RANT WARNING ~LEVEL 4!~
You may have read my recent Delta rant. I left off another side story I thought I should share.
We recently booked a trip using Skymiles. We only had so many in my Delta account and so many in B’s NWA account so we had to split the bookings. It came back to bite us when we saw the difference. Here is how it broke out:
Same dates.
Same flight.
Same cost.
Same partner airline.
Same everything!
Ok, $180 vs. $45 FOR USING FREQUENT FLIER MILES which should be a free trip may not be that bad except:
1. You can instantly swap NWA for Delta miles, so had I known I could have done all three tix from NWA at $45 each!
2. Delta TOLD me to go book online EXCEPT you can’t book from Taiwan for reward tix online (e.g. multiple phone calls).
3. Delta says it is a partner airline. NWA says it is a partner airline, but only Delta charges.
4. Think you can call Delta and explain this and get your 30k EXTRA MILES YOU HAD TO SPEND WHICH IS 1.5 TICKETS ON NWA BACK? No.
5. Think you can call Delta and explain that THEY ARE THE SAME AIRLINE AND THE SAME FLIGHT AND THEY SHOULD HAVE THE SAME POLICY AS NWA? No.
The sad part is I cannot blame anyone other than myself, because when you actually obtain enough frequent flier miles to use OF COURSE you should then spend hours of internet and phone research to determine the most efficient way to use them, especially when they are being used by the same company! Now I have half a brain (contrary to popular belief) and even I got tricked by this one and I/we travel A LOT. It makes me wonder what other chicanery is going on. I promise you this: if/when we return to the U.S. the U.S. airlines I.T. offices will be heavily targeted by me for a new job as I intend to fix this nonsense. Until then, God Bless Cathay Pacific!
