UKCatsHoopsFan

In the process of going to battle with International Ticket Re-Issue desk

My DL 41 VIE-ATL flight in October has been canceled which wasn't a suprise as a Tuesday run probably wasn't that profitable, especially in October. Expected a call to SMS would clear it up, get rerouted, etc. SMS was great, rerouted through CDG, roughly same time frame, even got a seat assignment on AF! Then I am sent to the reissue desk.

There I am informed by an overly self assured agent that the SMS desk made a mistake and that my SkySaver award ticket could not be used for the rerouting. "Fine" I said, "What flights are availible?" She responded, "There are no other options, you either have to use additional miles or purchase a ticket." At this point I asked to speak to a supervisor. Supervisor says award tickets are not treated the same way as paid tickets and that I would have to find another 50K flight Of course, he says he can't find any now that I would have to connect through CDG. Getting ready to call back....

Thoughts? Strategies? I feel that Delta should honor my dates as it was their decision to cancel the flight. Yes, for those who are familiar with the SkyMiles T&C, I am sure that they are in the right, but lets step out on a limb and assume for a minute that DL still values customer service.

jimrpa

Why not get creative and try connecting through some other European hub or something? AMS? FCO? Moscow? maybe Prague? perhaps a direct flight to another European city then Air Europa or something? Don't accept defeat!

langleyoaker

VIE-ATL is one of the routes DL is canceling, last flight is on 5 Oct.

angra

Ouch, that hurts. I have an award on this route in May of 09 and haven't yet called in about it. I hope this isn't really the way Delta is going to handle this. I'm guessing that had you found available award inventory that they'd want you to pay the $25 parter, $25 phone, and $50 new fuel fee, too - did they say?

can anyone else verify this is the company policy here, or is it possible that UKCatsHoopsFan got a bum agent?

smp9778

That's odd because I recently had a Skysaver award flight on Air France from JNB-CDG which was cancelled by Air France, and Delta was very good about working with Air France to override us onto another flight despite lack of Skysaver availability. Granted, that was an instance in which Air France cancelled the flight, not Delta (and consequently Air France may have more inclined to find a solution given that they created the problem). That was last month.

Just out of curiousity, what time of day were you calling? I always find that I get much better results when calling from M-F 9-5. During "business hours", I seem to get routed to more experienced DL personnel (who understand the system and the rules), whereas evenings and weekends I often end up with a vaguely-foreign sounding representative.

Obviously this isn't ideal, but also did you look into JFK-Budapest on Delta? (Budapest is about 130 miles from Vienna).

Good luck.

psychtobe

does the Rule 80 3 b c or whatever that SAT Lawyer referenced in the canceled honeymoon thread apply? It is a ticket canceled by Delta for reasons under their control; isn't one of the potential remedies placement on another carrier? Or are award tickets governed under a different rule under the COC? It seems like a slightly different situation in that the entire destination has been cx'd rather than just the daily frequency.

LegalTender

SMS agents = good cops.

Actual decision-makers = bad cops.

USCGamecock

Last time this happened to me, the agent made changes w/o penalty. I paid for it in time spent on the phone.

rcherskov

I just called to deal with the reservation I had which was affected by the cancellation of this route. Hopefully the agents that are available during "normal business hours" are more capable.

The agent tried to tell me that the flight cancellation was a "schedule change" and that it will change again in a few weeks. She said the trip isn't until next spring, so I ought to wait to get the reservation fixed. I said I would rather take care of this now. She reluctantly agreed to help me find another way home.

I told her that I had two options that we could try in order to get me home. Before I could give her my options, she said, "just a moment" and put me on hold for fifteen minutes. When she came back, she said "You'll have to connect in CDG and then spend the night there and fly back the next day through JFK." This suggests to me that they weren't willing to override any inventory controls to get this cleared up. It could also be that she was just lazy. I told her again that I had some better options for her to try. For instance, I would rather overnight at FCO and fly back non-stop on the AZ FCO-MIA the next day. I don't think she wanted to deal with partner carriers at all before she couldn't seem to or want to understand what I was trying to request.

I finally just told her to book me back the next day MUC-ATL-FLL and I would get myself to Munich on Sunday. She acted like she was doing me a favor -- like I would prefer to take a train to Munich, overnight, and fly home from there rather than the easy VIE-ATL-FLL I originally booked. I was put on the new flights with no add'l taxes/change fees/etc.

Again, I know better now and will call M-F 9-5 for international award ticket schedule changes/route cancellations. I usually speak very highly of Delta and this was an unusual Delta interaction for me. Wish SMS could have handled this one!

throatybeard

Here's a question; why is DL cutting Vienna, but keeping Prague from ATL? They aren't equally profitable/unprofitable?

mersk862

PRG has the benefit of feed from the Czech Airlines network, which VIE does not. Also helps that DL and Czech have Anti-Trust Immunity.

BF263533

The last time this happened was with TWA in 1993. I believe that I was using AA miles. For the inconvenience I demanded that I be upgraded from coach to business which TWA agreed to. What a difference 15 years makes.

I would insist that my original Saver award be honored and that DL bear the burden of the re-routing since DL is canceling the flight for its economic reasons, and that a passenger should not bear the burden of a canceled flight.

Spiff

Agreed, just call back. DL's cancellation should not be your problem any more than it already is. Your attitude should be one where you're ticked off that the nonstop has been cancelled but that you will reluctantly accept (free) reaccommodation on another routing.

GUWonder

This is exactly the way DL often handles things. I would not be surprised if this is because DL doesn't want to pay the other operating airlines closer to the regular paid fare.

DHAST

I think the proper terminology in this instance is not "canceled" but "discontinued". The former implies a flight was scheduled to operate, but did not for some last minute reason. The later refers to a flight that was scheduled to operate, but was then permanently removed from the schedule. The later is also referred to in the rules and regs as a "schedule change."

And if I'm not mistaken (and I very well could be here) I believe that the carrier's legal liability when discontinuing service to an entire city (as opposed to a specific flight) is to simply refund what was paid.