The Mystery of the Missing Miles
By Wendy Perrin
I started this blog so that I could have a timely way to share advice with Conde Nast Traveler readers and so that you could all swap tips with each other. Well, this time it's me seeking help. A friend has a Delta mileage problem and I'm stumped as to how to advise her. Might any of you have a suggestion?
My friend Patti can't get Delta to transfer her late husband Lee's 85,039 miles into her account. When Lee passed away in Nov 2005, Patti filled out the proper forms and mailed them to Delta. She has the final Delta SkyMiles statement Lee was sent--dated Jan 2006--plainly showing the miles. Yet Delta won't transfer them to her account. In fact, one Delta agent emailed Patti that Lee's miles have been purged!
By comparison, American Airlines, upon receiving the death certificate, transferred Lee's 200,000 AAdvantage miles into Patti's account right away. Also by comparison, when my dad passed away in May 2005, we had no trouble getting his Delta miles transferred into my mom's account.
Could Delta's entry into bankruptcy in Sept 2005 (which was after my dad's death and before Lee's) have anything to do with it? Could Delta's new mileage expiration policy have something to do with it? As of Jan 1, 2007, Delta miles expire after 2 years (rather than 3) if a mileage account shows no activity. Lee last flew Delta in Jan 2005, although if I understand Delta's mileage expiration rules correctly, that flight did not count as "activity" because he used an award ticket bought with Patti's miles. On the other hand, Lee collected most of his 85,039 miles through his Delta SkyMiles American Express Card, and the rules say that use of a Delta AmEx Card does count as "activity."
Of course, how can your account show activity when you're dead? Doesn't it seem that, as long as Lee flew Delta or earned miles with his Delta AmEx Card within the 3 years prior to his death in Nov 2005, the miles should be there and be transferable into Patti's account?
Any suggestions as to how to rectify this mileage mess?
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Why don't you try the Conde Nast Ombudsman?
Posted by: sgarman | March 09, 2007 at 10:42 AM
I would post this question in the Delta forum on flyertalk. Somebody there will know what to do. Wish I could be more helpful.
Posted by: JNelson113 | March 09, 2007 at 04:14 PM
Thanks, SGarman and JNelson113, for the suggestions -- which had, of course, already occurred to me.
The reason I have not yet advised Patti to contact Conde Nast Traveler's Ombudsman column http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/traveltips/detail?articleId=10617
is that our Ombudsman is currently so buried in work that I was hoping to get a quicker response via the blog.
The reason I have not yet posted the question at FlyerTalk is that, honestly, I was hoping TheGlobalTraveller might weigh in with some advice first. TheGlobalTraveller, who posts frequent comments here at The Perrin Post, has razor-sharp knowledge of travel industry policies: http://www.concierge.com/cntraveler/blogs/perrinpost/2007/03/the_smartest_tr.html
More important, he co-writes (under the name Kiwi Flyer) FlyerTalk's blog The Gate. http://blogs.flyertalk.com/
Because he is constantly monitoring the threads at FlyerTalk, he is a FAR better navigator than I am of FlyerTalk's massive and intimidating Delta forum.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=489
I was hoping TheGlobalTraveller might advise me if the forum has already covered the topic and, if so, where. GlobalTraveller? Please?!
Wendy Perrin
Posted by: WendyPerrin | March 10, 2007 at 12:02 PM
I'd do the same as JNelson113, post on FlyerTalk's Delta forum. I notice there is a thread on transfer of miles upon death (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=423203).
I'm not that familiar with SkyMiles but I think the key for any frequent flyer program is whether they acknowledge receiving the applicable forms to transfer the miles in a timely manner after the deceasement.
Posted by: TheGlobalTraveller | March 10, 2007 at 02:15 PM
It sounds like your friend may need to escalate this to a higher level of customer service. I don't have any juice with Delta, so I can't give you a contact, but ask around, and see if you know someone who has the e-mail address for their executive service. Posting on Flyertalk, as others have suggested, may be the best route to find such contact info.
Alternatively, write to this guy:
http://www.delta.com/about_delta/corporate_information/corporate_biographies/macenczak/index.jsp
He's the executive in charge of SkyMiles, so he is in a position to tell the SkyMiles staff to do what's right. Quite likely, his address is something like first.last@delta.com or @corp.delta.com. (Google may help here.)
I've had to do something similar in the past, with a different airline. The e-mail I sent was forwarded to a highly-empowered extremely-gracious customer service rep who answered my e-mail with a phone call, 24 hours later. I got what I was owed -- which was all I asked for -- and then some.
Your friend isn't asking for special dispensation. She's just asking for the rules to be followed. She deserves to get the miles. Unfortunately, sometimes you need to invoke the big guns to get what's yours.
Good luck!
Mark
Posted by: upgradetravel | March 11, 2007 at 12:52 PM
This would be funny if it weren't so sad. Delta is famously the stingiest frequent-flyer airline on the planet. I suspect they give away about six seats a year. Awhile ago, I had to go to Helsinki in January, to test a new Porsche in winter sub-sub-zero conditions. In early November, I tried to get a January Delta FF seat from New York to Finland, dates pretty much open. "Sorry, impossible, even though it's dark all day in Helsinki in January, we're sold out." I'm not a bit surprised that Debbie Delta purges your seats the instant you die.
Posted by: stepwilk | March 13, 2007 at 11:10 PM
Hello friends! I will be working in Kenya this summer and hoping to plan a roughly 3 week excursion to include safari and summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro, taking place mid-July to early August. I will be doing this solo. First, is there a general or specific itinerary you can suggest? Second, do you have any suggestions on how to attach myself to a larger group for the Kilimanjaro summit to reduce costs? Third, do you have suggestions for particularly spectacular safari routes? Fourth, is there also a way to attach myself to a safari group to reduce costs? And fifth, are there any other "must sees" on this type of 3 week excursion? Thank you!
Posted by: wendychang | March 22, 2007 at 03:54 PM