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One of the biggest hits to the user experience during COVID has been the Delta phone and online support. There have been dozens and dozens of mainstream media reports just how bad the situation is and the Delta CEO has repeatedly said Delta is working on the problem.
Elites are sick of the slow progress and the attempted changes are worse than ever.
There have always been ways around these issues, like using Skype or another such service, to call Asian Delta support lines. Most times you get almost instant access to a rep and they are very competent in fixing whatever the issue is.
But now something truly NASTY has changed for the worse i.e. #KeepDescending worthy.
For a very long time Delta has had in the T&C for Global and Regional Upgrade certificates that if there are flight changes you may lose your confirmed space. In the past this rule has not been enforced if the changes were Delta’s fault. That is, say something like what happens almost every single Saturday of the year a schedule change event.
Delta is now enforcing this rule without exception!
A good change Delta made during COVID was the ability for elites to search for available upgrade space on Delta flights on their website. But now, if we don’t see open space on Delta.com, supervisors can NOT oversell or “force” the upgrades as they have done for many, many years (if there are any open seats remaining).
This really is a MASSIVE downgrade in benefits for elites and yet one more in an endless line of death by a thousand cuts that makes me question my continued loyalty to Delta.
A Delta.com rep told me: “Complimentary upgrades, have been limited by Revenue Management. Please reach out to them with your complaint. Thanks for your understanding at this time.”
Here is just how bad this change can be. The Delta computer system may, during a schedule change, move you from the confirmed flights you were on to other flights. The original flights may still be valid and exist but NOW that upgrade space is gone. Even moving you back to the flights you were on before will result in you are in coach and your upgrade – that was confirmed – is now gone and you are put on a wait list.
Yeah, it is THAT BAD!
I still have some mega flights planned to start 2022 and will qualify for Diamond for 2023 by early February but that may be my last (I know, I have said that before, but this is getting ridiculous).
What do you think of this latest change for Delta elite’s? – René
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Thanks for sharing.
This happened to us this weekend, amongst many, unpleasant changes. We RUC’d to first from ROC-PLS, and they re-timed the flights (by like 30 mins) with new flight numbers and wiped out our upgrades. I had to call and re-waitlist.
They also tinkered with the schedule, wiping a mainstay ROC-JFK midday flight that’s been around for ages, so when I make a *very* quick run to LHR in December, instead of pleasantly leaving at noonish, I was re-routes and double connected to JFK because I need to be on VS4 at 6PM.
It’s not been a fun weekend
@Brian – OUCH! But thanks for the data point.
Bait and switch – you could have chosen another airline if the upgrade was not confirmable, possibly for less money.
I can confirm that this is being enforced. I had a connection schedule change that was initially a 1 hour layover. Schedule change brought a 4 hour layover with 2 flights later that would still connect. No ability to change to a better connection without losing the upgrade.
@Andy – Ridiculous. At what point are elites going to consider another airline if Delta keeps going down this road of cuts?
One more downhill move in Delta’s surge towards “better customer service”. Obviously Delta thinks its elites do not matter and on top of that, more and more treats its elites as unimportant. I am already not trying to retain Delta’s Diamond status which I have held for several years, but instead, I am buying 1st class and/or business tickets on which ever airline has the best prices and routes. On my last three domestic flights I was able to save significant money on cross country flights on United and American, Their service was OK and not bad enough for me to miss Delta.
In Dec I am flying to France and have business class ticket booked on (believe it or not) Air Canada for several hundred cheaper than Delta.
Rene, this has been happening to me all year since returning to flying last May. We exchanged emails then when you thought they would honor the first RU I lost. I am getting to fear late Saturday/early Sunday emails from Delta. I have lost a number of upgrades or moved from 1pm flights to 6am flights. Thanks, but no Thanks, especially when i have a morning meeting. Wait till business flyers come back and can’t find RU availability and zero complimentary upgrades thanks to the new vacation flyers “finding” deals in first. It’s going to be interesting.
So, care to share. Your 2022. Mega mile run itineraries
Pretty please
I just earned tush in seat diamond fir 2022,
Via partner runs thanks to you and many helpful
Flier friends! Always thinking ahead…..
Please?
This was good news/bad news for me. The article was the bad news but the good news was we got to read an article by Rene.
We hadn’t heard from you in a while! 😉
@Rene, if this is happening it’s really bad, but the screen shots you shared didn’t explain to me how you know they are doing this although I do see some of the comments support the theory. When I was caught up in a schedule change recently, my GUC upgrades were kept. Also, is this happening because of a change of policy, or because of the decrease in availability that the Delta.com rep mentioned or because there just weren’t any seats left to give to people that had previously been upgraded?
@Barry – I think the post is very clear and reader comments show the change is real.
Some experiences (including mine) prove that people ARE getting the upgrades, just not at the times they originally wanted. I’m not disputing that some people are not getting the upgrades back when schedules change, or that it may no longer be possible to get the upgrades at the original time. My question is what specific incident led you to write this article, not to challenge the claim, but because I’m genuinely interested in knowing what happened to you that made you write this article.
So I just had the opposite experience. A flight in February was scheduled with RUC upgrade to first. The flights changed, but I was routed on an earlier flight yet retained the upgrade. However, i did not want the earlier flight. I called the Diamond desk and changed to a flight that did not have upgrades available on Delta.com. However, the agent put me on hold and called someone and they gave me the upgrade on the new flights. Admittedly, this itinerary was a long way off, but they were flexible and accommodated my request. If they had not, I would still have had the earlier flight with the upgrade.
@David – Maybe Delta, who does read the blog, made a change back to what was the unpublished rule of helping elites! 😉
That’s good to know. Hopefully the opposite experiences that others have been having are a glitch, not the “new normal”. Often it’s the luck of the draw in whom you get as your agent. Many are willing to go the extra mile, some are not, just like in real life really.
Not NICE Delta!!!