SkyMiles award ticket on cancelled CZ route -- options?
May 13, 2019, 8:39 pm
#16
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
AFAIK, DL employees who help customers in irrops or such by doing something that is not strictly within the scopes of what they are allowed to do will get in trouble, may even lose their job...so there is a real disincentive to help customers (that's what I've heard, can't speak as to is it true, but it seems that it could be).
UA, on the other hand, is trying really hard to be customer centric. UA India call center has much more power and discretion than DL "Diamond" line, IME, at least. I mean, on an award ticket, they can spend a few $1000 hard cash buying a full-fare J ticket in case of irrops on another non-*A carrier if customer so asks (no objections, they'll just do it), even though there are literally 10s of other same-day options on UA available. DL just never gives its staff anything even close to that level of discretion. Just like for IDB UA, I believe, has the highest discretion of credits to give, so it is irrops. UA is trying really hard. I mean, good experiences and good publicity makes people forget about the bad. Makes sense. (UA also has a lot of targeted bonuses for infrequent flyers, such as buy one or two RT tickets, or spend $xxxx, and get 25,000 miles or something like that. DL, on the other hand, for several years has had no real promotions or incentives for pax to fly DL.)
UA, on the other hand, is trying really hard to be customer centric. UA India call center has much more power and discretion than DL "Diamond" line, IME, at least. I mean, on an award ticket, they can spend a few $1000 hard cash buying a full-fare J ticket in case of irrops on another non-*A carrier if customer so asks (no objections, they'll just do it), even though there are literally 10s of other same-day options on UA available. DL just never gives its staff anything even close to that level of discretion. Just like for IDB UA, I believe, has the highest discretion of credits to give, so it is irrops. UA is trying really hard. I mean, good experiences and good publicity makes people forget about the bad. Makes sense. (UA also has a lot of targeted bonuses for infrequent flyers, such as buy one or two RT tickets, or spend $xxxx, and get 25,000 miles or something like that. DL, on the other hand, for several years has had no real promotions or incentives for pax to fly DL.)
May 14, 2019, 2:20 pm
#17
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: LA
Programs: Perennial Free Agent
Posts: 270
I have a similar conundrum:
I booked a flight using KE Skypass miles on Delta metal for roundtrip LAX to AMS with some intra-europe flights mixed in (September 2019 trip). Well it seems that Delta has cancelled the LAX/AMS route entirely. So now my inbound and outbound flights are cancelled, but my intra-europe flights are still there. I have made a bunch of reservations around these dates and I am going to wedding so the dates need to stick and I have about $6000 in reservations. I also booked this 6 months ago.
Been on the phone for hours with delta and korean air (they keep telling me to call the other one). No saver award availability at all. And it seems like Delta won't put me on any of their flights.
I am expecting Korean Air to just cancel the award booking entirely. And I will probably skip the wedding and the trip entirely. Anyone had any advice?
I booked a flight using KE Skypass miles on Delta metal for roundtrip LAX to AMS with some intra-europe flights mixed in (September 2019 trip). Well it seems that Delta has cancelled the LAX/AMS route entirely. So now my inbound and outbound flights are cancelled, but my intra-europe flights are still there. I have made a bunch of reservations around these dates and I am going to wedding so the dates need to stick and I have about $6000 in reservations. I also booked this 6 months ago.
Been on the phone for hours with delta and korean air (they keep telling me to call the other one). No saver award availability at all. And it seems like Delta won't put me on any of their flights.
I am expecting Korean Air to just cancel the award booking entirely. And I will probably skip the wedding and the trip entirely. Anyone had any advice?
May 15, 2019, 6:50 am
#18
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
I have a similar conundrum:
I booked a flight using KE Skypass miles on Delta metal for roundtrip LAX to AMS with some intra-europe flights mixed in (September 2019 trip). Well it seems that Delta has cancelled the LAX/AMS route entirely. So now my inbound and outbound flights are cancelled, but my intra-europe flights are still there. I have made a bunch of reservations around these dates and I am going to wedding so the dates need to stick and I have about $6000 in reservations. I also booked this 6 months ago.
Been on the phone for hours with delta and korean air (they keep telling me to call the other one). No saver award availability at all. And it seems like Delta won't put me on any of their flights.
I am expecting Korean Air to just cancel the award booking entirely. And I will probably skip the wedding and the trip entirely. Anyone had any advice?
I booked a flight using KE Skypass miles on Delta metal for roundtrip LAX to AMS with some intra-europe flights mixed in (September 2019 trip). Well it seems that Delta has cancelled the LAX/AMS route entirely. So now my inbound and outbound flights are cancelled, but my intra-europe flights are still there. I have made a bunch of reservations around these dates and I am going to wedding so the dates need to stick and I have about $6000 in reservations. I also booked this 6 months ago.
Been on the phone for hours with delta and korean air (they keep telling me to call the other one). No saver award availability at all. And it seems like Delta won't put me on any of their flights.
I am expecting Korean Air to just cancel the award booking entirely. And I will probably skip the wedding and the trip entirely. Anyone had any advice?
UNLESS KE will reroute you via ICN. LAX-ICN-AMS. Ask them for that. That they can do on their own flights. (Probably not valid routing ex. LAX (would be ex. HNL though), but you can ask. They should be able to force it through as an even reissue, just make sure to call the KE NY and not the India call center. The India call center, AFAIK, is totally useless; even TAs refuse to call it, will wait for next day to call KE NYC.)
May 15, 2019, 9:26 am
#19
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: LA
Programs: Perennial Free Agent
Posts: 270
That is pretty much it. All you can do is cancel and redeposit. DL is totally unsympathetic in cases like this when it cancels its own flights, unfortunately.
UNLESS KE will reroute you via ICN. LAX-ICN-AMS. Ask them for that. That they can do on their own flights. (Probably not valid routing ex. LAX (would be ex. HNL though), but you can ask. They should be able to force it through as an even reissue, just make sure to call the KE NY and not the India call center. The India call center, AFAIK, is totally useless; even TAs refuse to call it, will wait for next day to call KE NYC.)
UNLESS KE will reroute you via ICN. LAX-ICN-AMS. Ask them for that. That they can do on their own flights. (Probably not valid routing ex. LAX (would be ex. HNL though), but you can ask. They should be able to force it through as an even reissue, just make sure to call the KE NY and not the India call center. The India call center, AFAIK, is totally useless; even TAs refuse to call it, will wait for next day to call KE NYC.)
May 15, 2019, 9:32 am
#20
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 7,875
Wow! I never knew UA would do all of that. Thanks for the info.
Frankly, its shocking to me that DL is known as the best service-oriented airline, and also that one that purports to give its employees the most discretion on a case-by-case basis.
If UA can do it, I wonder why DL won't.
Frankly, its shocking to me that DL is known as the best service-oriented airline, and also that one that purports to give its employees the most discretion on a case-by-case basis.
If UA can do it, I wonder why DL won't.
DL is known for horrible mileage redemption, and this is one of their issues (in addition to requiring ridiculous amounts of miles).
May 15, 2019, 9:32 am
#21
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 7,875
Did you get a money-back guarantee from the redditors as well?
May 18, 2019, 10:08 pm
#23
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
Good luck. AFAIK DL has never done it before (and they cannot, anyway) for non-006 tickets, and is firmly unwilling to do so. If you can make the impossible happen, it'll be a first, and all the more power to you if you can make DL at least a little bit less anti-customer. (Though realistically of course we all know it's impossible, unless DL opens up inventory at the same time as the ticketing airline is trying to search for replacement flights. Coordinating that is theoretically possible, but in practice and real life, esp. given how fervently anti-customer DL is...)
May 20, 2019, 10:47 am
#24
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: LA
Programs: Perennial Free Agent
Posts: 270
Good luck. AFAIK DL has never done it before (and they cannot, anyway) for non-006 tickets, and is firmly unwilling to do so. If you can make the impossible happen, it'll be a first, and all the more power to you if you can make DL at least a little bit less anti-customer. (Though realistically of course we all know it's impossible, unless DL opens up inventory at the same time as the ticketing airline is trying to search for replacement flights. Coordinating that is theoretically possible, but in practice and real life, esp. given how fervently anti-customer DL is...)
May 20, 2019, 7:07 pm
#25
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
That is a major accomplishment indeed. ^ First report ever on FT of DL doing something like this when a flight is canceled.
May 20, 2019, 11:56 pm
#26
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 34
May 21, 2019, 10:58 am
#27
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Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
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Posts: 100,404
May 21, 2019, 1:19 pm
#28
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: LA
Programs: Perennial Free Agent
Posts: 270
KE called Delta and made it happen.
May 22, 2019, 12:23 am
#29
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
May 22, 2019, 6:38 am
#30
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Posts: 100,404
This sounds like KE asked DL to open award space for you and DL agreed, which is good news for all of us that this is possible and that DL and KE are perhaps getting along better in the JV. [DL has a reputation for failing to play well with other airlines.]