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Here’s something we discuss once or twice a year. A friend recently benefited from this feature and winter vacations are coming up — so I figured this is a good time to remind us all of Delta’s Bags-on-Time Guarantee.
2,500 SkyMiles for Delayed Delta Luggage
Delta implemented its “Bags on Time” feature several years ago. If you check a bag on a Delta flight and your luggage arrives on the carousel belt 20 minutes (or more) after the plane’s door opens, you’re entitled to 2,500 bonus SkyMiles. (20 minutes can go by a lot faster than you think. Waiting to deplane, visiting a restroom, and finding your way to baggage claim might seem to take only a few minutes — when, in reality, it was actually a while! So, submit your claim anyway and let Delta worry about that timing.)
I can already hear guffaws from people saying, “2,500 miles?! That’s hardly anything!” Well, true. But it’s something. And because Delta seems to value SkyMiles at about a penny each, 2,500 SkyMiles are worth approximately $25 in Delta travel. (Remember, too, that Delta SkyMiles award travel earns Medallion Qualification Dollars/MQD.) I know road warriors who earn free vacation flights through just Bags on Time claims.
There were rumors that Delta’s Bags on Time would be discontinued — but one of my friends scored 2,500 SkyMiles this past Monday.
How to Submit a Delta Late Luggage Claim for Miles
Go to this page both times and submit the required information.
If your claim is approved, you can expect 2,500 bonus SkyMiles to hit your account within a couple of minutes! It’s something easy you can do on the car-shuttle-train-bus ride to your home, hotel, or parking lot.
A Few Things to Keep in Mind
Remember these criteria for Delta Bags on Time claims:
- You must be a Delta SkyMiles member during your trip. (If you’re not yet a Delta SkyMiles member, sign up here for free. Plus, that’ll give you access to free WiFi on select Delta flights.)
- Eligible flights must be marketed and operated by Delta Air Lines and Delta Connection carriers.
- Codeshare flights are eligible — but the final leg must be marketed and operated by Delta Air Lines or a Delta Connection carrier.
- Valid only on flights within the U.S. 50 domestic states and Puerto Rico
- Submit your claim on this page.
- Feel free to bookmark this post, so you always know where to go when wanting to submit a Bags on Time claim 🙂
- You have up to three days after your flight to submit a claim. So, if you read this post on Monday and flew on Saturday, you still have time! But I try to get my claims in ASAP after arriving.
- You’ll receive 2,500 miles regardless of how many bags you check. For example, we once flew with three checked bags — all of which were under my PNR. (My wife and daughter flew on a separate reservation.) I received a total of 2,500 bonus miles.
- You may take advantage of Bags on Time during both your outbound and return flights. So there’s the potential of earning up to 5,000 bonus SkyMiles during a roundtrip. If you frequently travel and check bags, there’s a decent chance you’ll rack up some decent bonus miles through Bags on Time.
Final Approach
Remember that Delta still has its Bags on Time promotion! It’s a potentially easy way to score 2,500 bonus SkyMiles if your luggage is delayed by 20 minutes!
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
When traveling with family, we always check our bags individually. That way, we each get miles if the bags are late.
Nice! How many miles have you accrued so far?
Honestly, Chris, I have no idea, as I’ve been doing it since the program started. If I had to guess, I’d estimate at least 75K over time. Slow and steady wins the race!
Nice!
I do it every trip with my wife on separate luggage check-ins and we have received 5K miles every time except one time in the last 3 years. We average around 60K a year.
We always submit around 18 minutes after the seat belt sign is turned off at the gate which starts the 20 minute timer (even before the exit door is opened). We keep refreshing every minute until Delta responds that we have successfully submitted a claim. Many times we succeed even when our luggage is coming out of the carousel.
Unsurprisingly, some airports are better about this than others. JFK is one such airport where I know I’m going to get 2500 free miles. Do I sometimes check a bag unnecessarily when traveling to these known airports? Why, yes. Yes, I do. But only when it’s free from credit card or status.
To note, there’s no penalty to trying a Bags on Time request and being refused. I don’t bother timing anything and just submit as soon as I claim a bag.
And, as others have posted here in the comments, it’s 2500 miles per passenger, even when together in the same PNR. If traveling with multiple people, use a kiosk or the app to check-in and make sure at least one bag is assigned to each passenger. The agents I’ve dealt with are awesome (not throwing shade at all), but they tend to assign all bags to the first passenger on the itinerary.
I have sone it a few times esp if over 40 minutes late–SFO!!
Got back from NYC Tuesday night and totally forgot to check. I saw this post yesterday, checked, and voila, 2500 miles in my account. Thanks for the timely post!