Delta Changed My Flight to Vegas...

So I'm supposed to be flying tomorrow in Delta Comfort (a paid upgrade, by the way) and I just received a text that my seat is now a main cabin seat. Being well over six feet tall, a Delta Comfort seat is near mandatory for a 5-plus hour flight to Vegas.

To that end, I'm going to give them a call to chat about this. The fact that they aren't pro-actively offering people a value exchange is a little unfair. Like, why wouldn't you automatically refund them if you can't accommodate the change? Anyway, to make matters worse, I'm flying with someone and it looks like they're no longer sitting next to me. First world problems for sure, but happy to complain for them to compensate for the inconvenience. What should I ask for?

Separately, everyone praises these algos, but it seems like they have a couple of kinks to work out...

 

Get on the phone and fight about it. If you don't like the answer, hang up (nicely) and call them back. All you have to do is connect to an agent that's sympathetic to your plight.

 

That's not a little unfair; that's completely ridiculous an unacceptable. I definitely agree with smerrian. At least try to be nice at first. I like to approach stuff like this with an attitude like "It must have been a mistake because I know Delta wouldn't just rip someone off like that, but I'm sure you can clear it up for me." This way you're complaining without complaining, and both flattering and challenging the CSR on the other end. That type of approach generally works wonders on people who deal with angry people all day.

 

First thing I would do is log in and look at the seat map.

That way you have an idea of what you are working with.

For example, if all seats are taken...well... that probably means they have blocked them.
But, if almost all are taken, you may realize they are totally unable to give you a better seat - since they are all taken.

Or - you might be able to change to an acceptable seat on the app.

THEN CALL if not happy.

But know what you have to work with... maybe even a different flight

I am guessing a equipment change?

 

I hope they don’t pull this with me in 3 weeks....

 

I find Delta pretty good to work with. Although I have never run into your situation, I agree that first thing I would do is check the flight and see what seats are available. If there is a seat you want, you can change it on the App. I have done that right up to boarding time. (It's possible that they changed your aircraft type to one with less comfort seats.) So, if that doesn't work, call and be calm and reasonable. Explain that you are 6'5 and NEED the extra legroom, so they need to move someone else. That may not work, but it might. If they offer you 5000 miles, they give that out like candy, so that would not be good enough for me.

 

If you can't see all of the seats on the app for your flight, go in and act like you are purchasing seats. They will show all of the seats in Comfort and First as well. First thing I would have done was call Delta. Let us know what happens.

 

I fly Sun Country more now, but I don’t miss that happening flying with Delta. I always book early and it wasn’t uncommon to have seat, plane and time changes several times for a flight. I never paid for upgraded seats though. So they can just take those away and not give you a refund??? How is that even legal.

I hope you get a good resolution!

 

Damn...I just switched from Southwest (whom I've been loyal with for years) to Delta for a September trip and I paid for upgraded seats. Now I read this?!?! I switched because of all the issues SWA is having due to the recent mechanic union issues and also the Boeing Max 8 grounding. I hope I didn't jump from a mess to another mess.

 

Can't believe you are on here gripping before you talk to Delta> Is there a problem or are you making it a problem? I guess we will see later.

 

Usually Delta has a 1 hour hold time in which they call you back so I figured I'd get some opinions on how much to ask / how to approach the situation. Sometimes, what I think is the best course of action in my head may not actually be the best strategy in terms of maximizing opportunity. They shafted me, after all.

----

As for the outcome, the GF called on my behalf as we were linked and we both were bumped out of comfort. Anyway, after an hour long conversation, and a transition to a supervisor, she earned us a $150 refund (half the price of the upgrade) and a $150 voucher to fly Delta. In other words, they reeled us in to fly with them again on an undersold future flight.

Not sure if this is part of their strategy where everyone wins but the reality is, I'm now sitting in regular class, without the GF as she now is in a different row, without my extra space, without my priority boarding, and without my included cocktails. It's absolutely annoying. Especially since I booked in January!

Fortunately they maintained my window seat, but I can already tell this will be an annoying flight. And frankly, their consolation prize doesn't cover the cost of the hassle. There's a reason I paid for comfort and didn't go to main in the first place....

 

So I checked and Delta changed my seat (again)! Lol. This time I'm sitting in a middle seat... This makes things worse haha.

But now they won't refund the 150 since the condition for the refund was if I didn't fly Delta comfort.

Such a mess. But maybe that means the luck will come at the tables!

 

Delta has been dorking around with their schedules quite a bit. The TA just told me that a flight I'm on in October, for example, was moved from a semi-convenient 10am departure to 6am!

 

I have had success calling when they changed my flight to getting a more convenient time for me. BUT, I have the schedules and seat availability in front of me when I am on the phone so that I can request what I want. I also only take the AMEX gift cards that they offer for compensation....MUCH more useable for me than flight vouchers.

 

A middle seat is unacceptable. I don't fly often but if Delta did this to me I'd never fly them again if I could help it. Rotten customer service.

 

so... wondering what is happening?
Was there an aircraft type change?
Does the seat map show full plane?
Was there not another flight that day you could take?

 

I fly Delta all the time and only once have I had them try to bump me from an aisle seat to a middle seat, and that was only after an equipment change (767 to a 757).

So I called and bitched and they kept telling me there were no seats open, nothing they could do, yada yada.

If you call and complain and they tell you there is nothing they can do, I think the trick is to ask to speak to a supervisor or manager. That seemed to be the magic words - they stopped their spiel, confirmed that I wanted to speak to someone higher up, and transferred me.

And of course, the supervisor was able to fix it in like 2 seconds.

 

It sounds like he's looking for advice/ideas in order to develop a strategy BEFORE calling. That's not an unreasonable thing to do. It costs him nothing to bounce some ideas off other forum members before calling.

 

As a Delta 360 flyer I’ll tell you unequivocally they had an equipment change, but so long as your flight isn’t tomorrow it’ll get changed again 99% probability of that. It’s not a glitch, but just a change and the system auto assigns equipment but they will eventually manually match it up.

 

Also the only reason they didn’t immediately offer you a refund is because the CSR person your GF spoke with 100% told her not to worry and that most of the time it changes back. If you want to jump the gun (which you clearly are by already stating this will be an “annoying” flight) then you can expect this type of service, they have no control over this and it’s a computer system issue rather than a “real” issue. I put in 250k+++miles a year with Delta and can assure you their service is head and shoulders above any other carrier. Now if you freak out then that’s going to be on you.

LOL to the person comparing Sun Country to Delta ‍♂️‍♂️‍♂️