paterwdb

Had a weird exchange today. IRROP on a flight MCI-DTW-ORF in F today, with the first leg delayed and causing a misconnect to the last flight of the night. Rebooked on an MCI-ATL-ORF where ATL-ORF was not available in F, and with a 4.5 hour layover.

While in flight on the first leg, I noticed that there was now an F seat available on the second leg (for sale) and messaged to see if they could put me back in F. Messenger said there were no seats. I sent a screen shot showing there were two seats for sale, and they just said that there were no seats available. I gave up and figured I would ask in the Sky Club.

Checking in to the ATL-F club, I asked if she could put me in the seat still showing available. She said "no, you would need to go to the gate to see about an upgrade". I explained the situation and that it wasn't an upgrade and she said again "you would have to go to the gate or I guess you could go out to check-in to see if they can do it." I asked "is there not any agent in the Sky Club who can resolve ticketing issues?" and she confirmed that they "don't deal with tickets anymore" and I had to go to the gate of the flight. When explaining the flight wasn't for four hours, she said "yeah, there is nothing I can do but you can go to the help desk and use the phone if you want."

I was annoyed but didn't want to make a scene. I then asked "can you put me on standby for the earlier connecting flight then?" and she said "no, you can do it in the app or you can go to the gate for that flight."

Was this a lazy agent, or have the Sky Club agents been told not to assist passengers any more?

(for those keeping score, I just called and had the flight re-ticketed and got the F seat back).

ttuna3

If it wasn't the one at the door checking you in then it was likely a lazy agent. The dragons at the door don't want to get tied up dealing with reservations and not being able to check people in and will usually tell you to see one of the agents inside the club.

xliioper

If you had post-purchase online seat upgrade, it can be an issue as they are not technically eligible to be transferred to new flights. 4.5 hour layover may have caused issued as it is not valid on single fare component on domestic flights.

cre95

How far ahead of boarding were you at the SC asking for their help? If the gate has taken control of the flight, I believe your only option will be to speak with the agent at the gate. Note that the trigger is typically based on the originally scheduled departure time so if the flight is delayed it would have gone to the gate earlier as well.

If the SC is just not supporting your ask, did you try calling in? That should work assuming the flight is not under gate control.

flyerCO

OP states wasn't an upgrade and was there over 4 hours before.

I've had issues before with ATL SC agents. Some truly think they don't handle reservations. A red coat had to be called one time. They were baffled why agent thought they didn't do this anymore. Red coat quickly corrected agent and then helped me theirself.

Also this was at ATL F. there's generally no separate agent handling reservation issues.

ND76

Once again, Delta management let you down. If Delta gave its agents proper training and supervised them better, this would not have happened.

prgboy

Everything goes the only direction: Down. Sorry you had to go through this annoying situation.

golfr

I had an evening flight that was cancelled an hour or so before boarding. I was at Sky Club T in ATL. I couldn't do anything on the app and was helped by an agent in the front of the club. Luckily, I was able to fly to my destination that night thanks to that gentleman. I gave him a JWD as a thanks.

Another time, I was coming from overseas flying out of LAX to JFK. For whatever the reason, I would not show up on the upgrade list but the front desk agent at the old LAX Sky Club was able to fix it and add me to the list. I had called the Delta line multiple times but no one could help. In the end, I didn't get the upgrade because there wasn't any seats available but I really appreciated her efforts. She got a JWD too.

WillBarrett_68

This forum is completely drowning posts telling people to "hang up and call again," so much so that it's an acronym and has become the motto of this sub-forum. Phone agents, gate agents, flight attendants, even red coats have all been documented here completely fabricating all sorts of policies out of thin air.

You heard something from a single agent, and on top of that it didn't make any sense.

Either of those facts alone should be enough to let you know the answer to your own question.

RealHJ

SEA SC has a dedicated desk with 1 or 2 agents where you can sit down and all they deal with is ticketing issues. They don't seem to be horribly empowered or knowledgeable (it's just a rotation of the regular SC agents who sit there), but some simple things they can do. And that is literally all they do. Well, ticketing and all sorts of miscellaneous complaints.

ijgordon

I mean having "enhanced" access to in-person agents has always been a very key selling point of club membership. So I guess they really are just glorified cafeterias then?

dilbertsdaddy

There is one lady and one guy at F who are the worst! Bet you got her

ty97

FWIW, HUCA is neither new, nor unique to DL.

btonkid12345

If you want to prevent this from recurring, next time ask the unhelpful agent to call the Red Coat / “PSA” in charge of that club to come help you.

There is always 1 or more Red Coats “overseeing” the clubs at an airport and they can be called to assist with challenges like this. I had to do it at ATL F once myself!

6P&E

I'm no fan of Delta and quite frankly can't understand all the kudos and high marks it gets. I've had nothing but problems with Delta so much so I won't fly them anymore. On the other hand, the ticket processing has become so complicated that I can see the average SC agent can't understand or handle. At an AA Admiral's Club recently I had to make a simple change in a totally refundable F ticket. The AAngel gladly took care of if, but it still necessitated a call to the tariff desk to make the change.

Not being able to handle a request but finding a solution is one thing. Not being able to handle and brushing it off is quite another.