I want to go to a conference in Cincinnati in January. I need to fly from Portland, OR to Cincinnati. Round trip tickets? Yeah, they cost more than $500. $500! To go to Cincinnati! I can fly to Mexico or Puerto Rico for less than that. So....I started exploring my options. Maybe I could juggle some one-way tickets and get a better deal.
This is what I found: On the day I want to fly, a one-way ticket from Portland to Boston is only $170. This flight has one layover in (you guessed it) Cincinnati. If I just want to book the leg of the trip from Portland to Cincinnati, guess how much I pay? $500! $500 for something they would give me and more for only $170. Yeah....that makes sense. Does anyone else feel like monkeys are the ones running this whole thing:
I do. So I called Delta. After sitting on hold for 15 minutes, I was transferred to a non-native English speaker who sounded like he had a thick Asian accent. While he was very polite, he wasn't helpful. When he asked if I was using the website to find these fares and I said yes, he said I needed to contact customer support through the website live chat. I didn't see a way to do this on the website, so I asked about it:Him: You will need to contact my colleauge who is trained in these matters through the Delta website.
Me: Am I supposed to send an e-mail (I saw a link to send e-mail....and I didn't want to wait for a response) or is this live chat?
Him: It is live chat.
Me: Okay. Um....I'm not seeing where I go to find that. Can you help me?
Him: It's on the Delta website.
Me: Right. But where? What do I need to click on to get to that area?
Him: For your question you will need to contact my colleague who is doing live chat to assist customers on the website.
Me: That's fine, but how do I find this person? I don't see anything on the website about live online help.
Him: (obviously exasperated with me) Just hold on. I'll transfer to the person doing the live chat.
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I find it amusing I'm being transferred via phone to the online chat person. This person answers and has a British accent. She was nice and somewhat more helpful. I'll spare you the conversation (it wasn't as amusing) but in the end, there is nothing to stop me from booking my flight to "Boston" and then getting off in Cincinnati and not coming back. IN FACT she says that if I only take the first leg of my trip, I may have a CREDIT in the Delta system that I can use for up to one year.
Hmmm. So pay $500 or pay $170 and get money back? Gee, that one's hard. Why does this have to be so complicated? Why can't I just get charged a fair rate for what I want to do? So note to anyone looking around at airfare: don't just take the price the monkeys give you -- shop around first.
Wish you all a happy and cupcake-filled day,
Carissa
That is incredible on so many levels, lol.
ReplyDeleteSick. I hate airlines. I should book flights through you. You always finagle the best deals out of the worst situations. Remember when you found a hotel+flight in California for less than the flight alone? How do you do this, C?
ReplyDelete