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The above are my very old large duffle bags that have crossed the world literally dozens of times. Just about every trip they take some damage but my amazing wife, often at the cost of a number of OUCH yells and some blood, patches them up for the next trip. I have never asked Delta or their Skyteam partners for compensation because I know it will just happen again and again and we can fix them for another journey. They are so patched up that a few times Delta reps, when I check the bag, tell me I can not claim any kind of new damage due to the condition they are already in – I just giggle and say no problem.
But fast forward to my most recent trip out to California for some blog work with my friend, Chris. I did check a small bag as we brought some special things to share while we were there. On the way home there was an issue. Take a look:
Yep, Delta punched a hole in my bag. With this kind of damage repairing it would not be so simple so let’s see what Delta would be willing to do for what they did. My wife marched down to the South Bend check-in counter and was told the following by the rep:
They could either give us a $50 Delta gift card or 9500 Delta Skymiles and was told that was a much better deal since Skymiles were worth 1 cent each. We agreed and chose the SkyPennies.
Oh, to top it all off it took over 20 minutes (see “bags on time” guarantee) for our damaged bag to get to us so we cashed in a total of 12,000 SkyPennies for the event – I can live with that.
The last time I had a damaged bag issue was when the TSA sliced my bag open (the larger mate to the bag above btw) and they gave us forms to fill in and then sent a check for the replacement value of a similar bag. It was not much since it was not a name brand or high end bag in any way, but enough to replace it.
This was the first time I have heard that Delta has chosen to offer Delta points as a way to pay off a damaged bag. This is smart for Delta since it does not really cost them anything to print more points and make a problem go away! – René
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Skymiles are great for frequent fliers but miles or a Delta gift card don’t casual fliers any closer to a new or repaired bag. Just another shot at the casual traveler by Delta..