Delta Representative Refused to Honor Online Price

This is what I received:


Thank you for expressing your concerns.

We regret you were disappointed with the service you received from our

Reservation Sales department. Delivering friendly, helpful service is
a
high priority, and the type of experience you described is not
acceptable.

All fares, including those offered on delta.com, are subject to
availability. A certain number of tickets are sold at the most
discounted rates. It may be necessary to check alternate travel dates

and/or flight times in order to obtain a lower fare. Fares are not
guaranteed until the purchase ticket button is selected and a
confirmation page is displayed. We do not offer compensation for fare

changes.

We appreciate your interest in Delta Air Lines.

Sincerely,

Jessica Ryan
Online Customer Support Desk

They could have been completing a system upgrade while you were trying
to complete your transaction or they could have sold out of those
priced seats.
Next time you see a price that is hard to believe PRINT it immediately
so that you can prove it was there. I mean how hard would that be to
do?

I don't agree that you should received anything because you couldn't
book at the on-line price. Now, had you booked, and then been told
you had to pay more, I would agree.

But many things could have happened, all the seats for that price
could have sold out while you were looking, or it could have been a
mistake that was fixed just then.

The one thing I've learned at my job is that when you see something on
the internet that seems too good to be true, the PrintScreen button is
your best friend. I cannot tell you how many times our IT department
has made a booboo and some lucky customer out there caught it. Some
of them get their transaction done before we catch it, but some get
caught right at the time they're pulling it down and they're not able
to make it go thru, much like what happened to you. We are, however,
at least in my office, see all of the price changes that an item has
undergone for like the last two years, so we'd see if it was a
mistake.
If it's a VERY large discrepancy then we'll ask the customer to
provide us with printed verification that they did indeed see the
price (usually this is done with "problem" customers who take
advantage or ask for things to which they are NOT entitled and they
know it). If the customer can send us a paper that shows the price
they're asking, usually we'll just adjust it at that time.
I had to do that with some hotel in Vegas last year. They sent me an
email stating that any night Sun thru Thurs was $29. I go to their
website linked through the email and it jumps up to $49. I called
them and gave them a piece of my mind. They basically told me the
exact same thing that Delta told you. That I was SOL. I forwarded to
a supervisor the exact email that I received and they gave me the
listed price and admitted that someone had made a mistake and that a
"few" customers had received the wrong email. Lucky me. I got a room
on the Strip for $29. It rocked :)

This is typical Delta. The person to answer the phone has a
supervisor. The supervisor, however, never has a supervisor. If you
don't like what that person says, you have to write.

I've been through this many times with Delta over the last, oh, 10 or
so years. It's standard for them.

If you write, they will respond. They are good at that. Give them
4-6 weeks.

However, the response will be an apology and nothing more.

If you push for compensation, they'll most likely ignore you. On the
off-chance that they agree, you run the risk of the compensation being
revoked. For example, I've had multiple occasions where compensation
(such as passes to the elite club, miles, or discount vouchers) have
been followed with a letter saying that I wasn't owed compensation and
they have revoked the compensation that I've received.

Delta is the worst. It's one thing to hold the line on rules and
policy. It's quite something else to have a supervisor review the
case and determine that the compensation I've received was not owed to
me and is therefore null and void. On one occasion, they even asked
me to return vouchers, at my expense. When I refused, they insisted
that because I wasn't owed anything, I was required to return Delta
property.

Is it possible that the $129 was for a one-way ticket?

Ms. J.,

Though you did not provide a departure or return date I checked and
could not find a rate even remotely resembling the $129.00 internet
rate. ( I fully understand that what I did was not Scientific but it
works for discussion purposes.)

I'm not coming out and saying that you did not see it though. That is
a risk of opting for self-service aka "buying your ticket from a site"
versus calling up and speaking with a real sales agent.

My guess is that some portion of the reservations window was not
filled out completley and you got kicked back to the first page.

One must also remember that much like hotels airlines establish rates
using Revenue Management. Through that process a specific rate might
be available one moment and gone another as the critieria for that
rate to be available is met and the rate is adjusted accordingly.

Stop back and let us know what comes of your letter.

BillR.

Compassion is not really at issue. The question is what flights are
available and how much do they cost.

You say the CSR was argumentative. I am wondering, were you
argumentative? Sometimes customers will not accept "no" for an
answer. When the CSR checked, and said "No, I'm sorry but I don't see
any flights for $129," what did you say? If you said "But I saw it
online, I'm sure I saw it," what did the CSR do then, and what was
your response? You should provide both sides of the conversation to
give a full picture of what took place.

If all the information the CSR sees is that there is no such flight
for $129, I don't see what else they can do for you. Certainly they
can't give you the flight for $129 if they can't verify there is such
an offer.