Questions and Answers

Hi! I just had a weird experience with Delta.com’s booking engine, paired with a phone call with a reservations agent.

I found a great fare on a mixed class round-trip flight from JFK –> ATH. The outgoing leg in Delta One (first) for $2,523, and the return leg in Delta Economy for $1,821. On the last screen before entering passenger information, it lists the outgoing leg in Delta One and the return leg in Delta Economy for a total of $1,821 / passenger. Here’s a screengrab: [URL]http://imgur.com/HPMjycd[/URL]

But when I read this information back to the agent on the phone, she said that once the ticket is booked, it will change the entire flight to be in Economy class only. There is no indication that they would do that based on what I can see on their web site, so I’m wondering if you or anyone else has had this experience?

I realize the numbers they’re showing don’t add up, but that’s what’s on the site (you can clearly see in the screengrab), so they SHOULD honor the fare. If they have no intentions of putting me in first for that first leg, seems like a dirty trick and a rather unpleasant surprise that doesn’t become apparent until AFTER you’ve paid for the (nonrefundable) ticket.

Any thoughts?

I think you’d have a reasonable case to take to DOT if they change your booking without your permission. However, only you can decide if you want the headache of dealing with that. I would document everything if you decided to make the booking.

I believe the first price of $2523 was for both flights together (outbound and inbound) in Delta One. When you booked the second leg in economy the price for the entire trip dropped down to $1821 per passenger, as stated in the screen grab. I’m not sure what this agent is talking about but you should phone back and speak with another agent. I believe you have Delta One on the outbound segment and Economy coming back just like it says on the screen grab. What do the tickets say?

Gia, that was my suspicion too…..I don’t know why they’d have a policy that directly contradicted a fare their website served up, but the agent I spoke with was insistent and frankly, I didn’t have 20 more minutes to wait for a callback at the time.

I never purchased the ticket for fear that I’d be stuck with a nonrefundable set of 3 tickets for 6K on my hands, but I will take your advice and call again tomorrow until I get someone who will cooperate 🙂 Thanks!