remyontheroad

I'm sure that DL gets a bulk discount AMEX and though I have no idea what it is, I'm prepared to assume that it cost them more than $.10 just to process the charge.

It reminds me of a spring break road trip that I took with a friend in High School. We made it all the way to Daytona and back, sleeping in his van, eating bologna on white bread with packets of mustard from fast food restaurants.

We made it over the George Washington Bridge into NY on fumes. But even after searching pockets, and digging under seat cushions and floor mats, we got to the toll booths and came up 30cents short. It took about 25 minutes of anagent's time copying license info, 24cents for a stamp and 99cents for a money order to mail in the 30cents.

For a couple of teenagers at the end of an adventure, it was

For DL it's just

Clearly there were ways around it...

bdschobel

At the end of the call, still trying to be good-natured, I asked the guy, "Doesn't Delta give you the authority to waive an amount as small as 10 cents?" His answer: "No." He didn't seem too happy about it, either.

Bruce

bigbee

Sure Delta has to account for the tax, but Delta has lots of slush to cover this as they do not refund tax on cancelled or unused tickets. This is not an insignificant amount and has been under discussion by the government as Delta (and all carriers) do not send these monies to the the government but keeps them as revenue.

vinnmann

Deleted

Flying_Duck

Don't forget, this issue involves the government which effectively takes care of the common sense!!

whlinder

Since you must know the laws of aviation tax collection as well as airline revenue accounting, why don't you tell us all what he should have done instead...

laguardiaguy

Ummm.....Taxes cannot be waived

Aren't you the same guy who beat up on a cabbie because he didn't pass through to you the EasyPass toll discount on the way to the airport, dispite saving you time on the toll line. And stiffed him on principle, when you could have avoided the argument altogether and just given a smaller tip.

I apologize if I have you confused with someone else.

MastaHanky

It's a good thing they collected the tax. Otherwise, a month from now, the government would have sent them a bill for the ten cents, plus a $24.50 lateness charge, $11.77 interest, and a $10 processing fee.

JRF

Either you know the same amount, more or less. So, if you know, more, please let us know what that is so we can all be better informed. If you know the same or less, then no need to reply and we will all know!

bigjim

I must side with Delta on this one. If you go to the grocery store (in a state that charges say a 10% sales tax on groceries) and buy a coke for $1.00. I don't think that the store can waive the $.10. Why would they want to lower their price so that the tax is included?

I realize that it seems a bit absurd on the surface - but I imagine that it is a lot simpler to collect the $.10 instead of trying to find a way to adjust the fare basis in order to pay the appropriate tax to the government.

IMHO, I think that Delta deserves a break on this one.

JRF

BigJim, try going back and reading the thread from page one. Your statement is out of context for the entire discussion.

bigjim

JRF,

You're going to have to help me out on what is out of context - I'm apparently having stupid Thursday. The original post is actually what I was responding to.

bigjim

"I had a full-Y ticket on the 3:30 Shuttle from LGA to DCA and needed to change it to the 2:30 Shuttle. I really didn't need to do anything because, after all, it is the Shuttle! And I could always fly standby for free (or same-day confirmed, to be technical about it). But I wanted to check in on-line and wanted my boarding pass to be for the right flight, so I called SMS.

Well, the original ticket was purchased in 2004. Apparently, a new ticket purchased in 2005 has 10 cents higher taxes imposed. The guy asked me how I was going to pay this 10 cents additional cost.

Now, let me be very clear. I can afford to give Delta 10 cents. Really! It usually doesn't come out of my pocket, anyway. But it just seemed to me that collecting 10 cents over the phone, which requires a credit-card charge, had to be more trouble than it's worth for me, Delta and even AMEX. So I innocently asked, "Couldn't you just waive 10 cents?"

You would have thought that I had asked for a free airplane! The guy, apparently horrified, said, "That's a government tax. We have to collect it or we would get fined." Not quite satisfied with that answer, I suggested that Delta could certainly remit the 10 cents to the government, thereby avoiding the dreaded fine, and simply swallow the cost. The guy, clearly not the brightest light, said that it would be illegal for Delta to do that.

In the end, I gave him my AMEX number and let him put through a charge for 10 cents so that I could fly an hour earlier without any hassles at the airport. I will not put that charge on my expense report because I would be too embarrassed.

Bruce "

Thucydides

Some of the joking aside, I think that BigJim's comment fit right in with the entire discussion...

Additionally, while maybe it is absurd to ask for a charge card number for $ 0.10 and for Delta to not swallow the tax (even though it is just .10) or maybe it is the law, but it is also somewhat absurd to reticket on the Delta Shuttle. All you have to do is check in in person or online and head to the gate. If you get there early, they will re-issue your boarding pass right at the gate. I do it all of the time and have never had a problem.

We joke about the 30 cent cost to process the 10 cent transaction, but what about the cost imposed on Delta by the original poster to do a ticket change that was unneccessary?

FWAAA

I've often been accused of being one of the dimmer bulbs in a high-wattage world. Consistent with that analysis, I have a very dumb question:

Why the hell did the phone agent issue a new ticket instead of just changing the outbound departure time? Given that it was full-Y, couldn't it be changed without complete reissue?



Anyway, it's a funny story. DL spends at least a quarter of its own money (CC flat charge) to collect a dime.

Would the agent have allowed Bruce to just drop off the dime at the airport?

Thucydides

Should have followed your own advice when responding in post #24...