Missing infant ticket leads to $1,735 airfare bill

Joshua Davis and his family were looking forward to a weeklong vacation in Cancun. They were not planning to pay twice for their airline tickets, or to be on the receiving end of a frustrating form letter from Delta Air Lines, which cast a long shadow over their family getaway.

The Davis family’s story is a case study for the value of using a competent travel agent, particularly when you’re booking special tickets to an international destination. Davis bought his tickets directly by phone through the airline earlier this spring, leading to a not only a ticketing fee, but also an unfortunate series of misunderstandings.

We explained that we needed five tickets, two for my wife and I, one for our five-year-old daughter and two lap tickets for our infant twins.

When we received boarding passes in the mail, one of the infant tickets was missing, so my wife promptly called Delta and informed them of the issue. The representative on the phone told her that they would put the ticket in the system and all we would need to do was pay for the ticket when we checked in. We though everything was golden.

Everything was not golden.

When they arrived at the airport in Roanoke, Va., there were no tickets for the babies. A Delta rep phoned the international desk to try to resolve the issue.

There was no rush to get this issue resolved at either end, the check in counter or the representative on the phone. Needless to say, we missed our 6:30 a.m. flight. Then, to add insult to injury, we were told that we would have to pay for new tickets.

Since we had no other recourse to get to our destination, I booked one-way tickets from Roanoke to Cancun for my family. We also had to pay for new infant tickets and a surcharge to change the return leg of our original flight to the new itinerary. Instead of the flight costing us $1,613 as we originally thought, it cost us that plus $1,735, the cost of the new tickets.

Efforts to resolve this by phone with Delta from Mexico were unsuccessful. A supervisor sympathized and offered the family three $500 vouchers. He explained that if he tried to reverse the charges on the tickets, he would have to cancel them, which would mean the family would have to buy new tickets home. Davis declined the offer, and instead wrote to Delta after he returned to the States.

Here’s how it responded:

Thank you for sharing your concerns regarding your recent travel experience. On behalf of everyone at Delta Air Lines, I sincerely apologize for the problem you and your family encountered due to our agent error and inappropriate customer service by our airport agent.

We are very concerned about the unfortunate situation you described. As our customer, you are in the best position to point out areas that need attention. Our goal is to provide consistent and accurate information to our passengers at all times. I am truly sorry that in this instance you did not receive the service you expected and should have received.

Feedback like yours will help us improve our reservations process and customer experience. Please know I will be sharing your comments with our Reservations leadership team for internal follow up.

While we would like to offer special consideration in cases such as yours, we are unable to honor the many requests that we receive from others in similar situations. We follow a consistent policy to ensure that Delta is fair to everyone who travels with us. Accordingly, we must respectfully decline your request for a ticket refund.

Furthermore, I realize that having two negative experiences in a row can really impact your decision to choose Delta for future travel. As a gesture of goodwill, I have issued an Electronic Transportation Credit Voucher (eTCV) in the amount of $100 each for the inconvenience you experienced due to our reservation agent and counter agent.

As I reviewed the Davis file, it seemed to me Delta didn’t take the time to fully consider what happened to this family. I mean, they had to pay twice because of an airline error. And they send them a form letter and vouchers? Come on.

I contacted Delta on Davis behalf. A few days later, he received the following follow-up note.

I am in receipt of your recent message to Christopher Elliott. On behalf of Delta Air Lines and our Delta Connection Carrier, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, I want to extend our heartfelt apology for the unsatisactory customer service you encountered from our team at Roanoke. In addition, I am truly sorry our Customer Care team was unable to satisfactorily resolve your issues.

Your comments are well received and your frustration is understandable. I am at a loss to explain the actions of our employees and am so very sorry you missed your flight to Cancun on April 12. Clearly a refund is due for the new tickets you were required to purchase.

There’s your happy ending.

But how could Davis have avoided this? Next time, he might want to consider calling a travel agent or booking the ticket directly online, where he can ensure each passenger’s name is on the itinerary before pushing the “buy” button.

(Photo of Cancun: Tbass Effendi/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • Mindy

    I don’t believe you CAN purchase infant in lap to
    tickets online.

  • Connie

    Re: frequent flyer programs. I agree – what a joke (on all of us)! The worst job in the world (way worse than unplugging public toilets for a living) must be working in the frequent flyer department of most airlines – and having to repeatedly tell people that “their” hard-earned miles are worthless for what they want to use them for. And then trying to explain the airline’s completely arcane rules – which are incomprehensible to a college professor, let alone someone with a low marble count. It’s too bad Bob Newhart is no longer with us; this could have been the basis of his best one-ended phone conversation routine. “No, you see Mrs. Norton, you can only use your 200,000 miles for a free ticket to Miami if you add a service fee of $325.00 – unless you travel midweek in late September. Are your plans flexible, Mrs. Norton? Because if you would like to go to Bismarck in February, we have good availability right now.”

  • Thalassa

    I think I’m missing something here. Davis states When we received boarding passes in the mail, one of the infant tickets was missing, , but then says when he arrived at the airport neither of the infants had tickets.

    What happened to the one he DID have?

  • http://waynedayton.tripod.com Wayne Dayton

    Delta Reservations agents routinely screw up. Had to book an Unaccompanied Minor from YUL-MEX. The DFW-based res agent KNEW the age of the child, because of the date of birth provisions of Secure Flight. She went through the UM charge info, and said to call back with the names of the persons dropping off and picking up, passport details, etc. She then proceeded to book the flights we initially requested. Only when we called back to provide the details she asked us to provide did the next agent say that the child couldn’t take these flights because they were the last flights of the day. While not happy since the morning flight wasn’t as convenient to get her to/from the airport, the biggest issue was that Delta CHARGED A $150 CHANGE FEE for THEIR ERROR! Naturally, a strongly-worded letter is being sent today to Delta’s General Counsel, Richard Hirst, stating — refund or else!

  • Jason

    I find it interesting that in Delta’s first response, they admitted that the error was their fault. I quote… “On behalf of everyone at Delta Air Lines, I sincerely apologize for the problem you and your family encountered due to our agent error and inappropriate customer service by our airport agent.” So… we are admitting that this problem was our fault, we charged you an additional $1600 to get where you were going, and as a good will gesture, we will give you $500. Give me a break! These companies are obviously screwing their customers. My question is… with this kind of ROI (300+%) on the $500 returned, how can airlines be losing so much money and still charge me to check my luggage.

    It is sad that it took Chris getting involved to get their refund. The first letter that they sent would have been open and shut in small claims court. I just get frustrated with airlines (or any company for that matter) that doesn’t understand the basic concept of customer service.

  • Brian A.

    We flew with our infant daughter five times on Delta/NWA before she was 2 years old. 4 domestic flights within the US and 2 international flights to Europe. I was a DL Platinum (now Diamond) and used miles to purchase these flights. We didn’t experience any problems with the “babe in arms” tickets, although the rules for international flights are a big deterrent. If you wish to have your baby on your lap for an international flight with DL on a frequent flier ticket, they insist on charging 10% of the full fare for the infant. As you can imagine, that can be quite expensive…so we opted to use miles to get her a seat (thankfully I have a lot of miles from frequent business trips to Asia). For such a long flight, it’s probably better for baby to have her own seat anyway, but it is probably a significant barrier for many people who don’t have the miles or cash.

    Other airlines are more family-friendly. With my Senator status on Lufthansa, I am allowed to book an award ticket for myself at the normal mileage rate, my spouse at only 50% of the miles, and tickets for my children are something like 80% (20% off the normal amount).

    Speaking of kid surcharges – what’s up with most of the cruise lines? We are big fans of Princess and thought that a cruise might be the perfect vacation for us and our baby. The baby was still breastfeeding and maybe just eating a tiny bit of baby food, so it’s not like the cruise line was going to be spending any money on her. Yet Princess wanted to charge nearly a full-fare ticket for our daughter, even after talking with customer service. Needless to say, they lost the opportunity to have us on board. Norwegian appears to have more kid-friendly policies but I don’t think their ships are as nice. To me, it makes no sense for a cruise line to charge almost full fare for a baby when she occupies the same small cabin and does not consume anything the cruise line might provide.

  • Molly

    What a shame that the Davis’ had to get you involved, even after Delata acknowledged their mistakes. I guess they figure the odds are in their favor, that if they rip off enough curstomers, too many will be too busy to further complain or take it to a another level, and they’ll simply pocket the extra cash of those that don’t have the time.

    I do feel that the Davis’ could have avoided the problem by simply making another phone call. Anytime I’ve had an “iffy” situation with *any* airline, and the phone rep assures me that “everything is fixed”, I call back the next day, and make sure that the new agent sees that everything is the way it’s supposed to be in the record.
    When Davis was missing one of the babies tickets, he should have done that. Also, knowing how airlines screw up so often, after I saw there was one ticket missing, I would have insisted to Delta that they express mail me the missing ticket and not take anyone’s word that “everything would be ok at the airport”. Call is pessimism or call it experience, but personally, I never would have allowed DL to get away with not express mailing me a proper ticket before the flight.
    The airlines screw up enough when all papers are in order, when things aren’t in order, they screw up big time.
    Moral: Don’t show up at the airport without all your ducks in a row and work out any potential problems before the day of flight.

  • http://www.sanibel-rentals.net Samba

    Makes me long for the days when we used travel agents exclusively. On those rare occasions when we encountered problems, the agent was able to resolve them to our satisfaction. Good thing with all this online and direct booking activity that we have Chris to advocate for us.

  • Adele

    I might add that even if you purchase a seat for your infant and have a ticket, don’t assume he/she actually has a seat. I’ve traveled a lot with my soon to be two year old. I’ve always bought a seat for him for safety and comfort reasons. About 3/4 of the time, when I check in, they hand me the boarding passes, I look at them and see that they have voided the seat and reissued his boarding pass as a lap child. I guess they assume that anyone traveling with a baby wouldn’t pay the extra money to buy a seat for them. Inevitably, I have to go back to the counter and fight to get his seat reissued. The first time it happened, I was through security before I noticed his boarding pass was not correct. Moral of the story, in addition to making sure you have the right tickets, always check those boarding passes before you walk away from the ticket counter!

  • Joe Farrell

    The language in the Delta letter was boilerplate – akin to Nixon saying he accepted full responsibility for Watergate but not the blame. And Jason, once again you ar not seeing the details, and I quote: “A supervisor sympathized and offered the family three $500 vouchers.” did you see that? THREE $500 vouchers – not one.

    How did he get THREE ‘boarding passes’ in the mail? He booked the tickets within 24 hours of the flight and got them in the mail the next day? You do not get ‘boarding passes’ in the mail – ticket receipts perhaps – but boarding passes? No.

    Hey Adele – they void the ticket out, with you buying a seat, and simply issue a lap child boarding pass? Seriously? The ticket agent takes your money, cancels a non-refundable ticket and does not refund any money? Wow – that seems pretty crazy.

    While it is not likely that the OP knew this – unless he PAYS for lap child ticket he does not have a lap child reservation when traveling internationally. . . . plan accordingly in the future.

  • Joel Wechsler

    @Samba What is preventing you from continuing to use a travel agent? There are still quite a few around and many of them are very good.
    @Joe Farrell Actually Jason is not wrong. While a supervisor offered 3 $500 vouchers on the phone, which the OP turned down, Delta’s first offer in their letter was for $100 each, or a total of $500. Also, I beleive the OP’s use of the term boarding passes was probably an error, as everywhere else he refers to tickets. While there is no indication as to whether or not his total fare paid included two lap child tickets he does say that that is what he requested.

  • Steve

    “The Davis family’s story is a case study for the value of using a competent travel agent, particularly when you’re booking special tickets to an international destination.”

    Chris, I disagree. I think you are being way too generous to Delta in implying that the Davis family should have used a travel agent to avoid this problem. Their problem was not caused by ignorance but by Delta’s customer service representatives, who first screwed up the initial reservation then told them that the problem was fixed when it was not. Would a good travel agent have sorted this out for them prior to the trip and saved some of the headaches? Sure. But that doesn’t change the fact that DELTA is at fault here, not the Davis family or any third party they could have used.

  • LeeAnne

    I have several observations about this debacle, and the comments following.

    First, I completely disagree that this is a case study for using a travel agent. For buying PLANE TICKETS? Come on. Most TA’s wouldn’t even want to work with you if all you need them to do is buy simple round-trip plane tickets. And if they did, there would be a service charge tacked on, since TAs don’t make commissions on flights anymore.

    The bottom line is that it should NOT have been difficult to buy plane tickets to Cancun for a family of 5. This was not a complex itinerary – no city-hopping, no open jaws, nothing unusual. The only slightly unusual aspect was that there were two infants – and even that is basic. Any phone agent should have been able to get it right. How hard can it be? “Five round trip tickets please – 3 adults, 2 lap babies.” That’s all.

    Like Thalassa, I too am confused by the missing tickets. If they had a boarding pass for one of the infants, why were BOTH tickets missing when they got to the airport? Did the agent who was supposed to fix the situation, end up making it worse by canceling the one that they DID have? This makes no sense. And why would they have to pay for completely new tickets, when it was clearly Delta’s fault that they missed their flight? Again, this makes no sense, and I can’t help but wonder if there is more to the story than presented here.

    But above all, what I REALLY don’t understand is why the Davis’s didn’t get this resolved before they ever left for the airport. I can’t even fathom the mindset behind heading off to the airport without solid, documented confirmation of 5 paid-in-full tickets. I wouldn’t have gotten off the phone with Delta until I got a confirmation that they would be sending me all five tickets, either in the mail or via email…and if I didn’t get them immediately, I would be on the phone and/or sending emails every day until I did.

    But I will allow that there may be a lack of travel experience here…and thus, a lack of knowledge of just how awful the airlines have become in recent years, how much they screw up, and how crucial it is to have everthing completely confirmed, documented, and secured.

    As for what happened next – mind-boggling. I don’t think there’s enough information in here to help explain why Delta didn’t just do the right thing at the counter, but then to take that much money from them, and offer $1500 in vouchers in return is completely unacceptable. What if they have no plans to fly on Delta again? (And who WOULD fly Delta again after this debacle?) Then the vouchers are worthless.

    I have to agree with Jason about the form letter. HUH? They’re acknowledging that that it’s all their mistake — in fact, acknowledging TWO mistakes — but saying “tough noogies, we’re keeping your money anyway”?? That sounds flat-out illegal to me. It would have made great evidence for disputing the charge on their credit card. (Fortunately they didn’t have to, thanks to Christopher “Corleone” Elliott!)

    @Adele – I’m with Joe Farrell here. HUH? You paid in full for a seat, and they actually just took it away from you and didn’t give you any refund? Sorry but that too sounds flat-out illegal. Glad to hear that you stood up for yourself and didn’t allow that to happen.

    @Samba – yeah, we all long for the days when TAs were paid commissions for the work they did, so it didn’t cost US extra in order to use them. But those days are long gone, and now it’s up to the traveling public to educate themselves about the new realities of the travel industry.

  • Adele

    @Joe Farrell and LeeAnne,

    Yeah, it actually happened, multiple times. I bought a seat for the baby, checked in, and when they handed me the boarding passes, they had printed out “lap child” on the ticket, without a seat assignment. They have been pretty cooperative when I show the receipt and say, “Hey, I bought my son a seat. He’s not flying as a lap baby.” Still, it is a pain. Especially that time I was already through security. The gate was not yet open, so I had to go back to the check in area.

    It gets even better. One time I schlepped onto the plane, baby in one arm, car seat in the other. The flight attendant looked at me and said, “We have to reseat you. This row of seats does not have an extra oxygen mask.” I had to pull out the boarding passes and show her he had a seat, because she wouldn’t believe me. Why would I be carrying a convertible car seat on board if he didn’t have a seat? I should point out this was not on Delta.

    I can only assume that not many people buy actual seats for their infants since most airlines discontinued their infant discounts a few years ago. I hope the problem will go away in a couple months when my son turns two and I am required to buy him a seat.

  • Erika

    I agree with LeeAnne & others who have said that this shouldn’t necessarily be a case study for using a travel agent. I do travel consulting part-time, and I am more than thrilled when clients want to take care of the air themselves. I’ll do it, but my main interest is in helping them design their itinerary, recommending accommodations, tours, etc. That’s where I have my expertise… not in buying plane tickets, which anyone can do online.

    Continental allows passengers to purchase e-tickets for lap babies online. Unfortunately, airline personnel aren’t always up on the latest developments. Some clients of mine had an e-ticket for their lap baby, but the check-in agent tried to insist that they were supposed to have paper documentation. Everything worked out OK, but it irked me that the airline caused my client to panic unnecessarily.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Adele – “I can only assume that not many people buy actual seats for their infants since most airlines discontinued their infant discounts a few years ago. I hope the problem will go away in a couple months when my son turns two and I am required to buy him a seat.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - – - –
    Most people do not purchase seats for children under the age of 2. And there people who lied about the age of their children so that their children can travel as a ‘lap child’ when these children are 2 YO or older.

    Once my son was 1, we started to purchase his own seat. We ran into the same and similar things that you have encountered. The most common thing that we used to hear was “You can’t bring your car seat with you.” Most of these flights were on US Airways.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Erika – “Unfortunately, airline personnel aren’t always up on the latest developments.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - –
    The problem is a lack of ongoing training, learning, etc. at the airlines. I carry a folder with print-outs from the airline website and notes about policies, regulations, etc. when I travel since it seems that a large percentage (more than 80% at US Airways) of the airline personnel do not know their own company policies, regulations, etc.

    Example # 1: As a Star Alliance Gold Member, I am allowed free access to the US Airways lounge for most international flights including flights to Canada. When I travel to YVR from PHX on US Airways, I will carry the print-out stating that I can access the US Airways lounge for free for flights to Canada because there I have been told several times that flights to Canada aren’t international.

    Example # 2: I was flying from PHX to LAX then making a connecting flight with airline partner for an international flight. The weight limit for a checked luggage on America West at that time was 50 lbs and the weight limit for Virgin Atlantic was 70 lbs. I spoke with America West a few weeks before our flight where I received the regulation\policy # stating that if you are making a connection with an airline partner for an international flight, the weight limit for checked luggage is based up the highest amount (in this case, 70 lbs. for Virgin Atlantic). When we checked in at PHX, the ticket counter agent tried to charge us for overweight luggage until I give her the regulation\policy #. Again, we checked in at LAX on our return flight, again, the ticket counter agent tried to charge us for overweight luggage.

    Example # 3: US Airways has a written policy for people of size where it states that if a person of size infringes more than one inch into the space of a fellow passenger that the person of size needs to be moved to another seat and etc. Most FAs do not know this policy or enforce this policy.

    Example # 4: A month ago, we were going to be involuntary bumped from an US Airways flight. The gate agent told the incorrect compensation (the same compensation as a voluntary bump…a $ 200 voucher). I pulled out my print-out of involuntary bumps (I carry this since US Airways has a history and the fines for not providing the correct compensation for involuntary bumps) to show to the gate agent and the gate agent told me that the website was wrong. Lucky, we were not bumped.

    The real problem is that most companies do not invest in their customer service anymore. There are several companies that have outsourced their customer service outside of the US. And if customer service hasn’t been outsourced outside of the US, these companies don’t pay enough to attract people with better skills sets.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Brian A. – “If you wish to have your baby on your lap for an international flight with DL on a frequent flier ticket, they insist on charging 10% of the full fare for the infant.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - –
    That is the policy for several airlines and has been for some time now. There are some European-based and Asia-based airlines that do not charge for a lap child on an international flight; however, all US-based airlines do charge 10% for a lap child on international flights.

  • Wrona

    @Adele – Why would I be carrying a convertible car seat on board if he didn’t have a seat?
    —————————————-
    Because a lot of people will book their child as a lap child, with the hopes that they’ll get lucky and the flight won’t be full so they can have an actual seat for their child without paying for it. They think that by showing up with the car seat, then they have a better likelihood of having it happen. Please note I am not saying all parents do this – but I have seen enough comments on message boards from parents with this exact plan to know this isn’t a rare occurrence. Of course these are frequently the same people that try and get their 2.5 year old on the plane as a lap child.

  • kenish

    The buck stops with a ticket number, which is available online or by calling the airline. This is a long string of numbers, and is NOT the 6-character PNR (record locator). Ticket number is golden, and is pretty hard to be “lost” in the airline’s system. I had to use it once at check-in when a foreign airline couldn’t find my reservation…there would have been a big problem without the ticket #.

  • Joe

    It’s irritating it took a Chris Elliott to get these people their money back when it was so obviously the airline’s fault. That said, like some others, I’m wondering what exactly transpired at the airport that morning because they ended up in way worse shape than I’d have thought was possible. They were one (possibly two?) lap tickets short when they started out. I’d say worst case scenario would have been they buy that missing ticket and try to sort things out later. Instead they missed the flight and had to repurchase for everybody–and still ended up having to sort everything out later.

  • Scott

    @ Erika: The problem is that frequently airlines will make changes to their processes without informing their employees the details. They don’t actually like to spend money on information and training.

    @ AZ Road Warrior: Your example #2 is not technically correct. Even having a separate ticket will qualify you for international baggage policies instead of domestic ones. However, in a two-carrier itinerary, you do not get the higher allowance of either carrier. Most carriers do not even have the information of ALL other possible connecting carriers. That does not make any sense.

    The agreed upon policy between airlines is that the initial (check-in) carrier’s baggage rules apply. If you check-in with United (50 lbs.) and connect to a carrier with a 70 pound limit….sorry, United’s policies apply. However, on the return, if you fly the same carriers in reverse order, then the other airline’s policies apply and you can check more. Know your originating carrier and their policies.