A Sunday Delta RANT update: 50% fix shows what is possible + a new Mini-rant!

Guess what yesterday was kids? If you guessed Delta Schedule Change Saturday you win a cookie (not really but you better check your flights). Once again I had lots of changes including equipment swaps that meant my carefully chosen seats were not valid on a number of flights and Delta put me wherever they wanted.

That is not the point of today’s update, but the above is. I yelped for joy when I saw the above. On one of my trips next year I went to try to self-downgrade myself and my wife from the horrid C+ 1st row seats and look what it showed me – not only the full correct seat map but the choice to self downgrade without having to call Delta!

Did my ranting spur Delta to fix this maddening bug I ask you? Look at the return flights:

Well I guess the flight could be 100% booked but we are talking flights in 2018 so…

DOH! NOPE – the flight is empty other that my wife and I plus a few seats blocked for airport use only. So Delta 50% fixed the blocked seat map issue for this trip. Err, why?

I guess the most maddening part of this one trip is that it shows Delta could fix this nasty bug if they wanted to, but either they don’t want to or they need to hire enough IT folks to get the job done. On the plus side I did NOT have to fight with the phone rep that the seats were in fact open – she moved me quickly to the open exit row for my return flight.

Now time for a new mini-rant. Delta, on their travel agent partner web site, put up a message from their Senior Vice President of Global Sales. I thought I would add (in brackets) what words are missing and what he is really saying (but not posting)! Take a look at my edits:

“It’s no coincidence that Delta SkyMiles was (n’t the winner or) named a Best Travel Rewards program by U.S. News for 2017-2018 (I say “A” because Alaska won, we were really number 2 – Oooppsseee). Enhancing (extracting cash from every means possible) the customer experience is always a top priority (as long as we are making a fee) as we aim to increase (-ingly frustrate) the satisfaction of your (suckers) travelers on every trip. In addition to Corporate Priority benefits like Onboard Recognition (we really like your company’s cash), Preferred Seating (no, not C+ we charge for that silly) and Zone 1 Priority Boarding (a.k.a. Group 4), we’ve also introduced offerings such as post-purchase upgrades (because, loser, your company is cheap and did not buy you a 1st class ticket), which allow customers to purchase premium products (a lie as not really premium since the seat is the EXACT same seat as the rest of coach) like Delta Comfort+® and First Class (not 1st class i.e. business class but 1st sounds better, right) as add-on purchases (got your company’s cash now we want yours) for all or part of their journey. (Fools) Customers can also use a different method of payment than they used for the original ticket purchase to (flush value down the drain to) buy these add-ons. It’s just one more way we’re adding (more money to our coffers) flexible and customizable options (hint – add fees) to optimize (frustrate) the travel experience.” – EDITS MINE!

I think this reads much more credibly now and the links are really helpful. Do you think there is a chance they will update the letter to the travel agents with my edits? Well, maybe not. OK one last thing today:

Yep, just to remind you, Skybonus is still all but worthless and has the same dumb rules that if you do not have 5 people flying they don’t want you. For all Delta’s talk about job killing ME3 they sure don’t seem to respect small business owners with only a few flying Delta. Makes you think doesn’t it? If you have Skybonus points and are going to get kicked out at the end of the year start thinking now about how to spend your remaining Skybonus points. – René