Originally Posted by
WidgetKid
Sorry to hear about your bad experience! Perhaps I can shed a little insight into at least a few of these questions.
1) Is it normal to check bags on a full flight? Absolutely. They WILL run out of space on almost every full flight. Is it normal to have a gate agent in the jetway screaming at people? Absolutely not. That is completely unprofessional and out of line.
2) It was likely a gate agent in the new uniform. It certainly could have been a ramp agent, but I doubt one would be in the jetway actively soliciting checked bags when it's fairly obvious the ramp was just as bogged down as the gate was given you waited for bags to be loaded.
3) It depends, but generally speaking yes. Somebody is always held accountable for a delay and if the aircraft is on the ground longer than Delta deems necessary and it's not because of weather, mechanical, or ATC, either the gate agents, pilots, flight attendants, or ramp workers are held accountable for it (I'm simplifying things here quite a bit, but the point is the same).
4) Was there? You could have asked for a redcoat although I don't know how successful you would have been given the attitude of that particular agent. Could they have thrown you off the flight? They certainly could have tried but any reasonable redcoat or supervisor should quickly put an end to something like that.
It is, in my opinion, definitely worth writing in about this as it is by no means SOP.
Thanks for the thoughts.
Regarding #1, I know, but the gate agents got many volunteers to check before boarding, more during boarding, and at least half the plane was behind me on the jet bridge. I used my basic observational and logic skills to theorize there would be plenty of overhead bin space, and I've actually never been on a flight where each bin in the forward half still had space, and almost every bin in the back half was completely empty.
The agent physically latched onto my bag as soon as I asked him if the bins were really close to full. I wish I solicited a redcoat or engaged the flight attendants. Now I get to wait at baggage claim after the flight departed 3 hours late thanks to late arriving equipment and I did not get sleep last night. Its one thing if the inconveneince was for a reason such as full bins but for no good reason is why I took issue.
I already submitted a complaint for Delta to review. I don't even care about getting compensated for the issues, I just want Delta to get their act together and not have constant maintenance issues and delays!!