DL Website Glitch = Potential Award Ticket Disaster

I am still reeling from a very scary situation. I'll keep it brief. Fellow MPers beware.

October 2010
I Book 2 J Award Tickets CLT - JFK - LAX - KUL - PVG - JFK - CLT on DL, MH, and MU for 120,000 Miles each. It took about 8 - 10 hours on the phone with Delta and alot of searching and flexibility to do this. The flights are in August/September 2011

June 1, 2011
I am on the Delta website and see there is a schedule change which impacts the flights. I click the "change flights" button and select the impacted leg, and search around for other potential routes home. After clicking through and back a few screens, I get some sort of error message and am directed back to the first screen. When I click on "My Itineraries" - POOF - both award tickets are gone!

I call the Delta # immediately and ask them to look up my reservation. Delta says it has been cancelled on-line! I tell them this cannot be so and it should be reinstated. They say that some of the flights are no longer available (namely the LAX - KUL on MH) and that they are willing to redeposit the miles with no redeposit fee. I told them that response was unacceptable! It was a Delta website glitch and now my itinerary is gone. However, I have received no cancellation e-mail, confirmation, or redeposit of the miles.

They call back Malaysian and find my ticket and are now working on reinstating those flights. All the other flights have been reinstated. They told me they will call me Friday (June 3) with a response if Malaysian is able to re-obtain our seats (they say they are oversold).

So everyone hope for the best that they can get these flights back! Also, be careful when using the change flights option on an award ticket that has been modified. There are glitches which will cause the entire flight to get cancelled.

 

Make sure to stay on top of them...don't wait for them to call you back tomorrow.

 

Unfortunately, this is a known problem with DL.IT

Big NOT LIKE!!!

 

For schedule changes on award tickets, I would recommend calling in to Delta instead of changing flights online.

 

Agreed, though I'd extend it to all carriers, not just Delta.

 

That is true Seth

 

Yep never ever ever push any buttons on delta.dumb! Call them and let them do it. The only thing you can do is check in and change seats (use KLM site for seats on AF/KLM before you check in btw!)

 

Absolutely. There is no telephone service fee when the matter is prompted by their schedule change.

 

Indeed not

 

This has always been my instinct too, although if I didn't have access to an elite line, it would be a lot harder.

 

Here is the latest as of 6/7/11:

• DL re-instated all legs of my ticket except for LAX - KUL on MH as it is no longer available with them.
• DL called MH and worked with one of their supervisors to reinstate LAX - KUL as they were able to find my ticket in the system. MH told DL they are working on it but it will take some time, if it is even possible. I am guessing the MH award ticket people are working with their yield management folks to make the update. On DL My Itineraries it now shows LAX - KUL but next to it it says Waitlisted. I didn't think DL did waitlisting. So I still do not have it totally fixed and re-ticketed yet, but at least it is trending positively. I also checked the MH Enrich website and LAX - TPE is available in business class and TPE - KUL is but not LAX - KUL when you search it directly (the LAX - KUL has a stop in TPE)
• As part of a concurrent schedule change on Delta's part, i was able to get them to change the return from PVG - JFK - CLT on MU and DL to a more preferable PVG - DTW - CLT all on DL
• Once this LAX - KUL leg hopefully gets reinstated this award ticket for 2 will truly be ideal for a 120,000 redemption (was able to get later better flights normally not available on "Low" due to schedule changes. Assuming the MH flight is fixed it now is:
  CLT -dl y- JFK -dl j- LAX -mh j- KUL (DEST) -mh j- PVG (STOP) -dl j- DTW -dl f- CLT

​

 

Good luck. Keep us posted.

 

Whew!

Today got a call from Delta and the LAX - KUL leg on MH ticketed. They said it took them a while but they were able to reinstate things. So the itinerary is complete and about as perfect as it could get for 120,000 miles:

Aug 27 CLT - JFK (DL Y), JFK - LAX (DL C) (arrives at 6PM)
Aug 28 (departs at 12:45AM) LAX - TPE - KUL (MH C)
Sept 3 KUL - PVG (MH C)
Sept 9 PVG - DTW - CLT (DL C / F)

Still $434 in taxes in fees; mainly due to $379 of YQ from MH

So the moral of the story is: if you have award ticket flight changes, DON'T MESS AROUND WITH THEM ONLINE, CALL DELTA

 

Too bad I can't double-like the above post. Congratulations on getting this resolved!!

 

This short saga is very interesting and enlightening. I'd like to double-like it too!

IME, when you're polite but insistent DL works hard to resolve problems, even if they're not of their own doing. Most airlines do not act in such accomodating fashion, at least with me. Very well done! Congratulations!

 

So glad you got it resolved!

 

Update:

I check delta.com today for this reservation and now see the Sept 3 KUL - PVG flight no longer listed. I call the Medallion line, explain, and am put on hold for about 30 minutes while the agent works with the rate desk. The rate desk was able to see my preservation, but for some reason MH cancelled my flight leg on July 29. The agent wasn't sure why, but said it could have been a schedule change.

They have re-requested those seats and said they are currently waitlisted, but should have some confirmation from Malaysian soon. They told me to call in tomorrow to check it out.

Why is it so difficult to 1) Find the award seats; and 2) once you have them constantly check on them considering components of the reservations delete themselves or get cancelled without any notification!!!

I'll let y'all know what happens.

Beofotch

 

Thanks for keeping us posted. I've got two MH segments (SYD-KUL-LHR) on an upcoming award booking, and so far, so good, but I'm keeping an eye on it.

 

So this morning I checked the reservation and it still was showing as Waitlisted. I called Delta and after about 15 minutes with the SMS agent talking to the intl reissue desk they were able to confirm the seats. So now my itinerary is back to where it should be.

My question to you is, do I have a valid case to request compensation ($$ or miles) from Delta from all the trouble with this itinerary caused by Delta or its vendors/partners?

The way I see it:

Customer Hours Spent Booking/Working Reservation: 13 hours​

Initial Booking: 6 hours​

Schedule Change #1: 1 hour​

Schedule Change $2: 1 hour​

Delta.com cancelling entire itinerary: 3 hours​

KUL - PVG leg disappearing: 1hour​

Time on the phone with MH making and re-making seat assignments for each cancellation: 1 hour​

Trepidation Level: High (When a confirmed reservation becomes unconfirmed and nonexistant not once but twice due to no fault of your own)
​

Itinerary getting totally dropped due a Delta.com glitch​

Leg mysteriously dropping​

Do you think these factors in a professional and respectful letter or e-mail will yield some compensation or delta sympathy for this customer experience? Who/where should I address this? Any insight?

 

Dear Mr Beofotch,

We thank you for emailing us your concern and for bring this to our attention. Delta airline prides itself on having the best IT system in the air.

As a courtesy for the trouble you had to deal with we are depositing 5000 skypesos into your account.

We thank you for flying with Delta airlines and feel free to contact us with an more concerns at www.delta.dumb

Sincerity,

Delta Jane - underpaid rep in southeast aisa!

 

Wow, I hope this all works out for you. I remember a scheduling change (that had happened months prior) resulted in DL agents insiting I pay $150 in Dublin before they would give me my boarding passes to come home from my honeymoon. DL later issued a refund, but it was a pain.