Delta Forces My Hand

So the clock is ticking, my travel date is approaching, and I still don't have a resolution. I am foolishly optimistic, thinking that the DoT's limp rebuke of their actions might actually cause them to just refund my money so I will go away. After all these years of dealing with corporations who don't give a rat's ass about their customers (much less people in general), shame on me for being fooled twice.

As the flight date drew near, I received emails telling me it's time to prepare for my trip. So they were aware that I was still here. But they pretended like nothing had changed. So I wrote an email reminding them that I still wanted a refund. I cc'ed the DoT.

                   

To Whom It May Concern:

As my flight is approaching, I will remind you that I wish to cancel 3 of the 4 tickets because of issues surrounding Covid. I would like a refund for those 3 tickets. Obviously, I must do something before the date of the flight, or I will lose the money.

Please respond in a timely manner.

                    

This, of course, drew no response, aside from another email telling me that my flight was approaching. And then, in a timely manner, another email telling me my flight was approaching.

Now, two days before my flight, I was forced to cancel the tickets and accept their e-credit, or I would lose the money entirely.

                   

To Whom It May Concern:

In my last email, I requested that Delta respond in a timely manner since the date of the flight was approaching. Since Delta dragged its feet until my flight was imminent, I was forced to cancel the tickets without a refund to the credit card. I currently have a voucher, which is not acceptable.

I will continue to press for a refund.

                    

Now, not to disrupt the flow of this story, or anything... because clearly this is an expository masterpiece.   But I would like to point out a couple of things:

First, I did end up going without the rest of my family, and that flight was packed. Delta was not losing money here -- Delta was greedily holding onto money that it did not earn.   Second, Delta's voucher would only be valid for the person originally named on the ticket. I couldn't even use my kids' vouchers for myself. Since the likelihood of an unvaccinated 9-year old (remember, this was before kids' vaccines) traveling during pandemic times seemed very low, it looked unlikely that I would use these vouchers before they expired.

If Delta would have allowed me to use those vouchers to buy a ticket for anyone, or at least anyone in my family, I probably would not be so angry about this, there would be no ThanksDelta.com, and you would not have sunk this much time into reading this. For example, we had a flight booked on United which was to take place the week after the initial lockdown. Obviously, that flight didn't happen.   But United let me use the vouchers for any person for whom I chose to buy a ticket. For this reason, you might consider United instead of Delta. And speaking of those United vouchers... I used them to purchase another ticket. Then in late April 2022, I got an email saying that my flight had changed by 5 minutes. United said "If these changes don't work with your travel plans, easily review your options to change to a different flight or cancel your trip here."   They included a link. They were ready to refund my money for a 5 minute schedule change, which is NOT mandated by the DoT. Why won't Delta follow the DoT's rules and refund my money after a flight cancellation?

Also, Sun Country makes the flight from San Francisco to Minneapolis. While I don't know what their policies are, they can't be much worse than Delta.

But I digress.   I'm sorry... I shall return you to the (almost certainly) Peabody Award winning exposé. Click on through!

Next:
Part FIVE