[Rant] Phone agents NEED to learn SDC policy
Sep 2, 2017, 9:16 pm
#46
Join Date: Oct 2008
Programs: HH Diamond
Posts: 612
Such a simple problem to fix. SDC has logical rules, thus easily programmable. An agent doesn't even have to know that SDC exists. When a passenger calls and asks to change his flight, the software can easily display the change fee which, in the case of SDC + status is $0.
DL manages this for bag fees, it's roughly the same for SDC.
DL manages this for bag fees, it's roughly the same for SDC.
We are still waiting on automation that NW successfully implemented in the 90's that we were promised during the integration.
Sep 2, 2017, 10:03 pm
#47
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: SLC & NYC
Programs: Diamond Medallion, Delta Million Miler, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 674
PreteniousFlyer...not sure what your problem is; SDC is a confirmed benefit, and one that is very useful to many of us.
If you have been traveling 12 out of the last 14 days, and have not been home to see your wife and kids, those 2 hours can make all the difference. You might not understand this, but for many of us, that can be very important.
If you have been traveling 12 out of the last 14 days, and have not been home to see your wife and kids, those 2 hours can make all the difference. You might not understand this, but for many of us, that can be very important.
Sep 2, 2017, 11:05 pm
#48
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2017
Programs: Diamond, all of them.
Posts: 25
PreteniousFlyer...not sure what your problem is; SDC is a confirmed benefit, and one that is very useful to many of us.
If you have been traveling 12 out of the last 14 days, and have not been home to see your wife and kids, those 2 hours can make all the difference. You might not understand this, but for many of us, that can be very important.
If you have been traveling 12 out of the last 14 days, and have not been home to see your wife and kids, those 2 hours can make all the difference. You might not understand this, but for many of us, that can be very important.
You need to find another job then if family is that important to you.
Sep 2, 2017, 11:14 pm
#49
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: MSP
Programs: Delta Diamond (MM), Hilton Diamond, Avis President's Club
Posts: 873
Yes, this person is wrong, and living up to their screen name. Nobody is asking the airline for a special favor. They are using an advertised benefit that they paid for (through minimum spend, purchase of tickets, etc). It is fully wrong to tell people that there is any issue with this. Plans change and flexibility is valuable. The airline offers this value as a perk through the loyalty program. This would be like telling people to not take an upgrade when they were being offered one.
Also, remember that FREE same day standby used to be something offered to all pax regardless of class or cabin not that many years ago.
Also, remember that FREE same day standby used to be something offered to all pax regardless of class or cabin not that many years ago.
But in typical FT fashion, god FORBID someone dissent with an OP and then get called a troll. These people complaining about 2 or 3 hours with the family are wasting it here complaining about people who actually have a pair to disagree with them.
Sep 2, 2017, 11:20 pm
#50
Moderator: Delta SkyMiles, Luxury Hotels, TravelBuzz! and Italy
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 26,536
Thread closed for the night while Mod does some clean up.
Obscure2k
Delta Moderator
House cleaning complete. Thread is now open again.
Enjoy your weekend
Obscure2k
DL Mod
Obscure2k
Delta Moderator
House cleaning complete. Thread is now open again.
Enjoy your weekend
Obscure2k
DL Mod
Last edited by obscure2k; Sep 3, 2017 at 12:08 am
Sep 3, 2017, 6:49 am
#51
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Formerly at PIT, now planted near MSP.
Programs: No flights since April 2019 (Medical Issues). Lost all my status.
Posts: 1,483
Sep 3, 2017, 8:16 am
#52
In memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2005
Location: PIT
Programs: DM life is over 2MM PM now & NW MillionAir Wyndham Rewards Plat -Hotels.com Silver -Accor Silver
Posts: 15,408
Sep 3, 2017, 8:13 pm
#53
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: San Antonio
Programs: DL DM, Former AA EXP now AY Plat, AC 75K, NW Plat, Former CO Gold, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 27,032
Sep 3, 2017, 8:55 pm
#54
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Somewhere I've Driven To
Programs: HiltonHonors, IHG Hotels, DL Skymiles
Posts: 2,070
Right off the bat, let me say sorry b/c this is a rant thread and I am very frustrated.
I had a flight today at 3:10 PM on a paid first class ticket. Yesterday, I tried to SDC to the 1:30 PM flight around 3:15 PM, there was only 1 seat in FC remaining. The agent told me she couldn't put me on the 1:30 due to fare class (I am in a G fare and there is only a F fare available). I explained that fare class doesn't matter in first, explained rules of SDC, yada yada. No luck so I hang up, wait 10 minutes, call again and next agent says the flight is full.. sure enough I checked online and the seat is gone so someone else snagged it during my wait. Unfortunately all other morning flights were sold out except the 8 AM which didn't work for me.
I keep my eyes open all morning refreshing the page and see the 12:20 PM opened up just about 15 minutes ago... not as good as the 1:30 PM for my schedule but I can make it work. I call this morning and the agent tells me the "seat is blocked" and she cannot SDC me. I ask her to please tell me what that means as I've never heard of that in the last 3 years being a PM and doing SDC's frequently. She tells me that "they" can block the seat for revenue only, meaning that Delta is only allowed to sell the seat and she cannot SDC medallions to it. She said she would have to charge me the difference in fare from G to F. I immediately told her that this is wrong and the wording on the Delta website is that I can SDC to any other FC seat as long as a seat is open (given that I am following the SDC routing rules). She tried to argue with me that I couldn't see the screen and that the computer is not allowing her to change me. I told her thanks anyways and hung up.
Called back just a minute ago and this agent processed everything fine and smooth, I am on the 12:20, no issues. I gave her a 5 and thanked her for being helpful.
I don't get it.. this happens ALL THE TIME. Why can't Delta train their agents? What if I did not know the policy and I paid for the fare difference from G to F (which was substantial)? Would Delta refund the money after they learn what happened? Probably not. This is getting to be such a common occurrence and I am getting quite tired of it.
End rant (sorry again, these threads aren't super productive).
Serious question - Is there anything we can do, as a collective base, to get Delta to help improve the quality and training of the phone agents? I'm sure others are just as annoyed at this process as I am.
Thanks.
I had a flight today at 3:10 PM on a paid first class ticket. Yesterday, I tried to SDC to the 1:30 PM flight around 3:15 PM, there was only 1 seat in FC remaining. The agent told me she couldn't put me on the 1:30 due to fare class (I am in a G fare and there is only a F fare available). I explained that fare class doesn't matter in first, explained rules of SDC, yada yada. No luck so I hang up, wait 10 minutes, call again and next agent says the flight is full.. sure enough I checked online and the seat is gone so someone else snagged it during my wait. Unfortunately all other morning flights were sold out except the 8 AM which didn't work for me.
I keep my eyes open all morning refreshing the page and see the 12:20 PM opened up just about 15 minutes ago... not as good as the 1:30 PM for my schedule but I can make it work. I call this morning and the agent tells me the "seat is blocked" and she cannot SDC me. I ask her to please tell me what that means as I've never heard of that in the last 3 years being a PM and doing SDC's frequently. She tells me that "they" can block the seat for revenue only, meaning that Delta is only allowed to sell the seat and she cannot SDC medallions to it. She said she would have to charge me the difference in fare from G to F. I immediately told her that this is wrong and the wording on the Delta website is that I can SDC to any other FC seat as long as a seat is open (given that I am following the SDC routing rules). She tried to argue with me that I couldn't see the screen and that the computer is not allowing her to change me. I told her thanks anyways and hung up.
Called back just a minute ago and this agent processed everything fine and smooth, I am on the 12:20, no issues. I gave her a 5 and thanked her for being helpful.
I don't get it.. this happens ALL THE TIME. Why can't Delta train their agents? What if I did not know the policy and I paid for the fare difference from G to F (which was substantial)? Would Delta refund the money after they learn what happened? Probably not. This is getting to be such a common occurrence and I am getting quite tired of it.
End rant (sorry again, these threads aren't super productive).
Serious question - Is there anything we can do, as a collective base, to get Delta to help improve the quality and training of the phone agents? I'm sure others are just as annoyed at this process as I am.
Thanks.
It's not always about training. Sometimes it's a case of HUCA (several times as in your experience) and hitting the jackpot with someone who will break rules, can't be bothered looking up or remembering rules, decides to give the store away. As a former reservationist with United, I saw this happen all the time. Same thing at the ticket counter. One agent genuinely knows and applies the rules and others are just plain lazy, incompetent, can't take the heat (whatever) and just arbitrarily cave in......though I am not saying this is the case here but it could be. Just about any "rule" can be overridden if the agent has no fear, feels confident they are doing the right thing and/or has permission to make exceptions, etc. "..the computer won't let me do it..." - One of my favorite's, as though the computer is an armed guard holding a gun to somebody's head. Truth = "I can't think out of the box".
Last edited by FlyingNone; Sep 3, 2017 at 9:01 pm
Sep 4, 2017, 7:17 am
#55
Join Date: May 2011
Programs: Delta PM, Hyatt Plat-ist, Bonvoyyyyyyed, Hilton $15 Daily F&B Receiver, Food Lion MVP
Posts: 1,203
No one was asking for any rules to be broken. The problem here is that the agents don't know the proper rules themselves.
Sep 4, 2017, 11:09 am
#56
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Somewhere I've Driven To
Programs: HiltonHonors, IHG Hotels, DL Skymiles
Posts: 2,070
That's why I said "sometimes", nor did I imply the OP was asking for rules to be broken or that he/she is wrong about the fare rules.
Employee turnover in reservations (new versus seasoned employees), ability or desire to think out of the box or not, laziness, apathy, it's the end of my day, etc....all of these factors still come into play when you call an airline and inquire about a problem or issue being solved and how the person on the other end is going to deal with it.
I'll speak from experience as a former reservationist......They don't need re-training, they need refreshing on rules that have been modified or changed altogether. However, you will still have agents who will circumvent the rules if they want to and those that will stick to the letter of the law and won't (or the lame "computer won't let me do it"). No amount of refreshment or retraining is going to change that unless every call for every agent, 8 hours a day is monitored and critiqued. Impossible with thousands of agents around the system including overseas call centers.
Sep 5, 2017, 1:24 pm
#57
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Canada
Programs: AS, DL, UA, Hyatt, SPG
Posts: 2,574
FFS people, you purchase a ticket that leaves at such and such an hour. Go to the airport to catch that plane. If you want to leave earlier, purchase a ticket to leave earlier... This isn't your guys first rodeo at flying. You know when your special "meeting" will end. Purchase a ticket for a few hours after that special meeting and get the hell outta dodge. ..... people...
The whole point of having different classes of service is that the tickets have different benefits - ranging from access to SkyPriority (and SkyClubs depending on route being flown) through to ticket flexibility with regard to same day travel changes.
The reason I often buy F tickets is precisely because I like to have the flexibility the day before to change things around a little bit if needed. I pay more to Delta to get these benefits and perks, and I expect Delta to deliver on them, it's part of the package of services, amenities and flexibility Delta has advertised and sold to me.
Whether it's a meeting, an event, or maybe even a concern about potential weather and a tight connection that I want to proactively reroute to avoid any possible mis-connects - the SDC benefit is a valuable, published benefit that the airline should honour.
Sep 5, 2017, 1:28 pm
#58
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Canada
Programs: AS, DL, UA, Hyatt, SPG
Posts: 2,574
I've posted on FT a number of times about issues i've had with SDC and no one really seems to know the answers.
For instance, I've been told repeatedly by Medallion Desk agents that changing from a single connection to a double connection, or vice versa, is not permitted. Yet, not living at a hub station, frequently there is only one flight a day with a single connection and then most other flights have a double connection (MIA/FLL/PBI - YYC/YEG/YVR being a prime example where there's only one flight a day to MSP and all others have to route via ATL and MSP etc).
If Delta advertises F fares with this SDC benefit, it would be helpful to have the full listing of rules and restrictions made public so that agents can't just arbitrarily make things up to deny you the benefits.
Sep 5, 2017, 5:42 pm
#59
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: DL PM, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 8,414
Sep 5, 2017, 8:40 pm
#60
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: Canada
Programs: AS, DL, UA, Hyatt, SPG
Posts: 2,574
So when an agent tells you this, and it's not published or dealt with in the rules, it gives one very little ground to stand firm on.
