Originally Posted by
Robert Leach
I don't argue with you that baggage irregularities are one of the areas where no carrier, that I am aware of, does a good job. And it would certainly appear that there might be some shenanigans afoot in South Africa with Delta bags. I spent a weekend once in NYC without bags because of Delta incompetence, FWIW.
Having said that, had DL not been serving the market, how would you have gotten to South Africa? The very fact that Delta has entered this market, and dared to compete, gives me a reason "to be upbeat about DL."
I think 85% is most likely profitable. Still sounds like there is very little traffice to/from DKR.
There are a number of ways to get to JNB that I have done in the past and will probably do in the future (I actually like ATL-CDG--spend the day in Paris--CDG-JNB; I realize that it may be a quirk of mine but a quick Stomp of the Champs is incredibly refreshing and lets me stock up on sorely needed victuals
).
Yes, it's good that DL is doing this route, but when I say "upbeat" I don't mean upbeat about DL's bottom line as much as I mean feeling that I want to be loyal to DL. Right now. I'm not feeling very much like wearing my "Keep Delta My Delta" button -- at some point DL has to
earn my loyalty, otherwise they might as well be USAir.
And as an aside, they delivered my bag to me yesterday--one wheel and one of the handles broken off. Of course,
that's not their problem as the guidelines clearly state. But then, the guidelines also state that
they have the right to misplace my bags for 5 days without compensation.* Maybe this is the industry standard (I honestly don't know) but it's hard to care about a carrier that cares so little about me.
*though they would give me $25 a day after 24 hours when away from my residence.