Delta Airlines ripoff Baggage and Flight Nightmare Delta could have been helpful, considerate and made up for the inconvenience they caused to us. Atlanta Georgia
My husband and I had booked our anniversary vacation to Costa Rica through Delta Airlines. It was to be a wonderful break for us to spend some much needed quality time together. We checked our luggage from Pasco, WA all the way through to Liberia, Costa Rica and were guaranteed there would be no problems by Delta's ticket agent.
We had an uneventful first day and spent our first night in Atlanta, Georgia. Upon checking in at the Atlanta airport the next day for our flight to Costa Rica we were informed that we did not have seats, although we had tickets that had been purchased 6-weeks in advance. The flight was oversold by 10-seats.
We did eventually arrive in Costa Rica but our luggage did not arrive. The Delta agent in Liberia, Costa Rica told us to purchase what we needed and Delta would reimburse us and that our luggage would be located and flown into San Jose (which Delta flies to daily), put on a commuter flight to Liberia and then delivered to our hotel.
We made numerous attempts the following day to contact the Delta agent at the airport in Liberia, Costa Rica and the phones were not answered. We also did not receive our luggage.
Two days later we tracked down a ticket agent in Dallas, TX who kindly tracked our luggage and told us it was still sitting in Atlanta, Georgia and was not scheduled to be put on a flight until Wednesday (four days after our arrival in Costa Rica).
We never received any assistance from anyone at Delta Airlines either in Costa Rica or Atlanta, Georgia although we spent considerable time and money calling both locations.
Our luggage did arrive in Costa Rica five days later. We were unable to keep our dinner reservations for our anniversary or go on any of the tours we booked as we did not have any clothing, footwear or other essentials. We spent taxi fare ($60.00 U.S.) to go into Liberia to purchase the bare necessities to get by.
On our return flight we went to the Liberia, Costa Rica airport in plenty of time to give Delta our receipts and request our money for the items purchased. This process took two hours and they reimbursed us a total of $75.00, although if we claimed separately we would have been entitled to $25.00 a day each. They made no attempt to reimburse what we actually were forced to spend.
Once again, on check in they indicated we did not have seats, although we had tickets. Once again the flight was oversold although this time by only 2-seats.
Our vacation and anniversary we really a total disappointment and cost considerably more than we had budgeted.
We could not anticipate the loss of our luggage but Delta could have been helpful, considerate and made up for the inconvenience they caused to us.
Kathleen
Kennewick, Washington
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Tom
Arlington,Texas,
U.S.A.
Answers to SEVERAL ISSUES
#2Consumer Comment
Mon, July 21, 2003
First you state several issues within your report, I will address them seperately.
First, the OVERSOLD FLIGHTS. All airlines routinely OVERBOOK Flights and this is jsut part of their business practices. If you dont like it, petition CONGRESS to pass legislation outlawing this & then see how much TICKET PRICES go up or the rules change to the effect of if you miss your flight your seat is gone and you will have to purchase a NEW TICKET. From your report it didnt seem that you got BUMPED or anything, so you are not ENTITLED to any compensation. With all the CHEAPO Ticket sources out there selling tickets and airlines losing money, you need to realize that OVERSOLD FLights are going to continue to happen. I would suggest that you always call the airline several days in advance & secure CONFIRMED SEATING ASSIGNMENTS. This is available unless you fly SOUTHWEST or bought your tickets thru some consoidator like PRICELINE or HOTWIRE & such.
Second, LOST LUGGAGE. You need to ask them for their CONSUMER PHONE LINE & copies of their TARRIFS dealing with Lost Luggage. Also since you went out of the country, you will probably be subject to WARSAW CONVENTION LIMITS. You need to ask for copies of all of this & Demand they explain them to you. Lost Luggage happens & it is the airlines fault. The amount of Reimbursement will be determined by these documents I mentioned. So dont just take someones word and think you are going to get a NEW WARDROBE while you are on vacation, it isnt going to happen. And I will tell you that AIRLINES are not LIABLE for any Entertainment or other venues you miss because of this. They are only LIABLE for the REPLACEMENT COSTS of the lost items up to the limits as imposed by their TARRIF CONTRACT or WARSAW CONVENTION whichever is applicable. So ALWAYS carry a CARRY-ON with extra clothes, medicine & any other ESSENTIAL Items, just in case.