After many years as a Silver, then Gold, then Platinum Medallion with Delta, yesterday was my final day.
It was bittersweet. I diligently made sure to book, cancel or change any award trips planned. I also made sure to choose Economy Comfort seating for my scheduled flights, a benefit of being a Platinum Medallion. I even phoned Delta to check on an e-credit I have, and said a near tearful thank you and I’ll miss you to the Medallion Desk agent, Rhonda.
Last night I received an unexpected final gift from Delta: an email informing me that my upgrade was confirmed on a flight I’m on this week. Your Upgrade is Now Confirmed, was the title of the email. Thank you, Delta. My assigned seat was now not in Economy Comfort, but rather 3A, in First Class.
| You’ve been upgraded! We have confirmed your complimentary Medallion upgrade and highlighted the changes in your itinerary. There is no need to reconfirm your flights—you can view your itinerary anytime. |
I woke up this morning and went on-line, and not only was there no sign of this upgrade, my reservation now said “main cabin, no seat assigned.” Wow, Delta, thanks for the clawback. Thanks for acknowledging my years of loyalty.
I phoned Delta. The agent, Amanda, was very nice but said she couldn’t assign Economy Comfort seat to me. WTF? I had an assigned Economy Comfort seat yesterday before Delta upgraded, and then downgraded me. Finally, Amanda spoke to a supervisor who allowed her to over-ride the system and give me back my Economy Comfort seat.
Boy that all left a bad taste in my mouth.
What do you think?
1. Should Delta, having upgraded me to First Class, while I was still a Platinum Medallion, be required to honor the upgrade?
2. If Delta is not required to honor the upgrade, should they have done so anyway based on good business practices?
3. If Delta is not required to honor the upgrade, are they required to re-assign an Economy Comfort seat to me, since that it what I had before the upgrade-downgrade.
4. No soup for you, only main cabin.
5. Do you prefer your drinks shaken or stirred?
A New York frequent flyer who elegantly combines her passions for worldwide travel, running a gazillion marathons all over the globe and staying fit ... without sacrificing her fancy for good wine and food.
Definitely #2. I don’t think its 100% required, but it makes sense they would based on decent business practices.
4
Well, you got what I would have expected with the status drop…but still, I hear you. 🙂
Unless you paid for EC, you lose your free EC and FC upgrades when your status changed. Yes, Delta could have made the situation more pleasant, and they did, by giving you a benefit you weren’t entitled to.
As human beings, we experience loss of an expected benefit as more painful than simply not getting it in the first place. But consider the situation of the poor person who actually made the effort to qualify for Silver or Gold, and now won’t be able to sit in EC because some non-Medallion ‘gamed’ the agent (not saying that was your actual intent, but it will sure look that way from the outside…)!
You got this wrong on so many levels! Your pejorative two cent comments notwithstanding, there was no gaming or wrongful expectations.
First, I explicitly acknowledged that gaming wasn’t your intent. Rather, that’s how it might look to the person who didn’t get their Medallion benefit because of you.
Second, there aren’t so many levels here. You didn’t earn Medallion status, so Delta took away the Medallion benefit. You felt bad and complained, and Delta threw you a bone.
so I think the question is in the terms and conditions – and I am no expert on Delta, but if they state that you turn into a pumpkin, regardless of whether you had an Econ Comfort or upgraded seat, then it sucks. Now, if it states you can book Econ comfort beyond your elite date, and the upgrade clears that, then things need to be corrected.
Now if they don’t say anything about any of that, then it’s much like their award chart, and I’d say you fight for everything you can get.
In the latter case, I would pity the poor person that strives to make any level of status who JEM references, because they have a year of disappointment ahead of them. But Unless Delta specifically speaks to these situations in their T&Cs, then, I think you did everything right, to at least have the seat you were originally provided at booking.
I don’t think they’re obligated to give you an upgrade for a flight after your status expires. But, at the point that they actually do upgrade you, it’s somewhere between poor form and dishonest to take it back. If you had been purchasing the ticket short-notice and the upgrade was part of your decision-making process, then they didn’t deliver as promised. I’m sorry to say I’m not surprised.
Thanks Ed. I bought the Economy ticket a while ago. As a platinum, I was entitled to reserve and Economy Comfort seat. Delta does not take those seats away, unless there is an aircraft or flight change. When they upgraded my seat to First, and then took it away, they did not want to reassign me to an Economy Comfort seat, though the loss of the Economy Comfort seat was due to their upgrade and downgrade. I do think that the upgrade to First might be warranted (even if perhaps not legally required).
but yeah, I know no one is surprised.
The words are very clear “COMPLIMENTRY”!
Phase two, a very humble letter to upper management with your concern of re-qualifying for MEDALLION for 2016, even if you have no intention on doing so.
Wait for a reply, then re-address the attention to COMPLIMENTRY upgrade to 1st Class.
You must be sincere and polite when you send the second response.
You’ve been upgraded! We have confirmed your complimentary Medallion upgrade and highlighted the changes in your itinerary. There is no need to reconfirm your flights—you can view your itinerary anytime.
Daniel,
Your suggestion of course makes total sense. We think the same. I have always found that a combination of Kindness and Persistence works best.
If I were to go the route you suggest, I would also point out that I have had Medallion status for nearly 10 years, that I have already flown 5K miles in 2015 on skyteam partners and credited those flights to Delta, and that I have at least 3 more flights already booked on Delta this year. Thus, I am not someone looking for something for nothing, and it would be in their interest to accommodate me since I might be interested in coming back….
I might go this path if the fight in question was a longer flight or had more than one segment. But it is a fairly short flight of 2 hours on a 737. As such, I just don’t see the value of begging to Delta.
Maybe they didn’t legally have to honor the upgrade, but having confirmed it, the claw back doesn’t seem very honorable….
It sounds like you are a very good customer of Delta.
I read some of the replies, I often wonder, if people really look at the principal.
It appears that the 1st class offer was unsolicited, being Delta has your electronic file on a screen in front of them at all times, either way. The offer was not honored after written confirmation was electronically sent to you, this is a bilateral agreement that did not stipulate any additional conditions for a seat in 1st class.
I understand your point, however, you have an opportunity to make a friend in the right department for the future.
You always want to explore your options.
Bon Voyage
Once given the upgrade. you should have been able to keep it. For sure you should have been able to keep your EC seat.
I know gaming the system and that is not what you were doing.
From a business perspective I get the revenue miles. But announce it and be honest about it. The dishonest way everything has gone down makes me sick.
I will be flying Delta this year as I only can choose them or US Air/aa. Delta operationally is far superior and the routes I take I can fly mainline while AA I can’t. If I had a choice I would change. But hard product and getting there on time is to important to me
Sounds pretty normal for DL: You got screwed. It’s pretty impressive that you managed to get your initial seat back, given Delta’s general reluctance to help where reasonably avoided.
I disagree: you let your status expire, you should not get economy comfort for free. (the same happened to me btw a few years ago when I stopped flying Delta, I also lost an upgrade that was already confirmed). I think what counts with DL is whether the status is active at the time you fly, not when you book or select the seats.
that being said, it is good customer service to give you back the economy comfort seat and it should have left a good taste in your mouth, not a bad one!
United will let you keep upgrades or seats you selected if your status expires, but not because they’re nicer – their IT system is simply too primitive to realize that you lost your status in the meantime and take away your seat.