Trmurphy4

Just last week our Delta red-eye flight out of Lihue, Hi. was cancelled due to the first officer becoming ill and no other pilot being available. They had us disembark and wait in the gate area for hotel and food vouchers. Neither my wife or I needed to be back home for work or other reasons, so we waited patiently while others who needed to get arrangements settled lined up to claim vouchers.
After a little more than a hour, we saw online that Delta had rebooked us on a return flight with Hawaiian Airlines the next morning. Shortly after this, the gate crew advised the forty or so of us left that there were no more hotel vouchers. A few other passengers grumbled, as they knew from calling around that there were no vacancies at most of the hotels. I also knew this was true, from checking hotels earlier in the week about extending our stay.
i asked the gate crew, “I have some pull with my status with various credit cards and hotel chains, I’m pretty sure I can get a room, but it’s going to probably cost $800-$1,000”. The gate crew responded “I don’t think that’s a problem, Delta will cover it”. Another Delta staff person commented “I know a passenger who had to book a night at the Grand Hyatt, it was expensive, and he got reimbursed.”
So I called the number on the back of my Amex Platinum, and they were able to book me a room at the Grand Hyatt and based off of what I was told by the gate crew, I booked it. They were handing out pillows and blankets in the gate area when we left.
So I ended up with a bill of $1,157.14 from the hotel. Delta responded within 24 Hrs. to my claim, and said they pay $150 per night per person (plus tax) for hotel expenses. So I am being reimbursed only $323.26.
I am pleased with Delta responding so quickly and covering transportation expenses (with tips). I am not pleased with how the gate crew advised us with information that was not fully truthful. I have not accepted Delta’s refund (relieving them of further responsibility) and I’m not sure where to go from here. Delta corporate was good, but the gate staff (in a difficult situation) clearly gave me deceptive information.

sydneyracquelle

Hopefully you have travel insurance that covers disruptions and flight cancellations.

kavok

Escalate, and if you don’t get a response to cover the bill, file a complaint with the DOT. Delta’s USDoT dashboard clearly states they will cover hotel costs in the described situation.

To be fair to the gate agents, under the published Delta policy, they are supposed to cover hotel. If the gate agent wasn’t able to provide you with a voucher, thus forcing you to book your own room, then that is seemingly on Delta to reimburse you. In your escalation, be sure to clarify that no vouchers were being offered.

Trmurphy4

We have been researching long term travel insurance as our annual three week trip to Europe this year incorporates air, ground and cruise travel, but we haven’t decided yet. Never had any real problems unril now. I also don’t think we are to blame for the problem here. Even if we knew what Delta’s official policy was, we probably would have gone with what the gate crew told us due to the circumstances.

exwannabe

Does not excuse DL, but does not the Amex Plat travel insurance cover this (once not covered by the airline)?

Trmurphy4

Since my only use of Amex Plat on this trip was after the cancellation (I was burning Hilton points on this trip and booked the flight via Delta with miles) any coverage via Amex wouldn’t apply.

xliioper

You need to actually read DL policies which are linked off DOT site. They don't actually say they will cover your hotel costs without limit (no airline is going to do that). The crew weren't intentionally trying to deceive, they were just basically clueless on DL policies (as it's not typically something they actually deal with).

https://www.delta.com/us/en/legal/customer-commitment

dw

What card did you use to pay the taxes on the award ticket? If that card has coverage, I would check and see if paying the taxes is sufficient to have the trip covered.

northinsouth

Correcr me if I'm wrong, but I thought if you used the Amex PL to pay the taxes on the award flight, the insurance should kick in.

dblumenhoff

I can see them balking at $1100, but no one in their right mind would say that $150 is "reasonable costs" for a HI hotel.

Trmurphy4

I paid the fees and taxes on the reward tickets with my Delta Amex Reserve card. Their cancellation insurance benefits state: “ If you purchase a round trip entirely with your Eligible Card…”
Since the round trip was purchased chiefly with miles, it does not appear I would be covered by them.

flyerCO

Entirely means the cash amount. You can get covered for a miles ticket. Just the cash amount must be Entirely charged to the card. Despite airlines attempts to make it appear so, miles are not actually considered a currency.

audio-nut

Agreed. I'd had credit card travel insurance kick in on the $5.60 in taxes on a domestic flight.

southlondonphil

If vouchers run out then there should be a separate letter that is handed to passengers explicitly stating their right to reimubursement of self-booking expenses given that the airline has by not issuing a voucher failed in their duty of care to delayed pasengers per their stated policy.

A verbal "yes you can charge it and [airline] will cover it" is worthless, it should be in writing on [airline]-headed paper, though we can all make a pretty good guess as to why it is not!

To add to the above, when escalating this complaint, be sure to quote and highlight the relevant supportive paragraphs from Delta's website / COCs. If it says publicly and prominently something like "we will reimburse your reasonable* expenses in the event that ground staff are unable to offer assistance (i.e. vouchers)" you are entitled to take that at face value, and any reasonable arbitrator or court is most likely to agree with you even if DL's buried small print elsewhere says otherwise.

* in this context, if demand is high, other nearby hotels are full or pricing similarly, $1200 is 'reasonable' IMHO, though it pays to screen-grab a bunch of other local hotel prices as evidence to support your claim when it is of significant value.

Eujeanie

Back to your first paragraph.

If it was a redeye that was cancelled, didn't it seem to be reasonable that you probably would not be flying until at the very least the next day? (which is what happened).

I'm not sure why you chose to not get a hotel voucher when they were available.