kylevk

Hi all,

I recently returned from Hawaii with my wife. We bought her a new Travelpro luggage set for this trip. The bags made it out there just fine, but when we got back home, one of the new bags had been crushed on the side, and the frame was bent. Also, the retractable handle was gone- separated from the bag.

Brought the bag to the baggage service office, they look at it, say “wow that’s pretty bad” and create a claim. Say Delta will reach out. Go buy a replacement and be ready to send in the receipt for reimbursement. We’ll get a check. Awesome.

A week later, we hadn’t heard anything so I call the Delta baggage phone number. The agent says she’s glad we called, because they don’t call us. Tells us to submit a claim online, which I do.

A few days later, I get an email from a case manager asking for photos of the bag as well as proof of the cost of the bag. I sent both. A few days later, she says Delta will be happy to replace the bag and sends us a link to pick out a new bag. Of course, none of the bags are Travelpro, and they don’t match the other bag in the set in design or color. I reply and ask for the $131.57 it cost to replace the bag with an identical one and again send the receipt. She says Delta doesn’t issue reimbursement anymore, she’s sorry we aren’t satisfied, and any future correspondence will be “added to the file” which sounds like a way of saying we won’t be getting any further help.

I called the baggage phone number again and the representative says since I filed a claim already it’s out of her hands and I’ll have to tell the claim manager I’m not satisfied… which I already did.

I would really like Delta to reimburse me for the bag. It sounds like at least historically they have done this based upon other posts here. Does anyone have recent experience or suggestions on where to go next?

garykung

File a complaint with DOT.

kylevk

Did do that. Hope Delta can come through before I hear back from the DOT; sounds like many other places they are running several weeks to reply.

jwhuffman

When a baggage we had was crushed and unusable the baggage office at ATL submitted the baggage claim for us and received check in the mail around a week later for the damaged goods inside. Then they brought out several luggage that we could choose from, which were of comparable to the bag damaged.

Jwhuffman

Mountain Explorer

My only experience was travelling with my GF, her bag was damaged, the baggage office offered her a few choices, she picked one that she liked, they helped her move her stuff to the new bag and they threw away the old bag.

I'm fairly certain that the rules state that DL has the option to replace with a similar bag if they chose. I doubt you'll win this one. Your credit card might cover you, especially since it's a new bag.

TechMarauder

DL changed this a few years ago. They send you a link to pick a new bag but you’re right that the brands aren’t always great or comparable. This happened to me and I did push back to the claim manager and she did reimburse me after 2 back and forths If you aren’t making progress there, I would send a complaint through customer care.

Widgets

For $131.57, I recommend going back to the airport baggage service office. They should be able to approve a check by mail on the spot.

MSPeconomist

Doesn't DL send damaged bags out for repair any more? For a new and good brand, they should at least try to have the bag repaired by an authorized place, which can mean sending it back to the factory.

flyerCO

They can, but try hard not to do so.

StayingHomeIsBetter

It is very hard to be "made whole" on baggage replacement these days.

I had a very good roll-aboard (forget now whether it was Hartmann or Briggs and Reilly) with a lifetime repair warranty. It was several years old but, with the repair warranty, I could have kept it in service indefinitely.

The manufacturer's warranty, however, did not cover Delta grinding off one side of the bag (looked as if it had been dragged behind the luggage cart from one end of the airport to the other). The damage was significant enough that some of the contents of the bag has been similarly abraded.

Delta baggage claim folks give me a replacement to get home and told me to go out and purchase a suitable replacement, with the assurance that Delta would reimburse me.

When I filed for reimbursement, I was asked why I had not sent the bag to Delta for repair. Of course, the bag was already with Delta and was beyond repair.

Then the corporate folks started to nickle and dime me. I have seen luggage at Costco that was better than what Delta was willing to pay for.

I persisted and prevailed in the end.

But, thanks to COVID, my replacement Briggs and Reilly is still in the original packaging, unused.

What this does point out (reinforcing previous experience and perceptions), is that the baggage claim folks at the airport (the folks on the front line) have a better concept of what constitutes good customer service than do the bureaucrats at corporate headquarters. Unfortunately, as one of the others posting here pointed out, the good local folks sometimes have too high confidence in what the bureaucrats will do on behalf of the customer.