Just notified by an email from Delta that they moved me from my reserved and paid business elite seat to comfort coach...Flight 200 to Jo'burg on May 29.
On the phone for an hour with no explanation, no resolution or option other than changing the flights to another day.
ITS CALLED OVERBOOKING AND TAKING CARE OF FRIENDLY AGENTS.
In my 50 yrs of flying on Delta, never had this class of problem...Hell, I'm even a stockholder.

Goodbye Delta !!

I would be beyond furious…

I was not impressed with Delta's service my last trip to Jo'burg. Next year I think I'll try Emirates.

Happened to us last year on Delta...seats reassigned due to flight time out of DFW being changed 10 minutes (even though it had nothing to do with the flight out of Atlanta) according to Delta. The best part was one of the two seats we were originally assigned was empty from ATL to Joburg.

Karl

DELTA= DELAY EVERY LAST TIME, ALWAYS.....

On the shipment of my mounts last month Delta lost (??) Them and then charged me $300 for storage (???wtf)...had to pay to get the mounts released,but what can you do.....

With a paid (vs upgraded) business class ticket that is hard to comprehend this far in advance (If you showed up at the airport late or something similar this could happen).

I would get on the line to Delta and get hold of a supervisor rather than the run of the mill agent when you go through the normal channels.

Sounds like you've flown a fair amount so you may know all this. If you stick with the original dates and you paid a regular business class fare make sure that they don't reimburse you for the difference between the full economy fare and the business fare - insist on the difference between the lowest fare for your seat class and whatever you paid for business.

If they have a flight within a day or two of your original itinerary in business I would take it and tell them you expect to get reimbursed for out of pocket costs. The typical airline response is "no response" so once you send your requirements and hear nothing (hopefully this doesn't happen), send a certified letter, preferably on some attorney letterhead (If you know one who won't charge you) and cc the Department of Transportation.

Best of luck, this has happened to me before on domestic flights.

Jason

I usually fly Comfort Economy (somewhat uncomfortably!) on DL200 and DL201, but if I had a bought and paid for business class seat, I'd be damned if I'd just do as Delta demanded.

Have you inquired about Delta doing whatever they need to do to get you a business seat on a same day flight, say, through AMS or CDG? I believe they both have sleeper seats.

Delta and I have had our battles and I've never given up... have even won a few! The most notable was when the FAA got involved and issued new requirements for fuel reserves, weight and balance and crew rest for DL201. I got really pissed when I had my luggage removed from the plane and freight was put on.... and then the flight crew timed out holding short of the runway for a couple of degrees of lesser temps or a wind change.... all because of the delay to change the load to a more lucrative one. FAA inspectors showed up, unannounced, at Delta operations 7 or 8 times in three months to monitor what was going on and why that flight had poor performance and doing things like diverting to Puerto Rico and landing low fuel.

If it were me and i had bought a Business class seat and they conveniently moved me to economy, I would get on the phone with Delta and in a nice manor tell the person on the other end, "I'm about to give someone a proper, old fashioned, country ass chewing, it can either be you or your supervisor, I'll let you decide who receives it." Then, commence with said ass chewing!!!

I'm afraid we are all SOL as far as the C of C is conerned. It is written by the airline for the airline and is a one way contract...for them. Basically they are only responsible to get you from point A to point B and it doesn't matter how and when they do that. If you paid with real money they are supposed to reimburse you the money difference using fuzzy airline math and if you used airline miles, well airline miles has no value, to their eyes. I'm afraid you're going to have to fight them for everything you can get back. People being people, it may take talking to multiple agents until you get one that is sympathetic to your situation. Sorry that happened to you but it happens more often than you'd think.

Good advice, just don't quit.

quote:

Originally posted by txlonghorn:
I'm afraid we are all SOL as far as the C of C is conerned. It is written by the airline for the airline and is a one way contract...for them. Basically they are only responsible to get you from point A to point B and it doesn't matter how and when they do that. If you paid with real money they are supposed to reimburse you the money difference using fuzzy airline math and if you used airline miles, well airline miles has no value, to their eyes. I'm afraid you're going to have to fight them for everything you can get back. People being people, it may take talking to multiple agents until you get one that is sympathetic to your situation. Sorry that happened to you but it happens more often than you'd think.

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
If it were me and i had bought a Business class seat and they conveniently moved me to economy, I would get on the phone with Delta and in a nice manor tell the person on the other end, "I'm about to give someone a proper, old fashioned, country ass chewing, it can either be you or your supervisor, I'll let you decide who receives it." Then, commence with said ass chewing!!!

That may make you feel better but I'm afraid that won't get you as far as it will if you are nice to the person on the other end of the phone. Why? What you get out of them it totally up to THEIR discretion and if I were them and I have an a**hole chewing me out. Guess what, I'm going to do what I can NOT to give what that person is demanding. Just human nature. You're one of hundreds of a**holes that they talk to every day. But if you're the one nice person they interact with, you just might get what you want.

quote:

Originally posted by txlonghorn:

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
If it were me and i had bought a Business class seat and they conveniently moved me to economy, I would get on the phone with Delta and in a nice manor tell the person on the other end, "I'm about to give someone a proper, old fashioned, country ass chewing, it can either be you or your supervisor, I'll let you decide who receives it." Then, commence with said ass chewing!!!

That may make you feel better but I'm afraid that won't get you as far as it will if you are nice to the person on the other end of the phone. Why? What you get out of them it totally up to THEIR discretion and if I were them and I have an a**hole chewing me out. Guess what, I'm going to do what I can NOT to give what that person is demanding. Just human nature. You're one of hundreds of a**holes that they talk to every day. But if you're the one nice person they interact with, you just might get what you want.

Since I'm a Diamond Medallion member with Delta, I'm sure they would listen to what I have to say. Flying from 40-45 weeks a year with them gives some folks a little more pull.

It could be possible you don't know the a$$hole you're dealing with.

It could also be possible that they don't really care. Did they ask the Diamond Medallions if they minded their changing the way you can maintain your status? not by flying 40-45 weeks a year but by how much you pay for your tix? They didn't ask me. Nor did they ask when added another tier thus degrading my status a few years ago.

I don't know, just last Friday I had to change my flight in June to go over a week early to add a week of business to my safari. The flights were changed without hesitation and I wasn't charged a change fee either.

Regardless of the fact, I'm sure that if someone paid for a Chevy pickup truck and the car dealer brought out the keys to an El Camino, I doubt anyone would accept that transaction. This is no different, when a Business class seat was purchased and now trying to push an economy seat onto someone, I doubt even you, txlonghorn, would accept the transaction and not be a bit hot under the collar.

Air travel is one of the few places where you pay for a good or service and you get a "maybe" for your money. It amy be a strong maybe, but nonetheless, as long as they are allowed to overbook regular tickets, this will happen.

What ever happened to the cheap tics being "standby" and if they oversold the regular flight tics they just didn't let standby folks on?

Yet another example of a contract not being what it once was. Thanks government/legal profession.

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
I don't know, just last Friday I had to change my flight in June to go over a week early to add a week of business to my safari. The flights were changed without hesitation and I wasn't charged a change fee either.

Regardless of the fact, I'm sure that if someone paid for a Chevy pickup truck and the car dealer brought out the keys to an El Camino, I doubt anyone would accept that transaction. This is no different, when a Business class seat was purchased and now trying to push an economy seat onto someone, I doubt even you, txlonghorn, would accept the transaction and not be a bit hot under the collar.

Oh I didn't say I wouldn't be pi**ed off. I'd be all over the phone trying to rectify the situation. All I'm saying is that I wouldn't give the poor agent an ass chewing. He/she doesn't deserve it. They're there to do a job and they didn't cause you to be downgraded. By being nice they just MIGHT be more sympathetic and try a little harder to try to accommodate your travel plans. But if I was on the receiving end of a tirade. I'd try my hardest NOT to accommodate the demands. But that's just me and may be that's why I probably wouldn't make a very good customer service person.

Fair enough! Yet, if I paid for a particular class, I'd expect nothing less than the class I paid for.

Thanks for the advice.
This was a dollar transaction...no miles or upgrades or vouchers.
I have called twice so far and worked up the supervisory chain...still no change.
But I have learned that is was an overbooking problem and that others were also affected in Bus Elite.
And yes after my first sequence of calls, I approached the second set less emotionally. ...got better info but I still have lost my seat.
These flights are roughly 20-30 % hunters at this time of year with a majority of seats taken by general tourists. So probably a large photo tour outfit pulled strings.
I will be calling every other day to catch some luck.

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
Fair enough! Yet, if I paid for a particular class, I'd expect nothing less than the class I paid for.

+1 :-)

I'm booked with my boys to Rome in biz/first on united in the middle of the summer. Not telling them we're in the front cabin...I just don't want them disappointed if we get bumped. I paid for the the premium seats not upgraded. Such is the state of air travel these days.

quote:

Originally posted by bobgrow:
Thanks for the advice.
This was a dollar transaction...no miles or upgrades or vouchers.
I have called twice so far and worked up the supervisory chain...still no change.
But I have learned that is was an overbooking problem and that others were also affected in Bus Elite.
And yes after my first sequence of calls, I approached the second set less emotionally. ...got better info but I still have lost my seat.
These flights are roughly 20-30 % hunters at this time of year with a majority of seats taken by general tourists. So probably a large photo tour outfit pulled strings.
I will be calling every other day to catch some luck.

Good luck. Don't give up be flexible with travel dates if you can. They may reroute or if you're lucky put you on another airline in the same class. It had happened but I wouldn't hold my breath.

When the airline changes your reservation, you have the option to cancel and request a full refund.

Do it, and rebook.

George

if they can bump you, they can bump somebody else. the trick is to find out how to convince them that they should bump the other guy.

polite, persistent pressure throughout the organization. there is somebody who can do what you want, find out who that is. you can even ask that question - who can reinstate my seat? work up until you find the person who can answer that question.

always be able to explain to them why they should pick you over the other guy.

After several calls and pleading my case, I had been told that there was no way to get back into Business Elite. Lots of other options of different days, other layover flights....none was workable.
The last supervisor suggested that I just hold my ticket...I read into that suggestion that there was a path.
Checking my flight status this morning, I find I am back to Bus Elite, different seat but thats fine with me.
So was it the calls or this AR thread....maybe both

quote:

Originally posted by bobgrow:
After several calls and pleading my case, I had been told that there was no way to get back into Business Elite. Lots of other options of different days, other layover flights....none was workable.
The last supervisor suggested that I just hold my ticket...I read into that suggestion that there was a path.
Checking my flight status this morning, I find I am back to Bus Elite, different seat but thats fine with me.
So was it the calls or this AR thread....maybe both

Good for you. I am sure that if you called them yelling and screaming ( like I would have done), this would never happen.

Been flying Delta to Africa since SAA pulled out of Atlanta years ago. I've never had any problems with being bumped out of business class. Seems a little strange that a business class fair would NOT take precedence over an upgrade fair - especially if your flight was changed by them.

I will say that many of the seats in business class certain times of the year are employees or friends on buddy passes. But they generally get bumped for paying passengers.

Glad it was resolved. Persistence pays and the squeaky wheel generally prevails with Delta.

quote:

Originally posted by bobgrow:
After several calls and pleading my case, I had been told that there was no way to get back into Business Elite. Lots of other options of different days, other layover flights....none was workable.
The last supervisor suggested that I just hold my ticket...I read into that suggestion that there was a path.
Checking my flight status this morning, I find I am back to Bus Elite, different seat but thats fine with me.
So was it the calls or this AR thread....maybe both

Probably some poor sucker on a Corvette Forum bitching about how on the same day you got your Bus Elite seat back he lost his.

That's awesome. Good for you! Persistence pays