[deltavictim]

I was told be a Delta agent on the return leg of my journey that I would have to pay $200 to get my daughters baggage home. Even though it clearly states in the contract of carriage that infants traveling on a 10% fare are entitled to 10 kilos of checked luggage. The agent told me that the baggage rules are subject to change at any time without notice and claimed they had changed in the middle of my journey. I told him any changes should only apply to people on the outward leg of their journey, you can't change the rules on a return leg and he insisted that I must pay or step aside. I asked to speak to a manager, he told me he was the manager and I would not be allowed to speak to anyone else. After pleading with him for sometime I was forced to leave the bag with my sister at the airport as I had to feed the baby and get to my gate or risk missing my flight. By the way, unrelated to the above, I was also shocked that not one employee from Delta offered my any assistance when boarding my flight. I was traveling alone with an 8 month old and had a pram to dismount and diaper bag and carryon to juggle and ended up having to put her down on the floor in the breezeway with other passengers walking by while I folded the pram to be checked. Another passenger saw me struggling and took my bags to my seat for me, thankfully. Anyway, I arrived in London the following morning and went straight to the Delta counter to complain. I was told that I should have been able to check the bag and in fact the infant luggage allowance had not changed at all. They had no idea what the other agent had been talking about. So they had a look at my notes from checkin and informed me that the reason I was asked to pay was because my bag was overweight. I was shocked. The bag had not been overweight. I weighed it before I went to the airport and it was 10 kilos. On the airport scale it said 22lbs, which is 10 kilos. The agents notes claimed it had weighed 32lbs. A complete lie. Needless to say Delta have not been willing to do anything about this. They had told me that their is no way to prove the bag was not overweight and I should have spoke to a manager at the airport. Which just makes me more upset because I tried to speak to a manager and the agent absolutely refused to get one. I couldn't stand their indefinitely and argue with the man. Anyway, now I have to pay to get my daughters bag shipped from Atlanta to London and Delta refuse to reimburse me. Not happy at all to say the least.

[PHXFlyer]

Originally Posted by deltavictim

I was told be a Delta agent on the return leg of my journey that I would have to pay $200 to get my daughters baggage home. Even though it clearly states in the contract of carriage that infants traveling on a 10% fare are entitled to 10 kilos of checked luggage. The agent told me that the baggage rules are subject to change at any time without notice and claimed they had changed in the middle of my journey. I told him any changes should only apply to people on the outward leg of their journey, you can't change the rules on a return leg and he insisted that I must pay or step aside. I asked to speak to a manager, he told me he was the manager and I would not be allowed to speak to anyone else. After pleading with him for sometime I was forced to leave the bag with my sister at the airport as I had to feed the baby and get to my gate or risk missing my flight. By the way, unrelated to the above, I was also shocked that not one employee from Delta offered my any assistance when boarding my flight. I was traveling alone with an 8 month old and had a pram to dismount and diaper bag and carryon to juggle and ended up having to put her down on the floor in the breezeway with other passengers walking by while I folded the pram to be checked. Another passenger saw me struggling and took my bags to my seat for me, thankfully. Anyway, I arrived in London the following morning and went straight to the Delta counter to complain. I was told that I should have been able to check the bag and in fact the infant luggage allowance had not changed at all. They had no idea what the other agent had been talking about. So they had a look at my notes from checkin and informed me that the reason I was asked to pay was because my bag was overweight. I was shocked. The bag had not been overweight. I weighed it before I went to the airport and it was 10 kilos. On the airport scale it said 22lbs, which is 10 kilos. The agents notes claimed it had weighed 32lbs. A complete lie. Needless to say Delta have not been willing to do anything about this. They had told me that their is no way to prove the bag was not overweight and I should have spoke to a manager at the airport. Which just makes me more upset because I tried to speak to a manager and the agent absolutely refused to get one. I couldn't stand their indefinitely and argue with the man. Anyway, now I have to pay to get my daughters bag shipped from Atlanta to London and Delta refuse to reimburse me. Not happy at all to say the least.

I'm sorry about your experience. Atlanta is Delta's main hub and if you're going to get hit with a fee for an overweight or oversized bag it's probably going to be at a hub where employees are closely monitored for enforcing the rules to the point of micro-management.

Unfortunately since you opted to leave the bag behind you really have no recourse. As you mentioned you discovered when you arrived in London that your reservation had been noted with the supposed weight of your bag. I'm not sure why it wasn't clearly communicated to you in Atlanta however you could have simply gone to another line and spoke with another agent. With the notation in your reservation that is what Delta is going to stick with involving any complaint. Since you opted not to pay the fee you really aren't owed anything monetarily. At best you'll get a "canned response" letter with a vague apology. You can always file a complaint with the U.S. D.O.T. as well so that statistically your complaint will weigh on Delta's overall rating.

In the end your bag was probably better off being shipped anyway. At least with a shipper you're told when to expect your parcel and have the opportunity to insure it's contents against loss, damage or theft.

[deltavictim]

Oh I understand what you are saying. There are alot of things I would have done differently in retrospect. But being the gullible passenger I was back in May I actually believed the man when he told me the rules had changed mid way through my journey. I checked the allowances online and weighed the bags before going to the airport and as I said the airport scale said 22 lbs which is 10 kilos. The agent was in the wrong, and he knew it. If not then, then soon after I left the counter because he made the effort to put a lie in my notes. I didn't know then about contracts of carriage or passenger rights, etc. Live and learn.

It really ticked me off with the manner in which is asked me to pay the $200 as well. The airline asks this as if it is pennies, but for lots of us we actually have to save and budget for such trips. I had already paid $140 for the privilege of extending my stay as I found out while visiting my Father that he had Leukemia and I wanted to stay with him while he went through emergency chemo therapy. I had stayed 3 weeks longer than expected and was spent out. I started to put it on my credit card but was so angry with the situation that I decided I would rather pay someone else if I was going to have to pay anyone.

Your wrong though, Delta should be expected to reimburse me the expense of getting my daughters things back because I was asked to pay in violation of their contract of carriage and truthfully I didn't have $200 to pay them at the time so I have made other arrangements. But this expense is due to their negligence. But I don't expect they will do anything about it. If I had in fact paid the $200 at the airport I would still in the same situation because of the lie. They would be saying the bag was overweight so I was charged correctly so I would have no recourse even then. Pardon the expression, but damed if you do, damed if don't .

Maybe I won't get any compensation, but I wanted people to know about it because it is just wrong.

[abutterfinger25]

Just stating for the record that if a carrier's policy changes after you purchase a ticket, the new policy does NOT apply to you. You are covered under the policy or terms of condition under which you purchased the ticket.