[trisha2414]

Patricia Farrell


January 2, 2008

To Whom It May Concern:

On December 22, 2007 I traveled from ATL, Atlanta Airport to IAD Washington International Airport on Delta Flight # _DL4517__. When I checked in at Atlanta Delta office I noticed that the baggage carousals were not operating but was assured by the Delta attendant that my two bags would be loaded on my flight. When I had arrived at IAD I waited at the carousal #14 area for my bags but after 45 minutes they did not arrive. I proceeded to the Delta baggage office to inquire about my two bags and was informed that a number of bags were delayed and did not make my flight. I gave the attendant my information and was given the phone number to call and was also told that other flights were due in and the bags could be on them. I was also informed that I would receive a phone call if the bags did arrive. The next flight were around 7 PM and 11PM form Atlanta. My parents live an hour and half away from the airport so rather than drive home and return we decided to stay around Washington DC and come back later. About 8 PM I called the 800 # and was told that one of the bags had arrived and I could claim it at the Delta lost/delayed baggage area. When I arrived and inquired about the bag the attendants present could not find the bag. I, along with the Delta Rep, checked all the bags outside the Delta office and still could not find the bag. When asked, the attendants said they remember the bag being there but could not recall if it was picked up or not but the bag was no where to be found. One of the attendants went to the baggage delivery office and it was not there either.

There were approximately forty to fifty bags in front of the Delta office with no Delta representative around to control anyone from taking any of the bags and walking away with it. When my father question one of the attendants about the security of the bags the answer he got was “We do not have the time to check all bags and people claiming the bags. We can only do what we can and that is all.” Professionally this is very unsatisfactory. As I stood there and watched I saw several people just pick up bags and walk away and not questioned by any Delta representative and no one checking the bag claim tickets. This I can see as being very costly to the airline, which in turn bleeds over to the customer. A different attendant also told me that someone must have walked off with the bag and to file a claim for it and call later about the second bag.

On December 24th I received one of my missing bags but not the original one that was supposedly received at the airport on December 22nd.
Please take into account that I did not receive any call about the second bag arriving until I received a call from the delivery company that it would be delivered the morning of the 24th.

Everyday, at least 3 times a day I made a call to the 800# to see if they had located my missing bags. When you call the number you are lucky to get through after waiting 1 hour and when someone did answer you would be lucky if they understood because of the language barrier.

When checking on line it said that both bags were found. I called and no one could tell me where the bag was or what bag claim number it was. I already knew it should have been the larger bag because I already had the smaller of the two. I also phoned and inquired with the delivery company, ABC Delivery, and they kept saying they did not have any more bags for me they said they did not know about the other bag. Delta kept saying that it was with the delivery company. Actually no one knew where it was or is today.

When I arrived at IAD for my return flight to Atlanta I stopped at the Delta desk one more time with hopes of seeing the bag there. It was not there. When I inquired at the desk I found out then that the file was closed with out confirmation from the delivery company of the bags being delivered. The attendant went with me to the delivery storage area to look for the bag and still nothing. He then went to the main office of the delivery company and discovered that the first bag was never recorded as being picked up by the delivery company and that the delivery company was behind by several days for inputting the information about delivered bags or bags turned over to them. It was a total mess up by Delta of log keeping. The attendant then checked the system in Delta office and found the file closed. He reopened the file stating that the first bag was never delivered to the customer and the bag is still missing. As far as I am concerned the bag is gone with all my clothing, other articles and Christmas presents.

I do not see how Delta could let the delayed and lost baggage area be handled this way; at the most it is worst security I have ever seen.

Sincerely,

Patricia D. Farrell

[pbarr]

I am sorry to hear about your lost luggage ordeal. I had a similar problem as recent as last week on the worst flight of my 8 year business travel history.
I filed a lost luggage claim and constantly called the Delta Lost luggage number...only to be transferred to a call center to reps who spoke BROKEN ENGLISH! They were NO HELP to me. Fortunately, my bag was located and delivered to the hotel the next business night. How my bag ended up on a Northwest Airline in Detroit when I had NO connecting flights to Detroit is beyond me.
Throughout the entire ordeal, the Delta staff had a "Don't Care...Oh Well attitude." I will avoid booking flights on Delta Airlines from this day forward.

NEWS FLASH...without customers Delta, you have no one to mistreat...nor jobs! Quality customer service goes a long way!