I promise that I didn't start this blog to bash airlines but it just seems that they haven't been the best experiences as of late and since we talk about customer service, here goes.
So today when I should have been working I started to look up what islands we could hop to when Dudley, my sister, and I go to Greece next year. In order to see which days we could hop I went to the Delta website to see the exact days we would be gone. When I got to the site it said "contact Delta" where it should have said "confirmed" next to my flight to Greece. Uh oh! That didn't seem good. I called Delta and got an idiot. I tried to explain to him that there were three of us traveling together but he said that the other two would have to call in separately (which is kind of dumb cause I had all her stuff, pin, number, confirmation # and I would have just called back and pretended to be her). I understand that for Dudley, but my sister was on my same skymiles number so that one he could have fixed which I explained to him. He finally found it. Then he disappeared for a while and came back to say that he couldn't fix mine but could fix my sister's. He told me that the reason that he couldn't fix mine was because it was on a Continental flight...WHAT? I booked this on the D website using my skymiles and it didn't tell me what it was going to be on C. I know it is not D's fault that they cancelled the flight but I am their customer so shouldn't they fix it for me? One would think.
me: So, what happens now?
him: I have to transfer you to the partner airlines customer service and they will fix it for you.
me: What if they don't have any flights, then what?
him: Well, they have to protect you and they have the same policies that we have so they will rebook you on another flight.
me: Are you sure?
him: Yep, they have the same policies that we do.
me: ok, transfer me
Now, it is 20 mins later cause I paraphrased for you guys, and I am transferred to Nancy. I explain the situation....3 of us traveling together, one had a different flight and I have the information for the other two. Nancy is nice, Nancy is going to help. She lets me give her all the information for me and Dudley...no having to call back. I was glad about that. She also told me that she was not the person that he was supposed to transfer me to but she would still help. She leaves me on hold and goes to look for flights
her: ok, I am looking but C didn't protect you at all.
me: ok, what does that mean? and why wasn't I called when this flight got cancelled?
her: well, your flight isn't until next Feb so you probably would have gotten a call in the fall (great, when there were no flights left) and to answer your other question, we have to find another flight for you that is the same mileage.
me: why can't I get on the one on Delta that my sister just got on.
her: because there are no more seats at the lower mileage that you paid.
me: right, but I booked this 3 months ago when it did only cost this much and this is not MY fault that one of your partners cancelled a flight.
her: right, and I am going to look for another one but if we can't find one we will have to redeem your miles
pause:
There is no way my miles would have been redeemed. I know that there is someone at that company who could waive the extra miles because of all the trouble I had to deal with and I would have stayed on the phone until I found them...I fly D literally every week!
resume:
me: this policy doesn't seem right, why wasn't I rebooked
her: C got out of the market completely, let me look and see what I can find
10 mins later-
her: ok, I found a flight that takes you through philly and then paris. You will only get into Greece 3 hours later than you would have and you will have an additional layover. I will also waitlist you on the D flight that migh open up (the one my sister is on).
me: ok, if that is my only option.
her: um, I know this is not your fault but there is $21 extra dollars for this flight in taxes.
me: fine, credit card #
her: ok, I will send you the intineraries.
me: thanks, and I still think that this policy is stupid but thank you for helping me.
her: thanks for being a valued medallion member.
Whatever. Valued my ass! I know that it is not their fault that the C flight got cancelled but I do feel that they should have fixed it for me and if that means they lose a skymile seat then so be it. Not like you are even going to be able to use those miles much longer anyway the way they keep jacking up all the flights. And for the record, I booked a flight today and it was on D, so I still fly them and I try to be loyal but this has gotten absolutely tiring lately. That phone call lasted 56 minutes today and then at the end of it I was making an additional connection on an already long flight, getting in 4 hours later, and paying $21 more.
I am seriously considering writing them a letter. I am sure that it will do no good and I am sure they get a ton and will post it in the breakroom for bad grammar but I just feel like they should know how a customer of theirs, who has literally flown almost every week for the last 4 months is treated. I have at least 5 things I could list for them now. Maybe I will at least get a free drink coupon (since they are $7 instead of $5). I am their exact target market...shouldn't they want to keep me happy? I travel 3-4 weeks a month, live in their home city, am young which means I could last a while with them, and I am loyal when treated properly. I like to stick with what I know. I think that it all goes back to what Molly said in her AT&T post....sometimes you just want people to apologize for causing you such a headache and too many hours of my life have been wasted lately to let it go, and I keep giving them a chance. Maybe it is the whole airline industry, I don't know, but I do know that someone should read my letter (even if it is the intern). They should have some sort of system that automatically sends me something when I get obscenely delayed (they used to do that...I got a random drink coupon or $50 gift certificate or something when I had some long delays and an emergency landing one time). That was when I was gold so maybe I have something to look forward to soon....
6 months ago
4 comments:
this reminds me of what I tell people after my horror story with the airlines: if you book all of the tickets together, and one person happens to get another flight out there for any reason, before you get on the plane to Europe, CALL CUSTOMER SERVICE and CANCEL the person who's not flying on the tickets. My sister had to take a different flight to Italy from the US. When we got to Italy & Greece, I thought I'd be great. She calls and finds out that her seat on the return flight is cancelled, and because one of my party was a no-show, MY return flight was cancelled. I was standing in Rome's airport without a dime to my name, only a useless ticket in my hand, all my bags are already checked (to where? I dunno), and I think the Al-Italia customer service rep was either drunk or stupid, and the only English she spoke was "no, you are not getting on the flight back to Boston." I sat down and cried and was literally ready to go to the US Embassy and then, by some stroke of luck, I happened to find Cara's mom's european cell #, as she was an int'l delta flight attendant. I had lost that number before I even left Boston, but it magically appeared in my pocket. I called her and she found a friend on Al Italia who was able to raise enough hell so I could just GO HOME!
Ahhh...the good old days of flying!
Good to know...I booked my sister's ticket a week after mine cause she couldn't decide if she wanted to go and hers is a Delta flight but mine wasn't...whatever...hopefully it is fixed now but it makes me nervous that we will not actually make it...now we are on Air France so hopefully they are more reliable then Continental!
I think you should write a letter or better yet send them a link to your blog and let them see the Delta bashing that happens when they try to bring Melissa Powers down!! :)
I am afraid that if they had a link to the blog they would ban me from their flights....or I would get a free flight....hmmmmm
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