Video game lost through hole in cabin floor

I am happy to report that Delta agreed to reimburse us for the DS. I
don't know if I was overly pessimistic about them replying to my claim
or if this site helped, but sure enough we got a letter and a check.
Thanks, Delta!

I hadn't kept up on the comments here since I first posted in
September. I see that some people didn't have much sympathy for what
happened. I would agree if my son had been careless and had the thing
out when he shouldn't have or in a place where there was a predictable
chance it could be lost. As I wrote in reply to the individual posts,
it was actually my wife who dropped it. I think that if you drop
something from a seat onto the floor you should have a reasonable
expectation to find the thing on the floor. That might be an airplane
seat, a movie theatre seat, a chair in a restaurant, etc. You don't
expect there to be a gaping hole between the wall and the floor where
some maintenance person didn't put back the flashing. The flight
attendants said the same thing happened to a guy who lost his watch
the same way. And for the record, I'm happy that my six year old son
didn't whine about losing this. He asked for it back for a while and
was confused, but he really hasn't mentioned it since.

Bottom line: I commend Delta for responding positively.

It's not as if he is asking them to replace a DS that fell and broke -
yes, that would be his sons own fault for dropping it - but if you
drop something on an airplane, isn't it fairly reasonable to expect
that it will stay in the cabin? And if Delta knew there was a hole -
and it sure sounds like they did - why are they not responsible for
fixing it? For pete sake - you are ASKED to store things on the floor
of an airplane - something dropped shouldn't fall out!

In this case, either it fell into the belly, was retreived and kept,
is still in the plane, or fell all the way out - any of those
scenarios are within Deltas control to either have prevented or
correct now.

I agree with you. Nobody expects there to be a hole in the floor of an
airplane!

You want Delta to pay you for the DS that your son dropped? Ds's are
not small.

How exactly did this "fall" occur? Did your son put it on his lap or
table tray and get up? Was there extreme turbulence that caused the
DS to fly out of his hands directly into the hole?

Your son should be old enough to live with the fact that he lost his
gift from Santa, while his twin has been more careful with hers.

That is weird. DS aren't tiny things.

By the way, it wasn't Delta's carelessness, but your son's. Don't
blame the airline for HIS accident.

Your post takes the same position as the one above, but I don't know
where these replies will show up so at the risk of repeating here's
what I just added to the above:

Sorry I didn't notice these comments sooner! I checked back today
because Delta very generously sent a check to cover the cost of the
DS. I don't know if it was my claim or this posting or both, but I
take back the frowny face.

To answer the question from September: It was actually my wife who
was holding it. She was trying to entertain our 1-year old. We were
about 10 minutes from landing and my wife was in a window seat. Either
the plane bumpoed or she just fumbled it and it slipped between the
armrest and the cabin wall under the window. Normally this would be no
biggy. I have dropped lots of things, such as papers and cameras and
phones, while sitting in an airline seat. All you have to do is reach
down and get it. She couldnt' find it. After the plane landed I
reached down and there was no bottom. I could put my entire hand in
the gap between teh wall and the floor. I compared the space to the
other seats and saw that there was some sort of flashing elsewhere
that covered the seam between flor and wall. I think it was just
sloppiness on Delta's part. Perhaps they agree.

For the record, my son was upset but as confused as much as unhappy.
Although he kept asking for it back, he didnt' complain after we left
the airport. So I guess he is old enough that he learned to live with
it.