[jrack85]

On a recent flight (7/4/2008), from Atlanta to Las Vegas, my fiance and I along with my 8 month old niece, had to sit trapped on a Delta 767 while workers tried to fix the air conditioning. It was 90 degrees plus outside and probably 100 plus inside.Another passenger asked if we could go back inside and wait in the cool of the terminal. He was told the door was shut and no one could exit. I asked for some ice and a paper towel to help keep my niece cool. I was told they were serving First Class and someone would be back after we had taken off. One hour later we took off. After we got in the air, flight attendants started up the aisles, serving and we were passed up. I asked the F/A why they passed us and she justed laughed. After contacting Delta customer Service about this ,their response was about being competitive in industry and that they hoped future flights with would be more problem free. Thats it!! So poor service is now a part of the competitive nature of Delta?? I'm really confused.

[joegilmore]

It is and you can change it! Post your story on every complaint site that you can find. Google, "Delta complaints" and post your story in as many places as you can. Tell your friends and ask them to tell their friends. Eventually, there will be a change. Until about 4-5 years ago, this was not the case with Delta. They were the best. Sadly, not so much these days.

[cuiyu]

Because of DL flights changed,
we have called their phone 4008140081 which is their customer service hotline in china，about tree times.their works says this ticket can refund for free or changed for free . but the changed can't fit us. so we
buy another new ticket which is can't refund too.when we submit that
refund at 14feb12 ,their workers tell us this can't refund because
it not late more than 90mins.in the past times anybody have no tell
us this rule.
so large complay can't deceive us.honest is the basic.their customer
service have said can refund before,but don't refund now.
now we are very very worried,because of this we have a large
wastage.
we have submit this at their website.the Refund Request Number:
DC_107062 | Issued 02/15/12 .but untill now have nobody reply we.we
don't know can this problem be solved??and who can help us?

[joegilmore]

After costing Delta 2000 flights (I live near HNL and had some spare time, so I went and met 20 of their flights at baggage claim! ), I wrote 2 emails to their customer service, customer service supervisor, the VP that oversees customer service, and the CEO. Never heard a word from anyone. I let my status go with Delta because of my issue and will let my Skyclub membership go when it expires. I am now pretty happy with Continental as an elite. Delta used to be really great 5-6 years ago but the customer service issues there start at the top these days. It won't be until their board gets their heads out before things will change there. Too bad, they have a great flight staff. The biggest difference for me was that I gave the Continental customer service a test with the same situation I had at Delta and the 1st level support needed to get a supervisor to resolve, but it was resolved within one call. Out of the 2000 people that promised me that they'd use another airline for their next trip, I'd bet at least 1000 of them did. I feel pretty confident that I cost them over $1,000,000 in fares. I mat be back someday, but they really made it difficult.

[cuiyu]

oh my god,so difficulty?!
can you tell me their customer service supervisor, the VP that oversees customer service email? and then i can email to them too.maybe that my problem can be attention and resolve.
now we feel so helplessness.

[cuiyu]

please give their customer service, customer service supervisor, the VP that oversees customer service, and the CEO 's email.
my email is yzx0251314@163.com,thanks very much.

[joegilmore]

'toby.broberg@delta.com' 'Heidi.gould@delta.com'; 'allison.ausband@delta.com'; 'Richard.anderson@delta.com'

These were the emails of people in those positions at the time. Good luck! It goes from lowest to highest. I'd be surprised if most are still there with the lack of customer awareness at the CEO position.

[joegilmore]

....I even offered to be a part of a customer service oversight task force one weekend a month for free if they wanted to fly me to ATL and put me up. Instead, they felt the customers weren't that important or worthy of a reply.

[cuiyu]

thanks very much joegilmore,god bless to me .hope we can succeed.

[joegilmore]

I will continue to help change the corporate mindset anyway I can. Delta really used to be the best in the sky. Their corporate 'leadership' is really letting the flight crews down. Sure, mistakes are going to be made anywhere, it's an important part of how we progress individually and the same goes for an organization. If you look at this site, it's clear Delta has lost it's focus at the top. Delta has twice the number of posts than all of the majors but AA....and it has 1/3 more than them (most predate the NW merger). This would be a large area of concern for me if I was on their board. The beauty of the free market system is that there will be a correction eventually. Keep telling your stories in every public forum you know. No matter how clueless a CEO is, he'll/she'll eventually will "get it".

[joegilmore]

Just for grins and giggles, this was my email to the "leadership":

Aloha Toby,

After going through the Delta Customer service process, I’ve decided to use the public Internet forums (Fodor’s, MSNBC, Frequent Flyer sites) and social networking to effect my point. Here is the crux of my situation. My angst is not about my issue happening, it’s about the tools or training that Delta hasn’t provided to the customer support staff. It’s hard to believe that this issue couldn’t have been mutually resolved in 5 minutes by restoring the original reservation and billing me the $124. As it panned out, it cost Delta two silver elites and will cost Delta several thousand ticket sales before I let it go. Perhaps you will understand how Delta’s policies and procedures were an important part of escalating an “Oh, we’re sorry, we can help” issue into a full blown crusade on my part. Perhaps this will help Delta in the future.

Mahalo,
Joe Gilmore

PS I am really sad to be leaving Delta, it used to be the best with the best service. The inability of customer service to have the tools needed to correct a $124 problem for a multi-million dollar corporation is inexcusable.

Here is the entire annotated thread:

Post your issue about bad customer service on every public Internet forum you can find. Google "Delta Complaints" . Here is mine.


Aloha!

I am (now was) a Delta Silver and Sky Club member with 135,000 miles in the bank from several years of traveling. I just recently got "bait and switched" on a ticket and as of today, not resolved nor does it seem that it will be. It has been clear to me that Delta CS has been going downhill over the last several years and they are a far cry from where they were when I joined. The flight staff is still first rate though. My issue could/should have been corrected immediately, but I don't think that CS (now) has the latitude to do what they should be able (used to be able) to do. Delta used to be the best of the elite programs, hands down! Now, Continental One-Pass, blows medallion away. Especially at the first level. For example, Flights to Hawaii from LAX are complementary elite upgradable on Continental AND first level One-Pass is able to use the priority security lines. I was OK waiting for Delta to catch up, but that changed today after being mired in the swamp Delta calls customer service these days. Needless to say, when the company refuses to pay attention to their customers, you find another company. I am now building my elite status with Continental after this last flight on Delta. What's sad is that I really talked the Delta program up.

My issue is that a friend in a different country bought me a ticket to come visit as a present. Their country has some pretty bizarre currency controls, so they declined her payment. This puts the ticket on hold for 3 days until it can be fixed. Within the 3 days, she fixed the issue and the Delta rep there swapped my 'Q' fare HNL-LAX and LAX-HNL legs for 'U' fare. Let me explain what this means for a Delta Freq flyer... It means that since Delta doesn't include Hawaii in the comp upgrade program, I cannot even use miles now to upgrade that leg. As you will see in the first response from Delta, it was because the reservationist wanted to save my friend $124. I'm OK with everything so far...I figured I'd check out why the bait and switch and at worst, they'd say, "Oh, sorry, we were trying to help, would you like to pay the $124 to restore your ticket to its original state?" . All I got was pretty much, "This is what it is and why. You need to call these numbers and pay for a reissue." I did and was told that it would cost me an additional $1000. I was like, Seriously??? Why don't you make sure your agents understand your millage programs before recommending a change to someone's ticket? My friend flies American and I've been trying to get her to move to Delta for the past year. Not anymore. Here is the entire story:



Me:

Message: A friend bought this ticket for me on 6/24 and initially the HNL-LAX and LAX-HNL were listed as 'Q' fares on my itineraries. There was a problem with her card and she went back personally to the Delta office in [withheld] today and corrected the issue. I have two concerns. 1) I would like to have the two legs mentioned put back to their 'Q' fair as listed in this reservation on 6/24-6/27 and I would like to have listed in the system that "the passenger (me) will not have the card in his possession" (as it belongs to and is with her). I would also like to see if I could upgrade the HNL-LAX and LAX-HNL with my miles, once the 'Q' fare is put back like it was when the reservation was made. I don't think that Delta changed the fares intentionally (bait and switch), I think the reservationist in [country omitted] may have made an error in typing when my friend went back to correct the payment information. Please help and advise. Flight Information DELTA CONFIRMATION #: GUUE99 Bkng Meals/ Day Date Flight Status Class City Time Other Cabin --- -----



Response from Delta:

From: Contact Delta [mailto:ContactUs.Delta@delta.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 7:37 AM
To: the-cne@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: OCSD-Delta.com Booking-delta.com Flight Reservations-Fares & Pricing (KMM9095536V56641L0KM)

Dear Mr. Gilmore,

Thank you for your e-mail. We appreciate your comments.

While your reservation was originally made on June 23, 2011, the ticket was not purchased until June 27, 2011. The original fare quote for the itinerary that was booked on June 23, 2011 was for $1979.50 in U.S.
Dollars. Our fares are not guaranteed until the ticket is actually issued and may end up being either higher or lower than the original fare quote depending on the availability at the time the ticket is purchased.

At the time Ms. [name witheld] provided her credit card and the ticket was issued, a lower fare was available and we issued the ticket at the lower fare XXXXXXXXX which is the equivalent of $1854.82 in U.S. Dollars.
Ms. [withheld] did not indicate at the time of ticket issue that you were interested in using your SkyMiles to upgrade any portion of the itinerary. Likewise, your reservation had not been posted with any remarks that you wished to use an upgradable fare. Because of your Silver Medallion SkyMiles status you are eligible for complementary upgrades, subject to space availability, for the segments between Los Angeles, Atlanta, [City Omitted], Atlanta and Los Angeles.

If you wish to try to secure confirmed upgraded space for any portion of your journey, your ticket will need to be recalculated and an additional collection paid for the higher fare required for an upgradable ticket.
We would need, at that time, to also check the availability of space in the first or business class cabin. You may call our international reservations telephone number 1-800-241-4141 and ask to be transferred to our Reissue Department and we will be glad to assist you. This cannot be accomplished via e-mail.

Please note that your reservation has already been documented that Ms.
[Name withheld] has gone to our [Omitted] office and presented her credit card and personal identification. You will, therefore, not be required to present the credit card used for the initial ticket issue when you go to the airport.

We appreciate your business and trust your future flights will be enjoyable. We hope you will continue to make Delta your airline of choice.

Sincerely,

Judith Carslile
Online Customer Support Supervisor
http://www.delta.com




Me:

I called Delta and my option is $1000 additional.

My response to Judith
(Remember, all I was expecting was, "Pony up the $124 and all's good. Sorry, we were just trying to help.")



Thank you for the reply. I am very disappointed that 1) the lowest fare was not presented just 3 days earlier, that seems in violation of Delta's lowest fare guarantee. 2) That the confirmation # is the same, so "what" was confirmed? This leaves a very bad impression. For me, this is just the old "bait and switch" or taking advantage of someone that doesn't know Delta's frequent flyer program well, as in Ms. [Withheld].
While I've tried to convert her from American, she's comfortable with how they do business and treat their customers. I on the other hand, have promoted Delta vigorously to my friends in Hawaii and now for the last time. I will be moving to Continental. I will also be moving my Sky club membership once the year is up. I am HIGHLY disappointed in Delta.
This is the first time I have ever seen a lower fare just magically come up 12 days out since Delta implemented its lowest price guarantee. I hope what happened here makes sense to you.

Joe Gilmore

Granted, I didn't do the best job explaining the issue here!




Next response from Delta (notice that you do not deal with one person and their chain of supervision which induces high frustration, in itself!)

From: Contact Delta [mailto:ContactUs.Delta@delta.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 9:02 PM
To: the-cne@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: OCSD-Delta.com Booking-delta.com Flight Reservations-Fares & Pricing (KMM9121038V25606L0KM)

Dear Mr.Gilmore,

Thank you for contacting Delta Air Lines; your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your additional comments concerning our recent exchange of e-mails. We try to be responsive when any problem is brought to our attention, and we regret you are disappointed with our reply.

We appreciate your loyalty and support. Though at times the frustrations of the travel world might lead to feeling overlooked and unappreciated, please let me assure you we are very grateful for you -- we know our survival as an airline depends on those loyal customers who make it a point to fly with us. We recognize the best (and worst) publicity for Delta are the comments from our passengers to the people they interact with. Thank you for sharing your positive experiences, and for giving us the opportunity to respond when your travel doesn't go as it should.

Again, thank you for writing. We appreciate your selection of Delta and will always welcome the opportunity to be of service.

Sincerely,

Drake Rogers
Online Customer Support Desk
http://www.delta.com




I'm still trying to figure out what the above actually means!!!!! I have more questions AFTER receiving that! "Are you done?" "F@#! me?" What is the meaningful content??



So I replied, guessing that they don't really care anymore:




Aloha Drake!

Thanks for the kind response. I have enjoyed my time with Delta, but it is clear that Delta has lost its way in customer service. First the ASA issue, then the military bags issue, and now mine, the bait and switch. When all that it would have taken to rectify the situation would have been for customer service to say, "Oh sorry, would you like to pay the additional $124 and we'll restore your reservation to what we originally said it was." But instead, the company is now focused on....well, I 'm not really sure. Since the last email, I have joined Continental's one-pass program after learning that they do comp upgrades on Hawaii flights AND their first level elite get to use the priority security line. I remember when Delta used to be the best. Whether ATL new about it or not, LAX and SFO used to do Space Available upgrades for people who lived in Hawaii. That was what Delta used to be. No doubt about it, I am gone to Continental after this flight. Thank you for what you used to be and I hope that you find your way again. Customer service isn't that difficult, if its handled correctly. Things at Delta have been going downhill for several years now. If you see it within your purview, I would ask that on my way out, you restore my reservation and bill me the $124 if you feel the need. At least we can part on a good note. Again, I sincerely hope that Delta can find its way back.

Mahalo,
Joe Gilmore



And that's where we are....

Holy crap! I've wasted at least $400 of my time and at least the same of their time, when all that needed to happen was, "Geez, were really sorry sir, if we could restore your original reservation for the [$124, $124 worth of miles, whatever!!], would that solve the issue for you?" 5 minutes and done. All happy....win-win. It's hard to believe a company that size just can't get CS right. I will post anything else that arises. If no follow up, there was no additional response.



Delta:


-----Original Message-----
From: Contact Delta [mailto:ContactUs.Delta@delta.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 8:13 AM
To: the-cne@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: OCSD-Delta.com Booking-delta.com Flight Reservations-Fares & Pricing (KMM9126818V52384L0KM)

Dear Mr. Gilmore,

Thank you for your recent e-mail providing additional information.

As you requested, we have again reviewed the upgrade issue you described for anything that might support a more favorable conclusion.
Unfortunately, there is nothing we can add to what has already been stated in our previous correspondence. Respectfully, we must decline your request. However, if inventory becomes available we will be more than happy to upgrade the fare and request the class upgrade.

Please accept our apology for the unfavorable impression you received in this instance. We appreciate your selection of Delta and will always consider it a privilege to be of service.

Sincerely,

Vanessa Long
Online Customer Support Desk
http://www.delta.com


Me:

Aloha Vanessa,

I understand. I have chosen to leave Delta after this flight and take up my issue in the public forums on the Internet. It is clear that customer service can't help or doesn't have the latitude or tools from Delta to help in my situation. I will not stop telling my story until I have changed the mind of at least 2000 customers. This will include tireless Internet posting on every website, twitter, and social media site that I can access and even random sign and t-shirt picketing at HNL ( I have lots of spare time in Hawaii). Hopefully, this will help you to obtain the tools you need to better address future issues. While surprised at the inability, I can and will fix it for you.

Mahalo,
Joe

[hjertsjo]

Had confirmed and paid for seats, we were moved to different seats withour notice. While they are the same priced seats, I would have asked for center seats if that was what I wanted. When Delta was called they basically said there was nothing they could do since those seats were now given to someone else. I guess it never crossed their mind that they gave them to someone else when we had already paid for them. Anyway, this has been pretty much a slap in the face, so we will just cancel our American Express Sky miles card and fly different airlines from now on. When we had problems with American at least they made an effort, Delta has made none. Way to stand up and show your true colors Delta, another pat on the back for American Industry, screw the customer.

[joegilmore]

Aloha hjertsjo!

While Continental is not perfect, they are now the best. They had a program last year that if you were status, they would honor your existing status with another airlines and allow you advanced standing on status for the current year. May still have it. Call them.

I left Delta about 6 months ago for something so unusually simple for even a commuter airline to resolve. I'm pretty confident that I cost them some big bucks with my "antics". I've been really happy with CO's status program. They really have jumped ahead of Delta. Just FYI... The consumer WILL be heard!