Delayed Baggage and Lack of Response by Delta Employees

Posted Mon June 25, 2012 8:14 am, by Scott M. written to Delta Air Lines

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To begin, I am a Diamond Medallion/Million Miler on Delta. Diamond Medallion is the highest level in the Delta SkyMiles program.

I was flying from Atlanta to JFK and on to Accra, Ghana. Because of weather delays, I was going to arrive at JFK after the flight to Ghana left. Therefore, no reason to go to JFK (it would be 48 hours until next JFK-Ghana flight).

So I rebooked on an Atlanta-Amsterdam flight (where I could connect on KLM to Ghana). This was done 4 hours before the KLM flight, giving Delta Baggage Services 4 hours to get the bag off the JFK flight and on the Amsterdam flight.

When I arrived at Amsterdam, the Delta representatives could not find any information on my (2) bags. I went to the KLM lounge, and the staff there contacted the KLM Baggage Services Department. They could not find the bags in the DL/KLM system.

I started calling Delta Baggage Services and the Diamond Medallion help desk in the USA from Amsterdam. Over the course of 24 hours and 10-12 calls lasting a total of more than 2 hours (trans-Atlantic phone calls from my cell phone, so those should be $$$ expensive), I received no help from Delta!!!

Baggage Services told me to go on to Accra, because nothing could be done until I arrived at my final destination. That conflicts with information on the Delta website. I was told by one Baggage Services supervisor that "at best" all that Baggage Services could do was to "request" that the bags were forwarded on to Accra and/or Amsterdam.

The Diamond help desk (representatives and supervisors) were all very sympathetic, but stated that baggage wasn't an area they really could help with (again, that is not what you can read on the website or in the information sent to Diamond Medallions by Delta).

So I left my home in suburban Atlanta at 9:00 a.m. EDT on Friday, June 22 and wore the same clothes until Sunday evening, June 24 at 10:00 p.m. When I arrived at Accra, one of my bags was on the KLM flight I flew on from Amsterdam. The other bag still has not shown up (I am told it will arrive today - June 25 --but there is not guarantee).

Bags get lost or delayed. I am not as upset about that as I am about the customer 'no-service' from EVERYONE I spoke with at Delta. Every one of them -- representatives and supervisors -- were apologetic, but looked for ways to shift the responsibility elsewhere. Not one took 'ownership' of the problem and that is what bothers me.

If this is the level of service a Diamond Medallion receives, then what about the occasional traveler who has no 'status' with Delta???

I would like the following:

1) I would like to receive my second bag, which has many things needed for the meeting I am in.

2) I would like Delta to acknowledge the problem of 'pass the buck' by its staff.

3) I want the compensation mentioned by Delta on its site.

4) I want some miles added to my account -- that seems to be the easy way out for Delta to placate frequent travelers -- miles that may or may not be used down the road...

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Re: Delayed Baggage and Lack of Response by Delta Employees by AFormerWingtipper Posted Tue July 17, 2012 @ 2:00 AM I was so sorry to learn of the delayed baggage arrival of one of your bags in Ghana. I can certainly understand how frustrating this must have been for you. Respectfully, a delayed bag claim is only made at your final destination. Perhaps you were rerouted ATL-AMS-ACC but your bag did not make the first flight and was rerouted another way to get to ACC at or before your arrival. To be fair, wasting cellular telephone minutes and money on telephones at the connection city looking for your bag is a waste of time and money. Use a payphone or rely on the agents infront of you. If there is no information, there is no information. Hence the reason to make the claim at the final destination. I trust you have received your second bag by now. I would think Delta would apologize for the incident and would be pleased to offer you a goodwill gesture, be it frequent flyer miles or a discount off a future flight. Reply Re: Delayed Baggage and Lack of Response by Delta Employees by spunkyboy08 Posted Mon June 25, 2012 @ 2:36 PM To begin, I am a Diamond Medallion/Million Miler on Delta. Diamond Medallion is the highest level in the Delta SkyMiles program. I am curious as to why you chose to mention that in your complaint letter...especially at the beginning of your letter. Reply Re: Delayed Baggage and Lack of Response by Delta Employees by McJohn Posted Mon June 25, 2012 @ 11:20 AM I hate it when people bring up they are a "gold member" or "premier member" Does that mean they are only allowed to screw up on people who are just customers, but how dare they screw up on you?? As for your complaint, it happens. Maybe you should have called the airport the day you skipped the flight rather than just rebook the flight and hope your luggage would find its way to the right place. This is 100% on you, you think 4 hours is enough time to check your baggage and reroute it? Well apparently its not. You spent hours on the phone in amsterdam, why not 20 minutes on the phone before you rebooked to make sure your luggage is going to the right place. Reply