Airline gadfly has Delta in his sights

Most travelers who are told they must pay an airline fee for some extra service just sigh, pay up and shrug their shoulders. They might complain to a friend, then forget about it.

Pevsner, a consumer advocate, retired attorney and former Concorde tour operator, has for decades filed petitions with the federal government challenging rules, fees and anything else that strikes him as unjust.

“I like tilting windmills at the people that deserve being tilted at,” he said. “And the airline industry deserves it in spades.”

Most recently, the Atlanta-based airline landed squarely on the wrong side of Pevsner’s sharp-tongued criticism when the North Carolina resident booked a Delta flight, then found out Delta had later moved up the departure time by 24 minutes. That didn’t fit into Pevsner’s plans. But switching to a different flight would call for a $150 change fee, according to Delta policy.

In July, he filed a petition for a change in federal airline rules so passengers would be entitled to a full refund of their tickets or a waiver of change fees if their airline attempts to change the schedule after purchase.

ATL is my home airport and I flew Delta every chance I could the first 3 years (I fly about 30 to 45 weeks a year). Barely made it to silver. Delta is hit or miss on service; the fleet is aged; and the Freq-Flyer program favors folks who mostly fly coast to coast or international. Only baggage probs I’ve ever had was with Delta, with a bag not making the trip about 1 out of every 10 flights (no-one else I know had that bad of a baggage prob with delta; guess I was just lucky).

Finally had a gig that a Delta’s schedule didn’t fit and I tried US Airways. After that, switched to US Airways (with Airtran as my other “regular” when US Air’s schedule doesn’t work) and found I climbed the freq-flyer ladder quicker. I now get upgraded maybe 75% of the time. There are fewer direct flights and more often than not I have to deal with 1 connection, but in the past 9 years, it hasn’t been a problem. The connection gives me a break where I can stretch my legs and actually stand-up straight at a urinal (not to be too graphic).

But most business travelers at ATL seem to fly Delta — at least, most folks on the park & ride shuttle get off at the Delta counter. Clearly, it works for them.

I guess my point is if your regular airline doesn’t suit you, don’t be afraid to switch — but find one you like as early as possible and start working the freq-flyer program. The programs that reward segments works better for me, because I fly lots of short flights. If you fly lots of miles (long flights), then Delta’s prog may suit you better.

The fees aren’t the issue...its the sh*tty way they treat people trying to use their miles.

I just booked two Frequent Flyer tickets on Delta to Rome, Italy. It was not much trouble at all. Actually had to shuffle some miles from AMEX and from a daughter's FF account. Everything was pretty smooth. (Just my experience.)

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