cauchy

I think the gate agent did the right thing here -- faced with a choice of (a) risking someone getting IBD'd and getting to their destination very late, or (b) the (near) certainty of the OP getting home earlier, on a generally preferred routing, 'nudging' the OP by giving him a new boarding pass to make choice (b) happen makes sense for everyone. If the OP really wanted the one-stop, he could have asked for his itinerary to be restored, and I'd be surprised if the agent bothered to argue about it.

That said, the terms and conditions might not help DL here.

There is no discretion here - DL has to follow the order. Perhaps this needs updating.

FireEmblemPride

It only happened to me once but on UA and not DL. I was on an NRT-SEA-SFO itinerary in Y+ but was changed to NRT-SFO in Y. I'd save time, but the seat wouldn't be as comfortable and I'd earn fewer miles. Told them to change it back, which they did begrudgingly at the check-in counter.

ATOBTTR

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoStressHere

Not sure this can be called IDB. The contract was to get the passenger from city A to city B. They did it. No denied boarding took place. The agent was working through issues and handled it well.

That's still denied boarding, and involuntarily. If the only portion of the contract that mattered was "to get the passenger from city A to city B", the airline could pull you off the flight, get you there the next day, say "we fulfilled the contract to get you from City A to City B" and say there was no "denied boarding". Now whether IDB compensation is due or whether it was the right thing to do or that the GA should have talked to the OP is a different manner. But it's still defined boarding for that flight as OP was pulled off that flight (and pulled off involuntarily).

I also wonder if the GA followed policy in the denied boarding process. Regardless of whether this was "better" (a relative view point to begin with), did it violate IDB policy which says that the airline will solicit volunteers first? If the GA or airline hadn't even solicited for volunteers and given a chance for OP (or others) to be voluntarily denied boarding prior to IDBing the OP, did the GA fully follow the denied boarding policies?


I would be pretty upset if this happened to me and the GA didn't even talk to me first. I get the GA is trying to balance a lot of things, and there's a "most good for the most people" in play here, but as you point out, I may have had very legitimate reasons for booking the routing I did that a GA would not be considering - be it aircraft type, seat availability, etc, and I have paid a premium for those things and the GA doesn't get to determine what I value. I've booked connections just to avoid middle seats. I've booked certain routings to get certain aircraft types or fly a configuration with a better seat. I'd be pretty upset if a GA pulled me off one flight and tried to tell me they were doing me a favor by putting me on another flight in a middle seat that "gets in earlier" or if I was routed XXX-ATL-LAX and had a flat-bed on ATL-LAX and XXX-ATL was oversold but XXX-LAX had seats and the GA said "well, I'm rebooking you on the nonstop" and told me no compensation was due.....

NoStressHere

At what point in this story was the passenger "denied boarding"?

I agree you could make an argument he was not given his original flight. If he had asked to be put back on his first flight, then maybe it could be called IDB. But it appears he did not and was never "bumped". And, at this point, we do not know if Delta would have accomodated him on the original flight or not - only guessing. Nor do we know if ANYONE was IDB on that flight.

ethernal

Wow, talk about mental gymnastics with semantics.

If I get booted off my flight without my permission on the day of departure due to an oversale situation, that's an IDB. Maybe I could get my old flight back if I went up and tried to plead my case, but if Delta already rebooked me and booted me off the original flight, I have been IDB'd (albeit as noted by @fiuchris it may need to be reported since it was international).

To claim that someone has "volunteered" after they have already been rebooked is a bit of a stretch.

MSPeconomist

NoStressHere

hmmm... semantics maybe...

What if the original flight left with empty seats. Can that flight also have an IDB scenario?


(Again, I 100% agree they should have asked the passenger first). Back whenI was Plat and almost always had connections during IRROPS, they would be looking at where folks were going and would look for alternate ways to get them there.

NoStressHere

Unless the GA working the flight blocked that seat for last minute assignment in case the OP opted to stay on that flight.

PVDtoDEL

As I said above, OP wasn't rebooked - he was just reprotected.

His original segments, including the associated seat assignments, were still intact when he spoke to the agent.

ethernal

Can OP confirm? This seems like speculation on your end based on some ambiguous wording..

Frogbone

I was rebooked. They already had a printed boarding pass laying there which she handed to me once I identified myself. Btw, I was not paged, I walked up because I all of a sudden had a direct flight on my app.

At the end I arrived an hour earlier, spent an hour extra at YYZ A6 area which really sucks. Other than that I wasn't upset, rather a bit dumbfounded why they would rebook me before talking to me.

I was also fine with the whole thing until I asked what the real reason was for this and she said "oversold flight". I thought that was rather sneaky for the GA.
Still, I didn't make a fuzz because it was very hectic there with delayed flights to NY and generally very crowded. Last thing I wanted to do is add to the chaos.

sydneyracquelle

MSPeconomist