[danpreston]

My daughter's flight (Delta 9) from London Heathrow to Atlanta arrived on time (4 minutes early in perfect weather), but Delta managed to lose her bag along the way. So that delayed her considerably before she could get through immigration/customs. Meanwhile, Delta had changed her connecting flight schedule without notice, so there was only about an hour layover instead of 2 1/2 hours. As a result, by the time she got through immigration, back through security and to the gate for the connecting flight, boarding had ended (even though the plane remained on the ground for another hour and a half).

But now Delta is claiming that my daughter's missed connection was due to weather problems, and therefore was not responsible for any of the inconvenience or costs (including hotel and meals) during the resulting 24 hours stuck in Atlanta. This is a flat-out lie, but of course lets them off the hook. Is there any way to challenge false claims of this sort?

BTW, I spoke with Delta customer service during this ordeal, and asked (very nicely) for some kind of courtesy to be extended ... such as a free upgrade, meal vouchers or even a simple 1-day pass to the Delta Sky Club. The original agent declined to help, as did the supervisor that I spoke to next. They kept citing the weather to justify refusing even the tiniest courtesy, even though they could provide no reasons or evidence that weather was involved in any way.