Delta App: Your bag has been loaded onto flight KLxxx
 

Two weeks ago I flew CLE-DTW-AMS-STR, checked two bags. At each stop I received a message "Your bag has been loaded onto flight xxx". When I arrived in STR my bags were nowhere to be seen. If all of those messages were true the only possibilities would have been that a) the bags fell off the plane in flight, or b) they got lost in STR, a rather manageable airport. So I went through the usual procedure, got the usual needle printer output with tracking info, went to where I had to go, spend a few hours on hold, and eventually found out the bags were stuck in AMS.
I sent a message to Delta and got a rather stupid canned answer. This leaves me with the question whether the baggage tracker in the Delta app is real or is that only a fantasy to make you feel that things are under control.

It's fair to question if the tracker is intended (at this time) to work on KLM flights.

I wish it was because that would mean the KLM also have Delta's tracker technology and can start using it for their own flights. Unfortunately, I don't think that's the case.

If I had to guess, I would assume the tracker tech is "real", but might well have an issue with how it presents a transfer to an airline that does not have it.

I think the tracker tech is "real" -- they are scanning the bags as they load them onto the plane which then relays that signal through the systems. I suspect as others the disconnect was at AMS because I don't think the technology extends to KLM flights at this time

The tracker has an * attached to it. It states that the tracker is only accurate for DL and DL Connection flights.

On note i had both my bags lost two weeks ago connecting through AMS to JNB. They still haven't found one bag. The other was finally sent to me at home after a week. It arrived and it was clear the bag had been left outside during the bad weather Europe had during that time. The clothes were dripping wet and had mildewed. This was a hard side case. The only way for water to get in is through the zipper. Thus it had to be left outside for a lengthy period. I can only imagine other bag was left outside and no one has found it. Sad thing is the bag was tagged to expedite on next days fliggt to JNB, but apparently never got loaded and instead left outside in the weather.

I'm pretty sure I've had my tracking information update indicating my bags were loaded on the plane when the inbound flight hadn't even landed yet. Such is to say, I think they scan it when the bag is loaded onto the baggage cart for delivery planeside, but I don't know about scanning it when it's actually being loaded onto the plane.

KL lost my bags twice and both times they got stuck at AMS and both time the KL handling agent blamed DELTA.

According to the first agent, it is the way DELTA loads bags that makes it difficult for KL to unload and transfer at AMS and the other said DELTA tags do not scan properly in AMS, neither reason made any sense to me at the time and still don't make sense today.

It would be nice if DELTA allowed KL access to their baggage tracking tech.

let me give you an alternate experience. I came into seattle from chicago and was connecting to SLC. The app showed my bag got loaded on a flight going to SJC instead. I ran to the counter and pointed it out. They were able to go get my bag off that wrong airplane and onto the right airplane going to SLC. This happened with less than 10 minutes before the SJC flight was to push back. So yea, the app saved me from not having my bag for a while.

In your case, the app was helpful, but sometimes I think the bag tracker does more harm than good.

If you get a notification that your bags have misconnected mid-trip, there's often nothing you can do about it until you arrive at your final destination. I've even had a DL bag agent tell me I had to wait until ALL of the bags have been unloaded from the flight just in case the app was wrong (the app said my bags had been "expedited" onto a flight arriving the next morning).

Of course if the app had said: "Your bags misconnected. They will arrive at your final destination on flight XX. Please tell us your hotel/address details so the bags can be delivered within 24 hours." then that would have been a million times better... but that's probably just a dream.

Expediting baggage requires an agent to manually process it, pick quickest flights, and retag with expedite bag tag. Thus if it say expedited they're not arriving with you.

The tech is real. Each Delta bag tag now has an RFID style chip built into it, and anywhere scanners are installed it will check in. Unlikely that other airlines have the technology to communicate over to Delta's system. Easiest way to see the technology working is tracking it at the Carousel. Usually the notification comes through on the app that the bag is now arriving, and within 10 seconds the bag drops out.

I just finished OKC-MSP-AMS-GVA. Once I deplaned at AMS, connected to the free aiport Wifi and stood in line for what seemed like hours for passport control, I got a message from the DL app saying my luggage had been loaded on my KLM flight to GVA.

My luggage came out quickly at GVA so the app was accurate on this round.

I flew JFK-AMS-MXP recently with the first leg DL and the second KLM. I had a long connection time and was in the lounge checking the app and two hours after landing, it still said my bag was on the plane - it hadn't updated since it was loaded on the aircraft at JFK. But it arrived with me at MXP, so I assumed the tracker didn't work with KLM flights.