diesel33

I know that freak things and emergencies happen. But from my experience at the airport and on the phones with DL most people flying standby are due to early/late meetings or due to their "plans" not going as planned.

So it seems that a lot of people are upset that they will have to plan better in order to actually be at the airport in time for the flight they purchased.

It just sounds like most people just need to plan better. If the client changes the time of the meeting, just bill them for the $100 fee. I'm sure that after a few of those they will begin to "plan" a little better too.

RSSrsvp

diesel33, your are really searching for a more positive angle on these rule changes. Rationalize all that you want, but DL will definitely be losing a great deal of business to the discounters.

diesel33

you are only bettign that the discounters (airtran and southwest) don't follow.

jml1124

With this 'planning' approach idea it should go both ways then. There are times that even with good planning things come up and you need to make a change. - Things out of your control. How would delta feel if THEY had to pay each passenger $100 for things like the plane getting in late (doesn't matter what the reason is, since it is late. period. What about when the crew is late? That happens to me a lot, etc. There are things that are out of both the customer's and Delta's control. If one party is to be penalized, it should work both ways. I understand the rule that if you're not going to take a flight, cancel your seat before it leaves, but the charge for standby makes no sense whatsoever.

RSSrsvp

I wouldn't want to take your money.
They are profitable and their business models are successful. Don't leave Jet Blue out of the equation.

BTW, you may wish to use the spell check program that I posted today on the Omni board.
Free "Spell Check" software that works on FT's boards.

CoMooter

Can't speak for FL (I haven't flown them since they shuttered their IAD 'hub'), but WN already does not allow earlier standby except on full fare tix (if you miss your flight they will put you on the next one available - you don't need to call - just show up that day). BUT (and this is a VERY BIG BUT) WN does not charge a 'change fee'...all monies given to WN for a non-refundable ticket can be applied towards a future trip.

theDeltaFlyer

Better get the press started with those $100 vouchers ... they'll be thunderstomrs in Atlanta sometime soon.

What you say? Weather is an act of God and not soemthing the airline can control??

Then why is ture that when that same storm screws traffic on I-75/85/285 and I'm late to the airport do I have to pay $100??

What you say? My flight will likely be delayed too? Not in my last 3 misconnects due to weather. My onward plane left on-time each of those 3 occasions.

Please explain why when that same storm make DL late it's "unnavoidable" but when I'm in a windowless meeting room all afternnon, don't see it coming, and miss my flight due to traffic it's "poor planning"

You can't have it both ways!

DL wants "understanding" when there are delays "beyond their control", but doesn't want to hear what is and is not "beyond my control".

Hypocracy. Stupidity. DL deserves to drown with the rest of the lemmings.

jeyna

Sorry...but do Southwest, AirTran and JetBlue have the worldwide flights that Delta has? Can you fly AirTran to London? Southwest to Paris? Don't think so. So if you want to fly with the BigBoys you have to play the BigBoys game. Most of you that post on this board are GM's and PM's. That doesn't happen overnight...you still fly Delta. A LOT.
All the threats I hear everyday about people leaving Delta... Flying another airline... Are they? I don't think so. Delta's flights run pretty full and Delta is doing better financially than all the other majors. And why do you think that is? Because they know how to run a BUSINESS. And a business HAS TO MAKE MONEY. The way to do that is to charge fees. They may seem ridiculous to you and you can threaten to put Delta out of business all you want. But it isn't going to happen. This standby fee has probably been on their minds for a long time and now was the perfect time to implement it.
When I posted on this board for the first time about 4 years ago, everybody was up in arms about the "New Policy" of not allowing upgrades on "L" fares. Everybody threatened to fly another airline where they could upgrade.
Oh..hello. You are all still here.

------------------
Off the beaten path I reign

SRQ Guy

WN for one already makes you buy up to the walkup fare in order to take an earlier flight.

The point is that the majors are slowly eroding their advantages away as they further restrict us. We fly the majors because we like the flexibility and we like First Class upgrades. If you take those things away, through fees, or restricting the earning or redemption of elite perks, then you take away the differentiation that allows you to price trips far higher than Southwest or AirTran. Pretty soon you'll be taking the same people as WN at the same fares, but since you have a much highjer cost structure WN will be eating your lunch. For more on this read the story about jetBlue vs United on teh IAD-OAK route in todays Wall Street Journal, page B1. Summary: United spends about $9000 more to operate that flight than JetBlue does, but the passengers are paying the same fare. United loses about $5k each flight, and JetBlue makes a profit of about $4k.

Southern Traveller

No. Even as a leisure traveller, sometimes (due to random events) I find that I can actually make an earlier flight than than the one I actually have a seat on. Who can I bill?

I've paid to fly that day. If there were empty seats on that earlier flight, why can't I just switch w/o a fee?

I still haven't heard a reasonable answer for this, from Delta. Other FT'ers have plenty of opinions (in the previous thread).

I believe it's punitive. Tracking customers is easier if no one switches at the last minute, and tracking is very important in our brave, new secure world.

RSSrsvp

jeyna, I for one intend to use the discounters for my domestic travel. You are correct that we are stuck with the big boys for international travel. That is why I have several hundred thousand Skymiles and an equal number of Amex MR points to use for upgrades.

fannin

So which is it?

I took an early flight home from SFO last week when my neighbor called to say my home had been broken into and the front door lock was shattered. Good enough for you?

As for the discounters, people will gravitate to a service that's not a moving target on rules.

Wait for the first major ice storm. Gate agents will be ad-libbing the no-waiver policy across the system for connections hundreds of miles away from the weather. The airline may ASK us to fly early so they don't have to fork over hotel/meal vouchers.

Airlines overbook flights on calculations we can't examine and then penalize us for playing the system cornered. (Non-rev's never change their plans).

theDeltaFlyer

The new stand-by fee is why I sold the last of my DAL stock last week. It wasn't much, most I sold off two years ago; it was more of a supportive thing since i used to fly DL exclusively. Things were actually looking up in August.

But when I heard my corporate travel dept was already reviewing last weeks DL changes, I new it was bad. We are currently forbidden from US..

Um, please tell Uncle Leo that when a 50,000 person company blacklists you (a la US), or is thinking of blacklisting you as a vendor, it is not a good thing. When management screws up this bad shareholders take notice.

obscure2k

Quote by Jeyna:"------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry...but do Southwest, AirTran and JetBlue have the worldwide flights that Delta has? Can you fly AirTran to London? Southwest to Paris? Don't think so. So if you want to fly with the BigBoys you have to play the BigBoys game."

--We may have to fly with the "BigBoys" internationally, but, domestically, the "BigBoys" are becoming less relevant--

RSSrsvp

BTW, this was posted on the FT Miles board
regarding a first salvo from Air Tran.