[dawnd470]

My father in law passed away in June 2009, in Louisville, KY. I had to fly in from Baltimore for his funeral, and wanted to use my skymiles for the flight. I hadn't flown Delta for a long time, but recalled that I had several Sky Miles available for use. Imagine my surprise when I booked the flight and was charged $160 for my "free" flight! However, it was still less expensive (but not by much) than a regular fare on another airline, so I went ahead with it...I didn't have much choice. My entire experience with that flight was horrible, from the check in disaster to the rude gate crew. Once I returned home, I contacted Delta's customer service, and told them that not only did they have lousy service, but that I thought it was outrageous to charge $160 for a SkyMiles "redemption fee". I told them I would never fly Delta again, and they could take my remaining miles and do whatever they wanted with them.

When I got a response, I was sent a $50 travel voucher with an explanation that I was charged so much because I booked less than 21 days out. I replied back, stating that I couldn't plan to have a death in the family more than 21 days out, and that I still didn't see why they needed to charge so much for a flight that was supposed to be free. I also said they obviously didn't read my response completely, since their $50 voucher will be wasted as I don't plan to use Delta again. The only response I got was to again apologize, but say there was nothing more they can do.

This is exactly why airlines are hurting....they're so out of touch with people! You would think they'd get smart and follow the lead of Southwest..instead of overcharging people, and charging for things that should be free, why not try actually treating people right and doing the right thing? Southwest doesn't seem to be hurting at all by not charging outrageous fees. The more the airlines such as Delta continue to treat people so badly, the more they'll drive us to their competitors.

[PHXFlyer]

Perhaps if you had called Delta they may have waived the fee for booking less than 21 days in advance due to your circumstances. On the other hand, they may have turned right around and charged you the telephone booking fee instead. It really is amazing that these fees still exist.

The fee to book an award ticket inside of a 21 day (or 14 or 7 day) window is a throwback to when tickets were issued on paper. To get your ticket to you they would need to expedite the printing of your ticket and overnight it or in some cases arrange for the ticket to be printed and held at your departure airport. With e-tickets all of that special handling went away but the expedited service charges didn't.

I just did a fare search for a round trip BWI (Baltimore) to SDF (Louisville, KY) and even without any advance purchase (I used departing this Thursday and returning Sunday in my search) most airlines (Continental, Delta/Northwest, US Airways) were $235-$238 round-trip. Oddly enough Southwest, who supposedly always has the lowest fare, priced out at $382 for the same dates. I know times are tough and that you were under duress due to your loss but it seems to me that just buying the tickets outright would have been a better move. Most frequent fliers value their miles at about 2.5 cents per mile. I'm assuming you redeemed 25,000 miles for this trip since it's the lowest redemption level for a domestic round trip. So the "value" of the miles you redeemed was $625 and then you paid $160 in fees and taxes on top of that! So a ticket which you could have paid less than $300 cash for actually benefited Delta as you burned miles and lined their pockets with $150 of your hard earned cash. ($10 of what you paid went to the government.) As Howie Mandel would have said, "not such a great deal."

[Gromit801]

Yes, have all the airlines follow the example of Southwest. Let's have poor maintenance on aircraft, bribe FAA officials to overlook aircraft inspection dates, fly crap aircraft, and become yet another WalMart/Greyhound of the air.

[abutterfinger25]

Originally Posted by Gromit801

Yes, have all the airlines follow the example of Southwest. Let's have poor maintenance on aircraft, bribe FAA officials to overlook aircraft inspection dates, fly crap aircraft, and become yet another WalMart/Greyhound of the air.

I am still waiting for my bribe.
But then again, I am not with the FAA.

[Leatherboy2006]

Originally Posted by abutterfinger25

I am still waiting for my bribe.
But then again, I am not with the FAA.

And I thought it was only Illinois politicians who got bribed

[justme]

And New Jersey Mayors too!!

[PHXFlyer]

Hey be careful what you say about New Jersey! Tony Soprano was an honest, hard working waste management contractor! There's no such thing as organized crime...

[budor]

I have many issues with Delta, but my experience is they are accommodating when there is a death or severe illness.

My mother passed away and I phoned Delta for reservations. They have a bereavement policy and offered a reduces rate and waived any extra fees. The agent also said my ticket was flagged so I could change the dates without any charge. The bereavement fare was crap and still more expensive than every other airline, but they have a direct flight so I bent over.

When my mother-in-law had a stroke when I was out of town they change my flight without charging me.

In both cases I had to provide proof in the form of a name and funeral home, or hospital, but that's understandable.

I'd like to note that I've dealt with other airlines which charge a $150 change fee, even due to a severe illness, when buying a new one way ticket is about the same price. I find that criminal!

Bottom line, the airlines need to be better regulated!