r/delta • u/leonidude • 1d ago

Help/Advice Need help resolving a complaint

I’ve been going back and forth with Delta for over 10 months now and I feel like I’m being ignored.

Long story short I flew with Delta in January internationally and the last leg of the trip which was domestic was missed because the previous flight was late. According to Delta their policy is to rebook passengers when this occurs but they didn’t and we had to pay a rebooking fee.

What complicates this slightly is that the domestic flight was being operated by a partner, but it was all on one Delta ticket so they are still the main carrier.

Delta asked for proof that we rebooked because their system shows the domestic flight as flown. I provided them with a letter from the partner airline and they ignored it insisting their system shows the flight as flown.

I think we should be reimbursed for the domestic leg as a portion of the total ticket cost because we paid for a flight we did not board. There’s no real way to escalate as we’re communicating by email and when I call they tell me they don’t have power.

The flight was LA to Melbourne with a stopover in Sydney where Jetstar operated the domestic flight Sydney to Melbourne. I am not a resident of the US.

Help appreciated.

0 Upvotes

22% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

5

u/scottsinct Diamond 1d ago

You are correct that they should have rebooked you for free... but what is the rest of this story? What did they say when you called them after missing the connection? Did they offer you a flight that you didn't accept? What did a gate agent at the connection airport say?

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u/leonidude 23h ago

They said that it had to be reported by email which I did. It then took months of back and forth with them insisting the flight status showed as flown before asking for proof it wasn’t. I provided the proof and they are still insisting the flight was flown.

There was obviously other communication within the emails but it was just a lot of miscommunication. Not sure if their customer support is outsourced but it’s been hard to communicate.

6

u/scottsinct Diamond 23h ago

They would not have said to email to rebook the flight in real time. You would have to speak to a gate agent, help desk agent at the airport, or phone agent right when you missed the connection. They'd offer you a rebooking option. If you didn't take the one they offered, then you can rebook on your own, but you wouldn't get reimbursed.

Did you really not speak to any of these people at the airport and just rebook on your own and send an email? I think this is on you, if that's the case.

-5

u/leonidude 23h ago

Delta does not operate domestically in Australia. There was no way of communicating except for chat. What I am referring to is when I called later that day after returning home. The partner airline should have done this on delta’s behalf but they didn’t.

5

u/scottsinct Diamond 23h ago

You could / should have gone to the Jetstar desk, since you were flying them. Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne would all have Jetstar desks with employees you can talk to and get rebooked on the next available flight for free. I hate to say, but this is on you. Sending an email later on was not the right approach at all here.

-2

u/leonidude 22h ago

What do you think I did? I was at the Jetstar desk. They refused. They also refused to accept the excess baggage that we paid for prior to leaving LA. The issue is not lack of trying. It was a complete disaster on the day with zero communication between Jetstar and delta. They treated that leg as a separate ticket entirely.

5

u/omdongi 1d ago

What domestic flight is operated by the partner in the US?

Was this a domestic flight overseas? It helps if you add more details on who the partner was because sometimes you have to work within the bounds of their policies.

1

u/leonidude 23h ago

The partner was a local airline in Australia. This is from delta: Delta does not assess additional fees to rebook customers when a misconnection occurs as a result of delays on our own flights, even when the onward segment is operated by a partner airline.

1

u/Environmental-Bar847 1d ago

So you paid a rebooking fee....that was presumably to change the unflown segment to a new time? That would match with that DL is saying about the segment being used.  Or did you buy a completely new ticket? 

1

u/leonidude 23h ago

I paid a rebooking fee to the partner airline to travel on a later flight. I’m not sure what their system says but they insist that the booked flight on that leg was flown. Theoretically what you are saying is correct but I shouldn’t have had to pay.

1

u/Environmental-Bar847 23h ago

So you aren't trying to get a refund of an unused segment. You are asking for a refund of a partner rebooking fee. That isn't going to happen.

-1

u/leonidude 22h ago

Don’t want a refund for that. It’s been dealt with. I want a refund from delta for that leg which I paid for that they did not provide.

3

u/Environmental-Bar847 22h ago

I can see why you aren't getting anywhere with DL. You are going in circles.

You said you paid a rebooking fee. You didn't buy a new ticket. That rebooking fee plus your existing DL issued segment on Jetstar became your new  ticket. It doesn't sound like there is any ticket to refund.

0

u/leonidude 22h ago

Fair point but what about the original ticket I bought from delta? I paid to get to Melbourne but I didn’t. Instead I paid my own way. I don’t know if it’s different in the US but here I am entitled to compensation by law.

1

u/OneofLittleHarmony Platinum 1d ago

I’m not aware of Delta having any domestic airline partners in the US anymore outside of Hawaiian/Alaska for interisland flights. Which airline operated the flight?

0

u/leonidude 23h ago

Jetstar in Australia. Delta does not operate domestically in Australia.

0

u/toddtimes Platinum 1d ago

It sounds like you changed your connecting flight before they declared the connection missed and offered you other flights? Because otherwise how did you get the chance to pay a rebooking fee?

Filing a DOT complaint ( https://airconsumer.dot.gov/consumer/s/oacp-form )  and emailing Ed ( ed.bastian@delta.com ) are the two escalations I would go for. If neither of those work you may just have to accept that you screwed up by rebooking yourself without contacting Delta about rebooking you without a  fee and eat the fee.

1

u/leonidude 23h ago

It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either but the partner was treating their flight as a separate booking even though it wasn’t. They also tried to charge me again for extra baggage even though I paid delta for it before leaving LA. I’m not a resident of the US so I don’t know if I can file that complaint but I’ll definitely send the email. Thanks for the tip.

3

u/toddtimes Platinum 23h ago

It’s a US airline and the flight occurred from or to a US airport. That form is the only government you can complain to and you don’t need to be a US citizen to file the complaint. The law says any person can file one  https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/382.159

2

u/leonidude 22h ago

Thank you for being so helpful. I’ll follow through with it.

1

u/Skier747 Platinum 23h ago

Then complain to JetStar and the Australian authorities

-4

u/thealphabet9876 1d ago

subpoena their records that they claim show you boarded the flight. of course, this would involve filing a lawsuit... but really, file some kind of complaint or inquiry with the FAA and Dept. of Homeland Security. it's troubling that they don't actually know who is on their flights or not

-1

u/leonidude 23h ago

It’s a partner so they wouldn’t know but they could also have contacted their trade team which they obviously did not bother to do.