GUWonder

That's exactly what I would expect -- especially an increase in phone times ... especially for the award partner desk.

I dare DL to make public those call times (as verified by the more independent).

With these kind of changes, increased difficulty in finding (cheaper) award space, and some other issues, I'm not surprised at all -- even as I am disappointed with DL in this regard.

Spiff

Don't forget, the partner award desk is closed 0000-0800 EDT.

Traveller

I also think that now being able to book international awards online has contributed to more award bookings that go unticketed. This is fairly new in the last several months.

GUWonder

Good point for non-international partner award bookings (which cannot be done online).

GUWonder

It's closed for at least 7 hours every day and if you happen to call at the wrong time, it's possible a SkyMiles member could be on hold for an hour or two and never be informed that no one will be talking to you until the following morning.

Thankfully, AA has no such trouble servicing my travel needs at those hours.

Traveller

Dang, I wish I lived in an AA city.

Spiff

EXP desk open 24/7, all needs met. ^

Traveller

I'm thinking of moving back to Orlando for more flight options. Maybe I should move to Miami?

jerry crump

hmmmmmm.

It cost so much to answer a sales call that DL must charge me $10 for talking to them on the phone but to reserve an award they would preffer that I call 7 times instead of once. Anybody wonder why they are in bankruptcy?

GUWonder

^^

avflyer

I think that Delta made a mistake with this change and could have perhaps avoided an uproar by simply allowing outbound segments to hold for 14 days. Once a segment was completed with a return, the two-day rule would kick in forcing the party to lock in the award or at least making them work more to keep it open even after they have secured a return flight. I don't know how difficult it would be to track that type of booking. For many, there is only one gateway so that once a return to the departing location is locked in the clock is ticking. I suppose the flaw to my thinking comes up when I book an outbound out of say LGA and the return into JFK. Again, I don't have a great answer to the issue at hand.

I just booked award travel to CPH for Christmas/New Years (for 5 people - skysaver all the way). Outbound on CO EWR-CPH. Return on DL via ATL. The only problem is that we have one night in ATL as the ATL-NY legs on the day of arrival into ATL are not available. So I will now call every two days for as long as they let me, to extend the booking in hopes of not having to overnight in ATL on our return. Otherwise, I will book and perhaps spend $250 to change later. The incredibly freindly lady who assisted me over at the Awards desked laughed at the new 2 day rule.

carm100

I just received this email regarding my complaint about the new 2 day award redemption rule. It is interesting that the Manager of the Customer Care Dept. says that he is "disappointed" to hear of this new rule. You have to give him credit for his honesty. Hopefully this will act as encouragement for all of us to file a complaint with Delta. It may make a difference.

Delta's reply:
Thank you for your additional comments regarding our recent changes to
booking award seats.

It was disappointing to learn of this change, as I can understand your
frustration as a loyal Medallion member, happening recently. I have
forwarded your comments to our SkyMiles department for immediate review.
In the meantime, please know that we do honestly thank you for your
continued support of our company.

Again, thank you for writing. Please accept our apology for the
circumstances you described. Your comments are appreciated since this is
one of the best ways we have of knowing which areas need additional
attention. We hope you will continue to make Delta your airline of
choice.[/B]

janeway

At least someone over there has a sense of humor and thinks it's funny.

I still think it's better than not for opening up award seats, and if they need to call me or let them know that I appreciate the change, I will do so.

I for one never, "held" tickets without booking them immediately, and I still don't understand why people can't just make up your minds and book the ticket already. I guess if you're fine with holding seats in the attmept to book for the "perfect" vacation (at the expense of other people trying to find award seats) it's OK, but I think it makes much more sense to do this.

And it really should open up availability for everyone, as long as they're not decreasing the actual # of award seats (which we don't really know, do we). So all the complaints of increased call time may be just complaints for the sake of complaining. I would think that if it increased the award availability (by decreasing number of "held" but not booked seats) it should decrease call time (unless people really are calling every two days to book the "perfect" vacation, which is just frankly kind of a waste of time, if you ask me)

And the reality is that none of us knows yet (unless some of us have supernatural powers) how it will effect the call time, so why can't we just give it a chance instead of immediately assuming it will do so?

Since apparently Gold and Silver members could "hold" reservations before, I see this as a definite change for the better for all Platinum Medallion members, since there is no award ticket change fee for Plats, and it will open up award availability for us. If anything, this change should make people want to be more loyal to DL than not as long as they're not decreasing award availability - which, again we don't really know, do we (unless some of the Medallions complaining about it are also friends of DL employees?)

And on most airlines, the most frequent customers do have the most award availability access.

Anyone else who agrees with me, should send an email to DL to thank them for the change!

Traveller

I believe that the people who are calling every 2 days are those than can reserve the outbound at 331 days but cannot reserve the return for a week or two, depending on how long their trip is.

carm100

All due respects to "Janeway", the problem is for those that book 331 days in advance to popular destinations especially during peak times. You can NOT book the return 331 days out unless you call every 2 days in hope the Res agent will renew. In either case, any unticketed award reservation will be cancelled in 2 weeks. I don't think your understand the LEGITIMATE concerns that some passengers have.