Since last Friday, Delta has been in full meltdown mode, as the airline has canceled over 5,000 flights. Fortunately operations are starting to stabilize, and by Thursday, the airline anticipates not having many cancelations.
Yesterday I wrote about how Delta was doing the bare minimum for stranded passengers. Along those lines, I have to give the airline credit for changing one of its policies today, which is the right thing to do. It took a bit of shaming, but Delta is now doing the right thing.
In this post:
Delta will pay for tickets on other airlines
As you might expect, Delta’s massive meltdown has ruined the travel plans of a countless number of travelers. Under Department of Transportation regulations, the airline has to reimburse passengers for necessary expenses incurred as a result of this, like hotel accommodations, transportation to and from the airport, meals, etc.
However, up until now, the airline has stopped short of reimbursing passengers if they end up booking a ticket on another airline. The airline has now backtracked — Delta has updated its policy as of today (Wednesday, July 24, 2024). The airline will now reimburse passengers for other unplanned travel expenses, including booking 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 goes from July 19 through July 28, 2024. You can submit your eligible expenses for reimbursement here.
This policy change is the right thing to do
Of course no airline wants to write a check to customers for a ticket on another airline. However, when you experience a meltdown to this extent, it’s the ethical thing to do:
- While ideally passengers would be rebooked on other Delta flights, the reality is that many passengers have been told that there are no available flights for several days, and in some cases, even for over a week
- Getting the help of a Delta customer service employee has been incredibly challenging, whether at the airport or over the phone, and many of Delta’s self service tools haven’t worked correctly
- When Southwest had an operational meltdown in 2022, the airline offered to reimburse passengers if they booked tickets on other airlines, in recognition of the fact that the airline let passengers down
So this policy should be a relief for those people who are booked on Delta and experience operational issues. If Delta can’t get you to your destination and you’ve made your best effort to be rebooked through the airline, you can just book a ticket on another airline, and Delta will reimburse you.
Bottom line
Delta has finally updated its policy regarding taking care of customers. The airline is now increasing the types of expenses it will reimburse, including tickets on other airlines, as well as rental car and train tickets, if the airline can’t get you to your destination in an acceptable way.
While not legally necessary, it’s the right thing to do, especially when Southwest did this during its meltdown. I’m curious to see how much this meltdown ends up costing Delta… it won’t be pretty.
What do you make of Delta updating its reimbursement policy?
Has anyone actually received their reimbursement? We filed. It came back missing information for our hotel and the other airline. I called and after being on hold for an hour and fifteen minutes was told to resubmit. Did that three days ago so keeping my fingers crossed.
Just visited that page…
This isn’t at all true…Delta will NOT pay for tickets on other airlines..
My family was one of the thousands affected in July 2024. I just realize that Delta will reimbursement 37% of the round ticket. I paid $4332 for a round trip. I used the first part of the trip, except returning part. I did my own research, and actually one way ticket returning is all the time more expensive. I am wondering if it is a routine practice for delta to reimburse less than should be.
Convenient timing for a policy change, after the operation is back up and running. Sure, they’ll have to reimburse the passengers who bought tickets at their own expense on other airlines, but by waiting this long they’ve saved a bunch of money. Think how many tickets on other airlines they’d have had to buy if this policy was in effect 4 days ago.
I wonder if you were on, say, a $4k D1 ticket and you now had to shell out $10k for a last-minute Polaris ticket, whether DL would consider that "reasonable".
Maybe I missed something? A DL blog with no Tim Dunn comment? Did Ben "flip the off switch" on TD?
If so, it's a good result.
So, to make it even better, let's stop using posts with fake reference to his name. Let's move on. Let's enjoy having logical, informative and fun exchanges. Enjoy! Thanks Ben!
Just traveling to the other side of the world.
And, yes, Delta will reimburse.
Well keep traveling, don’t come back. At least the comment sections is peaceful and civil without your tirade of DL insanity.
they call it the worldwideweb for a reason.
and there are a half dozen replies to this article from people who mocked me before I ever joined the conversation.
I am going absolutely nowhere.
If I was gone for 10 years there would be people who would still be fixated on me bcause they can't stand that I speak the truth they don't want to hear.
In this case, it was a given...
they call it the worldwideweb for a reason.
and there are a half dozen replies to this article from people who mocked me before I ever joined the conversation.
I am going absolutely nowhere.
If I was gone for 10 years there would be people who would still be fixated on me bcause they can't stand that I speak the truth they don't want to hear.
In this case, it was a given that Delta would reimburse. In the heat of the meltdown, they are trying to get people moving.
And despite what some want to believe, neither UA or WN in their own updates in the past 2 years put out a blanket reimbursement on other airlines.
The National Guard was being called in to airports including DEN by the 4th day of WN's meltdown.
UA hadn't come close to getting its operation back on track by the 4th day.
by the afternoon of day 4, DL's operation was running better than AA's - just as it is today
It's the right thing to do and they should have proactively offered customers options to endorse tickets which they probably would have paid even less for through arrangements with other carriers directly. Insane they would have kept someone in a hotel for several nights at Delta's cost but not just gotten them home. Penny wise, pound foolish.
Brace for a major Skymiles devaluation - never make the end customer’s experience good, always focus on margins, shares and dividend. They made a mistake and they will make sure we pay for it!
How much more can you devalue SkyMiles???
I'm sure we will find out.
A good thing but in reality it will be difficult for customers to collect their reimbursement. With such vagueness as "reasonable" what some consider reasonable and really may be reasonable is different than that of the airline or customer service representatives.
Regardless of probably many of us, the travel bloggers, the various FlyerTalk posters, etc., much of the traveling public doesn't have room on a credit card (or can't afford) buying last minute replacement tickets on another airline.
So will Delta reimburse credit card interest for those who don't get a reimbursement for months?
This is nice and all but it's too little too late for many.
They would be liable under the Montreal convention mc99 for international flights. For domestic use the same argument.
The most significant differentiating factor between DL and WN is that DL can book you on other airlines given their distribution systems vs Southwest’s walled garden that they can’t book you on another airline.
That being said it was bad optics for DL as the premium airline not to make it as easy as possible for its customers to get home.
But Timmy just replied another post just few hours ago about NO airline should pay up.
When Ben asked
"So do you think Delta should refund passengers (in cash, after the fact, through a reimbursement form) when they booked tickets on other airlines, like Southwest did?"
All I asked was a simple Yes or No and Tim gave me 7 paragraphs irrelevant fluff about interline.
OUCH!!!
Now maybe my husband will get reimbursed for the new tix($800) on DL he had to buy when told there were No seats.. for 3 days..
This doesn't make sense.
He bought a new DL ticket when he can't be rebooked on his old DL ticket because there was no seats?
If true, this is outright scam.
A similar thing happened to my mom when UA canceled one of her flights. They claimed there were no seats on the first flight out in the morning, so she pulled out her phone and booked one in front of them. Suddenly there were seats available! Airlines are scummy.
As a diamond who was essentially stranded for two days... I've had zero communication from Delta. They rebooked the first flight after cancelling it. That happened instantly, albeit with an inadvisable connection. When that connection broke (1st leg delayed 8 hours), they kept saying they would rebook. I tried repeatedly to rebook on the app and web. All failed. Finally, the connecting flight left and their system decided my final destination was the connecting city....
As a diamond who was essentially stranded for two days... I've had zero communication from Delta. They rebooked the first flight after cancelling it. That happened instantly, albeit with an inadvisable connection. When that connection broke (1st leg delayed 8 hours), they kept saying they would rebook. I tried repeatedly to rebook on the app and web. All failed. Finally, the connecting flight left and their system decided my final destination was the connecting city. At that point, done with my meetings for the day, I called and they rebooked me for the next day. Interestingly, there was no wait on the diamond line. However, I wound up flying on American rather than rolling the dice for the latest rebooking. But not a single message about the problems or compensation I'm entitled to.
Was just offered 3k skypesos for being on a canceled DL flight in F and rebooked in E on an AS flight 6hrs later, didn't even bother taking that for now figure I'll wait it out...
Knowing Delta…… they are going to dole out points as compensation and then soon thereafter they will make “enhancement” to their award chart and raise redemption costs by the amounts of points they doled out. ♂️
How does a publicly traded company get away with misrepresentations (if not outright lies) in public statements about the real cause of these problems?
Their statements are not at all inaccurate. Incomplete, yes. Inaccurate, no.
Isn't 'misrepresentations (if not outright lies)' how we got all the presidential candidates from both parties for the last decade?
Stranded Delta Refugees here. All this is lip service until reimbursements come. Flights finally tomorrow. Should have been last Friday. We have hotels, rental cars, meals, extended Kennel care for our pets, tickets to move from one city to another via southwest due to business. We’ll see what they do….
I know that Pete Buttigieg gets a bad rap as the transportation secretary, but you gotta credit him for shaming Delta into doing the right thing.
"On Monday, Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian recounted in an internal video message to employees how Buttigieg, over the weekend, reminded the CEO of Delta's commitments to its customers.
"I said, you do not need to remind me, I know, because we do our very best, particularly in...
I know that Pete Buttigieg gets a bad rap as the transportation secretary, but you gotta credit him for shaming Delta into doing the right thing.
"On Monday, Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian recounted in an internal video message to employees how Buttigieg, over the weekend, reminded the CEO of Delta's commitments to its customers.
"I said, you do not need to remind me, I know, because we do our very best, particularly in tough times, taking care of our customers," Bastian said, referring to his phone call with the secretary. "
Apparently, Bastian redefined what "do our very best" meant after Pete started the investigation.
Shamming to do the right thing?
It's his job to make sure airlines do the right thing BEFORE the fact not after the fact.
He deserves as much credit as Josh Cahill looking for attention.
@eskimo: what are you on about? sounds like Pete was instrumental in applying pressure to Delta, BEFORE they relented to issuing refunds
On the one hand, they absolutely should not have done this. Things weren't that bad, after all. And other airlines are far worse, no matter what.
On the other hand, what leadership and poise. Truly, no other airline on earth is Delta's peer.
It was that bad for some people to be stranded for 3 days when trying to get home..
Tim Dunn says otherwise.
Delta has the best Atlanta hub and will get the best A350-1000 which no other airline in the world has because Delta is the best.
It is also worth mentioning that Skypesos are more valuable than gold, period!
More valuable than Diamonds!
My one way Delta flight was cancelled and fully reimbursed. But that Delta cancellation resulted in me having to cancel my one-way return flight on another airline. I’m wondering if this new policy will cover the money I lost on the return flight too?
Amazing news, just submitted receipts for travel on southwest! let's see how long this takes in the end...
It's funny that when DL does something good, you use a pic of a 350 and when they do something bad you use pics of older planes like the 767 and 739. I'm sure not intentional.
I had a one way Delta flight cancelled and fully reimbursed. But that Delta cancellation resulted in me having to cancel my one-way return flight on another airline. I’m wondering if this new policy will cover the money I lost on the return flight too?
No as two separate contracts which are unrelated. If you bought a one way eg SFO to JFK on delta that’s their liability and a separate ticket JFK to MIA on AA it’s nothing to do with them. Even if it was a separate tkt in delta and JFK MIA operated they are not officially liable.
For how inevitable this was, it sure came late.
Probably had to stop the bleeding first before focusing on the repairs.
Or offer bandages so late, the wound already healed.
Ed Bastian needs to get a pie to the face for every cancelled flight. This must be broadcast publicly online and in airports. And he gets a pay cut for each canceled flight that goes to paying customers. Delays >3 hours within airline control result in the same punishment.
Get him back from Europe and make him work the customer service desk at ATL for the equivalent number of hours of this mess.
I keep hearing crying and yelling from my basement along with the words "MY STOCK PORTFOLIO IS RUINED"
Sorry grandma, that was me. I’ll keep it down…
I was conceived on the worlds greatest plane, the Delta A350-1000, in the most premium Delta One suite, which was paid for with the worlds leading mileage program, SkyMiles.
I’m just a lurker here but thank you all in the comments for making me laugh. I love how many are in on it.
Delta is the best airline in history! Its A350-1000s will be the envy of the entire globe! Catch me on the inaugural in Seat 1A. It's called Delta "One" because it's really first class!
All the delays and cancelations proves the worth of a credit card that has trip insurance. Was surprised looking at my Chase Southwest credit card, there is no coverage for trip interpution or delays. Seems Chase Saphire Preffered is the way to go.
Tim resist the urge…. Please for the sanity of sane readers and contributors to OMAAT
Delta paid for and directed me to a specific hotel, which claims to be a 4 star hotel. They reimbursed me about $37 for dinner, breakfast, and lunch as well as about $35 for round trip taxi. The hotel did not have an airport shuttle.
I took a flight the next day. I didn't want to take a flight on another airline unless the next day's flight was not operating.
They were already perfect!
Ultimately it won't change much. DL will take a big hit for various types of payoffs, our well experienced Transportation Secretary will write a letter (but not too strong, he might be soon looking for a new job and Airline CEO might be fit the bill), consumers will forget and a similar event will occur again.
"...he might be soon looking for a new job..."
Why?
Elections have consequences
Likely new VP for Lady POTUS.
MAPA VP?
Make America Premium Again!!!
Oh here we go again!:-(
Looking forward to the comments