This merger is causing booking difficulties
May 29, 2009, 10:49 am
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Some place in this wonderful world (usually at 39,000 ft in seat 1C)
Programs: CO Gold Elite / NW Gold Elite
Posts: 13,747
Hi all--wanted to provide some clarification/correction on the below points...Thx--Josh
- DL's policy, in place for many years, reserves advance assignment of preferred seats for DL elites, SkyTeam elite and Elite+, passengers traveling with these customers, customers with disabilities, and anyone on a Y/B fare. We track all exceptions to this (which our agents have latitude to make this call when needed) because our elite customers tell us it's one of the benefits they like best.
- All customers holding confirmed travel on a flight can check-in on delta.com up to 24h before departure and receive a Seat Request Card, which places them on the "awaiting seat assignment" list, lets them check bags, and scans just like a boarding pass at the gate reader once the customer's cleared into an actual seat assignment.
- All priority seats are available to all SkyTeam elites. On aircraft where exit rows are designated as preferred seats, this also applies.
- I mentioned this in a previous post but did want to let you know that we are working on the delta.com displays to allow this. Our Reservations agents have been working with the same SkyTeam guidelines for years and are quite well versed in which customers get access to priority seats, so please send me a private message if you experience any issues with this. Thanks--Josh
- DL's policy, in place for many years, reserves advance assignment of preferred seats for DL elites, SkyTeam elite and Elite+, passengers traveling with these customers, customers with disabilities, and anyone on a Y/B fare. We track all exceptions to this (which our agents have latitude to make this call when needed) because our elite customers tell us it's one of the benefits they like best.
- All customers holding confirmed travel on a flight can check-in on delta.com up to 24h before departure and receive a Seat Request Card, which places them on the "awaiting seat assignment" list, lets them check bags, and scans just like a boarding pass at the gate reader once the customer's cleared into an actual seat assignment.
- All priority seats are available to all SkyTeam elites. On aircraft where exit rows are designated as preferred seats, this also applies.
- I mentioned this in a previous post but did want to let you know that we are working on the delta.com displays to allow this. Our Reservations agents have been working with the same SkyTeam guidelines for years and are quite well versed in which customers get access to priority seats, so please send me a private message if you experience any issues with this. Thanks--Josh
1) might be policy but in reality it isn't so - DL.com doesn't allow nwa elites to choose P seats, DL reservations agents wont give nwa elites P seats without us asking for a supervisor...thankfully the folks in the Iron Range center are able to grab them for us though but in this case they couldn't...in this case I was the ONLY elite member on this flight (or at least the only one who preboarded so there might have been others) and was unable to grab a seat 4 days (date of booking) before departure
2) that isn't what I was told in both ORF and ATL 2 weeks ago, I was told I couldn't check in online because I didn't have a seat and I was too far out from departure (and in fact I couldn't check in online but perhaps it was something in my record preventing it but the outbound seg did let me check in just fine)...I did try to check in both at the 24 hour mark from the return and AFTER I flew the outbound segment....couldn't check-in online but again both NWA & heck even WN will let you check in for returns without you having flown the first segment as long as it's within the 24 hour window, many many folks do day trips - so why make there travel more difficult by not allowing them to check in until the first segment is booked?
3) again see #1
4) Josh - I think if you search the NWA threads here you'll see it's an exception rather than the rule - as I stated earlier now that the folks in Chisholm have access the issues with DL reservation agents not helping us are kept to a minimum because we're using Chisholm but based upon much recent experience the training of DL reservation agents didn't work and needs to be rerolled out
I dont mean to be gruff but it's very difficult for us NWA elites to use DL.com or DL reservations - easy and customer service are the two main things I'm looking for when traveling....again neither are present in the current setup (note: over the years I've shared both the good and bad with Crystal Knotek and have shared my recent frustrations on this issue with her....I know she (and everyone at DL/NWA) are equally frustrated and are working hard to correct the issues but it has to be costing $$$ in lost revenue as pax finally say enough is enough)
Last edited by socrates; May 29, 2009 at 10:56 am
