Originally Posted by glemoine

There were no stores open to buy new clothes and change, and I could not wash overnight at the hotel the clothes that I was wearing, the only ones I had. I had to stay naked in the room, and wear the same clothes to the airport the next morning. At the airport, I had to buy whatever appropriate clean clothes I could find to wear while flying to NY and London, and also for my first meetings, as I was denied access to my luggage in ATL, although initially they said I could get it. At this point I needed to get to the Embassy straight from Heathrow, and still I missed 70% of my official meetings in London on Monday, which was the most important day of the official mission. At the gate for the NY flight in ATL and in NY at JFK, the gate employees confirmed my luggage was traveling with me, when I specifically asked about this. When I get to London they tell me it's not there. I had to buy appropriate clothes again for the Ambassador's reception in the afternoon, wasting time I should have spent at a trade show. I arrived late to 2 different meetings because of this, and completely missed one meeting. I cannot even estimate how much I lost as a result of this, and that cannot possibly be re-scheduled.

I requested a full reimbursement at least of these expenses. They only agreed to 20%. I will never fly Delta again, or through ATL, which is no less than Delta's hub. But I will still pursue this out of the humiliation I felt then, and even now. They have the record that I requested the bags, but no record of them not giving me access to them. How convenient. Why would I have requested access twice then? Why would I have expenses if I had access to my bags? That single fact caused me to incur in expenses. And the CS representative won't escalate the issue.

I'd appreciate any feedback on how to further pursue this claim. Thank you.