I'm a small businessman and Februrary 20 I bought tickets to New York via Detroit for 3/10 returning 3/11 so that I could buy rugs for my business.
I live in Evansville IN and can only get to about 3 cities fom here on Delta. About 10 minutes after we took off from Evansville IN, the pilot announced problems with the de-icing system and diverted the plane to Memphis.(Instead of returning to Evansville, which to me sounds like the logical course of action) When we got to Memphis the pilot announced that we couldn't land in Memphis and were being diverted to Little Rock Arkansas. In Little Rock everyone on the plane was given a $200 voucher for our "inconvenience". Because the plane was diverted, Delta couldn't get me on any connections to LaGuardia so they booked me on another flight with American, which when I got to the gate was oversold. I went back to the Delta counter and waited(along with many other people that Delta reps had also booked on oversold flights) I finally got Delta to book me on another flight, this time back to Evansville, since I had already missed all my meetings in New York, on American Airlines (through Chicago since Delta has no direct flight Little Rock-Evansville), 5 hours later.
Making a long story short, Delta, because of mechanical problems noticed 10 MINUTES OUT of our original departure point, made me miss an entire trip since they couldn't get me to my destination until WELL after my meetings were over and after I was told that Delta would give me a free ticket, which I didn't need to go to some exotic location, I just needed it to get to New York next week, before my wifes surgery on Thursday so that I have time to choose my merchandise and have it get to my little store before the end of March.
My wife got onto Delta.com this morning to make sure this EXACT flight was still available and it was. Since Delta couldn't get me to New York when they were supposed to, I assumed they would honor this itinerary and get me there next week.
Instead, NOW the ticket(since I had to buy it 4 days out instead of 21 days out) was $786 instead of $468.
When my wife called Delta this morning, she spoke to Sandy, at the 800-707-5177 number where they are supposed to help you in booking another flight, with the free ticket I was promised. This number is on the NEED HELP card that Delta gives you when they(not the weather) are at fault for screwing up your travel plans. Sandy told me that even though I spent the ENTIRE DAY in Little Rock and Delta was directly responsible for not getting me to New York, I had $400 in vouchers and THAT was the extent of what Delta would do for me. Apparently, THAT is what Delta thinks a Small Business owners time is worth. My wife didn't argue too much with this person since obviously Sandy could not or would not help her rebook my flight.
Sandy connected my wife with Chelsea who was supposed to be a Customer Service Supervisor. My wife was told by Chelsea that since the ticket price was more expensive, they wold not give me a ticket to New York on the same flight without me paying more. Chelsea told my wife, "well, we're not making you pay a change fee." Deltas position is, "You use your $400 in vouchers you have, ($200 for the inconvenience,$200 for giving up your seat on an overbooked American Airlines flight we booked you on), plus you use the $234 credit we're giving you for not using the return flight(3/11 from LGA-EVV)that comes to $634 and you still owe Delta $152.00 to get to LaGuardia next week.
Obviously, Delta is only used to dealing with BIG companies who do LOTS of flying, because they sure don't understand that small, solely owned businesses CANNOT afford to pay more for tickets because Delta has mechanical problems.
I live in Evansville IN and can only get to about 3 cities fom here on Delta. About 10 minutes after we took off from Evansville IN, the pilot announced problems with the de-icing system and diverted the plane to Memphis.(Instead of returning to Evansville, which to me sounds like the logical course of action) When we got to Memphis the pilot announced that we couldn't land in Memphis and were being diverted to Little Rock Arkansas. In Little Rock everyone on the plane was given a $200 voucher for our "inconvenience". Because the plane was diverted, Delta couldn't get me on any connections to LaGuardia so they booked me on another flight with American, which when I got to the gate was oversold. I went back to the Delta counter and waited(along with many other people that Delta reps had also booked on oversold flights) I finally got Delta to book me on another flight, this time back to Evansville, since I had already missed all my meetings in New York, on American Airlines (through Chicago since Delta has no direct flight Little Rock-Evansville), 5 hours later.
Making a long story short, Delta, because of mechanical problems noticed 10 MINUTES OUT of our original departure point, made me miss an entire trip since they couldn't get me to my destination until WELL after my meetings were over and after I was told that Delta would give me a free ticket, which I didn't need to go to some exotic location, I just needed it to get to New York next week, before my wifes surgery on Thursday so that I have time to choose my merchandise and have it get to my little store before the end of March.
My wife got onto Delta.com this morning to make sure this EXACT flight was still available and it was. Since Delta couldn't get me to New York when they were supposed to, I assumed they would honor this itinerary and get me there next week.
Instead, NOW the ticket(since I had to buy it 4 days out instead of 21 days out) was $786 instead of $468.
When my wife called Delta this morning, she spoke to Sandy, at the 800-707-5177 number where they are supposed to help you in booking another flight, with the free ticket I was promised. This number is on the NEED HELP card that Delta gives you when they(not the weather) are at fault for screwing up your travel plans. Sandy told me that even though I spent the ENTIRE DAY in Little Rock and Delta was directly responsible for not getting me to New York, I had $400 in vouchers and THAT was the extent of what Delta would do for me. Apparently, THAT is what Delta thinks a Small Business owners time is worth. My wife didn't argue too much with this person since obviously Sandy could not or would not help her rebook my flight.
Sandy connected my wife with Chelsea who was supposed to be a Customer Service Supervisor. My wife was told by Chelsea that since the ticket price was more expensive, they wold not give me a ticket to New York on the same flight without me paying more. Chelsea told my wife, "well, we're not making you pay a change fee." Deltas position is, "You use your $400 in vouchers you have, ($200 for the inconvenience,$200 for giving up your seat on an overbooked American Airlines flight we booked you on), plus you use the $234 credit we're giving you for not using the return flight(3/11 from LGA-EVV)that comes to $634 and you still owe Delta $152.00 to get to LaGuardia next week.
Obviously, Delta is only used to dealing with BIG companies who do LOTS of flying, because they sure don't understand that small, solely owned businesses CANNOT afford to pay more for tickets because Delta has mechanical problems.