Delta Airlines Won’t Take My Money

February 16th, 2007 - - Filled in: Business/Consumer

Every year, some friends and I take a trip to Key West for a week (it’s a blast, in case you’ve ever thought about going). As I sifted through the various travel websites for ticket prices, Delta was among the cheapest…if not THE cheapest. So, off I go to Delta.com. I entered my passenger information, chose my flights, and proceeded to the checkout page. I entered my credit card number, which happens to be my bank checkcard (not a debit card, but a “Life Takes Visa” credit card). Apparently, Delta doesn’t accept Visa. I got an error message that said “Form of payment not accepted. Please try another form of payment”. I tried about 4 different times yesterday, repeating the same steps, and I even broke down and used another credit card that I’ve reserved for emergencies only. Instead of the previous error message I got this one.

So, I proceeded to call the phone number, which was busy the 3 times I tried it. Then, I called (800) 221-1212. This is apparently Delta’s Reservation Hotline, and I figured a reputable (although bankrupt) airline such as Delta has a rock solid reservation hotline. When you first call, you get an automated system that asks you why you’re calling, and further categorizes your phone call with a couple of follow up questions. I don’t know about you, but I hate talking to machines. Well, little did I know that hold time was about an hour. I held…determined to get my reservations booked. When, I finally got through to the operator in India, he wanted me to send me to the Online Customer Support Desk I tried to call previously. So, he did…and it was busy. So, I tried again…the second time I got through, made reservations, and right before the operator gave me the confirmation number, we got disconnected. *sigh* That’s 2 hours of hold time plus the time it took to talk to these folks. Third time’s a charm, right? I went through the entire process again only to find out that my form of payment was not working.

So, why all the trouble? Well, Delta’s rates including tax were $206.10 roundtrip. The next least expensive flight was with Southwest Airlines at $484.76 roundtrip. Southwest would have been a contender if I could have booked their Fun Fares rate. But they were “unavailable”. So, you can see why I was willing to hold for a total of 3 hours. I’d take this as a sign, but I’m looking forward to this trip. I’ll figure this out yet. I hope crappy customer service isn’t part of Delta’s Bankrupcy Exit Plan. Not sure this will happen if the airline can’t set up a clear channel by which to collect revenues.

I suggest if you’re having similar trouble getting through to the toll free number to call the airline’s direct line (as listed on Delta’s Yahoo! Finance profile): (404) 715-2600.