echyde

I've called baggage services several times. They keep telling me they cannot release any information about my bags. They cannot/will not tell me where they are at, last city they were in, or if Delta even has them. I have been completely stonewalled.

We had been traveling for 22 hours yesterday (got to the airport at 4am and got home at 2am the next day), and we when arrived back in BHM we did not file a claim with the baggage office (something I always do). Why might you ask? Because there was a line of 40 people trying to file claims, and the Delta Representative told me personally that we could file a claim over the phone. Delta denies this is possible and told me I HAVE to return to the airport to file a claim.

I just got back from getting married. Pretty much all my clothes (and my wife's) are in that bag. Unfortunately -- and against common sense -- our wedding photos and her wedding dress are in the bags as well.

Bags get lost. Mistakes happen. I'm fine with that. I just don't understand why I cannot open a claim online or by phone (when I was told that's what I should do -- I didn't ask, I was TOLD to do that) and why they refuse to give me any information on my bags. They won't even say if they ever had them!

ecaarch

DL isn't stonewalling you. They don't know where your bags are and they really can't start the search process without you filing a claim and getting a tracking number. The tracking number issued when a claim is filed is just that - the way that DL can track your issue. Until you get that, not much is gonna happen unless the bag just happens to catch up to you.

A line of 40 people totally s**ks, especially when you just want to get home. However, sometimes you just gotta deal with it. I mean, would you hand your keys to a valet and not wait for a receipt because you were in a hurry?

knkjens

Told by a friend of mine (a DL employee) that until your bags are taken off the plane and sent into a baggae claim, DL has no way of tracking your bag along it's route.

The bag is scanned when you check it in, and scanned again when it is offloaded for baggage claim. Bags are no scanned enroute, because of the massive amount of time and cost that would be required to scan all bags at every stop.

DiverDave

"Massive" may be a bit of hyperbole. After all, UPS does it quite efficiently.

I hope the OP gets his stuff back. It would be unfortunate to lose wedding photos.....

You never know - if you go out to the airport, your bags might be there.

David

zsmith2

The set-up that UPS has is totally different then what an airline has.

BFG

The only way the Baggage Service Center is allowed to take claims over the phone is if it has been authorized by a supervisor at the airport. You can ask them to call and get authorization to take the claim. Hopefully they'll be able to get though on the phone.

John Quint

While true, it does beg a question why commercial airlines don't investigate a system similar to those used by UPS, USPS, FedEx, etc. for tracking of cargo/luggage. Sure, these companies mess up sometimes too, but a newer system might help resolve luggage vanishing into the Bermuda Triangle.

zsmith2

While it has everything to do with cost, it just isn't cost efficent to put something systemwide. Until airports update their baggage delivery systems the airlines cannot put anything in place that would utilize that kind of technology. I believe some things are being tested but will not be available until many years.

Akulashark

Take your claim check to the airport and set up camp.

My guess is your bag has reached some destination at this point and they can locate it.

I cannot stand how they handle lost luggage and I really hate how they could care less. I emailed them about a lost bag and got canned response. Then I asked them point blank, canned response... Delta isn't about your luggage, they are about their money.

amanuensis

Yes ... and?

No publicly held corporation should care about ANYTHING other than maximizing shareholder value. So Delta should care about luggage only because of the negative implications that failure to do so would have on shareholder value.

prosen

Actually given the amount of federal subsidies, bailouts, exemptions, tax breaks, etc that the tax payer gives these companies, it is perfectly reasonable to hold the airlines to a higher standard then that of a "publicly traded" company; and when they fail to meet it we should punish them.

dedehans

Scanning bar codes should work along with lost luggage claim....but, if it does not, call DL and ask for tel # of connecting airport luggage area....I tracked down my lost suitcase MCO/LAX/Carmel,CA...it had only been checked through to LAX and was in the Lost Luggage To be Disposed of Area...yes, the baggage tag read through to Carmel....

mayhem

You probably hit on an agent that was tired as well and sent you off with the wrong info (what he shouldn't have done!). IIRC claims can only be made at the airport, as you have to point on that card which type of bag you have.

Only once you've made the claim, your missing bag is getting its file in worldtracer, and other stations can see that the bag they found is yours!

You can't compare pax bags to cargo or parcel service.. won't quote mr zsmith2's reasons here, but he's right

ecaarch

Think about it realistically. FedEx and UPS primarily deal with bar codes applied to the flat surfaces of boxes and envelopes. Most pax don't travel with boxes as baggage. A bar code on a strip of paper hanging from the handle of a duffle bag is infinitely more complicated to deal with. @:-)

DiverDave

Not really. Somebody has to LOOK at that strip of paper to put it onto the correct plane when it's being transferred. It ain't much harder to scan it at the same time. After all, have you seen the handheld scanners that the UPS folks use?

It wouldn't take much money to implement such a system, as they could simply buy the technology from FedEx or UPS. Unfortunately there just isn't any money for it, though in the long term it could save money in terms of baggage claims, personnel costs searching for lost baggage etc.

I'm really surprised at some of the comments here. UPS, DHL and Fedex do this. They are widely regarded as being extremely efficient at handling packages of all sizes and shapes. Not everything they ship is a rectangular box with a flat label on it.

The airlines' efficiency is not quite at that level.....

David