Thread: ZED out of GRU on Delta question/story...

It was flight 120 on the 20th... Monday..

No problem. Thanks anyway!

Originally Posted by nd01902

I was trying to get out of GRU a couple of days ago and was denied a seat on a flight to JFK becuase there were only seats in business class available (myself and an OAL pilot). The agents were extremely rude and condesending towards us, and I am just wondering if this is Delta policy or if we just got a bad drawe on our gate agents.

A little of both, I think. For most carriers it is a policy to limit ZED travel to economy class, unless you hold a business class ZED ticket on that carrier. However, some agents will go against policy and give a seat in the premium cabin if they can, however, there are likely to be negative consequences for doing so. On AA, for example, the Economy ZED fare is often less than our own employee service charge for First or Business, so if an AA agent gives a ZED customer a premium seat, he's negatively impacting AA employees who could not be upgraded without paying more than the OAL employee. Since most airline employees are emotionally attached to their travel privileges they will raise all sorts of issues if they notice the improper upgrade. It's just not worth it for the agents.

I completely understand your point, however the seats were empty and they went on to say that they had no eligible revenue pax in the rear that they could upgrade either. I am the kind of agent that goes the extra mile for non-revs and I appreciate when I get the same treatment in return. I just dont have it in me to treat people poorly. I can understand if there were Delta employees competing for the seats but there weren't, and the seats went empty. At my airline we go against policy by rebooking OALs when the get bumped, they're supposed to go through their own pass bureaus but I know how challenging that can be so myself and other agents just do it. We are all a family and should help each other out. We don't have business or first class at my carrier but there are other ways we help them out. Its a small world and I would hate to treat someone poorly and run into them again in the future in my travels.