Delta & Military Travelers
 

For the last three days I have had the experience of trying to get Delta to provide a complimentary upgrade from Coach to First Class. You see a young man who just finished serving his four years in the US Navy was departing Honolulu, HI on Flight #836 today, 9/4/13 to come home to Millbrook, NY via Atlanta and thjrough to White Plains, NY. I wanted to see if I could get Delta to comp him the first class seat since this is a 9 hour flight. I first started out with reservations and they advised Delta has no guidance for that even if the 1st Class seat will fly empty. I then contacted Delta Corporate Public Affairs(Samantha) and she said my message/request would be passed onto the right person. Never heard from anyone. Next, I called Corporate Offices in Atlanta and asked to speak with the secretary to Ed Bostian, President, so that I could run my request through his office. Corporate operators advised they are not permitted to switch phone calls to the Executive Offices and they can only takes messages. Next I reached out to the Honolulu station manager for Delta to see if they could help. Faith in Station Manager, Willard Oshima's office said she would get back to me. Mind you during this time I had been checking the reservation website to see how many 1st Class seats were left. On my last call to Faith, one hour prior to departure, I indicated that there was one seat left; she told me that the seat would definitely be taken by someone who could use miles to upgrade from coach. If the seat flew empty, I asked, could they upgrade this sailor. No response. In desperation, I asked if he could be offered complimentary dinner in Coach. Not skipping a beat, Faith answered, "Yes, could I have your credit card number please so we can charge that meal to you." I merely state the facts on this website and will not offer an opinion of what happened. Thanks.........Alec Pandaleon, American Legion Past County Commander, Millbrook, NY( aap3rd@hotmail.com ) On the flipside, I will say that when a similar situation arose last year with a returning Marine from Afghanistan coming home to see his 3 day old baby, I contacted Northwest Airlines and they pulled out all the stops: First Class Seating, Priority Boarding and a special message over the PA to the whole plane thanking this young hero for his service to a grateful nation. Way to go Northwest, you are the best !!!!!

I am not sure about this... even though I hate Delta. In 2011, the US had over 100,000 service personnel on the ground in Afghanistan. Would all of them deserve an upgrade on their return? Do they offer each soldier an upgrade once only or do they offer them one every time they fly? Should other service providers offer this? Does the taxi firm home have to comp an upgrade to a limo?

(Btw, as an aside, I think it was longer ago than last year that Northwest was absorbed into Delta, so not sure that happened in 2012).

NWA has been DAL since 2008. Over 5 years.

I have seen Delta flight attendants upgrade soldiers all the time. never gate agents. same with other airlines. plus, how did you contact northwest? they have been delta now for YEARS

Shame on the OP. As a former vet (Academy grad) its an all volunteer service, live with it. Are the restaurants in the airport comping him free meals? Hotels? taxis?
As military people you humbly serve... any recognition perk thrown your way are just that, you don't ask.
HI flights are almost impossible to get a first class seat, no airline has those seats go out empty.
As a former military Officer, I find the entitlement attitude disgusting.

I am shocked that the OP thinks there is still dinner served in coach on these flights :)
We went from Dallas to Honolulu back last fall and all that was in coach was nasty looking sandwiches for sale. Glad I was warned about this before the trip and brought our own food.

We were using miles and this trip, booked six months in advance and still wasn't able to book first class using mileage cause it was full.

Surprised at the concensus here...sounds like we all agree...expecting this upgrade was a bit much.

Agree with Leatherboy... first class is largely used now to reward high paying frequent flyers... it is rarely empty.