Posted on 06/07/2011 9:53:21 PM PDT by jennychase
A team of returning soldiers from Afghanistan was hit with an unpleasant surprise upon their arrival into the United States this morning. The squadron, bringing a full load of gear with them back from the Central Asia was sacked with the baggage fees in place at Delta Air Lines, which, despite the agreement that they have with the armed forces charged the soldiers extra baggage fees.
In sum, the group spent nearly $2800 in baggage fees for their gear, money that had to come straight out of their pockets.
Obviously a policy is in place between the airline and the armed services that permits soldiers returning from war to bring back all of their gear without cost. What's likely is that an uninformed agent at the connecting airport didn't know about the rule and charged the group. Either way, Delta should fix the error and refund the fees.
UPDATE: Delta's policy states that for military members, THREE checked bags are allowed in coach and FOUR checked bags are allowed in first, so the baggage fees may actually be correct. Whether Delta's policy is palatable or not is another question, but it appears that the agents were charging the servicemen properly.
UPDATE 2, 11:34PM EST: Delta just posted a blog article discussing today's situation in which they discuss their policy. Specifically they state:
In the case of today's situation, we would like to publicly apologize to those service men and women for any miscommunication regarding our current policies as well as any inconvenience we may have caused. We are currently looking further into the situation, and will be reaching out to each of them personally to address their concerns and work to correct any issues they have faced.
Good to see they are actively investigating it.
On my last flight Delta tried to charge me for my bags. I had to tell the agent that the card I handed her to start the transaction was my elite level Skymiles card and that it entitled me to two free bags. That is the way they treat their business customers so it doesn’t surprise me that they treat the military like that.
“UPDATE: Delta’s policy states that for military members, THREE checked bags are allowed in coach and FOUR checked bags are allowed in first, so the baggage fees may actually be correct. Whether Delta’s policy is palatable or not is another question, but it appears that the agents were charging the servicemen properly.”
What a bunch of bunk. Military don’t get to fly first class unless they are able to upgrade with their airline miles or the airline has overbooked and has no choice but to give it to them for free, so for Delta to be saying they get 4 bags in first is completely idiotic.
They could fly United. United simply does not load a percentage of baggage, apparently as a fuel saving measure, then tells the passenger that they will not return the “lost” bag and will not compensate.
I would imagine many high ranking soldiers fly in business class as part of the contract with the military.
Check video also, these guys were carrying equipments etc. which they were using in war zone.
This is pathetic.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Have had same thing happen, but it must be a Ticket Agent not thinking thing, as soon as you remind them about Elite Skymiles Amex, they drop it.
I fly too much for too many years and with the exception of Singapore Airline, I’ll always pick Delta.
After they bought NW, they did suffer a bit of NW shi’te service virus. I think they finally cleared out the diehard NW bums.
Can’t imagine Delta, on purpose, being hard on our Boys coming back home.
>>Good to see they are actively investigating it.<<
As a frequent flyer on AA, it is always my pleasure to ask the gate agent to allow the fine men and women of the armed services to board before us in 1st class do. I have never heard any complaints.
And AA is VERY good about filling empty 1st class seats with soldiers. You can sometimes tell these soldiers haven’t flown 1st before and I do what I can to help them relax and enjoy the experience. Most of the time they are worried they are asking too much from the flight attendants.
But universally, they follow the soldiers’ credo from days immortal and sleep while they can.
And bless them all.
Delta is HORRIBLE. I stopped flying them long ago. No one should fly that junk airline.
Actually, if I remember correctly, a policy memo was released by the SECDEF stating that DoD employees on commercial aircraft will fly coach class, no matter what rank. If they are Flag officers or very high ranking civilians, they will usually fly in GOV aircraft anyway.
My daughter is a reservist, 2 tours to the desert. When she flies to her reserve unit training, she is sometimes bumped up to 1st class when a seat is available.
Please thank her for her service.
She deserves 1st Class every time!
But I bet she just sleeps, doesn’t she? :) But the meals are free and there is a little more sideroom. It amazes me that all the service-folk sit, look a little befuddled but happy, ask for water or diet coke, then ZZZZZZ!!!
God bless ‘em all!
A student of mine while on a trip revealed a trick to get around baggage fees. She just brings the large bag to the gate, when she is about to get on, they take it to pub below. But, they don’t have time to charge her. Hee, hee.
>>Delta is HORRIBLE. I stopped flying them long ago. No one should fly that junk airline.<<
Newsflash: They all suck! :)
My experience with Delta was a good one. My husband and I booked on a 30 day ticket to Baltimore as he had surgery at Johns Hopkins. As the result of complications following surgery, his hospital stay was extended an additional week and his doctor recommended that we postpone our return flight to Idaho beyond the 30 day ticket, and upgrade to first class if possible.
As we both had accumulated sufficient miles for an upgrade to first, I called Delta, but was told that our ticket designation didn’t allow for an upgrade. I asked to speak to a supervisor and were given a “medical waiver” as she put it. And she even put us in the first row so as to give us additional legroom.
>>A student of mine while on a trip revealed a trick to get around baggage fees. She just brings the large bag to the gate, when she is about to get on, they take it to pub below. But, they don’t have time to charge her. Hee, hee.
<<
As a percentage bet, that is a pretty good idea. Just be ready to be intercepted before you get through (or during) security.
To date, I can confirm gate-checking bags do not incur charges (on AA, Jet Blue and US Air anyway).
If you don’t fly a lot it can seem intimidating to try this — but just drag your bag and you probably can make this work!
Actually, if I remember correctly, a policy memo was released by the SECDEF stating that DoD employees on commercial aircraft will fly coach class, no matter what rank. If they are Flag officers or very high ranking civilians, they will usually fly in GOV aircraft anyway.
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You are correct F1re - in fact, on my last business trip when I sat in coach I sat next to a full bird colonel in uniform.
Translation: We are going to talk to them and tell them they owed the money and we will not pay back a red cent.
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