Delta Damages Planeside Checked Bag and Denies Claim

To Whom it May Concern at Delta Airlines

Regarding: Damaged Bag 

On Wednesday December 30, 2009 I flew from Indiana to Houston via Atlanta with one checked bag and one carry on bag.  In Indiana I had to planeside check my carry on bag as the plane was too small for wheeled luggage.  Upon arrival in ATL I discovered that my bag had been sliced as if a knife were taken to it.  I was told by ATL Delta personal to file a claim upon arrival in HOU.  

Immediately after de-planning I filed my claim, however the Delta employee helping me was very irritated that I was trying to file the claim in HOU.  She told me I was supposed to file the claim in ATL and mentioned this three times to me.  This lady also did not even glance at my bag to see what the damage was nor did she take a picture of the damage to affix to my claim.  In this day and age of technical advancements I was stunned that no one was interested in the actual damage of my bag.  It’s as if she had already made up her mind about my bag.  When she handed me the form with my file reference number she didn’t say a word to me.  She was not forth coming with information and I had to ask her specific questions to understand the process.  I asked her what happens next and she said I had to call the 1-800 number to find out the status of my claim.

The following day, December 31^st, 2009 I called 1-800-325-8224 and again was disheartened by what I experienced and got extremely frustrated very quickly.  The person assumed I was talking about a delayed bag when I specifically said it was a damaged bag and she couldn’t find my file given the file reference number I provided to her.  I asked for information regarding my claim and the lady said that she is not allowed to do anything other than read what the status is to me.  That made it even more frustrating that the person I am talking to has no authority whatsoever and can only read a statement to me.  She told me that my claim had been denied due to normal wear and tear. 

How was this determined?  Did anyone look at my bag or take a picture of the damage?  My bag was fine in SBN when I planeside checked it and was damaged when I received it in ATL.  How is that normal wear and tear?  The bag is 1.5 years old and I paid $150 for it.  That should be the information that the HOU lady typed into the claim.  Who knows what she really wrote because I was not privy to see the claim.

I’m not asking Delta to buy me a new bag.  I am asking that Delta have my bag repaired.  That is a common courtesy that should be provided for the damage of a bag that occurred obviously on one leg of the trip.  I have flown your airline too many times to count over the years between HOU and SBN to visit family and from HOU/IAH to Moscow for business.  I am deeply disappointed that you hastily made a decision without appropriate information that could have cost you almost nothing to fix immediately but instead is costing you more through the appeals process because of the number of employees who have now and will see this letter and my claim.

Five years ago I flew Quantas to Australia for business in which a checked bag was ripped in transport.  There is a reason why Quantas is known for exceptional customer service and that’s because as soon as my bag was delivered (it was delayed due to customs) and noticed that it had a tear, they sent it out for immediate repair without me even having to ask.

In the economical situation of today, I would think that Delta would care more about customer satisfaction and loyalty to help increase revenue. 

Delta - failure to disclose

When the grandfather of my friend's husband died just recently they were quickly figuring out how to fly (without spending their daughter's college tuition money) from Washington D.C. to Austin, TX for the funeral. The first thing they did was check various airlines for bereavement fares.

Southwest - "We treat everyone equally. All last minute tickets are sold at last minute prices."

Delta - "We don't sell bereavement fares. Then, why do you have on your website to call this number to ask about bereavement fares?"

Finally, my friends decided to cash in credit card miles through American Express in order to get their airline tickets. The American Express lady was so nice that she even made the phone calls to various airlines to determine what flights were available for immediate departure to make it to the funeral. It turned out Delta had the best schedule that met their needs. One ironic thing though, delta refused to be tied into a conference call so the American Express lady was the go-between. She would talk to Delta, then repeat the information Delta said to my friends. Once the miles were transferred, my friends called Delta directly to process the transaction and were quite surprised when Delta told them there would be $200 in fees and a credit card was needed. They were not informed by Delta of the high cost in fees prior to transferring the miles over to Delta. And now, that the miles were transferred, there was nothing that could be done about that. Other airlines has fees that were much less than $200 to process late last minute frequent flyer travel.

After a much heated discussion, the ticket agent reduced the fees to $50 and my friends made it to the funeral.

Why? Why do companies insist on sticking it you without fully disclosing increased prices, fees, etc? I'm shocked that so many people are willing to put up with this and not take the time to fight against it.

Update: October 4, 2007

It turns out that Delta charged my friends the complete $200 and when they called to inquire about the full charge the lady refused to reduce it back to $50 even though the notes on the account said that $50 would be charged. My friend's husband promptly wrote a letter to Delta's management about the situation.