A family member passed away and I went to purchase tickets to get to the East coast (flying out of SFO) as soon as possible. Somehow, things were miscommunicated and my tickets ended up being for 2 weeks from now, so I was at the airport, trying to check in for my flight only to find that I wasn't actually on the 9;45 out of SFO to Newark.
I asked the Delta representative behind the counter for help... that I needed to get to Newark for the funeral as soon as possible. Not only did the representative completely ignore me at first, he then told me to walk over to the counter to pick up a phone and call a customer service representative because he could not help me. The customer service representative offered me tickets for $1400 (and I mean, honestly, are they actually going to fill those seats considering the flight was in 1.5 hrs? do they really have to price them at $1400? Shouldn't they just try to get full capacity on the plane!?) and when I could not buy the tickets for $1400 (sorry, I'm only a year out of school with a low paying job), I was then offered tickets for 'only' $1200... oh and to clarify, these were the 'bereavement' fare. Wow... thanks for the empathy Delta.
I then asked if they could just help me find any flight on any airline out that night or early in the morning (It was already 10:30 at that time and I just wanted to get on a plane and get to the East coast). The cheapest flight they could offer me was $1000.
That's when I just gave up, sat in a corner in the airport crying and finally pulled out my laptop, tethered my phone to get the weak wifi, and sure enough, a quick search on Orbitz.com got me a flight for $670.
How can you possibly say that it's MORE EFFECTIVE to use ORBITZ than to deal with airline representatives to buy a plane ticket!? I was AT THE AIRPORT and the representatives ignored me and refused to offer me any help. I have had a long week, I lost a dear family member, my flights were messed up, I was stressed, and they were trying to sell me $1400 BEREAVEMENT FARE tickets. I paid 'full price' (no bereavement discount) for tickets on ORBITZ.COM and paid less than the 'bereavement' fare price and still flew out EARLIER than their offer. It's sad when I have to turn to Orbitz to get something done rather than work with the human being in front of me paid to be an airline representative.
I asked the Delta representative behind the counter for help... that I needed to get to Newark for the funeral as soon as possible. Not only did the representative completely ignore me at first, he then told me to walk over to the counter to pick up a phone and call a customer service representative because he could not help me. The customer service representative offered me tickets for $1400 (and I mean, honestly, are they actually going to fill those seats considering the flight was in 1.5 hrs? do they really have to price them at $1400? Shouldn't they just try to get full capacity on the plane!?) and when I could not buy the tickets for $1400 (sorry, I'm only a year out of school with a low paying job), I was then offered tickets for 'only' $1200... oh and to clarify, these were the 'bereavement' fare. Wow... thanks for the empathy Delta.
I then asked if they could just help me find any flight on any airline out that night or early in the morning (It was already 10:30 at that time and I just wanted to get on a plane and get to the East coast). The cheapest flight they could offer me was $1000.
That's when I just gave up, sat in a corner in the airport crying and finally pulled out my laptop, tethered my phone to get the weak wifi, and sure enough, a quick search on Orbitz.com got me a flight for $670.
How can you possibly say that it's MORE EFFECTIVE to use ORBITZ than to deal with airline representatives to buy a plane ticket!? I was AT THE AIRPORT and the representatives ignored me and refused to offer me any help. I have had a long week, I lost a dear family member, my flights were messed up, I was stressed, and they were trying to sell me $1400 BEREAVEMENT FARE tickets. I paid 'full price' (no bereavement discount) for tickets on ORBITZ.COM and paid less than the 'bereavement' fare price and still flew out EARLIER than their offer. It's sad when I have to turn to Orbitz to get something done rather than work with the human being in front of me paid to be an airline representative.