Read this and you will understand pics to come:
THIS IS MY LETTER TO DELTA
I recently booked a flight with Delta to and from Panama City, Panama from Washington Dulles Airport. The trip was to span from the 2nd of January to the 14th. Shortly after arriving in Panama I was notified that my parents were going to be visiting Acapulco, Mexico on the 19th of January.
Being a very active traveler and blogger I decided to embark on a trek through Central America to visit my parents. First I called Delta to arrange my return flight from a new location. I spoke to the agent and was excited to find out that it was going to be 173 dollars to change my flight. This was in comparison to the flights leaving from Acapulco on the 29th that were in the 230 dollar range. I was ready to simply cancel my return flight at the time if the change was more than the buying a new flight.
Today I arrived at the Acapulco airport to confirm my tick and pay the difference (as directed by the agent that I spoke). I was given Sat or Wed to do this so I was there on time at 1PM. Upon arrival to the airport I eventually found the office that is located behind the emergency exit door and down the hall and spoke to the representative.
I was first told that his manager was not there and that he wouldn't be in for the next 2 days. This was bad news. He then called his manager and spoke briefly to him. After getting off of the phone I was alerted that the "Manager didn't care if I got a flight or not", but that he was going to try and help me. (Great Service)
I waited patiently for an hour until the line at the check-in counter died down and he finally begin to find my information. After to talking to a representative he told me that it was 550+ dollars to fly home. I was then alerted that the 170 dollars was only the change fee for the flight.
I then had to call a representative myself and was told the same and that they had contacted customer service and that the agent I had spoke to on the 8th to change my ticket had forgot to tell me that I needed to pay more but that I still had to pay 550+ dollars.
Needless to say I canceled my ticket. I then returned to my hotel to search for a new way home. Upon looking at the internet the flight I was scheduled on can still be booked for 400 dollars. Canceling my flight and re-buying is actually cheaper that changing a flight? This was news to me.
I then contacted a Delta representative in the United States to see if I could apply my return ticket to the fare on the flight and was alerted that my return flight was worth 18 dollars. The round-trip ticket is worth over 400 dollars, but that when it worked out the return flight from Panama was only worth 18 dollars.
Now I am stuck in Acapulco(granted not the worst place to be in winter) with no ticket home and feverishly scouring the internet for a cheap flight home. I rode on buses for over 60 hours to get to Acapulco from Panama City and I find myself wondering how long it would take to get home that way.
I am not quite sure what you will do with this letter, but I thought I might as well send it. Needless to say I probably won't be choosing Delta over other airlines in the near future.
Thanks for you time,
Jonny Walker
