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Lynn Harrell, Virtuoso Cellist, Got His SM Account Cancelled
My wife is a concert cellist who is always forced to buy another seat for her cello. It appears that Lynn Harrell ran afoul of the Delta police for accruing miles for the paid ticket he uses for his cello. It appears that the policy is somewhat randomly applied (my wife accrues miles with many different airlines for her cello) and methinks that Delta is cutting off its nose to spite its face. Do they realize who this guy is, and that he's paying them twice the ticket price for each trip he takes? I've got to imagine that someone higher up in management needs to rethink this punishment.
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Well, Nigel Kennedy and Vladimir Ashkenazy, among others, certainly know who this "no-name" cellist is. Of course, he's just a musician--it's not like he's somebody important like yet another business consultant. That doesn't mean he can break the rules, but it does mean that he's not a total no-name.
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How does this work?
Was the process that his cello has it's own Skymiles number and that isn't allowed for cellos?
Otherwise how can someone obtain credit for two tickets on the same Skymiles account for the same flight? I mean, if you book two seats adjoining they ask for the passenger names and you can't put the same name and FF # on both seats can you?
What I mean, is what was he doing that they had to ask him to stop and he didn't stop so they shut him down? One would imagine that if this were something they didn't allow, it wouldn't be possible to do it anyway.
What would be the difference if I bought two seats on a plane for myself? I can't get double the miles, why would a musician? If they allowed this we Would all e buying two tickets on a flight, and the panes would be half empty. Does the cello ext upgraded to first class too?
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Originally Posted by CALlegacy
But if the terms don't provide for double miles, which they don't, what nefarious trick was he using that they had to warn him to stop as opposed to it just isn't possible to do that?
Seems clear from the article, the cello had it's own SM account.
Did he give it a fake name? Yeah I could see where this would play havoc with manifests and lots of things.
I do see Delta's point. Musician wasn't just "buying a ticket" for his cello, they were engaging in a small lie, trying to reap benefits off it also. On the flip side of it, I get the point that it seems unfair.