Dale Nielsen did everything he could to confirm his Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu. He booked the trip through an online agency that offered a notification of flight schedule changes. He called his airline.
It wasn’t enough.
Nielsen’s flight got changed, leaving him and his wife to spend the night at an airport hotel. Who should — and shouldn’t — cover his expenses?
Nielsen thought Delta should pay for the hotel. He explains why:
The air portion of the trip was booked on Delta “operated by Northwest”. Our itinerary, as far as I knew was a direct flight from Los Angeles with the return flight leaving Honolulu (at 10:50 pm) with a connecting flight from San Francisco back to Los Angeles.
Apparently some time in July, Northwest changed our flight to an earlier flight departing at 9:05 pm. Prior to us leaving I confirmed my flight using my Delta confirmation number B9FNY4 and it showed that I was still booked on the 10:50 pm flight.
In addition, on the day before our departure I received and email from Delta Messenger confirming the same 10:50 pm flight and telling me “And don’t worry about reconfirming your flights – you’re all set!”
But Nielsen had another layer of insurance: He booked the flights through Travelocity, which offers a service called Instant Flight Notification and promises, “We’re here 24/7.”
He tried to resolve the grievance through normal channels, by contacting Delta’s customer service department, but couldn’t.
I sent a fax to Delta explaining the situation but as you can see by their reply, they don’t seem interested in reimbursing me for my expenses that I believe where incurred totally because of their information provided to me. I know the whole thing only adds up to $121 that I’m asking for, but it seems to me that they made it pretty clear that I was confirmed on the 10:50 flight, even going as far as telling me “…don’t worry about reconfirming…” and I think Delta should step up to the plate here. What do you think?
I think I agree.
But I thought it might also be worth checking with Travelocity, to see if its fare notification system was working as it should. So I asked. Here’s what a representative told me:
We have determined the customer was not advised of the schedule change. The time change was enough to warrant some type of notification but it seems an agent only notated that the connection was still valid. So, a schedule change email was not sent and his itinerary was not update online. As the customer was not properly notified and we did not work this reservation correctly, we will reimburse his expenses.
I had also suggested that he appeal his case to someone higher up at Delta, which he did simultaneously with my appeal to Travelocity. The result?
Thank you for your most recent communication expressing your continued dissatisfaction with my response. On behalf of everyone at Delta Air Lines, I apologize for the inconvenience you experienced.
I am genuinely sorry it was necessary for you to write me again. I was concerned that I missed the purpose of your original communication so I reviewed your comments with my Supervisor. After a lengthy discussion, we recognize that your experience deserves additional consideration.
I have carefully reviewed your information and I am happy to reimburse the expenses you incurred. Accordingly, you will receive our check within twenty business days. As a gesture of goodwill, I will be mailing a check in the amount of $122. Please allow 7 – 10 business days for the check to arrive.
Again, I am sorry your travel was disappointing. I hope in time you will provide us with another opportunity to restore your confidence.
Whoa. So Nielsen gets two checks for his hotel?
Not bad.
But should he keep both checks?
What do you think?
(Photo: Archangel/Flickr Creative Commons)
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@Leanne
+1
Couldn’t have said it better myelf
Keep both. Consider a “change fee.” The airline charges them, so should it’s customers!
I would say Nielsen should keep both the checks and use those for himself being practical. Give it to charity? Sure, but why just $121 then? LOL. Anyways.
It does not matter whether Nielsen paid $121 and stayed at a hotel or he stayed at a friend’s place and got on the next flight. Travelocity is paying for the inconvinience it caused Nielsen because of its own mistake of not notifying him about the schedule change. There is no question of sending any money back to Travelocity. Period.
Regarding Delta, it would not have been an issue had Delta not sent any confirmation email to Nielsen for his travel the night before. The responsibility stayed with Travelocity (not Delta) to notify him of the schedule change. The fact that Delta provided WRONG information to Nielsen the night before entitles Nielsen to receive some sort of compensation/consideration from Delta. Delta is sending the vouchers for the misinformation they provided to Nielson, which became a reason why he could not fly that night.
Even if he sends money back to Travelocity or Delta, not a single penny goes to the person who actually helped Nielsen get his reimbursement. It goes to the profit of the agency/airline.
I am certainly glad at lease some people at Travelocity and Delta aren’t passing the buck and dodging responsibility. Another success story for Chris Elliott the Great.
@Carver – thanks! :-)
@Raven – I just gotta ask – imagine you sent a check to an airline to pay for a ticket, and subsequently found out that your company had already paid for the ticket. The airline kept both, under the auspices that they were applying the second one for some fee that they hadn’t previously disclosed to you. Wouldn’t you feel that was dishonest?
That’s exactly what you are telling this person to do.
He was issued two payments, from two different sources, for the same fee. He can’t now take the second one and say, “well I’m not using it for the hotel, because somebody else paid for that…but since you sent it to me, I will keep it and apply it to cover my hours.” They didn’t agree to pay for his hours. Or for anything else. They agreed to pay for the hotel. But the hotel was already paid for by someone else.
The dishonest inclinations of so many people in here are startling.
If there is concern about rewarding the person who helped him at either company, he can send the excess money with a letter commending their customer service. That will go a long way for that particular employee as far as getting raises and promotions. The money did not come from the employee’s pocket. It came from the company’s account. Therefore, it should go back there and the employee who sent it is not entitled to it.
He asked for 121.00 for hotel reimbursement. He didn’t ask for compensation for his time in recovering the funds, lost vacation time or meals. If you get the amount that you ask for twice, the second amount is not yours. Period.
ituri you are still right; if his conscience bothers him give aoe to charity; I would not waste my time plus the expense of the stamps; if it were a bank teller or cashier at a supermarket and they gave me a twenty instead of ten of course i would return it; that would ruin their account s and possibly result in a poor review; they are not ceos;just at least for bank tellers grossly underpaid.
I actually think it would be justifiable to keep both checks. It’s not just the cost of the hotel, it’s also the inconvenience. He had to take a flight the next day and then he had to fight for his money. The extra check compensates for his time.
However, it would be even more honourable to donate the money to charity and then let the companies know that’s what you’ve done. Donate it in your name though – you should get the tax break, not Delta/Travelocity.
@Barbie – I find it interesting that the only reasons you cite for giving back the money to the cashier is because it might ruin their accounts, or have some other negative impact on the cashier. What if nothing happened? What if the money wasn’t missed, and the supermarket was never going to find out, and the only impact is that a large supermarket chain now has $20 less profit, but nobody knows it? Would that then make it OKAY for you to keep the money?
Wouldn’t “doing the right thing” be a good enough reason for giving the money back?
@Caitlin – Giving the money to charity, while an admirable sentiment, still does not make it right. It just transfers the benefit of the dishonest act somewhere else. If the charity knew the details behind where the money came from, they probably wouldn’t even accept it. The money doesn’t belong to them. Nor does it belong to Nielson.
To some degree if he doesn’t send the money back, he is committing at minimum a misdemeanor, at worst a felony. It would essentially be theft by deception.
If a bank accidently put the same deposit in to your account twice, and you spend that money, you are still responsible for paying it back. The individual who received the two checks for the error knows that 121.00 is not his money.
For those arguing he should keep the check, I’d suggest if you ever have a similiar problem with a travel company, then you shouldn’t complain, after all their doing exactly what you advocate.
@William2009: Thank you. You are helping to restore my faith in humanity. It’s refreshing to know that at least SOME people out there have a basic understanding of right and wrong.
LEE ANNE we were told by Chris not to read each others comments; or comment on them. The only reason i glanced was I saw my name mentioned; I did not read what you said an agreement is an agreement; I solemny swear I have abided by the agreement.
Can’t we all just get along?
I think we are Chris. I’m discussing the article, and the issues that have been brought up in relation to the article. I thought we were passed all that silliness, and could actually have intelligent, topic-related discussions now. But if Barbie feels unwilling or unable to participate in that manner, I will leave her alone.
The fact that this even requires discussion is symbolic of what is going wrong in our country. A mistake was made; he was reimbursed.
The real decision is to whom should the refund be made; unfortunately, it would be quite likely that splitting the refund between Delta and Travelocity would involve much additional paper work.
IMHO, he should return Travelocity’s payment and keep the one from Delta. I don’t think he can, in good conscience, keep both because making a profit on this would be less than honorable. He sought reimbursement of his expenses, he received reimbursement of his expenses, anything above that is not his to keep. Since Delta’s error was the most egregious (specifically advising him that his flight was still at the old time when they should have known otherwise), they should be the ones to pay. Travelocity failed to notify him, which is certainly not a good thing, but if Delta hadn’t provided the wrong information and if their website hadn’t had the incorrect information, he would have gotten the correct new time when he checked on his flight time online. Therefore, I think he should keep the payment from Delta and return the other to Travelocity. At least that is what I would do if I were in his shoes.
Chris, was it the flight from LA to Honolulu that was the problem or the return leg from Honolulu to San Francisco? Your first sentence implies it was LAX-HNL, but the letter from Dale suggests it was HNL-SFO (which would make more sense given the late departure times). In that case his extra night was in HNL, so Dale did not miss any of his vacation as others have suggested.
None of that is really relevant to keeping the extra check for the hotel though. Ethically, he should keep only one, and at least attempt to return the other. Why couldn’t he just mail the check back to the customer representative who sent it? Then it would never get cashed, and presumably the company’s books would resolve themselves. I’d write a note explaining the reason for the return though.
Wow, I just saw this and am amazed at the number of responses! I had a similar problem with a Delta/Northwest flight with 2 confirmation numbers, one for Delta, one for Northwest. I got changed to an earlier time by Northwest. The Delta flight still showed up on my itinerary – basically, I had 2 flights to the same end locations by 2 different carriers! I had to call both Delta and Northwest to find out what was going on. So, I fully understand what Mr. Nielsen experienced; I noticed the problem before it became a real headache, just a bother talking to India or wherever.
My vote: e-mail the 2 parties that authorized the check on one e-mail, and tell them you received 2 checks. Ask in that e-mail what they want you to do and let them know that you would appreciate a resolution that would be the least disruptive to you, since this all came about because of an major inconvenience to you. Ask them to resolve this between themselves. Give them a deadline to respond – say, 2 weeks. Tell them that no response means that you will keep that check. Be sure to send that e-mail with return receipt.
If it turns out that you get to keep both checks (either because it isn’t worth the company’s time to process the return and they say keep it or due to no response from both parties), I would donate the proceeds of one check to charity. I don’t think it right to profit from this; I would feel, to use an adjective rarely used these days, sinful about profiting from a mistake. If it was wrong of the companies *not* to pay you, it is equally wrong to receive payment in error.
Personally, I think Mr. Nielsen shows a lot of integrity in bringing this to Chris Elliott’s attention in the first place.
I would send the check back to Delta. Of course it’ll probably wreak havoc with their accounting department!
E
Based on another article by Mr. Elliott Delta isn’t shy about sending their customers to a collection agency when they feel the customer has cheated them (regardless whether there’s any basis for such a feeling!) Accordingly, I would photocopy the Delta check, then return it to Delta by “Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested” and enclose an explanation referencing the Travelocity payment.
I’m shocked. Just thoroughly shocked! Keep both checks?! Donate one to charity?! Are you kidding me? Did none of you learn the difference between right and wrong when you were a child?
Goodness gracious – I hope I never participate in a business transaction with @barbie45! There is such a sense of aggressive, misguided entitlement in her responses, it just makes me ill. Based upon her comments, she’s the sort of person who would shoplift from a store because she felt the price was too high. That’ll show them! That is, until the police catch her.
You’re all assuming that Travelocity doesn’t talk to Delta, and that this double reimbursement would never be caught. If you learn nothing else from dulling your brains watching too much television, it’s that YOU ALWAYS GET CAUGHT. It may take a while, but your wife catches you cheating, the police catch you speeding, your boss catches you stealing, the store catches you shoplifting, and Delta & Travelocity will catch you accepting a double refund. Give it time. Did you forget how jealously these companies guard every penny they soak from you?
But let’s say you didn’t get caught….what kind of person doesn’t try to do the right thing at every opportunity? Think about that: if you’re not doing the right thing, then you’re doing the wrong thing, and that makes you a liar, a thief, and the very thing that you abhor about the travel industry. That makes you a BAD PERSON.
Do you understand? A GOOD person does the right thing, even when nobody notices and even when it’s painful; a BAD person takes the easy way out, regardless of the moral implications of his/her actions. A GOOD person is fair and acts for the greater good; a BAD person lies and cheats for his/her own gain. Do you want to be Delta/United/any credit card company (BAD) or Chris Elliott (GOOD)?
I can’t believe how many people on this message board think that it’s OK to steal money as long as you give it to a charity. Do you think you’re Robin Hood? If you’ve got that complex, then you should realize that he was not stealing from a company and then donating it to some pet charity, but rather stealing from the corrupt government who stole the peasants’ money through higher taxes, and then gave it back to those same peasants who’d previously been robbed under duress. Do you understand the subtle difference? And do you really want to put a charity in the position of accepting stolen money? (Yes, accepting more money than you’re owed and not making any effort to return the extra to the proper party is STEALING.)
America is better than this. Americans are better than this. If you get reimbursed twice, you do the right thing and try to indemnify the damaged party. That means you call both Delta and call Travelocity to explain the situation and ask them to coordinate with each other to determine which check gets sent back. You give them a reasonable time deadline of 30 days by which to receive their response. When neither company responds after 30 days, THEN you get to keep the extra money. (And if both respond independently asking for their money back, you send each a form letter explaining that you’re only refunding the extra $120 once, that you require a joint response IN WRITING so that you can be sure both parties agree on the resolution, and you given them another deadline to respond.)
EricR; I feel no need to shoplift; I buy what I can afford;Ipay all my taxes on time; I find it rather insensitive of you to just to single me out, why not name all the others who have expressed the same views, also to Mr. Nielson you area big boy now hopefully capable of making your own decisions; you do not need Chris or any ony one of us to make your own decisions, Hopefully you have recieved your checks by now; with all this talk going back and forth you might find Travelocity and Delta saying how now wait a minute and find no checks;; never count your chickens before they are hatched; seems like so many of the high and mighty who go on tirades about other peoples morality have been found in some pretty ugly situations which invoved their own morality.
Eric ; in all fairness to me please add the names of others who suggested charity or keeping it for themselves. Please do not single one person out.
I would definitely send one of the payments back. I know it is probably a lot more trouble to do it, but a brief thank you letter explaining that it had already been refunded would be in order.
Both companies were willing to take responsibility and it was nice of them to respond.
Wish that were so, but…others obviously disagree. Period.
At the end of the day, it’s up to Mr. Nielsen what to do with those payments. Period.
barbie45 – who ARE you? How old are you? I ask because your comments make no sense. You appear to be either a very young child, or a very old person. Do you have an education? Is English your first language? I’m just trying to understand why you can’t seem to write a coherent thought. This is a very high-quality blog here, and your comments everywhere are dumbing it down and making it painful for intelligent people to follow. They just muck up an otherwise intelligent discussion.
You asked why EricR singled you out. It’s because your comments are the worst of all of them, and showed a complete lack of any ethical or moral core whatsoever. I’m sure he, like so many of us, was just horrified by the depravity in your comments. And you don’t even seem to understand what he was saying to you. For pete’s sake, he didn’t say that you shoplifted! Can you really not comprehend the concept of allegory? He was trying to help you to see that keeping money that doesn’t belong to you is STEALING, just like shoplifting is stealing. Can you see the connection now?
Seriously, whoever you are, you need to go find some other blog to post your strange, feeble-minded, half-witted blatherings. You really don’t belong here. I’m sure you can find people of your own kind somewhere else, and let the good folks of this site continue their discussions without your bizarre, troll-like postings.
I am entitled to my opinion; ; According to Chris my comments are welcome here ; feel free to ignore them that is your right.
barbie45 – you are most certainly entitled to your opinions. But it would sure be appreciated if you could at least make an attempt to express them in a manner befitting this intelligent, high-quality site. Basic rules of grammar, punctuation, and spelling would help. Sentences that run on for 237 words without a single period (like the one in response to EricR) are awfully painful to read. As are choppy, nonsensical sentences such as this one, from another one of your comments above: “That would ruin their account s and possibly result in a poor review; they are not ceos;just at least for bank tellers grossly underpaid.”
What does that even mean? Hon, nobody can translate that – it’s not written in any known configuration of the English language. Is this some sort of hillbilly speak? Do you perhaps live in the Appalachians?
If you can’t express your opinions in a readable fashion, it’s probably best to just keep them to yourself. Nobody can understand anything you are saying anyway, so what’s the point?
In case you haven’t noticed, the vast majority of people who comment on this site are high-functioning, intelligent adults, who express complex thoughts coherently and articulately. I realize you probably don’t know what most of the words in that last sentence even mean, which should be a good clue that you really do not fit in here.
In my opinion – he shouldn’t keep both checks. However, the question becomes, what to do with the second one. Having navigated the bureaucratic minefield of MY OWN COMPANY while trying to return a reimbursement that was given to me in error (it took nearly 3 months and a lot of aggravation to finally fix), my suggestion would be – keep the check from the company you think is most at fault, and throw the other one in the shredder. After about 90 days, the uncashed check becomes void, and everyone can go on their merry way. As inept as so many airline customer service departments are these days, I suspect the traveler would just be asking for more trouble and aggravation if he tries to mail it back with correspondence.
Write back to Delta. Say you appreciate the reimbursement, and their taking ownership of the problem. Say that Travelocity, which booked the tickets, provided reimbursement as well. Now you have received $122 more than your actual expenses, although you also lost much time — both during the trip and in following up. Would it be ok to keep the $122 that Delta sent you?
Write a similar letter to Travelocity.
When no reply comes, or a canned reply, take that as permission to keep the money.
@MeanMeosh – a check generally becomes stale dated after 6 months but I routinely see banks cash 2 year old checks.
In this case, I would send the check from Travelocity back. It appears that even they weren’t notified of the change, so they couldn’t have been able to notify the customer. Delta, being the provider of service and ultimate receiver of the fare, seems to have dropped the ball as far as making sure the customer (or travel agent) was notified of the time change (as Delta and Northwest are the same company).
Of course they should return what was overpaid.
I think one of the checks should be returned. I would let both parties know that there were two payments. The travel agency and the airline both acted in good faith and that should be reciprocated.
I think half to travelocity and half to Delta with a letter to each telling what and why.
This is just an idea but he should not actually do it unless several other comments favoring this idea have been seen.
1. Cash both checks promptly.
2. Compose at your convenience, taking your own sweet time, this letter: That you received two checks and inviting the two companies to decide between themselves how the duplicate payment will be paid back. Include a deadline after which a 50/50 payment will be done.
3. The letter should be sent no sooner than 30 days from when you cashed the checks and the deadline should be at least 60 days after that.
4. 30 days after the deadline, if no agreement to the contrary was received from both companies, send back the duplicate payment 50/50.
You do not want to send the payment back to one company and a little while later the other company demands its payment back on the grounds that the first company should have paid.
I personally think MeanMeosh’s idea is the best – just shred the check you don’t cash. I’d cash the check from Delta since it seems they dropped the ball, and write a note to Travelocity explaining you will not be cashing their check and explain why. All they would do with the actual returned check is shred it and much more than $122 gets “balanced” at the end of the month anyway if they chose not to do anything with your letter.
Really now; Mr. Nielson is a big boy now. He ought to be able to make his own decisions; if not follow the advice Chris gave you. Who knows you might luck out.
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