April 23, 2007
James Whitehurst, COO
Delta Airlines
- O. Box 20706
Atlanta, GA 30320-6001
Dear Mr. Whitehurst,
Irate. Furious. Livid. Enraged. There’s not a word in the English language to adequately express my disgruntlement with you (Delta Airlines) at this point in time.
I have been a loyal SkyMiles member for almost a decade now and have spent well over $100,000 on my Delta SkyMiles American Express card.
Here’s the problem: Earlier today I needed to purchase two round-trip tickets – one SkyMiles award ticket (for me) and one regular ticket (for my wife). There is no easy way to do this, which I find COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE.
Usually I purchase tickets online, but in order to assure we’d have seats together, I called the 800# and was connected to someone with a sub-par command of English. Beside the point really, but nonetheless annoying. Much more annoying, however, and in fact INFURIATING, was being told that the flight I wanted had plenty of seats available – and yet no “Award Seats.”
Perhaps I’m being naïve here, Mr. Whitehurst – granted, I know next-to-nothing about how to run an airline profitably (one might argue you don’t either) – but common sense tells me this: If I have 50,000 miles to spend on an Award ticket, I’ve got to be a pretty decent customer. These miles cost me, at minimum, $25,000 of my hard-earned money. Okay? You got the situation? Then I’m told seats are available but I can’t have one.
YOU’VE GOT TO BE $#@%ING KIDDING ME, RIGHT?!
Apparently not. So 45 minutes into the call, I decided to hang up on India and go back online to book my award ticket there. AGAIN – no way to purchase one award ticket and one regular ticket at the same time, which is absurd. I settle for a next-best itinerary and book the ticket. 50,000 miles, whatever, fine.
Then I tried to purchase my wife’s ticket (with the Amex), but to my extreme chagrin I was not provided the same choice of itineraries. One connecting flight was different – which was out of the question, since we’ll be traveling with our 10-month-old son. So what choice did I have? I called the 800# again, this time luckily getting someone in Huntsville, Alabama.
Very nice and courteous employee, but she had tremendous difficulty finding the flights. About 30 minutes later, she was able to guide me through a convoluted online workaround so I could save myself $10 for booking over the phone. So I’m relieved to get the same flights, but then I realize the itinerary is not priced around $500 as originally quoted, but close to $800.
This would be the MOST I’D EVER PAID for a domestic, coach airline ticket, but what choice did I have? Zero, zilch, nada. My award ticket was non-refundable.
So basically, by my account I just spent three hours of my life – and over $30,000 – on two coach airline tickets, and I FEEL LIKE I’VE BEEN SCREWED. BADLY. I feel sick to my stomach and I’m half-tempted to call Amex right now and cancel my card and just say GO TO HELL, DELTA AIRLINES, I’m never flying you again. But, I’m not going to do that. Why? Because you deserve the chance to make this right.
So I say to you, Mr. Whitehurst, MAKE IT RIGHT. Win back my confidence in Delta Airlines – and not with cheap platitudes and assurances to do better next time. I want compensation.
If I have not heard from you in 30 days, the aforementioned steps will be taken, and you know exactly where you can go. Hint: It’s quite hot there, year-round.
Sincerely,
Steve Dupont
SkyMiles #XXXXXXXXXX
- S. An update – but not one that involves satisfactory resolution:
I called your executive offices, left a message with your assistant, and received a call back later from somebody in your customer care center. I do not which to indict this person for his handling of the matter – but instead, the myopic and ill-conceived system binding his actions – so we’ll call him Chuck.
I read Chuck the above letter in its entirety.
In response, Chuck was quite friendly and eager to explain the recent business history of Delta Airlines, namely its emergence from bankruptcy (congrats!). I listen to NPR every morning so I know what’s going on. Therefore, I didn’t particularly care to hear it from Chuck.
What I wanted to hear from Chuck was this: Mr. Dupont, as a longtime SkyMiles Member we do value your business immensely. So tell you what, let’s look at the original itinerary you wanted – and assuming seats are still available, I’ll go ahead and redeem one as a SkyChoice ticket and one at the current Delta.com price, just like you wanted.
Done and done. You see how easy that could have been? But no.
Chuck actually had the nerve to tell me the New Delta won’t negotiate with customers with a “gimme, gimme” attitude. He even inflected his voice to sound like a whiny little child when he said, “gimme, gimme.” That really got under my skin, Mr. Whitehurst. HOW DARE CHUCK SAY THAT!
Admittedly, I raised my voice with Chuck at this point.
I restated some of the points in the letter, namely the fact that I should be able to purchase ANY SEAT AVAILABLE with my Delta SkyMiles. We went around and around, getting no where, and then finally Chuck said he would look for an itinerary that might work.
I suggested the original itinerary, but he said no. He’d look for another one. I said okay.
Chuck asked me for parameters, and seemed surprised that I didn’t want to travel all day and get to San Francisco at 11 PM with a small child (who can’t even say “gimme gimme” yet!) and then do the exact same thing on the return trip. Chuck said that would limit the options, yet I was still hopefully that he might work some customer care magic.
He did no such thing, of course.
Next day, Chuck e-mailed me the very itinerary I said I DIDN’T WANT.
I asked him if that was the best he could do. He said yes. So I said thanks, and hung up.
Now I’m your problem.
