Quick question: compensation for no IFE
 

I recently flew FCO-AMS-ATL, but only because my original FCO-ATL flight was delayed 8.5 hours and wouldn't have gotten me home at a time I needed to be home.

On the AMS-ATL leg of the trip (a daytime, 9.5 hour flight), my IFE didn't work. It froze during a move and then proceeded to reset and freeze by itself for most of the flight, before finally freezing and turning off.

The flight attendant was very nice and as helpful as she could be but nothing could be done. My unit was the only one not working (at least in the portion of main cabin I was sitting in).

Is asking for compensation for this a valid complaint, and if so, what is the type of compensation I could expect to receive?

Yes, asking for compensation is valid. Number of miles may depend on status, but others have reported 10K+ miles for inop IFE previously.

I was given 7500 miles for a similar situation on a NRT-LAX flight. Though I was in the bulkhead row so the arm/screen just fell back down when I didn't hold it. Be concise and let them know to get it fixed, but I wouldn't expect anything more than 10k at the very max.

You can look through this thread

Also, you do understand EU-261 and how it might apply to you? (Cash for the delayed flight).

One of my coworkers was given 20k miles for this same issue on an international flight.

My condolences. Man I can only imagine how boring that flight might be if you didn't bring much entertainment of your own.

LAX-SYD: 15hr flight.
No IFE on one of our trips.
Lead FA suggested we write Delta for compensation.
She even told the greeting GA that she suggested that.

Before we were able to submit anything, Delta awarded us:
- me (PM at the time): 12,500
- wife (PM at the time): 12,500
- daughter (SM at the time): 7,500
Thought it unusual to get different compensation based on status, but didn't pursue.

Thanks everyone. I wrote to Delta customer service and explained the situation but haven't gotten a response yet. It sounds like 10-12.5k is a normal compensation for something like this.

In regards to the delay, we found out the day before and I switched flights on my own and ended up leaving earlier so that wasn't a problem.

Thanks again!

If they don't compensate what I feel is appropriate, is it worth it to bring that up to them in response?

exwannabe gave you a link to the big compensation thread. Have a look through that, see the circumstances and compensation amounts, and follow up steps taken.

Advanced search would be an efficient use of this forum for your topic.

Search this forum at upper right on the Delta forum home page
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search by keyword: compensation, 'IFE'
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^ Tried the search at it didn't give me great results. The thread was helpful but most were not about IFE not working.

I'll see what Delta responds with.

I received an email giving me 5k miles for this. It's a bit less than I expected, but I'm not sure if I should reach back out.

Is this appropriate compensation for a 9.5 hour international flight? It's much less than I've seen on other threads for similar problems.

I'm not sure what the process would be for going after larger compensation, but it seems odd to me. In December I had a domestic IFE issue on a 757 between MSP and LAS. They gave me 7,500 miles as compensation, as a GM. I would think it would be a bit more for a Trans Atlantic.

Do you have status with Delta? If not, there is no point in reaching back out as they will apologize and likely stand firm with the offer they provided. Perhaps they will switch it to a $50 gift card of some point.

Others that received more seem to have at least Silver status (just looking at the responses in this thread). I received significantly more than you for a similar issue on a shorter flight, but then again I fly on last-minute, expensive tickets frequently and that combined with status means they will offer greater compensation (I once had a phone agent tell me - for a non-IFE issue, but something much larger - that she could offer me 20K skymiles as I was in Diamond and paid J, but my grandparents, who have no status but were also in paid J, were offered only half of that).

And if you don't think that your "Customer Value Score" or some similar metric is available for agent review when they are assisting you with such issues, then you are fooling yourself. This score is usually some combination of loyalty and $ spend.

I have Silver status. I typically fly about 12-15 round trips per year, but many of them are expensive tickets that are purchased a week or so out from wheels up.

Compensation should NOT be any different whether you are DM or nothing. Your flight wasn't any less miserable than the DM. Seems like a silly way to handle it.