Random Bits of Randomness

I had a rather irritating experience with Delta Airlines this morning.  My flight was not departing until evening, but I decided to show up to the airport very early so that I could purchase an upgrade to first class.  Delta, much like many other airlines these days, offers a very reasonable same-day upgrade program.  Most airlines charge around $75 per leg or so.  Delta has a tiered pricing scheme:

From: http://www.delta.com/traveling_checkin/ticket_changes_refunds/sameday_travel_changes/index.jsp

Traveling  Fee

0 to 500 miles                $50

501 to 1,000 miles         $75

1,001 to 1,500 miles      $100

1,501 miles and up        $150

Since I expected the flights to be extremely full and I am a man who fits more comfortably in first class, I decided it was worth the upgrade.

It turns out that they had first class seats available on both legs of my flights today.  However, they refused to sell me an upgrade.  Apparently, in Delta’s logic, since I did not originally pay enough for my current ticket, I was not eligible to upgrade.  

So let me get this straight…  You have a seat available.  A person who has paid a small amount to travel with you wants to pay you more than double what he has already paid in order to fly in a different seat on the same plane, and you refuse to take the money.  

After spending 30 minutes at the counter trying to show the failure in their logic they finally offered me the option of paying for a full fare one way first class ticket at the low low price of only $1100.  I declined for obvious reasons.  Idiots.

I spent the day fuming and twittering about the idiocy that is Delta Airlines.  

Well, when it came time for my flight, Karma managed to take it to Delta for me.  Apparently the bulkhead row was empty because they upgraded the two passengers with Air Miles (and therefore with no additional revenue gain), the guy next to me moved and I had a row to myself where I could spread out and relax.  Then on my next leg Karma struck again.  Delta’s computer automatically picked me for an upgrade to first class because they had oversold coach!  

So Delta.  Because of your stupidity, I was essentially able to ride in first class for both legs of my trip for a total fare of $110.  I wanted to pay you a fare of $385 but you refused to take my money.

I have a suggestion for anyone running a business out there.  If you have customers who want to give you more money than you were asking… take it.

No wonder the airlines are struggling.  They are apparently run by imbeciles.