The cutback in the number of flights to the Greater Cincinnati International Airport means it can be harder to use your frequent flier points. Local 12 Troubleshooter Howard Sin says that's what a local man learned after his wife had problems trying to return to Cincinnati.
Terry Magee of Colerain Township bought a 25,000 point Delta Airlines frequent flyer ticket for his wife so she could visit their daughter attending college in Texas. He says everything was great flying down to Amarillo, but going back his wife Tracy ran into a lot of problems.
"Upon her return she went down to the Amarillo airport and tried to check in on Continental to make a return flight. They could not find her reservation anywhere in the computer. She had given them the itinerary sheet with her name on it and all the information, the flight number."
Magee says unfortunately, by the time the agent found the reservation the plane had already left. Turns out, Magee says, the agent had been spelling her name incorrectly. "She was told there was nothing continental could do because it was a Delta frequent flyer ticket and Delta does not fly there."
Magee says his wife called him and he called Delta to try to get her on another flight but "after a few minutes was told there was nothing Delta could do there were no other flights Delta could put her on."
Magee says he went online and found he could get flights if he was willing to pay for the tickets. Instead, he booked her on an American Airlines flight-- because he says he was fed up with Delta. "I honestly think at a minimum they should just replace my frequent flier miles. I don't expect them to pay the $500 American Airlines fee."
So I contacted Delta airlines and it agreed to replace Magee's frequent flier miles for that portion of the trip. In addition, it's giving him a $50 voucher.
Delta's former partner airline, Continental, says while it is regrettable there were issues locating her reservation, its records show Magee was late arriving at check-in.
You should know, Delta now has three frequent flier tiers. So seats booked with the lowest tier of 25,000 miles are the least likely to find availabilities on many planes. And that's the problem Magee faced trying to find another seat for his wife using that frequent flier ticket.
