[Dave]

I came to the United States of America through Delta Airlines with my wife for training under Halliburton. My wife was on vacation too so she had to come for shopping. We spent three weeks and during our visit we travelled to some other states where we shopped.On the day we were to return back to Nigeria, we got to Delta Airline stand at DFW Int\'l Airport, Dallas and checked in our luggage which all weighed below 50 Ibs from DFW to Lagos in Nigeria, we were happy that we had a nice time in the USA. We waited at the airport for six hours before boarding time. On boarding the Delta officer at the entrance of the plane told us that our hand luggage was big. We made her understand that we had no knowledge about that as we have traveled all the way from Fargo to Denver and Denver to Dallas on other airlines with that same luggage. The lady whose name we didnt get insisted that for us to travel on that flight, we had to give up the luggage or we miss the flight. Meanwhile, we were to connect through Atlanta to Nigeria that same day so we could not afford to lose the flight to Atlanta. We pleaded with them to allow us pay for the luggage to be checked in since we could not also afford to leave the luggage behind as they contain valuables but she refused saying that she was going to call the police on us. She asked us to see Mrs Dee at the check-in-point, Mrs Dee told us the same thing and insisted we abandon the luggage. Mrs Dee said that if we dont abandon the luggage we will miss our flight and to revalidate it will cost $1000 for each of us (we later discovered it was false). My wife who is pregnant started crying knowing that she would lose some of the items we bought for our unborn baby. She opened the suitcases to see if she could get out any valuable as the flight was about to leave but she couldnt, she begged Mrs Dee to get another bag so she could stuff somethings in it and go to no avail. Lastly she pleaded with Mrs Dee to keep the suitcases as she will call up a friend to come and pick it up. We succeeded in getting someone to come pick it only for him to be told that the luggage has been DONATED TO CHARITY. I havent heard of anything like ripping off passengers of their luggage even when they are willing to pay for them. My wife has not been able to recover from the shock of that incident.

[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

The airline defenders on this board will, loudly, try to have us all believe that the Dallas - Atlanta segment of this trip is really a domestic flight, rather than one flight segment in an international journey. Delta has, already, been asked by Nigerian commercial aviation regulators to explain their anti-customer behavior. This incident may add to that list. Perhaps suspending Delta's landing rights in Nigeria may be the only thing that will gain Delta's attention. If Halliburton paid for the tickets, also complaining to their representative in Nigeria might be worthwhile. Given the anti-foreign hostility in the Nigerian Delta region, it's possible Halliburton/Nigeria might be amazingly responsive. If the ticket was a "super" deep discount type, that $1,000 charge COULD be possible. For an extra two or three hundred, over their cheapest ticket, Lufthansa will sell you a ticket that allows changes for less than $200. The refusal to "gate check" that carry-on MIGHT have been related to the fact that you were travelling international, or, more specifically, that gate staff do not have the ability/authority to collect excess baggage/overweight charges for international baggage. As to the threat to call the cops: The airline defenders on here will have everyone believe you were waiving a machete, and had grenades strapped to your belt--BUT they STILL let you board! On the chance that Nigerian regulators might not share that view, I would recommend filing a complaint in Lagos. Finally, next trip to America--I think you now realize that doing a connection, in Europe, is really not so bad after all! Again I'd go with Lufthansa, with Air France as a second choice. Sorry but, according to the NCAA, British Air is not all that Nigerian-friendly

[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

One or more of the Lagos tabloids might be interested in your story. Obviously you might want to, first, see if Halliburton/Nigeria can help. Also, whether Halliburton has the ability to retalliate against you (firing, discipline, etc.) must be considered.

[Jetliner]

This is a big line of BS. First of all, you can't check bags in more than 4 hours prior to scheduled departure. Second, if your bag was too big to carry on, they would have had you check it at the gate. The cannot tell you to abandon your bag. That is a major security violation. I don't have to have been there to tell you for a fact that did not happen.

Even if a bag was left with them, they do not donate bags to charity. Any bags unclaimed will sit in an airline warehouse for at least 3 months, then get sent to a salvage company in Alabama.

[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

Nothing is true. Someone had nothing better to do with their time and made-up the whole story. Sounds like a classic US-based airline response. As to the early check-in: I don't know what Delta's policy is. However, some foreign carriers DO allow check-in as early as the previous evening in a limited number of major cities.

[PHXFlyer]

Originally Posted by Jetliner

This is a big line of BS. First of all, you can't check bags in more than 4 hours prior to scheduled departure. Second, if your bag was too big to carry on, they would have had you check it at the gate. The cannot tell you to abandon your bag. That is a major security violation. I don't have to have been there to tell you for a fact that did not happen.

Even if a bag was left with them, they do not donate bags to charity. Any bags unclaimed will sit in an airline warehouse for at least 3 months, then get sent to a salvage company in Alabama.

Agreed. When I first saw this I was going to post, "Does anyone else find anything wrong with this situation" but since I have been "cyber brow-beaten" by psycho-whack-job "Butch" (and another who shall remain nameless because he's been getting better of late) I decided to hold my comment until someone else incurred the "wrath of Butch." Sorry it had to be you "Jet." I'd almost say "Butch" has a hard-on for us but with all the psychotropics he obviously takes I'd say that's probably physically impossible for him.

Originally Posted by Butch Cassidy Slept Here

Nothing is true. Someone had nothing better to do with their time and made-up the whole story. Sounds like a classic US-based airline response. As to the early check-in: I don't know what Delta's policy is. However, some foreign carriers DO allow check-in as early as the previous evening in a limited number of major cities.

People make up stories all the time. We can only guess what the reason is here. I have just one word. "Nigeria."

[Jetliner]

While it is true that is what they were told, they did say:

Originally Posted by Dave

Mrs Dee told us the same thing and insisted we abandon the luggage. Mrs Dee said that if we dont abandon the luggage we will miss our flight

As for Butch, well, someone said something bad about the airlines so it must be true. Nobody ever makes up stuff.

[Jetliner]

Here's another point: Dallas was just an intermediate stop on the way home, yet they knew someone in DFW who could go pick the bag up? It's possible, but not vvery likely.

[azstar]

Dallas was, apparently, a layover, not a connection. Most people would not fly FAR/ORD/DFW/ATL/LOS for connections. They could have flown FAR/ORD/ATL/LOS if they were just connectiong, so, again, it is plausible that they knew someone in Dallas. The letter is very well written, and just because someone is from Nigeria doesn't mean they're a) a liar, b) a scam artist or c) all of the above. I believe they were not allowed to take their heavy and/or excess pieces of luggage on board and were told by Delta staff they would have to leave it behind, and someone at DL told them it was donated to charity so they wouldn't have to deal with it.