[permitage]

Just had the unfortunate experience of booking a trip using miles, business meeting was cancelled and had my miles re-deposited into my Delta Sky MIles Account. Delta charged me $150.00 for the re-deposit, which is absolutely insane and an aggregious price for a simple keystroke.
Not a way to run an airline and even worse is that I, for many years have chosen Northwest/Delta for all my travel.

Time to change.

[justme]

Before you change thinking the grass is greener on the other side I spent the last hour on the phone doing some research for you. You'll be happy to know that the grass is pretty much the same unless you dare to venture into the LCC market. American, United, and US Air all charge an identical $150 fee to reinstate miles. Continental only charges $75. Alaska and Hawaiian call centers were both closed since it's Saturday. Airtran charges $75 if you were booked in coach, an there is no fee if you were booked in business. Jetblue charges $100 to reinstate points. So, as you can see, $150 may not be to your liking, but seems fairly standard.

[jimworcs]

What is standard about that? Lets look at the figures


Southwest is 75% cheaper than Delta
Virgin America is 66% cheaper than Delta
Continental is 50% cheaper than Delta
Alaska is 50% cheaper than Delta
Air Tran is 50% cheaper than Delta
jetBlue is 33% cheaper than Delta


The airlines which charge the biggest fees are the airlines with the big monopoly hubs.

Only a Delta employee could describe the huge discrepancies in the pricing as

So, as you can see, $150 may not be to your liking, but seems fairly standard.

That grass is looking pretty green.

[justme]

Jim, if only you would focus your hate somewhere it is needed... say your lovely BP that is doing a bang up job of destroying our coastline. That, I could back you on. Only reading what you want to in my posts and disagreeing with it, I cannot. Here is what I said:

[the fees are] pretty much the same unless you dare to venture into the LCC market.

Last I checked, 4 of the 6 examples you gave are indeed LCC. That means all you are doing is restating what I've already said, but doing so in a way to try and make me look wrong/dumb/bad. I can only assume this reaction is involuntary since I am employed by Delta Air Lines. Alaska and Continental are the only 2 that are cheaper, and in the same group as Delta. Keep your involuntary, superfluous criticisms to yourself from now on.

[jimworcs]

In the days gone by, you could perhaps argue that the premium you paid for the legacies was reflected in a higher standard of service and the all inclusive nature their services. Today, there is no such distinction. No sane person could argue that you receive a better standard of service from Delta than from say jetBlue or Virgin America. You choose to make the distinction, only to try and make the comparison more compatible. I simply rejected it.

I am mystified as to what BP has to do with anything, but what makes it "mine"? I don't work for them, have never owned shares in them and have absolutely nothing to do with them. Perhaps I should be equally outraged at 'your' environmental disasters such as the destruction of Bhopal, killing 8,000+ people or 'your' flooding of the Niger Delta with oil. Or perhaps US outrage at environmental disasters is reserved only for people with the right nationality. Doesn't count presumeably if US companies do it to 'foreigners'. Nice attitude Justme.

Lastly, my criticisms are not "involuntary".. they are entirely deliberate, but based on direct personal experience and other evidence, such as the catelogue of nightmare experiences documented in this website, alongside your position in the DOT league of shame. The way in which you responded to a legitimate criticism of your pricing, whilst consistent with the obnoxious Delta Customer Service standard, is ridiculous.

[justme]

Looks like I will have to go back to the way it was before I took my extended leave from this board... I will be completely ignoring every and any thing you post jim. They tend to be useless, inaccurate, and overly hostile towards Delta anyways. And if you can't figure out why I say BP (who's world headquarters is in London) is "yours" since you live in England, you may be denser than I had previously thought. Good riddens jim.

[jimworcs]

if you can't figure out why I say BP (who's world headquarters is in London) is "yours" since you live in England, you may be denser than I had previously thought

Personal abuse as an argument is the last refuge of a scoundral! I find the idea that I cannot legitimately criticise Delta, because of what BP did in the Gulf such a ludicrous concept and argument, it is hard to frame a rational response.

By that same argument, can you please stop criticising me on the grounds that Union Carbide, your company HQ'd in Ohio, killed 8,000+ people in an environmental disaster of greater proportions than BP's admittedly outrageous spoiling of the gulf?

If that sounds stupid to you... you might want to think about your earlier arguments.

[justme]

jim you have once again successfully demonstrated why from this point forward I will no longer be responding to anything you post. You have taken what I said, and made it into something completely different purely in an effort to argue. The bad blood you have with Delta because of something that happened ages ago that you cannot let go of has nothing to do with me or the information I post here in an effort to be helpful. I hope some day you can realize that being a cynical, arrogant, grumpy person all the time isn't healthy. Have a nice life.

[jimworcs]

Justme...
Cynical and arrogant are synonyms for Delta, as evidenced by the incredible amount of horror stories posted here and elsewhere on the net. You might try listening to your customers concerns and complaints rather than spend time justifying the unjustifiable.

[John&Sue]

My wife sister had terminal cancer. She booked a flight to NY from Atlanta using frequent Flier miles. Her sister passed away before the flight. When we went to cancel the flight and redeposit the miles we were charged $150. We were told that to not be charged the fee we would have to give Delta the orginal death certificate. Who could ask the husband for a death certificate for 150 dollar refund. I told delta I'll give them the hospital name, a copy of the obit etc. Is this any way to treat Platimium members.

[HoustonFlyer]

You are getting a waiver of $150 and you think it difficult to present the airline with a Death Certificate? The person dealing with you must keep some kind of record as to why the fee was waived. The name of the hospital says nothing and neither really does an orbituary. Anyone can request of the Registry of Births and Deaths in the district a Death Certificate as this is a public record that is not confidential. It can be ordered by mail and usually costs $5 or $10 depending on the district. You don't need to trouble the deceased's husband.

[HoustonFlyer]

I just checked it and you can order a certified Death Certificate for the state of Georgia for $25 and they will mail it out to you. Additional certified copies after the first will be $5.

If you are interested here is the link

http://health.state.ga.us/programs/v.../deathform.asp

[tomo]

Whether this fee is competitive or not, it is still an outrageous fee. It is not aligned with a people cost, a systems cost nor is it aligned with lost opportunity cost. The fact that multiple airlines charge this kind of fee means that all airlines are willing to take advantage of their best customers. Once miles are used to book travel, a traveller does not have an option to change airlines to redeposit them so the fact that other airlines charge the same or different does not matter at that time since that is not an option. The fee is not aligned with the value of the service.

[jimworcs]

This is exactly right.. it is exploitative and outrageous.

[The_Judge]

Agreed. I think everyone should stop flying to show the airlines who the boss truly is. People...............stop flying.