Good luck on actually being able to use those promo miles in the future!!! Delta skymiles frequent flyer program expired my 62,176 miles with no notification this January, 2009. I only found this out when I was trying to use some of my miles for a flight last month. I had received all their junk mail, but no mail or phone call came from Delta to notify me that they retired my miles, even though I have the statement showing they expire on December 31 of this year, 2009! I even called last year to confirm that I had those miles. I was relocating and had not sent them my new email, so they didn't bother to contact me by mail or phone, as my other four frequent flyer accounts have done. If you don't have email, you don't hear from them unless it is to promote a new credit card. When I called, they said they couldn't reach me without my new email address.
They claimed there was no recent activity on my account, but I used 2 of their partners to earn miles, giving my ff number and sent the copies to Delta of the statements showing use of 1-800-flowers, and Best Western motels. I thought there was miles posted from that, but they gave no indication in their reply stating that they would show my miles as still active. I will no longer use Delta/Northwest Airlines, or any of their partners, since they take miles earned honestly and send me an email saying many other people have had the same thing happen to them, so they can't help all of us and won't do a thing to restore the miles any of us had taken away. It sure sounds like they didn't want any extra baggage like our free flights to get in the way of the merger!!!
Here is the email I received after I wrote to the Delta CEO, Richard Anderson, enclosing my letter with my skymiles statement showing the 62,176 active Delta Skymiles with an expiration date of Dec 31, 2009:
Thank you for your correspondence concerning your SkyMiles to our Chief
Executive Officer, Richard Anderson. I've been asked to respond on his
behalf.
We regret you were unaware of the expiration guidelines associated with
the SkyMiles program. We try to ensure our members are aware of these
guidelines by providing them on our website at delta.com/skymiles, as
well as listing the expiration date on account summary statements
following any account activity.
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 in our SkyMiles program. Accordingly, we
must respectfully decline your request.
Again, thank you for writing. We recognize this was not the response you
expected to receive and trust you will understand our position. We
value your business and hope you will continue to choose Delta.
Sincerely,
Lori Langford
Coordinator
Customer Care
Eileen,
Excellent Post! Please forgive me for the delay in getting your comment posted. My error. It amazes me that Delta keeps any of their customers. The new baggage charges on most airlines, Southwest Airlines being the notable exception, are also absurd. I remember a time when airlines provided excellent customer service. Sadly, it seems that for most airlines, those days are past. I, for one, am making a concerted effort to support Southwest Airlines and others that still care about customer service. Perhaps if enough of us take this approach the others will learn their lessons, either by reversing their customer antagonistic policies, or by going out of business, whichever comes first.
By the way, have you considered suing them in small claims court? I'm not an attorney, but if they do business in your area, you might be able to file a small claims suit locally for under a hundred dollars. I'll donate the first $25.00 if you go for it. Document the amount of money you had to spend with another airline to get the travel that they owed you, and claim that, plus your court costs, as damage. It might just get their attention.
John G. |
