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Flying into Salt Lake CityMy good friend Lee was very generous and invited Scott and I to his ski condo in Park City for a long guys weekend. Lee, Scott, and I get together usually a couple times a year, and they are some of my favorite trips. The three of us have known each other since college, and it’s great to get away from work and family and goof off together. And so it was that on Friday February 21st, I booked a first class round trip ticket with Delta from Sacramento to Salt Lake City.
I normally would purchase a coach itinerary on a one-hour flight, but SMF-SLC approaches two hours in length when you include loading and taxiing. Additionally, these two flights were on Embraer E175 aircrafts, and I really enjoy the single seats, port side, in the 1-2 seat configuration of the first-class cabin. The cost difference between coach and first was $180.00 for the round trip, and that was an acceptable upcharge for a great “guys weekend” together.
The trip was scheduled for April 2nd through the 6th, 2020 – Thursday through Monday. That gave us three full days (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) of “goof off fun”, plus the extra time of Thursday evening and Monday morning to connect. The trip would be outstanding. In early March as the news of Covid-19 started to drift through the markets and media, we wondered if we were going to have to cancel our trip. Then mid-March all hell broke loose, and it was obvious we wouldn’t be able to go. Normally we would be upset about the trip being cancelled, but during the second half of March it was an unreal blur as the world changed into Bizarro land. There were bigger issues for sure.
Had I canceled my ticket in mid-March I would have faced a couple issues. First, a lot of favorable Covid-19 airline policies weren’t in place yet, as most airlines had not had the time to react. Second, I would have lost a $250 change fee as the ticket was restricted to Delta’s conditions of carriage. Additionally, hold times for Delta and most airlines were several hours during mid-March, as everyone canceled their flights. Instead I held off cancelling the ticket and watched for any flight changes or cancellations on Delta’s part. Sure enough, Delta canceled both my outgoing and return flights on March 30th. A day later I called Delta customer service, and to my surprise my call got through in 2 minutes. The agent was courteous and professional and didn’t have a problem issuing me a refund on my American Express Platinum card. She indicated the credit would take 10-14 business days to fund. The credit posted the next day.
Main Street Park CityI have a lot of problems with Delta’s SkyMiles program. After being a loyal member, and having earned high level elite status for ten years, I changed my loyalty and started flying both Virgin America and Alaska. Still, Delta needs to be credited as an excellent airline with friendly agents and a very pro-customer service attitude. Well done Delta.
