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“Rule are Rules” right? Not really. Laws of “the land” are hard and fast, but even when you break those, a cop or a judge can forgive most minor offenses if there were extreme, mitigating circumstances associating the event.
Fascinating I know but, as usual, Rene what are you going on about today and how does this apply to our Delta? I want you please to first read THIS piece written Saturday by my friend, and respected consumer advocate, Chris Elliott.
OK now that you are back, here is the deal (psst Delta corp people reading now, close your eyes please). Most of the time, like my illustration and like what happened for the flyers Chris talked about, you can get the airline to do the right thing and bend or break the rules for you.
I am in no way suggesting you can do this every time and over and over. But, if you have a real situation, even the ridiculous 72 hr rule can be bent. I have been told that re-deposit is almost impossible, but a re-book to another date can happen once. Same thing with many other rules and even fees.
Also, always remember if you don’t like what rep one says, wait an hour and try rep two. Or rep three. If that does not work, work your way up the food chain to a supervisor and plead the case as a one time exception for a loyal Delta flyer. If that does not work, just pay it and later write to Delta and see if you can get a one time refund, again as a loyal flyer. If that does not work, final case, write with “paper and pen” to the corp contacts and, yep you guessed it, as a loyal Delta flyer a one time exception.
I think you see a theme going on here. Chris, due to his clout, got Delta to help out quick. My guess is the flyer, and others too, gave up too quickly and could have got help on their own. Oil that darn squeaky wheel is the saying, right.
Another bit of important info. If you don’t even have a Skymiles number, you are NOT a loyal Delta flyer. If you only fly Delta once a year, and don’t have a Skymiles number, you are NOT a loyal Delta flyer. If you… OK OK I think you get my point. BTW, this is one of the reasons I join every program of whatever place I am staying or using if I can (not just for the points).
This should also not be abused. You are asking for something that the Delta rep might have to at some point justify to someone else in the company. You also need to know what rules (I just can not post such a full list btw) will or will not get them in trouble for bending or breaking for you. The same thing goes for front-line reps. Lastly there are things a RedCoat can, or more importantly will, do that a normal agent will not or cannot do. The same thing for a supervisor. The only other issue is having a rep who “knows” the workarounds. Some just don’t know and would do what you want if they understood the computer code or choices to get done what you need.
Take this from this today just don’t give up. Be fair to our airline. If you are a long time customer, who really needs some help, keep asking until you find someone who sees that you are worth making happy – just this once! – Rene
PS – You really don’t want to miss
SATURDAY’S blog post -‘just sayin’!
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Asking with a smile really helps too 🙂
On the way to the airport this summer, the taxi I was in was invloved in an accident, and I arrived at the terminal 52 minutes before my international flight was scheduled to depart. The agent at first told me to go over to ticketing to rebook as there was nothing he could do. After explaining the situation and asking nicely, he was able to manually tag my bag. Long story short, the bags arrived with me any I was a very happy customer.