Much to my surprise as Delta never told me this, hey were bumped out of first class on the way there and I didn't get what I paid for.

You changed the plane to a smaller one several weeks before the trip and therefore knew there wouldn't be enough first class seats, but as of online check in, it still reflected they would be in the proper section. If you knew it was a smaller plane, why didn't you say anything? You offered them $200 each in flight vouchers. We all know how many restrictions are on these to begin with. My parents are old, they rarely travel, and these are probably worthless to them. Not to mention my dad has severe back problems and half the reason I chose to upgrade them was so he wouldn't be in pain.

I have been flying Delta for years, and lately your service has been awful. I've been significantly delayed very often, and twice in the last month my flights have been cancelled. I have never complained about these things for myself, but to do this to my parents is completely unacceptable (plus I find it questionable that I wasn't notified.) A $200 flight voucher is not adequate payment for this, and I would like that portion of the flight's miles credited back to me. Thank you

Were your delays or cancellations related to ATC or weather? DL has one of the highest, if not the highest, completion factor of any US airline.

You should escalate and maybe demand a partial refund of miles. Not sure what you'll get, but you should certainly complain.

It wasn't weather, it was an equipment change that they notified me about several weeks before. They notified me, but didn't change their seats at that time. They were still reflected in first.

I booked my aunt in first on DL YYZ-ATL-FLORIDA. She was bumped back to EC on the YYZ-ATL leg due to the CRJ900 being subbed for a CRJ700. When I called in she was given a $200 voucher and they refunded the difference in points between first and economy, even though she still got first class on the second leg.

That would be a fairly typical DL response. The mileage diff + a smallish cert. As there is no real way to split the baby between segments, just letting the second one go makes sense.

Downguages happen all the time and unfortunately somebody has to get the boot. It will be awards ahead of cash, typically followed by status.

Not sure these two sentences of the third paragraph to DL were necessary. They seem a bit gratuitous/hysterical here. Your current beef isn’t about service, delays or cancellations. IMO it detracts from your legitimate overarching complaint…the downgrading of your parents.

Thanks for the feedback. I think that solution would be fair- although it's a bit frustrating they didn't just volunteer to do that in the first place. Compensation for something you're not at fault for shouldn't come in the form of something that requires further spending.

I believe it's you sir who is hysterical.

Please let us know what the results are.

I hope you get miles refunded for the fare difference and a bigger travel voucher for the trouble.
Does Delta ever solicit for volunteers to downgrade?

He/she has a point. Think about who you wrote to. These are real people sitting at a computer reading mostly complaints. They know what it looks like when someone gets hosed. They want to help and they like knowing that they made a bad situation at least a little better. But when a complaint strays from the root of the issue, then the person reading the complaint might just chuckle a little and not consider it as seriously. They could be thinking "wow, that really sucked for his/her parents. They deserve more... Oh, wait, he/she's just complaining about delays and other stuff instead. We don't have much control over those things..."

I think it's the same way with any industry or situation. When you have a complaint, the best way to be compensated is to stick to the facts and be concise, not straying off-topic at all.

What you just said makes sense, and isn't a veiled insult. Fair point. Calling out someone as "hysterical" isn't productive, and also makes the commenter look sexist.

Somebody does not have to get the boot. Delta could have contacted affected passengers and offered them alternative accommodations on other flights. It would be understandable if the downgrade was last minute due to mx, but when it occurs weeks in advance it should have been handled better and it is yet another total failure of customer service.

OP: I would absolutely insist on the refund of the mileage difference and then some in addition to way more than $200 in vouchers. Keep escalating the complaint. When enough people refuse to put up with this s**t maybe it will change.

agreed +++

Question for OP: When you said that your parents were still confirmed in first after the equipment change, did they actually have assigned seats or were they listed as F pax with no seat assignments? Were it the later, in this situation, I would have contacted DL to get seat assignments or rebooking.

That being said, I think you have a very legit frustration. I can also imagine that it would really feel very good to able to give your parents the gift of first class travel, that you may have told them what to expect, to not bother bringing food on board because they would get served, etc. And then to find out that the experience you paid for was not what was delivered would be really disappointing, and beyond just a simple inconvenience.

They were confirmed in assigned seats. I specifically went on delta.com and confirmed this by looking at the seat map a week before the flight and again the day of to make sure it was still ok after booking the flight so long ago.

I actually didn't even tell my parents they were supposed to be in first class- I blinded out the seat assignments when I sent them the flight details so it would be a surprise. They called me when they landed from the first segment (in first) and were so happy.

Were they told of the downgrade at boarding? Or were they at least called up to the podium in advance? What was said to them at the time?

Did the GA give them decent seats together, ideally in EC/C+?

Is the OP a DL elite or at least a frequent traveler? My instinct on noticing the aircraft down gauge would probably have been to call the DM line and ask whether FC was now overbooked, even though the seat assignments appeared intact. In addition to watching the seat map, I would have called DL periodically as the day of departure approached to ask specifically whether the flight was overbooked in FC. Depending on the answers, I might have explored alternative routings, although I say this partly because I consider the CRJ-900 much better than a CRJ-700.

I agree with the suggestions above that it would have been better to delete the last paragraph of the complaint. Also, I would expect DL to do more for elites (or for passengers on award tickets from elite DL FF accounts) in these circumstances.

They were told of the downgrade at boarding for the second segment. They were just told that the flight was oversold and that they'd have to be downgraded from their booked seats. I don't know about their seats in coach- my mother didn't give me too many details.

I am a gold medallion, have been for years.