December 25, 2006
Frikkin’ Delta
I don’t get it. My wife and I flew out to CA from Georgia for Christmas, and we’re both Silver Medallion with Delta. That entitles us to free upgrades when they’re available. So we showed up to the airport last night, saw their information boards, and saw that there were two seats available in first class, and three people on the list.
Here’s where it gets weird. I fly a lot more than she does, so I’ve got far more miles. According to their board, the upgrade priority go in this order:
1- Skymiles status
2- Same-day travel disruptions
3- Ticket Value
So we look at the board, she’s #2 on the list, and I’m #3. I would think that due to miles, I should be ahead of her (even if we’re both Silver). But due to a weird coincidence in the fare, we ended up buying the tickets as separate transactions, and hers was the higher value. So she sat up in First Class and I was back in coach. Frankly, if we were to get separated, I’d rather her be up there, and I had a choice exit row seat (with no seat in front of me, so tons of legroom), so it wasn’t that bad.
But now I’m pissed about this year. I’m about 4000 miles shy of Gold Medallion status. Knowing that most of my flights are the cheap fares, getting up to Gold would do wonders for my upgrade chances. It almost would have been worth scheduling an extra trip somewhere just to pick up the miles. Since I’ll still be at Silver next year, the fact that I flew about 46,000 miles this year instead of 25,001 (the amount to qualify for Silver) won’t even help my upgrade chances. Annoying.
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No, what’s annoying is buying a ticket for 8:45pm (connection landing at 5:10pm from Rome) and having Delta move the flight ahead by an hour and telling you that their policy (good luck finding it) is 90 minutes to get a full refund.
And what’s aneurysm-inducing is when they change ONLY the departure time — not the plane type and not the flight number, just the time — and they still wipe out your seat assignments. This has happened to me twice.
And if you want the hat trick, they also do not notify you of changes until 30 days before the flight — even if you’re signed up for email alerts.
Bottom line: The people who buy their tickets early and put money in Delta’s pocket that much sooner are the ones who get treated the worst. Madness. Sheer madness.
There is a reason why Delta is in bankruptcy. Which is also why I so desperately hope that USAir does NOT buy them — they’re my principal airline (via America West) and I don’t want any of Delta’s nonsense to infect them.
Brad, as of today, Bonnie sits at 48,500 with Contiental. She only needs 1,500 mile to get to Gold status. I told her she should just book a flight this week and go for it…..We’ll see what she does. Last year she missed it by about 1,000 miles…