The people tasked with determining whether a routing is reasonable are those who file the fares. It is not up to reservations to make a judgement call when the passenger's request is perfectly within the published and mutually agreed rules; that question is long settled.

Which is why the only circumstances where I would likely do so would probably involve a hypothetical situation where I was disbarred from a change that caused me quite a bit in direct damages. The best example I can find is that on the day after tomorrow, DL has flights JFK-LAX-HNL for $2216-4218 in Delta One JFK-LAX and First LAX-HNL. Near-purchase tickets (a few days out) can sit closer to $1600-1700. Advance purchase tickets in First can run around $1000.

While I agree that suing over $75 would be overkill (I'd probably reserve that for United...ok, I'm joking, but only barely, and I might actually do it if I caught Spirit "in the act"), would hauling DL into small claims court over a major fare difference plus change fees (I'm guessing that the difference between an SDC and a change fee plus fare difference would run about $1300 in the JFK-HNL case) be worth it? What if this had blown up a trip and knocked out an expensive set of travel plans (beyond two nights in Montreal) in the process?

Edit: Mentally, I'm thinking my threshold would be about $1000 in damages before I'd start looking at Small Claims Court. Deciding to bag this trip wouldn't have hit that line but it would have come up around $600 in losses ($300 in cancel fees, about $100 on a hotel night, $50 in train tickets in Canada, and $160 or so in non-refundable activities in Canada) not counting funds tied up with Delta.

Edit 2: Slept on this (about to go to my flight). Realized that the threshold is a bit lower (somewhere between the $200 of the Orbitz suit and $1000 but I'd want to have that be direct with DL...so if I'd had to spend $500 net on a replacement ticket for an earlier flight that would probably have done it) but also still not $75. Also, frankly I wouldn't likely threaten action, I'd just do it. NB that I didn't say I'd threaten the agent...I may huff and puff on here but I rarely come close to losing it on the phone (and in those few cases I do, I'm usually apologizing to the agent for being so frustrated and assuring them that I'm not angry with them).

What is "DL"?
(Other than that other airline..... )

In what context? This is the Delta forum, thus DL is the airline.

I have friends on the "DL", but that's a topic of a whole other sort. ::eek:

Maybe they should learn the rules better. Is it really there job to do what you're describing?
Called for a simple same route SDC a couple months ago on a P fare and told my fare bucket was not available and couldn't do it.
it's ridiculous an agent still can't get that right in mid 2017.
Seems strange to blame the customer in a situation like this.

I think any court is going to laugh out loud at such a lawsuit.

If you read your contract of adhesion with the airline, you will find that the airline is not liable for much of anything. You get only limited compensation if the airline fails to operate your ticketed flights as scheduled. So what would make you think you would get some unspecified larger compensation if the airline doesn't change your ticket on day of travel?

Remember that NWA was sued over its FF program. And the courts upheld all of the fine print that said NWA could do whatever it wanted to with the program whenever it wanted to.

David

Anyway, the highlights here are:

DL Twitter is excellent most of the time for SDC requests
Online SDC doesn't work well, if at all, for first class tickets
Many agents still don't know the SDC rules that a first class ticket only needs an available seat, not the same bucket.

The NWA case was about preemption. The courts never ruled on the actual cobtract itself.

A breach of contract case can still be filed. However a claim under state law such as a violation of good faith can't.

why didn't you book your "segment run" itinerary in the first place? Wouldn't that be simpler than doing an SDC?

(1) this thread should be merged into the general SDC thread.

(2) Not having status makes SDC harder--longer phone waits, poorly trained agents, etc. I have only once ran into issues with an SDC using the elite phone lines

(3) In many situations, FC SDC is an extremely valuable benefit which causes people to book into FC. Changing it because people use it for added flexibility (with a benefit of increased benefits to them re status) is not something DL is going to get upset over. In one example I have coming up, I have to be in rural Florida at 10am on Monday, and San Diego at 8am on Tuesday. My appointment in Florida could end at 1, or it could end at 4. Having the flexibility to book a 3pm routing through ATL, with the ability to change to a 7 or 8pm routing through MSP or ATL (depending on time) is invaluable, and well worth the fare difference from Y to F.

I just had to HUCA 4 times for a plain vanilla SDC in FC. Each agent told me the fare class was not available. I quoted the website. Thanked them. Hung up, tried again. Rinse, repeat.

It is just ridiculous that Delta does not keep their agents informed about changes (especially one that has been on the books for over a year). It seems like I have to explain the rule about every 3 out of 4 times I've tried to make a change. Granted, I've eventually always gotten them done. But there will come a day that I don't because the agent is clueless and a more aware agent grabs the last seat for another customer. It is a waste of my time, and the agents' to have to go through this dance. This rule makes things easier (and less time consuming) for the agents to make the change. Make use of it.

It might not have bern available or may have cost more. Also the times may not have workrd at booking. Finally the VS changes OP mention might not have been announced.

Bottom line, theres plenty of reasons.

The NWA suit was also about the FFP (this is the "rabbi lawsuit", [i]Ginsberg[/i[, we're talking about, right?) and not the contract itself. There's also Wolens, which held that contract disputes are still fair game, and Ginsberg actually reaffirmed Wolens. Moreover, Ginsberg was not, as far as I can tell, dealing with actual representations from the airline (e.g. the stated SDC policy).

The equivalent here to Ginsberg would be if NWA had specifically stated that they could only eject a passenger for certain causes from the FFP and then Ginsberg was ejected from the FFP in violation of that.

(Also, looking at the Contract of Carriage, DL doesn't actually identify what several fare classes list as. They list "F" and "A" but don't list "P" or "G". "Z" is also unaccounted for. I'd argue that this is irrelevant as Delta, more prominently on their website, lists the "Premium Cabin" designation...so it would seem that they expressly waive some of their rights under their own CoC.)

The "cheap" fare plus the SDC fee was roughly $200 less than the initial purchase cost would have been. Also, I wasn't sure if my mother was up for making a trip to the airport at 4:30 at the time and I had to pull the trigger at an inconvenient moment.

Ginsberg was about a claim arising under state law. It was based on MN law that incorporated good faith when entering a contract. Ginsberg wasn't arguing breach of contract. Rather violation of good faith, which in some states is implied when entering a contract. Federal aviation law preempts good faith claims, even if state law makes it part of a contract. Thus, since the contract itself said they could take the action there was no viable claim.

You can still sue for breach of contract, but have to argue that the terms of the contract are being broke. Can't argue they're taking action in bad faith using those terms.