jjglaze77

OK... I would post in the thread that I started a while back, but I cannot find it. Mods feel free to merge these threads if you can find the old one!

OK, so here's the latest update:

I have to travel to CLT this weekend on business. I had a MR booked Saturday, so I simply cancelled it. My company booked me on NW, but on a full-Y ticket... so, since I'm PM on DL, I decided to hop over to the airport, have NW transfer the ticket to DL, and get on some DL flights as I have done before in similar situations. So I call DL and first tell the agent to cancel my MR, she takes a look at it, laughs a little bit, and said, "Sure! Not up for such a busy day, eh?" lol... So I felt comfortable with her as she seemed to understand my mileage habit. Next, I ask her to book me a trip to CLT. I have to be in CLT ASAP on Saturday morning, so she books me TUL-CVG-CLT. On the return, I asked her to book me on CLT-ATL-CVG-SLC-TUL. A perfectly valid routing and all flights had availability. Again, she laughed and said, "Sure!" Problem: the computer would not allow her to price the ticket due to so many segments. She told me she would call customer service and get them to enter the fare for me and that she would give me a call as soon as the fare was ready to be ticketed. About 15 minutes later, she calls me and says everything is OK, but "The customer service agent asked me to inform you that it is against the rules of the SkyMiles program to voluntarily take extra segments for the sole purpose of earning miles. If we 'audit' your account, you could lose the extra miles you earn." Although that worried me right there, she seemed to think it wasn't a big deal, so I continued to the airport.


Upon arrival, I proceeded to the DL ticket counter, showed them my record and the NW ticket number, and then went to NW to get them to release the ticket. After they got that squared away, the agent walked me back over to the DL counter and the manager (who I am familiar with) handed me a piece of paper. Below are its contents:

>G*9711/3-48<
09711-SM MILEAGE INFO MILEAGE ACCRUAL PAGE 3+
48---------------------------MILEAGE CALCULATION-----------------+
49 - CALCULATED MILEAGE BETWEEN ORIGIN AND FINAL DESTINATION +
50 - NONSTOP AND MULTIPLE STOP THROUGH FLIGHTS CREDITED +
51 FROM ORIGIN TO FINAL DESTINATION +
52 - VOLUNTARY PLANE CHANGES IN LIEU OF NONSTOP AND/OR +
53 DIRECT FLTS TO ACCUMULATE MILEAGE IS NOT PERMITTED +
54 - CONNECTING FLIGHTS CREDITED BY SEGMENT +
55 - DL RESERVES THE RIGHT TO LIMIT CREDIT FOR AN ITIN TO +
56 THE NBR OF CONNECTING FLTS ACTUALLY TRVLD OR MAXIMUM +
57 NBR OF SEGMENTS SHOWN IN DL*S PUBLISHED SCHEDULE FOR +
58 A CONNECTION BETWEEN 2 CITIES..WHICHEVER IS LESS. %)

He stated that he would be happy to rebook my ticket on Delta, but that he would not book the triple connection because it would cause DL to audit my account and that I would lose ALL my miles. I did not persist and simply booked a connection via CVG on the return as well.

What disturbs me is the fact that this information does not appear in ANY PUBLIC record that I can find, outside the GRS. Based on the input I received from FT, I went ahead and booked 7 TUL-SLC-ATL-DFW-SLC-TUL MRs over the next month in order to get the mileage for an award I want for summer. Is the only reason my mini-MR for this weekend would have caused an audit because I had to take care of the ticket in person? I mean, I intend to use the kiosks to check in for all flights associated with all MRs and I booked all the tickets with online travel agencies (Travelocity, et. al.) so as long as I do not interact with any people is it correct that I will avoid their "radar" screen?


I'll be glad when I have to award certificate in hand at the end of the month...

mahasamatman

Just tell them you're trying to accumulate segments, not mileage. According to their own rules, it's allowed, though they reserve the right to credit you with fewer segments.

noah

Wow.

You should post this over on the DL board.

mtparadis

Wow.... I can't say I've ever heard of such a thing.

mtparadis

DL doesn't do segments so I doubt that would fly.

MikeMpls

Sounds as though Delta's infamous "Revenue Protection Unit" (recently rumored to be deceased) may have pulled the stake out of its heart and returned to life.

mtparadis

Either that or this is just some leftover relic from those days and the OP happened to run in to an overzealous agent.

GoodKarmaGuy

Grrrrr...well, that settles THAT.

I was gifted a $400 DL voucher from a colleague and was going to use it to do two segment/mileage runs WAS-SNA. I have heard about this revenue protection unit and queried on the DL Forum. Yuck. Plus, I have not recieved any answer on a month-old request of status match. NOW THIS. I am a new east-coast transplant and really figured that DL would be a good choice (used to be lots of HP, AA and NW from SFO).

Forget it.

As it's travel must start 3/28, I may as well use the voucher to buy a Crown Club pass and stay on NW for exit row seating, etc. on all SkyTeam. DL can take a flying leap.

(And there goes my GoodKarma )

925

A lot of this MIGHT be attributed to bringing it to their attention in the first place. I try to keep my visibility real low wherever I can.

If you ask permission, or need too much help, you share in the blame a bit, I guess.

keithguy

Actually, the GDS info is listed almost verbatim under the Mileage Credit Rules & Conditions Under the SkyMiles section of delta.com (see section under "Calculation of Mileage Credit for Air Travel").

DL's internal reservations systems does have difficulty pricing flights with multiple segments (at least on domestic US itins). So to avoid suspicions/flags for 'audit', yes, it's probably best to book from an external source (such as AA.com or Expedia), although in this case, that's not really possible.

Also, the above is a Skymiles rule, so the alternative would be to credit DL MRs to partner programs. Again, in this case, that's not really helpful.

SAT Lawyer

Let me get this straight. . . You voluntarily transfered your full-fare business to DL and they kicked you in the teeth? Shouldn't DL, an airline that isn't exactly in robust financial health, be a little bit more concerned about getting your valuable and fairly lucrative travel dollar (or, perhaps more accurately, your company's), rather than worrying about whether you have a twisted fascination with SLC as a connecting airport? Just outrageous. Does anybody really wonder why DL is flirting with financial disaster?

Whether or not DL, in fact, has a rule buried in the fine print of some obscure rulebook is an issue that is a drop in the bucket compared to the much more consequential issue of the utter stupidity of such a rule as evidenced by this anecdote!

zrs70

Didn't you have friends to visit in all those cities?

Jaimito Cartero

Or postcards that you needed to pick up in the gift shop at each city? Doing a taste test to see which Taco Bell has the best food?

civicmon

or "clothes shopping" in the airport for the local sport teams apparal?

Gnopps

But do the above suggestions solve the problem? As I understood it, flying this routing was not the problem, it was getting credited that didn't work.