How Delta / Virgin Atlantic Almost Denied Me Boarding

I recently had a terrible experience with Delta airlines, and most especially Virgin Atlantic and I thought I should share my experience here on the blog. 

Imagine working so hard to earn enough points to book yourself a business class flight, waited for months for the day of departure, packed your bags, and headed to the airport with so much excitement, but only to be denied boarding by the airline. This can put someone in a very bad state of mind.

Now, below is my rant:
I redeemed 95,000 miles on delta airlines to book a one-way ticket for my mother in Virgin Atlantic Upper Class (Business Class) going from New York JFK to Lagos via London Heathrow. About 2 months later, I called delta and changed the booking to now travel from San Francisco to Lagos with the same connecting flight in London Heathrow.

The check-in agent called her manager, Chu, who also claimed the same issue, and suggested I towed my 71-year-old mother from the international terminal to Terminal 2 where Delta is located to go get the problem resolved. Their excuse was that, since I changed my departure airport from JFK to SFO, Delta did not issue a new ticket number.

As an AVGEEK, I found this very absurd since I have a confirmed PNR with an e-ticket number showing up on Virgin Atlantic as SFO – LHR – LOS. I was even able to select a seat or change my seat without issue, so I found this info very misleading.

While I understand issues can happen from time to time when it comes to partner award bookings, I expected the manager to treat the issue as a matter of urgency by calling Delta to resolve this matter, but instead, he asked me to call Delta myself if I don’t want to go to terminal 2. 

He further warned me that wait time can be very long, in case I chose to call. I found this to be incompetent of the manager though, since he is in a better position to place a call to Delta partner’s desk, or whatnot.

Related: Bellagio Las Vegas – My Worst Check-in Experience

With 30 minutes of standing in a corner while waiting for him to figure things out, he approached me again, and seeing that I took a few pictures and was taking notes as well, he stated that although I have a confirmed booking, but I do not have a confirmed ticket. 

At this point, I just told him look, “no offense, but some of the information you’re giving me are misleading…FYI, I’m a travel blogger.”

Eventually, he stepped in and placed a call through to Delta and was now willing to resolve the matter.

Interestingly, the delta agent on the other end of the line had mentioned to Chu, the VS manager that it was because of the Delta’s devaluation, and that the flight I booked for 95K SkyPesos four months ago is now 410K SkyPesos. I called BS on that lame excuse, but that’s not my problem, all I know is that I have a confirmed ticket.

Another interesting thing was that the Delta airlines agent also authorized my Amex Platinum card for a dollar and asked the manager to make sure I have the physical card to present. Her second claim was since the credit card holder isn’t the passenger. Really? Give me a break Delta/Virgin. It’s the same last name so don’t give me that BS. Besides, I’ve traveled on your airline 4 times without anyone asking me to present any card. One of these 4 times was even in Nigeria.

As I bring this my rants to conclusion, it was quite disappointing seeing how delta try to play games here, and even more disappointing how Virgin Atlantic would issue a PNR and ticket number and still claim you do not have a confirmed ticket.

In my experience, I’ve never seen where a ticket number is issued on a booking that is not confirmed. But I stand corrected.

But I’m glad that this was eventually resolved, my mother was able to board her flight. This probably would have been another story entirely if she wasn’t flying in Upper Class. She more than likely would have been bumped by Virgin Atlantic.

Have you been denied boarding or experienced similar issues in the past? What do you make of the experience I had, and who’s to be blamed between both airlines?