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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Huh. Interesting ? He certainly deserves reimbursement… And one might even argue something for his time and trouble. He seems to have worked pretty hard for that $$.
In all honesty? I’d keep both.
IMHO Mr. Nielsen should return one of them. I’d say Travelocity’s since Delta started this whole thing, but…their system didn’t notify him of the time change.
If he’s literally got Delta/Northwest’s check and Travelocity’s reimbursement in whatever form, then it’s up to him to do with them as he sees fit.
keep it; by the time ;for all the aggrevation he suffered he deserves it; believe me knowing these two companies they would not know what to with a refund; they would be so confused,their bookkeeping would get so fouled up; and some dishonest emplyee could get the funds; or they both would be arguing until doomsday; honesty is of course the right policy but in this case the aggravation in the first place ; and contacting both parties time and aggravation involved, consider it the cost of an excellent hotel, which you deserve.
Donate the second check to an organization that helps provide travel for US Servicepersons, terminally ill children, or something similar. Try Make-a-Wish, Ronald McDonald House, or Honor Flight.
Keep one, give the other to a charity. If you don’t have a favourite choose one supported by Delta ot Travelocity.
He should cash both checks, and then make a donation in the amount of one of the checks to a charity of his choice.
Donate half of each check to his favorite charity…and notify both Delta and Travelocity of his actions.
He should return one of the checks. Just as travelers believe they shouldn’t be charged twice for the same room or flight, the same consideration should be returned.
Otherwise, the traveler is essentially engaging in a form of theft. I’d urge him to send back one of the checks, he can decide which company should have their check returned.
Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching — even when doing the wrong thing is legal.
Return the extra money.
I don’t think it’s right to keep both of the checks. Returning checks to large companies, however, can be a challenge. So, cash both and donate half the money to a non-profit. Or, to support Chris’ website! :)
Keep both…. FOr the trouble of just faxing, I would keep both. You would think that they would have this customer service thing figured out by now.
My books went missing when I bought them from Amazon and they send me out a new set immediately with no questions asked. Thats customer service. If I had to send faxes and emails, I would hove started shopping elsewhere. Companies need to know many many consumers will just walk their business elsewhere.
Honestly, I couldn’t keep it in good faith. If I received two checks and either return or tear up and not cash one, sending a letter to them explaining the situation so that they didn’t wonder whey the check was never cashed.
Now, if the money was credited back to his card, that’s more difficult, but I couldn’t keep it without at least trying to give back the excess funds.
My experience most companies don’t know how to reverse a payment like this. Anyway he deserves compensation for the aggravation.
An honest person would return one of the checks. Yes, the situation was aggrevating on all counts, but a double refund was not requested nor due.
You cannot complain about the high cost of travel-related things if you are going to contribute to those costs by being as unethical as travel-related businesses are accused of being. Return one of the checks. It doesn’t really matter which.
I think he should return the $121 after first deducting a $149.00 change fee.
He should offer to return one of them. It is possible that whoever he calls will say it’s not necessary (or that they don’t know how to process that), but he should offer. It’s up to him which one he tries to return, but it is the right thing to do.
If we expect travel companies to step up and do the right thing, we should live by the same code.
I’d be really torn as to what to do. On one hand, as others have noted, he went through a lot that he shouldn’t have had to deal with; also, both companies are at fault – Delta isn’t necessarily absolved just because Travelocity took responsibility. On the other hand, if it were me I’d feel very uncomfortable taking the money if I had already received what was owed to me.
I had a similar experience when I switched cell phone providers recently and signed up through a third party reseller to get a discount on a BlackBerry. The phone sent to me was defective, and after numerous unsuccessful attempts to go through the “proper channels” (ie, through the online reseller), I went directly to the wireless carrier. They sent me a brand new replacement, for free, and told me not to return the defective one because their system had no way to track it. Later, I found out that the phone wasn’t in fact defective, it was a bug that was easily fixed by a firmware update – so I had two perfectly good BlackBerrys. Even though wasn’t technically liable for returning either of them, I still felt greedy holding on to both, so I donated one of them to charity. Maybe Mr. Nielsen could do the same.
I would return one of the checks.
Both Delta and Travelocity did the right thing for once.
If we want to encourage them to continue to do the right thing, we should step up and do the right thing in return when they succeed.
Although I like the suggestions to donate one check to charity, and can’t really blame people for thinking he should just keep both as reimbursement for all the aggrivation, the ethical thing to do is to return one of them.
Donate Delta’s check to charity
No. Since both Travelocity and Delta seem to share blame, perhaps he should reimburse each half.
In my experience most companies won’t bother reversing such a small payment, but he should at least offer to return the check. They usually say just to keep it anyway as a gesture of goodwill. Everyone wins!
A complicating factor to all this is that refunding the refund would be problematic (and likely would cost the company a sizable part of the amount). Additionally, in my mind, both companies are still to blame and their refunds individually are justified.
Considering the amount, I personally wouldn’t feel guilty about keeping the $121. To answer the ethical dilemma, I think there are two imperfect actions:
– donate the money to charity (as many have suggested)
– use the amount to give a bit back to the companies by using it to book a flight on Delta/Northwest and book through Travelocity.
Mark
Keep the checks. He obviously paid the the airport hotel, but what about his losses in Honolulu? My loss of a day vacation has a huge value. Meals? As gracious as Delta appears, they are barely offering proper compensation.
Both of them broke their guarantees so both should reimburse. This could just have easily turned into a “pass the buck” game between Delta and Travelocity.
Here’s another vote for donating Delta’s check to charity once its received. Perhaps an applicable charity – like one that provides airfares for servicemen and women to visit home.
Both of these companies were at fault and should be made to pay somehow for their incompetence. Returning one of the checks would give that particular company the impression they didn’t do anything wrong and they may revisit their policies regarding compensation for substandard service.
As many have suggested cash the checks and donate half of the money to charity.
keep the money and enjoy it; with all the\ aggravation you were caused you deserve it; remember charity begins at home. treat your wife and yourself to a good dinner and movie; as pointed out ; place it in a college fund for your children; invest in a savings bond for grandchildren if you have them; if you are not good to yourself nobody else will be; remeber family first.you will so confuse those companies they wont know what to do with a refund.
I’d say send Travelocity’s check back. Even though this wasn’t their fault, they went out of their way to make sure the right thing was done. Mr. Nielson should respond in kind.
As art said, ethical behavior is what you do when no one is watching. I would certainly offer to return one of the checks. If instructed to keep it as a goodwill gesture, I’d give it to charity, as others have suggested.
Even if refunds are individually justified, as someone else noted, Dale was only out $121, and that’s all he asked for. Someone else said that if we expect travel companies to behave ethically, we travelers need to set a good example. I agree.
Personally, even if my trouble and aggravation were worth more than $121, I just couldn’t sleep well, knowing I hadn’t even attempted to return one of the checks.
Steve Arnson has hit the nail squarely on the head, dead center and whatever other cliche’s you can think of.
These onerous change fees should be held up to their proper ridicule.
That having been said, donate 50% from the proceeds of each check to USO, Make-a-Wish, Ronald McDonald, etc etc per Daniel K,Cassivella and Jesse.
I would keep both checks in this circumstance. Dale missed out on part of his vacation, and not only that both Delta and Travelocity dropped the ball big time. It is a lesson both companies should learn from.
And….what does Chris Elliott say??
Since he only asked for 121 dollars for the night’s hotel and not for any reimbursement of missed vacation, the extra amount simply doesn’t belong to him and should be returned to one of the parties or half to both of the parties. If they say that they don’t want it back and to keep it, that is up to them to offer not for us to presume.
I compare it to going shopping at the grocery store. If the clerk forgets to give me the cash back that I have requested and tells me that it wasn’t on there, I will insist on receiving it or having the items run through again and the previous transaction cancelled. On the other hand, if I ask for 10 dollars cash back and the clerk accidentally gives me 20, I’m not just going to keep it because they made a mistake. It is up to both sides to be ethical.
I’d like to applaud the people here who are suggesting he donate it to charity. Excellent idea.
He was super careful to double protect his travel from this happening. Both companies dropped the ball. He should keep the checks but I agree with the poster that think he should give back part of it to charity. This is one of the rare instances where the guarantees are upheld by travel providers and I think a lucky non-profit could do something nice with the cash.
I think it appropriate to contact each of the individual’s Mr. Nielsen received responses from and ask for their input on what they would prefer he do with “their half”. I believe both Delta and Travelocity were mutually and equally responsible for the situation and thus each should pay 1/2 of the cost of the reimbursement ($61). The other remaining 1/2 should either be returned to the company as an overpayment, or at their direction, distributed to a charitable organization. I don’t believe Mr. Nielsen should decide whether or not to donate the additional reimbursement, without the advisement of the company from which the money rightfully belongs (Delta and Travelocity).
Return one check, if not, its theft
@Michael, I was hoping not to have to answer that. Technically, the right thing to do would be to refund each company half, since both are responsible. I think Nielsen should ask both companies if he can return the money by check.
Knowing what I know about how their customer service departments work, it’s likely he’ll never hear back from them.
This is less an ethical dillema than it is about time. How much time did he spend trying to get what should have been offered immediately? My guess is his time isn’t worthless, and having spent it on trying to get both these companies to hold to their BUSINESS CONTRACT with him, he does deserve reimbursement.
2 hours effort = about $150
This is less an ethical choice than people seem to believe. Do they think for an instant that this man would have received squat should he not have contacted the marvelous Elliott?
Keep the checks. You’re not hurting anyones feelings, and no, it doesn’t make you immoral. The airlines give people the excuse “its business” all the time, and that relationship goes both ways.
Vanessa you stated it very well; both companies dropped the ball; keep the checks .
If he has the time, I suggest sending a personal check for half the amount to the CEO’s of both Delta and Travelocity, with a photocopy of each original check. I would enclose a letter to the CEO of each company, explaining what happened. I can assure you, the letters will be read and acted on. Someone from the Exec. offices will have to walk those personal checks over to Finance. Maybe a personal visit from the Executive offices will help in future cases like this.
I also wonder if returning half the check (or even one whole check) to each company might not help inhibit future payouts to innocent passengers. If someone sends money back after having fought for it, what message does that send to the typically heartless airline officials? If they find he received two refunds, they will use it as an excuse to deny payment in the future to others who worked through secondary sources (Travelocity), citing the issue that this second source should pay for the complaint at hand. They’ll tell themselves “if we had just held out longer, Travelocity would have paid him and he would have gone away.”
All the while that second source says the same thing about the airline, ensuring he gets nothing for his trouble.
People have a hard enough time getting justice from these airlines. No need to give them extra ammunition.
And yes, if keeping both checks entails a personal guilt factor, donate one to charity.
I’d definitely return one of the checks — the hard part would be in determining which one. Since Travelocity readily admitted its error and Delta did not, I’d probably keep Delta’s money. Regardless of the aggravation, time, whatever, keeping both checks is unethical. Shame on those who would readily take money they’re not entitled to — isn’t that what thieves do? As another poster noted, just as you wouldn’t want to be double-billed, you shouldn’t accept double payment.
I think Delta should have given the money to Travelocity and Travelocity would have refunded accordingly.
I’m dismayed by the number of people who think it’s okay to keep the money. He is not entitled to both checks. Now, had he asked for compensation for his time spent dealing with the problem, and one of the companies had issued him a check for THAT, that would be different. But what he has are two checks that are each supposed to reimburse him for the same fee…and neither company is aware that he was ALREADY reimbursed. Keeping them both is dishonest…plain and simple. No gray areas here.
Being “good to yourself” should never be done through dishonesty.
I also disagree with giving the money to charity. While that’s certainly a less troubling suggestion than just greedily keeping it for himself, it still is dishonest.
As for what he should do with the checks, that’s a bit more complex, and there are many options. The best option, in my opinion, would be for him to decide which company he thinks is more at fault, and cash that one. The other he can send back to them with a letter explaining why. What the company does with the check from that point forward is not his problem, and shouldn’t factor into his decision. It won’t impact him at all.
Doing the RIGHT thing is always the best choice – even if it’s not in your best interest. Sure, we’d all like to keep that extra $20 that the cashier at the supermarket accidentally hands to us. It might even mean that we can put some gas in the car in the week when you are waiting for that next paycheck. That would certainly be in YOUR best interest. But would it be the right thing to do? Of course not. And you all, in your hearts, know this.
And as dismayed as I am at the number of people in here advocating dishonesty, I am heartened by the number of people who recognize that ethical behavior means doing the right thing when no one else is watching. Kudos to those commenters – you have renewed my faith in humanity. :-)
Deduct his hourly pay for any time spent on the problem and refund the rest.
I believe he should return the check to Travelocity. Their customer service in this case was so good that they took care of him when the airlines was at fault and chose to (initially) not foot the bill that was a result of their error.
Everyone makes mistakes, but great customer service is determined by how the mistakes are corrected.
Ituri; you have the best response so far;it would cause so much confusion;and might allow other grievances to go unresolved; best answer. if he feels guilty let him turn one check ove r to charity. PersonallyI would not feel the least bit guilty;why should he inconvenience himself when he lost a vacation day, and the added expense of postage.
@John – that would be dishonest. They didn’t agree to pay his hourly pay. Had he asked for it, and they issued him a check for his time, that would be different. But they both issued him a check for the hotel. He is not entitled to keep double payment for the same thing. It’s unethical.
@Rtea – I would agree with you that Travelocity should be the one to get their check back. And I also agree with your second statement! No person, or company, is infallible – we all make mistakes. It’s what we do afterwards that counts.