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Delta Air Lines review: skymiles reinstatement policy 12

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1:23 pm EDT
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In all of my past flights, I have been a dedicated searcher of Delta flights because of what I considered superior service. I have been repaid by the following:

1. I was notified at the end of Feb. by a letter dated Feb. 23, 09 that my Sky miles had expired Dec. 31, 2008. The total miles were 33, 640.

2. The letter informed me that I could reactivate my expired miles back at a cost of $50 per 500 miles if I acted before May 31, 2009.

3. I have had no statements from Delta since 9/30/06. stating my balance. Why was I not notified prior to the Sky Miles Mileage expiration? Wherein I could use my miles. I lost my eyesight four years ago and had an aide who read every piece of mail I received from Delta and I never received any statement until the one dated February 23, 2009.

5.On 3-16 I called and spoke to a supervisor, Roxanne Tasker, located in Florida, after talking with a representative who said I could only renew my miles by doing it on-line and using my credit card number

6. A large percentage of people over 60 do not access the internet. In my case I am 80 and severely visually impaired. Because of my inability to see numbers or process them well auditorily, I have made it a firm policy never to use my credit card number on-line. In light of the recent episode of the “worm/virus” that frightened all and affected many, perhaps you can relate to my problem.

I know that Delta has fought bankruptcy. So have I. My retirement investments went down 50% in 2001 and the same by the end of 2008. My only hope of seeing my sister again in Twin Falls, Idaho, or to attend the National Federation of State Poetry Societies Annual Conference, or to attend The National Federation of the Blind Annual Conference was to use my Sky Miles. Had I thought I would never travel again, I would have donated them to The Make a Wish Foundation for Children.
Your action shows that you are trying to scam the portion of the public who cannot use the internet or who cannot do financial matters on line because of disabilities. The fact that you sent no statements, and no letter before the miles expired, confirms this. Your
restrictions to doing this operation only on-line is a severe action. Under the circumstances, you should reinstate the miles with no charge whatsoever. At the least
you should accept reinstatement over the telephone with a valid credit card and promote customer service for those having visual disabilities.

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12 comments
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Loves2travel
Midlothian, US
Sep 17, 2010 11:22 am EDT

Same story, different reinstatement fee - $107 quoted on Delta's website today to get back 35, 000 on my husband's skymiles account. He apparently ignored emails notifying him of an impending expiration in November 2009. I just went to check on his account and saw they had expired; don't know whether or not it's worth the money to reinstate them now!

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unhappyskymiler
, US
Jul 06, 2010 9:43 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Delta's expiration policy is ridiculous. I agree with the poster above who said she had been saving her miles for years, waiting for the opportunity to use them. I was actually in the middle of making plans and had an itinerary on hold, with the date that I had to actually purchase after the expiration date. Of course, there was no warning embedded in the Hold Itinerary notes to remind me of this. And of course, Delta absolutely refuses to let me even go ahead with that itinerary. This really equates to robbery to me. There is no reason their system cannot maintain miles indefinitely until someone wants to use them. And charging people fees to use miles that the customer earned with her or her own money is really outrageous. I will definitely think twice about flying with Delta in the future. If there is an alternative then I will look to that other airline first before giving Delta any more of my money.

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arisc
Gulf Breeze, US
Apr 26, 2010 1:46 pm EDT

http://www.delta.com/skymiles/manage_account/reactivate_miles/index.jsp

If Your miles expired in 2009 you can reactivate till Dec 2010.
I just did this for my dad who has Parkensons...we thought his miles were GONE:(
Mom and DAD are both old and I had to try to help with this.
Delta even let me use my credit card to pay the 53 something dollar fee.
He had 157, 000 miles the fee was for ALL MILES BACK

It works - DELTA ROCKS:)

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jman4
, US
Jan 09, 2010 12:11 pm EST

I am in the same situation except here it is 2010 and I am told I dont have a choice to buy them back. THEY ARE GONE! Anyone have any suggestions?

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cpserv
San Francisco, US
Dec 31, 2009 6:15 pm EST

PLEASE NOTE: As of Dec 31, 2009, Delta will reinstate ALL your miles at a fee of $50 plus tax if you do so before midnight today. Enter "Reactivate" in the search field to go to the appropriate link. I just called Delta after I saw I lost my miles and had read this and other sites complaining of the unadvertised expiration of miles. I kept the agent on the line while she walked me through the process to be sure it worked correctly, and it did. You get a confirmation number at the end so print it as a receipt. It says that it takes 24hrs to show up, but I checked straight afterwards and it is already in my account.

DO IT NOW, or the fee goes up in 2010.

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CDR
Fort Lauderdale, US
Dec 24, 2009 5:15 pm EST

I had 25k miles - and had paid for some of those miles in the past with cash. They sent me a postcard promotion in 11/08 promising me that if I shared my email address and allowed them to send me newsletters/promos, they'd extend my expiration date by 2 years. I entered the code, registered my email address, received on-screen confirmation and thought nothing more about it. There was no "receipt" or confirmation code I could print to save as proof.

Lo and behold when I checked my mileage this week, it had all been mistakenly DELETED in Jan 2009 as "expired". No notice by mail, phone or email. We've never changed our mailing address in 15 years, so they can't use that excuse. I've emailed them to see if I can get them reinstated, as they broke a promise to me. If they do not reinstate or deny ever sending me that promotion, I will be filing a complaint with the Atlanta Better Business Bureau.

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Allan Miller
Danville, US
Aug 11, 2009 10:09 am EDT

Same thing with me. I had over 60, 00o miles with a statement from the last time I made a purchase that my miles expired on 12/31/09. I call the other day to ask about merging my NW miles with my Delta miles since the airlines merged. I was told my miles expired in May 2009. I had to write to Delta which in return sent a letter back saying for a limited time they will reinstate them for 50.00. This is a scam and one that they changed the expiration date ahead of the previous without notifying me. What a shame that DL has to sneak an earlier date in to try to avoid awarding what we have earned. They said it was on thier website that it had changed. Why would I go to their web site if I didn't need to and my last statement from them was an exp date of 12/31/2009. I'm not done complaining about this and will support a class action lawsuit with others about this scam.

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Chips
Syracuse, US
Jul 27, 2009 10:06 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Delta Airlines is making me buy back Frequent Flyer miles I have already earned. This is unfair, and a very bad move in improving customer service. If there were another carrier to use, I would abandoned them forever. I have lost over 74, 000 miles, and unless I pay them good money, they are lost. So what if I could not afford to fly or use the miles?
Very poor Pr on their part.

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Chips
Syracuse, US
Jul 27, 2009 10:03 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I was not notified that I was to lose my 74, 000 Frequent Flyer miles either. Delta wants $50 to give them back. This is a bad scam on their part. I earned these miles over several years, now they want to sell them back. Just because I had no opportunity, nor the money to fly with them, I have been penalized.

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d.grabowski
Orlando, US
Jun 18, 2009 3:11 pm EDT

UPDATE: I filed a complaint with the Atlanta Better Business Bureau (where Delta is headquartered). I got all my miles reinstated at no charge.

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AJAYY
columbus, US
Jun 18, 2009 2:54 pm EDT

Similar thing happened to me that I received a letter from delta that my miles have expired in Feb 2009 and I had around 56000 miles.
I was given a deadline of May 31st 2009 to reinstate my miles.
I was under impression that I will be charged only 50 USD to reinstate my miles.I went to their website to get my miles reinstated and I entered all my details and then I entered my Credit card number.After I clicked submit button I got a message that I have been charged 650 USD to get all my miles back.I was not given any opportunity to review the charges and accept the amount.I called many time to Delta and they said they really cannot do anything as this is non refundable.

Its shame that Delta has been using this kind of practise to earn money from their loyal customers.I am still fighting this battle with Delta.

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d.grabowski
Orlando, US
May 21, 2009 4:05 pm EDT

I had been saving Delta SkyMiles for about 11 years. I don't travel that much but I was able to accumulate them by having AT&T for awhile and using certain hotels when we traveled etc. There are lots of things you can earn SkyMiles for besides flying. Anyway, I had accumulated 48, 775 miles which is enough for two people to take a really nice trip anywhere in the US and lots of places abroad. So, I was planning on cashing them in for a 10 year anniversary trip this past February. The day I called, to cash them in, I found out ALL of my miles had expired 3 weeks earlier. I was told to write to www.delta.com, which I did. I got a response saying they were very sorry but the expiration date is inflexible. My Skymiles expired because my account had been inactive for a certain period of time. A month later I got a letter from Delta offering to SELL me back the expired miles at $50 per 5, 000 Skymiles. It would have cost nearly $487.75 to get them all back. I was outraged, but I didn't think I had any recourse, so I did nothing.

Today, I saw an article in the Orando Sentinel Online at... http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-bizdawson-column-051209051209may12, 0, 1135940.column
...where the same exact thing happened to another guy who lost 880, 000 Skymiles. He reported it to a consumer reporter who, in turn, contacted Delta. The result was Delta returned all the guys SkyMiles at no charge. Now I am beyond outraged. I am LIVID! I have written to Delta again (on 5/19/09) demanding my Skymiles back based on the aforementioned article. I am still waiting on a response.

Delta Airlines should not be able to take something you have earned and then offer to sell it back! This is obviously a MAJOR revenue-generating scam conjured up by Delta's coperate headquarters.