So recently I was stuck in Rochester, NY. All flights leaving the city were overbooked and my flight was cancelled. The best they could do was offer a flight the next day and that was on a standby status. I pointed out to the Delta ticketing agent that I could board Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited at 11 PM that same night and be in Chicago by roughly 10 a.m. for boarding a flight from O’Hare to Dallas around 1:00 PM. As some of you know, O’Hare is a unsinkable Aircraft carrier for American Airline flights to DFW, with one leaving every 30-60 min.
I told the Delta agent I would assume the complete risk for the connection in Chicago and would pay for the Rochester, NY to Chicago portion. Nothing doing says Delta. They cannot rebook a flight between two airports that distance apart unless I first fly to Chicago from an Airport within 1-2 hours driving time from Rochester, NY. That to me seems silly, especially if the airline system is overbooked with reroutings.
Seems to me the next best step to alliviate the temporary congestion is to go intermodal and start booking intermodal airline/bus or airline/train tickets. Delta stated that is against their policy and that the routing must be primarily air. Which led me to complain directly about the practice in Delta’s follow-up survey. Seems somewhat self serving and monopolistic to insist that regardless of the congestion every passenger must remain in the airline system.
Does Delta have an interlining agreement with Amtrak? If not it is far from “monopolistic” or “self serving” to not permit you to take the flight as part of your intinerary. It is no different from Delta not putting you on a Southwest or Allegiant flight, as they do not have interlining agreements with them.
As someone who put themselves through college working for an airline, nothing Delta did seems unordinary or “silly”. What I do see in your post is a complete unawareness in how ticketing and interlining agreements work, and a lack of understanding in the use or non use of flight segments.
I agree that’s the way things “work”. But I think the O.P. has a very good point. If the airline canceled his flight through no fault of his own, then good customer service dictates that they do as much as possible to accommodate him. He has made a very practical and workable suggestion as to how they can do this, and their response was to be too hidebound by their “normal procedures” to adjust and do the sensible thing. A really good customer focus would provide a much better response.
I also understand that the airline industry might want to protect the airline industry by keeping this passenger in the air instead of on the rails. However, they have demonstrated that keeping him in the air does not serve his needs, since THEY canceled the flight that would have served his needs. If that’s the way ticketing and interlining agreements work, then they’re not working at all in this case.
I’m sure this is not a policy that was determined by the airline’s reservation clerks. It goes much higher than that. In his shoes, I would avoid Delta in the future, I would tell all my friends about Delta’s inflexibility, and I would tell Delta’s President that’s what I’m doing. As for myself, it would require an extreme situation to get me on a plane. I don’t fly, for much the same reason. I don’t like to be treated like a member of a herd.
Maybe someone here knows about a Federal authority that would listen to this complaint? FAA? DOT? Amtrak? Senator? Congressman? Somebody else?
800,000 Frequent Flyer miles and climbing…I’ll bet I have more of an impact than most. Yes, I do know how that works with airlines vs a ordoinary traveling tourist. [8D]
I know how interline agreements work and I was not asking for a interline agreement or ticket. I was asking for the freedom to have my reroute departure be Chicago O’Hare vs New York…that was it. Why the airline has veto power over that is beyond me because if it was a straight purchase they would not give a rip. So to me it looks like: “We’ve got your money now and you are not getting it back unless you sue”. Even with that retort I said OK, I would pay for Rochester to New York out of my own pocket. Give me a Travel Voucher as comp OR give me a one way airline ticket from Chicago to DFW.
Last but not least, they need to have a interline agreement in cases where their flight system is overwhealmed and they cannot otherwise recover in a rapid manner. Why make everyone wait hours or days longer instead of rerouting Albany to New York on Amtrak or Rochester to Chicago on Amtrak. Certainly this was not an issue prior to deregulation of the Airline Industry when repeatedly we would see folks flip over to passenger trains when the airline system was swamped.
Now it is an issue with deregulation? Something is wrong here.
Maybe, but you are do not seem to understand the use or non use of purchased flight segments.
Because it is what you agreed to when you purchased the ticket. The fact that is is “beyond you” demonstrates the lack of understanding of airline ticketing rules. You had the “freedom” to get a full refund for your Delta flight had you cancelled your entire itinerary and paid out of pocket for both the Amtrak segment and the AA ORD-DFW segment. The fact you were looking for a travel voucher, or a “comp” shows to me there was some shenanigans going on here. In fact, the entire post reeks a bit of entitlement.
It doesn’t matter what you think the current airline practice is, my arguement is it needs to change. Your attitude is that the airlines can do whatever they want rule wise runs contrary to the philosophy of “common carrier” which they operate under. It’s why we have a Congress overriding their stupidity on runway tamarac wait times. Because their management does not have the intellect to do it themselves.
Wrong again. Delta refused to refund the unused portion of the ticket as I attempted that. They would only credit it towards a future flight. (Psst: Guess I am not the only one lacking understanding here…huh?). The credit of the unused ticket on Delta has to be done outside the Gate Agent they do not have authorization to do that with most Business travelers as their tickets are reserved through an approved agency and that would be an avenue for potential fraud by the ticket holder (Psst: I guess you missed that as well in your airline training).
So back to the route, rerouting. The rule cited again has zero to do with interline
Which is far from the truth. As I already pointed out, I worked for an airline for a while, and it was not unusual to use a bus to get passengers to their final destination. Thunderstorms in and around Chicago resulting in ATC flow control? ORD-SBN passengers get a ticket on Coach USA, ORD-PIA get a ticket on Peoria Charter Coach, and so on…
Why would anyone care? It was the OP’s insistence that he get a one way ticket from a city pair that started 600 miles west that set off red flags. Someone with “800K” Sky Pesos should know that already.
Why don’t you post your problem on Airliners.net and see what the response is. They will make mine look tame…
Or better yet, Flyertalk, they will have fun with you.
BTW, if you have such a problem with posting on a “railfan board”, then why post here? I
I gave refunds all the time, of course I didn’t work for Delta…
That and a five dollar bill will get you a Starbucks coffee. An “experianced buisness traveler” means nothing. That remark however, does also reek of entitlement.
The fact remains, if Delta thinks this is service to their customer, then they need to reevaluate their definition of customer service, since they created the problem by canceling his flight in the first place. The customer is not their servant.
How do you know that it was Delta’s fault the flight was cancelled. The OP never posted the reason why the flight was cancelled. That area has had a lot of weather this winter…
It was multiple mechanical and equipment problems impacting Delta at once plus Spring Break crowds. n012944 is applying rules that he remembers from dealing with the tourist crowd. Most of them do not apply to the business traveler and some of them no longer exist. So take his input for what it is worth…a look back in history but not really applicable to this scenario.
Has zero clue on how the rules are different for business passengers or frequent flyers from airline to airline.
Intermodalism as it pertains to Amtrak and rail passenger service is appropriate to this board. If your unsure then contact a Moderator, don’t pretend to be one.
The crowds of seasonal passengers did not cancel the flight.
The mechanical problems did not cancel the flight.
Who’s left? Delta canceled the flight, no matter the reason. Delta is supposedly in business to serve their customers. Sometimes it’s difficult to provide the service, but it’s a job they willingly took on. They failed.
Wow, so not only are you a world traveler, but a historian on my employment history. I think this is where I will stop, since your ignorance is really showing and getting in the way of having a conversation. Working the Global Service desk is not “dealing with tourists”. It is dealing with passengers who make you look like a Priceline “name your price” traveler. As I said, take you argument to Flyertalk or Airliners.net and report back the responses. Somehow I do not think that I should hold my breath for that…
Why don’t you post your problem on Airliners.net and see what the response is. They will make mine look tame…
Or better yet, Flyertalk, they will have fun with you.
BTW, if you have such a problem with posting on a “railfan board”, then why post here? I
CMStPnP
The credit of the unused ticket on Delta has to be done outside the Gate Agent they do not have authorization to do that with most Business travelers as their tickets are reserved through an approved agency and that would be an avenue for potential fraud by the ticket holder (Psst: I guess you missed that as well in your airline training).
I gave refunds all the time, of course I didn’t work for Delta…
CMStPnP
I know because I was there and I asked specifically as an experienced business traveler
That and a five dollar bill will get you a Starbucks coffee. An “experianced buisness traveler” means nothing. That remark however, does also reek of entitlement.
I don’t understand the tie in between Delta and Amtrak. Amtrak list United air lines as a partner and having inter line ticketing codes. I don’t see delta listed nor can I find any reference to Amtrak in any lists of of delta partners.
No12944 is just stating his opinion, I don’t see it as being anti Amtrak or anti rail. We all got to play nice.
Why wouldn’t I just speak with Delta representatives when they call me back on the survey? Why would I go to another board full of like minded people like yourself that are basically guessing what happened instead of asking. It just does not make sense to me. Alternatively, I can used LinkedIn where I can actually see the resume of whom I am talking to vs someone telling me their resume. Professionalism there is a little higher as well.
IMO, you do not have a whole lot of experience with business travelers based on your comments. I was being generous there with that comment. Both my Brother and Sister-In-Law worked for America West airlines and I do know a big part of what you stated has zero to do with the topic or scenario, your just wanting to argue. I am surprised you didn’t mention the Warsaw treaty…equally irrelevant in this case. It’s great you know all that stuff you wrote about but most of it is not applicable to this travel scenario. Sorry that puts you in a huff BUT again I am the guy with the miles and travel more than you do. Your the guy recollecting how things were when you were in college…and who knows how long ago that was.
Here is a tip next time for online interaction. Ask a little bit more for details first about
I would have thought bluestreak1 could have shed some light on this controversy in terms of current airline practice and from a high enough level to know. I personally do know from experience and from a friend in corporate at American Air that the treatment you get when cancellations occur depends on what you know to ask for. It isn’t automatic.