jdrtravel

Or apparently the one to find and get in a tangle with if you want to most compensation EVER!

orr333

Wow. I have been awaiting the resolution on this. Thank you for sharing. I think SO many compensation requests are frivolous out here but in this case, you were 100% justified and I am glad you were taken care of.

davetravels

It's still a little unclear to me, whether or not the OP actually paid the $2500 that the RedCoat demanded. If so, it really isn't compensation. It's reimbursement, and probably should have been cash vs an ECV.

jdrtravel

That's a good point, I had forgotten that OP had been forced to pay that. Still, 50K miles in compensation is at least twice as much as most report for customer service recovery.

Dennis88

Higher up in the thread OP said he got booked on a direct LAX-SAT flight instead, so it sounds like he did not pay the $2500.

I'm curious to see what happened to said Red Coat, but I'm sure we will never find out.

mnbp

I have no idea, but can only imagine that DL must consider DOT complaints extremely seriously, especially if "root cause" is a particular individual's actions (what if they do it again?).

https://www.transportation.gov/airco...nsumer-reports

I looked at the Sept 2016 DOT report, which ranks air carriers by the number of complaints DOT receives. Based on the September report, which includes data for July 2016, just 22 complaints separate #4 DL from #5 WN (source: September 2016 DOT report, page 45).

Obviously, with so few complaints in absolute terms each month, every single DOT complaint is highly influential in this ranking, so I have to believe DL (and every airline) must treat DOT complaints extremely seriously from a root cause perspective (and must be looking to prevent further DOT complaints from the same root cause).

Renes Points

This one is just a total shocker. I am stunned Delta CORP folks admitted the red coat was wrong but still did not pay anything until you went to the DOT for force them. A few questions if I may.

Did you have to accept the $2500 voucher and SkyMiles or did you have a choice of cash? Is it just one big voucher or a number of smaller ones? Does the voucher expire after one year or life gift cards no EXP date (cash does not expire after all).

I agree with others that I would like you to publish the red coats name as if others suffer under this person others can also complain to Delta and the DOT as well.

I am also not buying that this person was not in some way told by someone above them to "protect" the lax-jfk route. This is a big deal and money maker for Delta and clearly someone has trained them to be on the lookout.

davetravels

If the $2500 was truly a whopping compensation payout and not a refund, do you really think the RedCoat is still employed?

jdrtravel

Are the redcoats unionized ground staff or considered management? The union contract may allow for a certain number if disciplinary actions prior to termination.

Renes Points

Considering it took DOT to claw out what was due I have a feeling they will not do anything to the red coat. I could be flat out wrong.

My understanding is they are not union. Also it seems like this employee has had issues already in the past.

flyerCO

It was compensation. I refused to be blackmailed into paying what I knew I didn't need to.

They broke it up into four travel vouchers.

I think getting DOT to say "show cause, why we shouldn't file an enforcement order" is what motivated them finally close the case out. They already had admitted being wrong, and that they needed to pay out. They just kept dragging their feet on deciding the payment and making it available to me.

davetravels

Does anybody know if these complaint counts include trivial things like a flight not serving coffee?

I'm sure that most people won't write to the DOT unless it's at least somewhat serious, but I'm sure some will!

Widgets

The only unionized work group at Delta is pilots. FAs and airport customer service aren't unionized. The Red Coat may have been demoted or retrained, but there's no way that nothing happened if she was involved with responding to a DOT complaint from an HVC.

readywhenyouare

Yes, a name and photo of the red coat should be published if anyone knows who it is. We should start a campaign to have them pink slipped. This would make other agents think twice before screwing over a customer in the future.

Widgets

This is why employees usually refuse to give out their last names, and many employees won't give out other employees' names. While the end of having a better customer experience is well-intentioned, I don't think the means you've proposed to get there is ethical at all.