The Power of the Press

Has finally overcome. I have vanquished the mighty airlines and brought them to their knees.

Ok, a bit drama-rama, I know. Many of you have heard or read some of my long standing battles with North-worst airlines, all of which I have lost, with horrible customer service being the victor. No matter what atrocity they commit, they never make amends.

Living in Utah, Delta has become my airline of choice over the last several months (since they have a hub and all), and they haven't done anything too horrible, although I will say they have a horrible stand by policy. You can't do it. That's right, even if you have paid for a ticket that day, and there are empty seats on an earlier flight they will NOT LET YOU SIT IN ONE OF THEM. You can pay a 50 dollar fee 3 hours in advance and switch, but this is not always helpful...or free. North-worst on the other hand, to their credit, will let you stand by for free on any "day-of" flight and you can even confirm a seat the day of for 25 dollars if you don't want to risk stand-by.

Alright, enough. I finally had my first bad Delta experience. They have a program that allows you to get a complimentary elite upgrade IF you are already elite on Northwest. You can't just call and make the switch...that would be too simple. You have to either fax or snail mail a copy of your elite card to Customer Care and then they take 4-7 weeks to process it. I can't wait until humans can work as fast as technology.

Anyway, I did a screen capture of my card, and attached it in an email which I sent to Delta. I asked if this was acceptable instead of fax or snail mail, since it produced the same result. Just print and submit rather than pull off the fax machine or out of an envelope. Three days later I got the response...NO.

Fine, I faxed them a copy. Four weeks later I hadn't heard anything so I emailed Customer Care to check on my status. Their reply, "Oh, we're sorry. We never got anything on our fax from you. Can you re-send?"

I just wasted 4 weeks after emailing a copy that wouldn't work and them losing my faxed version only to start from ground zero. All this time, I am (sniff and sigh) still flying coach with the common people. Fine, I know no one feels sorry for my "plight" but you can empathize with the pain of customer service. Or lack there-of.

Let's move on. After a hostile email back about how they'd better expedite the process after all this trouble I fax my submission again and then email and make sure they got it. Yes. They did.

Three more weeks pass and write in to see how things are progressing. I get a reply that unfortunately they can no longer accept fax requests, and so I have not been processed and I will need to send again VIA SNAIL MAIL. Oh, no sister. It's not going down like this. Fourth attempt, and all attempts they have gotten the documentation they need in their hands. They never even bothered to contact me and tell me they couldn't use the faxed version, so I could have been waiting indefinitely. I was FURIOUS.

I finally pulled out the big guns. My email stated in no unclear terms that where there is a will, there is a way and I had better have elite status by my next flight in two weeks. That I would NOT be re-sending, and that...and here's the big guns..if this matter was not resolved to my liking, I, Shauri Quinn, filmmaker and impassioned documentary journalist WOULD find an outlet for this information.

I sent it in all my righteous anger expecting...well, nothing. I'd tried this tactic before at Apple with failed results. But still, it's fun to at least scare people sometimes. I waited for the email telling me to mail in my proof of elite-ness, and this is what I got:

Dear Mr. Quinn,

Thank you for your e-mail to Delta Air Lines.

I have contacted our SkyMiles Elite liaison in your behalf today and
have
Good News for you! You have been granted complimentary Gold Medallion
status on Delta which is valid until February 2009. This status has been
added
to your upcoming reservations on Delta in April. Please allow 4-5 weeks
from the time the account is updated to receive your credentials. Please
accept my
apology for the inconvenience you have experienced.

Thank you for giving Delta the opportunity to serve your travel needs.

Sincerely,

First, please note that they addressed me as "Mr. Quinn." Fine. A common mistake no doubt, but I have to wonder if they assumed that based on my aggressive response, because every other email they sent was to Ms. Quinn.

Second, I won. I am thrilled and elated, but also a little angered that they really DO have the power to make things happen quickly and only do so when pushed by an angry media-type person.

I am exposing them here, so that all of you can remember the next time the airlines try to screw you over...capitalize on...drumroll...The Power Of The Press.

Airlines, 2 - Shauri, 1. The tide is turning.