Dobrindts Dot Com

Now, to be honest, this gets a little tricky so for the single reader of my online column, please turn away if you your attention span is short today. I had to work this whole thing out on a 2 hour car ride the other day and even now am not sure if I have it straight.

Delta and Continental code share, meaning that if you fly one or the other, you can choose to receive points on either (but not both). I mostly fly Delta so when I fly Continental, I call right after making my reservation and ask that my Delta frequent flyer number be credited, NOT my Continental number, and they put it on my reservation and that is that. After I complete my flight, it shows up a day or two later on my Delta account.

So when I booked a Continental flight for July 14, two one-way flights to and from NJ, I called and had the airline put my Delta number in. When I took the trip in the morning, I do what I always do and went to the kiosk to print out my boarding pass. When I did that, right after my ticket printed, another slip of paper printed telling me I had flow so many times that Continental, being nice, gave me a coupon to upgrade to first class on my next qualifying flight. Wonderful. I like first class. When I flew home later that night, the same thing happened. So now I had TWO coupons given to me by my new closest friend, Continental. First class, get the booze ready, because if it’s free, it’s for me.

A few days after I completed my travel, I booked another Continental set of flights, two one-way tickets to NJ from Boston. I immediately called Continental to give them my Delta number but to also cash in those two coupons. This is where the problem started.

The Continental phone person, after about 20 minutes of being put on hold and conferring with his superiors, came to the conclusion that I had to redeem the coupons online, that I could not do it over the phone. Not sure why, but the law is the law.

So I logged on to the Continental website, searched and searched for a spot that said “click here to use those nice coupons we graciously gave you last week”, but came up empty. I looked on the coupon and saw a link that I was suppose to go to, something like this http://www.continental.com/You/Should/Kiss/Our/Behinds/For/Giving/You/This. I went there, followed all the prompts, entered all the data like I was taking the LSATs, and at the end it took me to a screen to book a flight. I already had one booked, so I didn’t want to book again. Oh for…

Now, at this point, the miles still hadn’t show up on my Delta account from my July 14 trip. 1,500 miles for both trips were sitting out there somewhere, lost, scared, trying to find my Delta Skymiles number. I was worried.

So I called Delta. I love Delta, most of the time, and I was sure they would have an answer. They did not. The miles are from a Continental flight, so I would have to seek the truth from Continental. Makes sense.

So I called Continental. Here is where things went from bad to terrible.

I asked why my miles didn’t show up. I had to explain it a few times, because Continental couldn’t understand why I would want them to go into my Delta account. So I spoke slowly, over and over again. After about 15 minutes, the person realized what I was trying to get to, and transferred me to the Continental frequent flyer program desk, and it started all over again.

So I explained, and this person got it a little better. Then came the answer. She said that because those two flights had upgrade coupons attached, that I could not get anything other than Continental credit for them. The penalty for being issued upgrade coupons is that you have to keep the frequent flyer miles with Continental. Ok, I can live with that.

So I then said “How do I redeem these coupons to upgrade, the ones that kicked me in the seat cushions for getting them?”

She explained that I had to book a brand new flight. No, I said, I do not want to. Besides, I have to book through my corporate online travel site, and if I booked directly with Continental, I would get beaten to within an inch of my life. And they would not reimburse me. She repeated that I would then tell my travel agent to book them online for me.

I said “First, let’s pretend that you didn’t hear me about the online travel site, are you telling me I have to ask American Express Travel, one of the largest travel companies in the world, to book my flight at Continental.com instead of their complex and sophisticated booking system? Is that what you are telling me? You have to be joking?”

She made that part up I’m sure. There is no way in this great earth that her operating procedure or response manual tells her to tell people to have an agent book directly with Continental to get some stupid coupon. My anger was starting to surface.

She then told me to hang out. So I waited. I drove 17 miles on the Mass Pike while on hold, about 15 minutes, before she came back.

“Sir, you are not allowed to use those coupons. If you are an elite member on any partner airline, you are not eligible to use them.”

What?? So why issue them to me?? So why issue them, make me go through this exercise, if I can’t use them?

So I clarified with her what I just heard, and yes, I cannot use them. So I said great, since I can’t use them, give my miles over to Delta. After all, I am penalized by not being able to credit Delta with my Continental miles, but if there is no reward, aka the upgrade coupons, then what’s the point.

She said that since the trip has been completed, she cannot do that. She said I would have to call Delta and have them take care of it. Now, I did ask Delta when I talked to them how I could transfer miles after I made the trip. They said I needed a receipt of the ticket, the boarding pass, a note from the pilot saying I was on the flight, pictures from my camera phone of at least one flight attendant, a completed NY Times cross word puzzle (in pen) and the correct weight of a full trip 7. I had none of these.

So I said to the Continental person on the phone. “Ok, so let me get this straight. Your system puts in upgrades for me that I cannot use, and blocks my ability to get credit for the miles flown on a partner airline, in this case Delta? Right?”

She said I was right. So I asked her how to take my name off the trigger to get these forbidden coupons. I mean, if they are only hurting me, then let’s stop giving them to me. Easy enough request.

Well, 14 more miles on the Mass Pike and I still didn’t have an answer. Oh for the love of…

So I just gave up. The person on the phone said I was out of luck. She had no answer, and I have no resolution. I guess I’ll just watch to see if this nonsense continues. I hope not but something tells me it will. Eh, life goes on.