Ready for a Change? Consider Delta's Status Match

Back in the day, I was an American Airlines girl. I worked on a tight budget and I flew cheap, but I had flown American to London to start a study abroad semester and I had an American AAdvantage credit card and I did my best to be loyal. I have many great American stories: sitting next to an armed bodyguard to the Lieutenant Governor of Texas on the way to a presidential inauguration; being given a bottle of champagne by an American flight attendant who noticed me reading a Bride magazine and asked about my impending nuptials; and taking an American flight from DFW to Washington Dulles on September 17, 2001, the first day America's skies reopened after 9/11. My flight crew knew members of the American crews who had died; they had the armbands, and our tense and silent takeoff ended hours later to cheers of relief when we landed safely. I thought I would always be an American Airlines girl.

But something happened along the way. Technology moved forward and American's didn't keep up. I began to have horrific customer service experiences. So American and I broke up.

Perhaps you can relate. But what's a loyal frequent traveler to do when they want to break up without losing their perks?

Enter Delta. And their status match. I will feign no objectivity here. Of the four MAJOR airlines I work with (Southwest and Alaska are the best and they are above this competition), Delta is the only one that consistently seeks customer service input through online and phone surveys. They are also the only airline that has been willing to bend policies toward the customer as much as they can for me. (E.g. Recently, I didn't want to buy a $1000 ticket on a packed flight for a customer without their input and the Delta CSA offered to hold the ticket for me until the next morning at no charge and if I needed it there would be a seat.)

Delta is working to get the lion's share of the airline business. What they do then remains to be seen. But they are earning that business at the moment.

And they are offering a Status match to frequent fliers of other airlines. A customer I book travel for recently went through the process. A United million miler, he is in a good position. He's Gold for life with United. He's also tired of flying through Chicago and Denver every winter. Atlanta and Salt Lake look pretty good. He was just granted Gold Medallion status with Delta.

So if your airline relationship is wearing thin and you are considering breaking up, check out Delta's status match. I think you will be glad you did.

Note: Those four major airlines are becoming three. Delta said they are being deluged with requests so plan on the process taking 4 weeks.

Winter Storm Advice

Winter always provides travel challenges. Count on it. But this winter has been a humdinger.

The one thing you can count on if your flight is delayed or canceled is that you will probably not get through on the phone. Trust me. I know. In the course of Sunday and Monday, I tried calling United five different times. Each time I went through an entire menu, inputting information only to get told to "Please try your call again later" and hung up on. By a machine. The ultimate insult.

I was on hold with Delta for 2 hours and 55 minutes trying to get a traveler on a different flight when she was missing her connection due to weather. Said traveler flew an entire segment, ran to the gate as the door to her connecting flight closed and was rebooked on the flight I was trying to get her on while I was still holding.

When weather threatens a trip, start by going to the airline web page and looking for winter advisory information. Often, you will see that change fees will be waived for travelers who want to cancel or delay their trip. What they probably won't tell you, is they might just give you a refund. And while the instructions tell you to call, you can often get this refund by canceling online. (Or at least credit for a later flight with no fees.) I learned this the hard way after my attempts to call United to cancel a flight to a winter advisory city. The advisory told me to call and change fees would be waived. I tried. Repeatedly. Then I sent a frustrated email to United asking for full credit as I was going to cancel on the web page because I couldn't through. When I canceled the flight, I was given the option for a full refund back to the form of payment. Would have been nice to know before all those calls.

Airlines are not required to give you a refund for acts of God (weather). They can simply give you credit. But often, if you ask, they will do so for customer service reasons.

Tip #1: For this reason, if I ever have a schedule change that causes me to book a second flight on a competing airline, I never cancel until about 24 hours out. Because if a sudden storm comes through, I want the credit or at least want to skip the change fee for use on another flight. (And I have changed flights at the request of the traveler only to have them change their mind again and want their original flight. Irritating, but less so if you never canceled the original flight.)

Tip #2: If you are stranded in a connecting city, the airline is not required to provide anything due to weather. However, if you will patiently stand in the mile-long line (which you probably need to unless you like the flight you were automatically booked on with three connections two days later), you might get somewhere if you politely ask if you could have a hotel voucher and/or a meal voucher.

And always remember to be gracious. How would you like to be on the other side of the counter? 

The Handy Reference Guide to Travel Sites and Resources

I gave a talk to a handful of people recently and gave them these as sites to be aware of.

Organizing sites:

Trip It: Organizes your flight, hotel, and transportation into single trip itineraries. An App is also available. This is probably the current industry leader for organization.  

Mileage Manager: This site does charge a nominal fee to keep track of all the mileage and discount programs.  But worth it for those who travel a lot, particularly if you book your own.

Travel news and blogs

http://elliott.org/: This is a GREAT site. If you run into a customer service issue/scam, this guy will go to bat for you and help you fight. There is an e-newsletter you can sign up for too. 

http://www.travelindustrywire.com/: Subscribe to their free weekly e-letter to keep up on travel industry news. 

Budget Travel: Though mainly designed for vacationers, they have an e-letter that has really useful information. 

http://www.johnnyjet.com/: I like this site because it has fun things and helpful tips. 

The Air Travel Rights You Aren't Aware of (and How to Get Them): An article to bookmark with helpful links, particularly if you need to file a complaint.

Airports

Travelnerd.com:  Terminal maps, fee calculator, parking and ground transportation info, rates, and coupons, 

Smart Layover: http://smartlayover.com/  If you get stuck, this site (and app) tell you where to find a spot to nap, gate info, layover details, and day-use hotels. 

Gate Guru: http://gateguruapp.com/  This app has detailed info on more than 200 airports and will tell you where to go and what is near your gate, help with layovers, etc.

Air Booking

Yapta.com:  Connected to Kayak, this site lets you search flights and track the ones you like before or after you book. You get an email when a fare drops. Some airlines refund fare drops in the form of credits; I collect money easily because of this site.  If you use a travel booking software, you can use Fare IQ. 

Kayak: Basically Yapta with a fare predictor and a few other features Yapta doesn’t have.  

Bing.com/travel:  I’m not a huge fan but I will often check their fare predictor.

Hipmunk: I don’t LOVE this site but it is a favorite with many.

Hotels

Tingo.com: Hotel-booking site that automatically refunds price drops. 

The Suitest: One to keep an eye, it still has a way to go in usability but a great way to find if you are getting a good deal on a room and particularly helpful when you are looking for a particular type of room, i.e. suites.

Google.com/hotelfinder: Works so nicely with Google maps, though I often just plug a meeting address into Google.com/maps and then do a search nearby. 

Car Rental

AutoSlash.com: Finds the best discount code and applies it

Avis Business:  The best  business program I work with. Works with all size companies, in most situations other employees can drive without signing on or paying fees, and always an upgrade coupon for any length of rental. And you can book with a preferred driver number for others (unlike Hertz which requires you to have their password).

Food and Beverage Guidelines

Per diem rates: The US General Services Administration sets guidelines for food and beverage allowances by region/city. Very helpful if you are operating on a per diem basis for travelers or simply want to set a ceiling for allowable expenses.

Travel Coordinator Education programs

The Travel Institute: Low cost certification with online education. A caveat: a friend who has traveled for years and started her own travel agency says she hasn't been impressed with the knowledge of those who seek certification from online programs.

Social Conscience

ECPAT-USA: I’m a huge fan of ECPAT (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking) and have spoken with Carol Smolenski, President. Support those in the travel industry who have established protocols for dealing with the travesty of child prostitution and trafficking. Marriott and Disney have refused to sign this code. Hilton, Delta, Carlson and Wyndham are huge supporters.

Keeping Track of Awards Can Be Simple

I was recently trying to book family travel and couldn't remember where I had filed the kids frequent flier numbers. They aren't really frequent fliers but I get them numbers anyway. At the least I keep them in free magazine subscriptions from expiring miles. Now a new website makes it a lot easier to keep track of all your miles and points in one place. AwardWallet.com sends you an email when your miles are expiring or when your balance changes. Disappointingly, American, United, and Delta have all forced AwardWallet to quit displaying their info. But if you use hotel rewards, smaller airlines or credit card points, this site will still provide a valuable service.

Airlines Are Not Created Equal: a Tale of Two Airlines

It's tempting to buy the cheapest ticket. I know. I've done it.

But a tale for you to illustrate why you should keep an airline's policies in mind when you select a ticket.

I bought a ticket for traveler on Southwest recently. His flight was canceled the morning he was scheduled to depart due to a snowstorm a Denver. A snowstorm is covered by an "act of God" clause. The airline is not required to refund the money; but they are supposed to offer you credit for a future flight. I called Southwest. They were unable to get the traveler to his destination that day. So I asked for a refund. (It never hurts to ask.) "Sure, I can do that," the customer service agent responded. I almost fell off my chair.

In contrast, American Airlines had a number of planes damaged in a tornado in Dallas last April. I had a traveler scheduled to fly AA with a layover in Dallas. The flight was canceled. I spent an hour and a half on hold with the airline. I was told at the time that they wouldn't issue a refund but they could give me credit for the unused portion of his ticket. I was given the dollar amount to use on a future flight and told to call in to book travel for him. I had a year to use the credit.

I attempted to use it this week. I called in, followed instructions, provided the ticket number, record locator, traveler's name and was told that he had flown that day and there was no credit. I pointed out he couldn't have flown, the flight was canceled. I mentioned the exact dollar amount that should be left on the ticket. I waited while the agent talked to her supervisor. She told me they could see the credit wasn't used, but they couldn't access it. I would have to submit a web form to their customer relations department because their hands were tied. But I was assured. The people in customer relations could handle it. (But I couldn't talk to them.) I did so. I received an email back stating they valued their passenger's privacy and they couldn't correspond with me about the issue because I was not the traveler. This ticket was booked using a business credit card in someone's else's name (not the traveler), with my name noted as the "arranger." The company has a Business Extra account with American and had a number associated with the ticket. I filled out the form with the traveler's name and took a copy of it so he knew what to say if they contacted him. Nothing. No response. The credit expires in a month, and it is clear to me that American intends to make this as difficult as possible to retrieve.

All airlines are not created equal. And sometimes, you should just pay more and go with a reputable company with good policies. Sadly, American Airlines is no longer that.

Southwest Adds New Fees...Will There Be More?

Southwest recently added a new early boarding fee called "upgraded boarding" and added fees on overweight baggage. They also admit that a no-show fee is in the works for the near future.

Nothing too serious yet, but admittedly Southwest has struggled compared to other airlines who have found ancillary fees to be the path to profitability.

In recent months, Southwest fares have been highly competitive beating out other airlines where they hadn't been in quite some time. Is it an attempt to build customer loyalty before adding more fees? Or the result of collecting a little more in optional services? We shall see.

For now, it is a great time to use Southwest, particularly with no bag fees for the first two bags and no change fees.

Sources: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/17/uk-southwestair-fees-idUSLNE8BD01O20121217
http://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/travel-fees.html

We Love Alaska Airlines!

© timwillingham for Daily Infographic, 2012.