Weird situation from earlier this month:
I originally booked two award tickets on two separate SkyMiles accounts (mine and my girlfriend's) for flt #2807, departure on Jan 4 from LGA. On Jan 3, anticipating weather delays, I rebooked both tickets for flt #2285 for a Jan 5 morning departure. On Jan 4, I get a notice that flt #2807 (first flight) is cancelled, as predicted. However, I also get an email saying my ticket on flt #2285 has been changed to a flight on Sat, Jan 6. No explanation is given as to why, nor was the flight cancelled. My ticket was just changed. However, the other ticket for flt #2285 (my girlfriend's) was NOT. She was still on flt #2285.
I spent the next 4 hours of my work day on hold, waiting for support. My call was dropped multiple times in that time as well. When I'm finally connected to a rep, they cannot explain why my ticket was cancelled, other than that it was never confirmed in their system (despite my receiving a confirmation email AND confirmation on my Delta app and in my SkyMiles account.) I'm transferred to a supervisor.
The supervisor, who was very nice, also could not explain why one ticket was not confirmed, but the other was, despite the rebooking happening at the same time. She chalked it up to an error on the Delta end. She is unable to accommodate me on flt #2285 and says the seat that was mine next to my girlfriend has been taken and there is nothing else available on that flight. But she can get me on a flight later that day from JFK (flt #2634) which will land 4.5 hours after I was supposed to land on #2285. I reluctantly accept as I have no other option.
After speaking with the rep, she says all she can do for me is issue a $100 voucher for each of us and upgrade each seat to Delta Comfort+. I tell her I am not satisfied with this and do NOT consider this compensation for the trouble. She said she understood this and that she would make a note of that for when I call back at a later date. I again say that I am worried her issuing me this voucher will look as if the problem is resolved, which I did not think it was. She again said she understood and gave me a "corporate" phone number to call, admitting it was a problem on Delta's end with the reservation system.
Today, I call Delta Customer Care to find out how I will be compensated for this major inconvenience. It takes her 5 minutes to find my "case" and the only notes she has are that I received a credit and upgrade. Nothing else.
I tell her that I did not consider that compensation for waiting on hold for 4 hours, speaking with the rep for 1 hour, losing out on $200 worth of theme park tickets for the day I missed, and not being able to fly next to my girlfriend who has a fear of flying, all which could have been avoided had Delta just honored the ticket on flight #2285 that I had a confirmation for. Her response was that she could do nothing. I was already compensated.
After 10 minutes of back and forth and trying to figure out a resolution, Pat is fed up with me, despite me being polite and courteous, cuts me off mid-sentence by saying "have a nice day" and hangs up on me. I was shocked.
While I don't know if this is clearly defined as an involuntary bump, I'm treating it as such as I had a confirmed ticket and was denied boarding.
Is this situation unique? I can't find instances of it happening elsewhere.
I originally booked two award tickets on two separate SkyMiles accounts (mine and my girlfriend's) for flt #2807, departure on Jan 4 from LGA. On Jan 3, anticipating weather delays, I rebooked both tickets for flt #2285 for a Jan 5 morning departure. On Jan 4, I get a notice that flt #2807 (first flight) is cancelled, as predicted. However, I also get an email saying my ticket on flt #2285 has been changed to a flight on Sat, Jan 6. No explanation is given as to why, nor was the flight cancelled. My ticket was just changed. However, the other ticket for flt #2285 (my girlfriend's) was NOT. She was still on flt #2285.
I spent the next 4 hours of my work day on hold, waiting for support. My call was dropped multiple times in that time as well. When I'm finally connected to a rep, they cannot explain why my ticket was cancelled, other than that it was never confirmed in their system (despite my receiving a confirmation email AND confirmation on my Delta app and in my SkyMiles account.) I'm transferred to a supervisor.
The supervisor, who was very nice, also could not explain why one ticket was not confirmed, but the other was, despite the rebooking happening at the same time. She chalked it up to an error on the Delta end. She is unable to accommodate me on flt #2285 and says the seat that was mine next to my girlfriend has been taken and there is nothing else available on that flight. But she can get me on a flight later that day from JFK (flt #2634) which will land 4.5 hours after I was supposed to land on #2285. I reluctantly accept as I have no other option.
After speaking with the rep, she says all she can do for me is issue a $100 voucher for each of us and upgrade each seat to Delta Comfort+. I tell her I am not satisfied with this and do NOT consider this compensation for the trouble. She said she understood this and that she would make a note of that for when I call back at a later date. I again say that I am worried her issuing me this voucher will look as if the problem is resolved, which I did not think it was. She again said she understood and gave me a "corporate" phone number to call, admitting it was a problem on Delta's end with the reservation system.
Today, I call Delta Customer Care to find out how I will be compensated for this major inconvenience. It takes her 5 minutes to find my "case" and the only notes she has are that I received a credit and upgrade. Nothing else.
I tell her that I did not consider that compensation for waiting on hold for 4 hours, speaking with the rep for 1 hour, losing out on $200 worth of theme park tickets for the day I missed, and not being able to fly next to my girlfriend who has a fear of flying, all which could have been avoided had Delta just honored the ticket on flight #2285 that I had a confirmation for. Her response was that she could do nothing. I was already compensated.
After 10 minutes of back and forth and trying to figure out a resolution, Pat is fed up with me, despite me being polite and courteous, cuts me off mid-sentence by saying "have a nice day" and hangs up on me. I was shocked.
While I don't know if this is clearly defined as an involuntary bump, I'm treating it as such as I had a confirmed ticket and was denied boarding.
Is this situation unique? I can't find instances of it happening elsewhere.