Delta Air Lines is getting approbation for its about-face, finally now being willing reimburse customers who had to buy airline tickets on other carriers while they’ve cancelled well over 5,000 flights the past few days.
Delta frames this as their ‘continu[ing to] support customers’ as opposed to finally supporting customers – and doing it so late that it’s of limited use to many. And their message still blames forces beyond their control for the whole mess.
Here’s the portion of the statement on what costs they will now cover:
We know many customers have incurred unplanned travel expenses, including purchasing tickets on other airlines, rental cars, train tickets and more. Delta will cover reasonable costs for additional categories of expenses incurred during the duration of the travel waiver (which currently applies for flights between July 19 and July 28). As before, customers who have incurred hotel, meal or ground transportation expenses while in transit during this operational disruption may also submit eligible expenses for reimbursement
One Mile at a Time calls this “the right thing to do.” Thrifty Traveler says it’s “a massive (yet potentially necessary) customer-friendly gesture.”
I think they’re being generous, or being duped.
- This would have been helpful on Sunday or Monday or Tuesday when Delta was cancelling a substantial portion of its schedule each day… in total more flights than they cancelled in the entirety of the years 2018 and 2019 combined.
- It may help passengers who bought their own travel anyway, thinking they would come out of pocket to get where they’re going since Delta was saying they wouldn’t cover other airline tickets.
- But it does nothing to help passengers who cancelled their travel plans altogether. They didn’t know Delta was going to cover alternate tickets. Delta said they wouldn’t!
- And it does nothing for people who waited for days to get onto a Delta flight, when they could have gotten home so much earlier. They decided to wait when Delta said they wouldn’t cover other airline flights.
By waiting and saying they wouldn’t cover other airline flights, and then reversing course, they likely drastically limited the number of people who bought other airline flights which are now reimbursable. They are getting the P.R. win while limiting the cost of that win compared to coming out days ago with this policy when it would have been most helpful.
Southwest Airlines was fast to cover other airline flights, as well as other costs incurred as a result of their Christmas 2022 meltdown. They gave passengers who were even just delayed an hour 25,000 Rapid Rewards points. Delta in some cases has given as few as 5,000 SkyMiles, while until now insisting they wouldn’t reimburse alternate travel.
Delta’s policy statement still includes the legalese “**Delta does not reimburse prepaid expenses, including but not limited to hotel reservations at the customer’s destination, vacation experiences, lost wages, concerts or other tickets.”
This means that customers who booked their vacation packages or hotels through Delta don’t get refunds. Delta keeps the commission.
Make no mistake, this about face is helpful to those who are still stranded, learn about this policy change, and can find space on other carriers. It’s just not nearly as valuable as it would have been if Delta had been the premium carrier is claims to be.
@ Gary — We are cetianly hoping that our paid F tickets on Delta tomorrow are cancelled, so that we can buy an expensive last minute F fare on United and stick Delta with the bill, while earning elite credit on United. 🙂
“Delta! We skate to where the puck was last week!”
There’s somewhere between 2000 and 4500 UMs stranded by this fiasco. Maybe Tim can climb down off his high horse long enough to check in with his handlers in Atlanta to find out what is being done to address that human crisis. Kids are at risk, especially a week later
I think the government should require airlines to use interline agreements once a certain number of cancellations are met to put passengers on competitors. Since they are all required to do it, it would be fair and they could all agree to a standard set of rates (per mile or whatever) ahead of time.
To address the inevitable Whataboutism regarding Southwests meltdown from TD…
As Gary points out, WN was far quicker to open the checkbook, buy inventory and reimburse for non- WN flights to clear the logjam. And the cancellation rates don’t even compare meaningfully since WN is so tilted to Point2Point routes.
It’s orders of magnitude worse to be stranded on DL for days at some intermediary airport… No hotels, no supplies and no basic comforts.
Some reports still have a quarter million passengers stranded all over the country by DL. Many on Basic Economy fares dwelling on the bottom of Standby Lists that will never clear.
CNN interviewed a pax earlier today who was given a Delta proposed layover at ATL of 340 hours. Not minutes. Hours
I’m happy they gave me 100 skymiles for my inconvenience 😉
@dwondermeant
I mean they call them SkyPesos for a reason!
The value is already creepy low, but it’s not until you start shopping inventory that you realize how hard they are to use.
I still have a few hundred thousand of the damn things but when I need to book? I always end up using my AA, UAL or Alaska miles where it’s 10x easier to apply to my needed routes and dates.
@ Tom — But it is not as premium if you are paying less.
@Gene
Ha. Yes you raise a great point. That whole “they must be the best because they are the most profitable” thing sorta falls apart when you look at where the contribution margin comes from.
They successfully monetized a credit card product which apparently still has some ‘status’ attached to it. (Although most of the world decided Amex was just as lame as Diners Club 30 years ago). So you get to pay too much for tickets with a card that costs too much to carry so you might get upgrades that never clear,,, and denied access to an airport club that would never have you as a member
FREE BONUS! A one week stay on the floor of the ATL concourse of your choice!
You’re exactly right, Gary. I was thinking the same thing.
Too little too late. Make Ed Bastian take a pay cut.
Yeah, this is shameless — they want credit for being the good guys AFTER they’ve screwed over a lot of people. I’m sure they’ll point to this as part of the “premium” service and as an illustration of how they’re so much better than everyone else. And ignore the people they actually screwed over.
In my opinion, Gary’s coverage of the Delta meltdown has been fair, comprehensive, and balanced. The DOT should take into account how well or badly an airline behaves during a crisis before granting them new routes. Delta’s executive “updates” have had unmistakeable tone of blaming others for Delta’s IT brittleness. And as for finally offering to reimburse their stranded passengers, the approval process will likely deter many from filing claims. “Initiative is doing the right thing without being told.” (Victor Hugo)
“You know who” will put a 100% positive spin on this outcome. Popcorn at the ready his comment.
Until you sit in the chair, it’s easy to sling arrows. Never confuse randomness which a CEO can’t control with intent after the fact. They aren’t intentionally trying to say money, get the best of customers, etc. off of a natural (or in this case man-made tech) disaster.
If you believe as I do, leading is hard, because you have to make the best, worst choice, and defend it.
-Jon
Anyone who booked their tickets with an Amex Platinum card would have been reimbursed and covered by Amex for all these disruptions and rebookings.
My son took on finding alternatives for his company employees who were stranded. He estimates that just alternate flights cost them $3000 plus the cost of hotels, rentals, meals, etc. He isn’t worried as the annual travel budget is $250k, but it is still something that the company should not have to pay.
PREMIUM
Really didn’t have a choice now did they, should have done it in the first place but the Fed and the law suits are coming. How’s the Tom Brady hiring looking now? DL is a complete joke.
Stuck in Atlanta and had to cancel river trip in Oregon as we would have missed 2-3 days of the trip. Sadly after canceling we’re not sure if we will get anything back on this trip. Delta, how can you reimburse me for this clearly evident loss
@Tom Dually
Last night I stayed at a hotel courtesy of Delta. It was really agonizing watching them take my on time flight – it arrived on time – and turn it into a complete fail and delay due to whatever choices they were making on the ground. Open gate, and they let it sit on the tarmac for 45 minutes. We kept hearing how it would only be a few more minutes, no impact to our flight, yada yada. In he end, they delayed enough for us to get caught up in the weather that hit ATL, and that finished it off. We sat for an hour on the other side as well ‘waiting’ for a gate. That last delayed killed my chance for the night. And a 12 bucks food voucher? Really? when drinks are 5$?? Fortunately I can use the SkyClub.
There was just no excuse for that.
Meanwhile I have to say, their messaging does keep the truth from the majority of passengers who don’t really understand IT, or what goes into business planning around how that impacts operations. Such as…. having Business Continuity Plans, and DR plans, etc. I make sure to educate them. Not because I dislike Delta as an organization, but to show how off track Bastian has taken them, and how poorly their leadership is serving them.
Your mention credit cards, and I have been having similar thoughts, just more along the lines of GM. GM finance became more important than making cars, and that was quite a disaster. Their quality went down the toilet, and the company floudnered until the 2008 financial crisis forced the make over that has allowed them to move forward. They have a CEO who started life as an engineer and is about making cars.
I have no problmes with looking into revenue sharing or models that add value, but they can’t take away from the core mission.
Delta is to move people and their baggage from point A to point B in a safe and timely fashion.
You’re right, it would have been much better for Delta to communicate this earlier. While late, it is still objectively good. Many people booked backup tickets believing Delta would cover them. Others will surprisingly be made whole, or close to it.
You also seem to be conveniently forgetting that it also took Southwest several days to publicly confirm they would cover tickets on other airlines. The situations are eerily similar, at least in that regard.
Just because we disagree doesn’t mean anyone is being “duped.”
@Kyle Potter – I do not disagree that this is better than not doing it at all! Point is that waiting until after operations stabilized makes it far less useful, a talking point but a policy that limits what it’ll cost Delta compared to if they’d done the right thing while they were still cancelling flights.
But Delta is a premium airline! People pay more to fly them! And then get excited about their comfort plus “upgrade”!
The worst out of all of this, is how companies, Delta, Amazon etc, all keep trying to blame “others”, or that’s outside of their control and using it as a reason for not giving refunds, etc.
YOU, THE COMPANY, Hired a thir-party to provide you with computer security services, no different than hiring a contractor to work the gate for you or providing plane maintenance, etc, but in the end YOU HIRED them. Therefore you are still responsible for any issues. If my company wins a project, and I choose to use subcontractors to perform the job, if I fail to deliver due to issues with my subcontractors, my company is still the one on the hook for it, not the subcontractor. I can fight with him later, but first I’m the one who my customer will get mad at.
We called three days prior to our flight and were assured that there was no issues flying on the 24th of July. We were again assured at the Austin airport that there were no hiccups that day. Guess what? We sat at that airport for hours – 3 gate changes + 9 flight time changes and a missed connection due to air traffic control issues. What did we get when we final arrived at JFK – nothing but a seat to sleep on until the following day. Why? Because Delta doesn’t cover anything if it is an “air traffic control” issue. Nor do they reimburse an hotel, food, or car expenses. A family of three stranded at JFK at 11pm. They owe anyone that has had to deal with any type of inconvenience money – plain and simple. Overbooked flights and they were handing out $600-1100 giftcards to take later flights but those stuck were not offered the same. Disappointed and angry is an understatement.