Our Hell with Delta. Advice needed
Jul 14, 2018, 4:32 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 46
Our Hell with Delta. Advice needed
Sorry about the essay. This is extremely brief and very top level. Where do I begin...
Firstly, they changed the flight seven times from point of booking. We were originally flying to JFK then to Philadelphia. Then eventually changed it to Atlanta (!) with a three hour layover. So we then requested we changed to Newark, with us stopping in CDG which was fine.
My wife called them a week before we flew to ask them about allowances with strollers and diaper bags etc to be told that our infant does not have a ticket. What?! She ‘has a reservation but not a ticket’. How? I have no idea. We actually called upon initially booking asking if everything was okay and Delta said it was all good. So, luckily we called! We were then told because it’s international it’s 10% of the price. Fine. We were on the phone for nearly two hours as they tried to charge us $1,000! Which means the ticket was $10,000! Upon speaking to ‘supervisors’ they agreed to honour our original price. How kind of them.
We turned up at the airport to check in to discover that now my wife did not have a ticket. Her ticket had been voided! We were NEVER informed of this. She broke down crying as our family was being split up with no idea how my wife was getting to America! We had no choice but purchase a ticket for £900 with 30 minutes left until boarding.
We landed in Newark and two of our bags had not made it, one of which being the baby’s stroller. We called Delta and they said it would be with us that night or early morning. Okay, Fine. It never arrived. We called again and they said it was being flown in with Air Scandinavia into La Guardia and will be with us that night/morning. It never came. We called AGAIN saying it was in Allentown (close to where we were staying) and it will be with us within an hour. It came. Wrong bag! Somebody else’s bag arrived with our stroller. Incredible. We were then told it was in fact in Allentown and they will deliver within the hour. Nobody came. That night Delta Luggage Department at Newark called saying our bag had JUST landed in Newark from Paris. So all this time they were literally lying to our faces that they had our bag! It came the following day.
This is all very brief and top level. A lot of our experience we were never apologised to and we are extremely worried that we will not be reimbursed for our £900 ticket, a ticket we had already paid for. We feel our options are so limited as their customer service on the phone is dreadful and you just hit dead ends. Can anybody offer any advice? We’re actually scared my wife’s return ticket won’t actually work but we’re yet to call them to confirm as we’re still in America
Firstly, they changed the flight seven times from point of booking. We were originally flying to JFK then to Philadelphia. Then eventually changed it to Atlanta (!) with a three hour layover. So we then requested we changed to Newark, with us stopping in CDG which was fine.
My wife called them a week before we flew to ask them about allowances with strollers and diaper bags etc to be told that our infant does not have a ticket. What?! She ‘has a reservation but not a ticket’. How? I have no idea. We actually called upon initially booking asking if everything was okay and Delta said it was all good. So, luckily we called! We were then told because it’s international it’s 10% of the price. Fine. We were on the phone for nearly two hours as they tried to charge us $1,000! Which means the ticket was $10,000! Upon speaking to ‘supervisors’ they agreed to honour our original price. How kind of them.
We turned up at the airport to check in to discover that now my wife did not have a ticket. Her ticket had been voided! We were NEVER informed of this. She broke down crying as our family was being split up with no idea how my wife was getting to America! We had no choice but purchase a ticket for £900 with 30 minutes left until boarding.
We landed in Newark and two of our bags had not made it, one of which being the baby’s stroller. We called Delta and they said it would be with us that night or early morning. Okay, Fine. It never arrived. We called again and they said it was being flown in with Air Scandinavia into La Guardia and will be with us that night/morning. It never came. We called AGAIN saying it was in Allentown (close to where we were staying) and it will be with us within an hour. It came. Wrong bag! Somebody else’s bag arrived with our stroller. Incredible. We were then told it was in fact in Allentown and they will deliver within the hour. Nobody came. That night Delta Luggage Department at Newark called saying our bag had JUST landed in Newark from Paris. So all this time they were literally lying to our faces that they had our bag! It came the following day.
This is all very brief and top level. A lot of our experience we were never apologised to and we are extremely worried that we will not be reimbursed for our £900 ticket, a ticket we had already paid for. We feel our options are so limited as their customer service on the phone is dreadful and you just hit dead ends. Can anybody offer any advice? We’re actually scared my wife’s return ticket won’t actually work but we’re yet to call them to confirm as we’re still in America
Jul 14, 2018, 4:41 pm
#2
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Orlando, FL Area
Programs: Delta SkySponge ExtraAbsorbent, SPG Gold
Posts: 29,988
That sounds like a really miserable experience. I would send an email and a letter requesting a travel voucher or miles for the big inconvenience. Unfortunately this is likely to be the only sympathetic post in this thread. There is an army of Delta Apologists on this board who are going to try and lay the blame on you. Just ignore them.
Jul 14, 2018, 4:52 pm
#5
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: MEM
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Posts: 5,431
Despite not being very brief, it's missing a lot of details. Before you file a complaint with delta you will need to sharpen this up a lot.
What was your original ticketed routing? How was it booked (direct, through a travel agency, etc?) and what stock was the ticket issued on? Who changed the itinerary and how were you informed? Once we have that we can probably figure out what other information is important and give you some guidance on filing a more effective complaint.
What was your original ticketed routing? How was it booked (direct, through a travel agency, etc?) and what stock was the ticket issued on? Who changed the itinerary and how were you informed? Once we have that we can probably figure out what other information is important and give you some guidance on filing a more effective complaint.
Jul 14, 2018, 4:52 pm
#6
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: ATL
Programs: DL PM 2 Mil Miler, HZ PC, Marriott LT TI, AMB, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 556
I assume you have no status. I love Delta but they treat passengers with no status like crap. I am sorry this happened to you. Like Ready said just write an email and ask for your wife's reimbursement and a voucher for your troubles.
Jul 14, 2018, 4:52 pm
#7
Join Date: May 2006
Location: GA
Programs: VA-PLT, QF-GLD, DL-GM, UA-ex1K, AA-exPLT, HH-DM, IHG-PLT, MR-GLD
Posts: 8,242
Sounds like a terrible experience. You definitely need to contact Delta to find out about the return ticket. It's very likely cancelled, but the sooner you contact them, the sooner they can try to fix it.
For your complaint to Delta, be more brief. Leave out the emotion and the unnecessary information (your schedule changes before the trip are not relevant and you even say you were happy with the flights you ended up with. Your infant ticket was a pain but you eventually got the price you wanted). Before anyone says it, yes these actions may have contributed to the ticket problems, but they muddy up the complaint too much.
The bag situation is awful. But you have your bag now. I'd submit a second separate complaint about the baggage. That can be done after you get home. But for now you need to get your return flight back on track.
I would contact Delta and give them a few simple facts.
- We arrived at the airport and my wife's ticket was canceled.
- We had added our infant to the reservation X days before our departure date, and the agent didn't give us any warning that the ticket was invalid at that time.
- The airport agents could not help us and we were forced to buy a ticket
- We would like a refund, to the original form of payment, for our purchased ticket
- I would like my wife's return ticket checked and reinstated if necessary
That's all you need to say. After you return home, Delta has an online complaint form for delayed baggage. Keep all your receipts and ask for reimbursement of any costs incurred because of missing baggage. Then, if you want, submit another complaint asking for compensation for the trouble of the bags and ticketing. Your compensation will be in the form of Skymiles or a Delta voucher. So, if you never want to fly Delta again, and don't want Skymiles, it probably isn't worth it anyway.
For your complaint to Delta, be more brief. Leave out the emotion and the unnecessary information (your schedule changes before the trip are not relevant and you even say you were happy with the flights you ended up with. Your infant ticket was a pain but you eventually got the price you wanted). Before anyone says it, yes these actions may have contributed to the ticket problems, but they muddy up the complaint too much.
The bag situation is awful. But you have your bag now. I'd submit a second separate complaint about the baggage. That can be done after you get home. But for now you need to get your return flight back on track.
I would contact Delta and give them a few simple facts.
- We arrived at the airport and my wife's ticket was canceled.
- We had added our infant to the reservation X days before our departure date, and the agent didn't give us any warning that the ticket was invalid at that time.
- The airport agents could not help us and we were forced to buy a ticket
- We would like a refund, to the original form of payment, for our purchased ticket
- I would like my wife's return ticket checked and reinstated if necessary
That's all you need to say. After you return home, Delta has an online complaint form for delayed baggage. Keep all your receipts and ask for reimbursement of any costs incurred because of missing baggage. Then, if you want, submit another complaint asking for compensation for the trouble of the bags and ticketing. Your compensation will be in the form of Skymiles or a Delta voucher. So, if you never want to fly Delta again, and don't want Skymiles, it probably isn't worth it anyway.
Jul 14, 2018, 4:52 pm
#8
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Land of 10,000 Upgrades
Posts: 9,465
Jul 14, 2018, 5:00 pm
#9
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 2,881
Sounds like a terrible experience. You definitely need to contact Delta to find out about the return ticket. It's very likely cancelled, but the sooner you contact them, the sooner they can try to fix it.
For your complaint to Delta, be more brief. Leave out the emotion and the unnecessary information (your schedule changes before the trip are not relevant and you even say you were happy with the flights you ended up with. Your infant ticket was a pain but you eventually got the price you wanted). Before anyone says it, yes these actions may have contributed to the ticket problems, but they muddy up the complaint too much.
The bag situation is awful. But you have your bag now. I'd submit a second separate complaint about the baggage. That can be done after you get home. But for now you need to get your return flight back on track.
I would contact Delta and give them a few simple facts.
- We arrived at the airport and my wife's ticket was canceled.
- We had added our infant to the reservation X days before our departure date, and the agent didn't give us any warning that the ticket was invalid at that time.
- The airport agents could not help us and we were forced to buy a ticket
- We would like a refund, to the original form of payment, for our purchased ticket
- I would like my wife's return ticket checked and reinstated if necessary
That's all you need to say. After you return home, Delta has an online complaint form for delayed baggage. Keep all your receipts and ask for reimbursement of any costs incurred because of missing baggage. Then, if you want, submit another complaint asking for compensation for the trouble of the bags and ticketing. Your compensation will be in the form of Skymiles or a Delta voucher. So, if you never want to fly Delta again, and don't want Skymiles, it probably isn't worth it anyway.
For your complaint to Delta, be more brief. Leave out the emotion and the unnecessary information (your schedule changes before the trip are not relevant and you even say you were happy with the flights you ended up with. Your infant ticket was a pain but you eventually got the price you wanted). Before anyone says it, yes these actions may have contributed to the ticket problems, but they muddy up the complaint too much.
The bag situation is awful. But you have your bag now. I'd submit a second separate complaint about the baggage. That can be done after you get home. But for now you need to get your return flight back on track.
I would contact Delta and give them a few simple facts.
- We arrived at the airport and my wife's ticket was canceled.
- We had added our infant to the reservation X days before our departure date, and the agent didn't give us any warning that the ticket was invalid at that time.
- The airport agents could not help us and we were forced to buy a ticket
- We would like a refund, to the original form of payment, for our purchased ticket
- I would like my wife's return ticket checked and reinstated if necessary
That's all you need to say. After you return home, Delta has an online complaint form for delayed baggage. Keep all your receipts and ask for reimbursement of any costs incurred because of missing baggage. Then, if you want, submit another complaint asking for compensation for the trouble of the bags and ticketing. Your compensation will be in the form of Skymiles or a Delta voucher. So, if you never want to fly Delta again, and don't want Skymiles, it probably isn't worth it anyway.
Doing this can help maximize compensation, and it helps provide better feedback.
Jul 14, 2018, 5:40 pm
#10
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. / Washington, DC
Programs: AA PPro/DL PLT, PPass, Marriott / Hilton Gold, JetBlue Mosaic, Hertz Presidents Circle, Amex Plat
Posts: 4,630
Several years ago my wife was flying in Y on a ticket booked by me, I then called DL and paid the difference to F with a different (foreing) CC. DL voided her ticket without informing us. Upon calling DL due to issues with OLCI, we found out that the security department thought she used a stolen card to pay for the upgrade and voided the ticket. They said it was our bank who made the request, who, in turn, said they never declined the transaction or were in touch with DL. The phone agent even said that in these cases airport agents call law enforcement. Took us 2 hours to get the issue sorted at JFK.
Jul 14, 2018, 5:46 pm
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 46
Okay we originally booked online and then called to ask that our baby was all confirmed as it was our first flight with a baby. They confirmed that the baby and everything was all good to go. We obviously thought no more.
Since booking in August the flight route changed a lot, which I appreciate happens. But it eventually changed where we were going via Georgia which was a connection that made us uncomfortable with our 12 month old. We requested if we could travel to EWR instead of PHL as either airport made no difference to our final destination and it only meant a quick connection in CDG. The phone assistant obliged and our tickets then changed to EWR. Worth noting that absolutely nothing was mentioned about our daughter not having ‘a ticket’.
My wife then called Air France last month to ask about luggage allowances for our lap infant and she said that she doesn’t have a ticket and in fact implied we were trying to get our infant to USA for free and was very rude about it.
We then called Delta about this. The assistant answered and we gave our confirmation number to which he replied ‘booking for Ben, Jen & Lily’. Back and to for over an hour as he was quoting us prices to give our daughter a ticket for $1,000. That was eventually given for $74 (the original flight price). We get to the airport to be told my wife’s ticket had been voided. Only my wife’s. Air France said delta hadn’t released her flight to them or something like that. My wife was forced to purchase a ticket.
Regarding not having the competence to get my daughter a ticket we called delta immediately after booking the flight to be told everything was in order and nothing further needed.
Since booking in August the flight route changed a lot, which I appreciate happens. But it eventually changed where we were going via Georgia which was a connection that made us uncomfortable with our 12 month old. We requested if we could travel to EWR instead of PHL as either airport made no difference to our final destination and it only meant a quick connection in CDG. The phone assistant obliged and our tickets then changed to EWR. Worth noting that absolutely nothing was mentioned about our daughter not having ‘a ticket’.
My wife then called Air France last month to ask about luggage allowances for our lap infant and she said that she doesn’t have a ticket and in fact implied we were trying to get our infant to USA for free and was very rude about it.
We then called Delta about this. The assistant answered and we gave our confirmation number to which he replied ‘booking for Ben, Jen & Lily’. Back and to for over an hour as he was quoting us prices to give our daughter a ticket for $1,000. That was eventually given for $74 (the original flight price). We get to the airport to be told my wife’s ticket had been voided. Only my wife’s. Air France said delta hadn’t released her flight to them or something like that. My wife was forced to purchase a ticket.
Regarding not having the competence to get my daughter a ticket we called delta immediately after booking the flight to be told everything was in order and nothing further needed.
Jul 14, 2018, 6:10 pm
#12
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 339
Definitely submit an online complaint/feedback form in addition to the call...
I disagree about non-status pax getting treated like crap - I probably got more compensation mileage wise when I had issues as a non-status member than I now have as a lowly Silver. I would venture to guess it's all based on your CVS (customer value score) that I'm sure they have, but hell I got 10k miles and an apologetic phone call for my TV being out on a 4 hour mid-con flight from ATL-SEA (a joke compared to your troubles).
IMO Delta has some of the best customer service industry (probably the best in the US) if you're firm but polite when they screw up...
I disagree about non-status pax getting treated like crap - I probably got more compensation mileage wise when I had issues as a non-status member than I now have as a lowly Silver. I would venture to guess it's all based on your CVS (customer value score) that I'm sure they have, but hell I got 10k miles and an apologetic phone call for my TV being out on a 4 hour mid-con flight from ATL-SEA (a joke compared to your troubles).
IMO Delta has some of the best customer service industry (probably the best in the US) if you're firm but polite when they screw up...
Jul 14, 2018, 6:22 pm
#14
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Orlando, FL Area
Programs: Delta SkySponge ExtraAbsorbent, SPG Gold
Posts: 29,988
Jul 14, 2018, 6:28 pm
#15
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Land of 10,000 Upgrades
Posts: 9,465
"Competent" travelers know that a ticket must be purchased for an infant on an international flight.