Delta Airlines and My Smashed Baggage

Before I even started packing my bags for the return trip, I went shopping and purchased two large blankets and thick towels to wrap everything in. I had plenty of room in my suitcases since the majority of my purchases were heavy items like marble and pottery and tequila. I'm not a novice flyer and I've never had anything broken in my luggage except for a side strap. Until now that is...

My first mistake was not returning to the airport Sunday night and trying to find someone to witness the damages and issue me a file number. If I had only known then what I know now. According to Delta's website for damaged baggage, I had 7 days to file a claim since it was an international flight. Since I had been traveling for 14 hours by the time I landed at the Portland airport, I had neither the time nor the energy to seek out a Delta representative considering that I still had a 3 hour drive ahead of me to reach my home. I think it's a good thing that I waited until I got home because I found two more broken items in my suitcase when I unpacked it. A smaller marble horse also had a broken leg and a quartz tray had two corners on it smashed too. The tray I threw into the garage, the legs I superglued back onto the horses and gave them to Erika, and the tequila bottle I cried over. Why did it have to be the most expensive bottle of tequila that got smashed? Is there some Murphy's law about this that I missed somehow? I paid 327 pesos for that 1 liter bottle of Don Julio. The others I paid less than 130 pesos each. A more positive person would be thankful that I didn't get the other bottles taken away from me. I'm saying hell yeah I'm positive but why couldn't it have been the cheaper one?!

So back to filing a claim with Delta's customer service department. The first time I called, there was a 36-44 minute hold time but I could punch in my phone number and they'd call me back without losing my place in line. I got the call back and was told that I would need to go to the nearest airport and show the damages to a Delta representative. I asked what hours would a representative be available there? 5am to 9pm ma'am. Ok, I can handle that, thank you. Drive 20+ miles to the airport, no Delta representative in sight. A couple more days pass and I return to the airport on Sunday, my last day to file a claim. This time we showed up earlier than last time and still nobody in sight. After waiting awhile and asking several people if any Delta people were around, a United agent finally told me that Delta leaves early afternoon because their last flight is at 1:30pm. So I call Delta customer care while I'm standing at the Delta counter and ask what are my options now. After she tells me that somebody is supposed to be there (not!), she said that I can go home and file my claim online.

And then the final part of my fun commenced. On Delta's website for damaged  baggage, you have to put in your first and last name and the file reference number that you are issued by a Delta representative. So I called Delta customer service again and they transfer me to the baggage department. The automated system says that there is a long hold time and I can input my phone number for a call back when it's my turn in line. Ok, in go my digits and I hang up and wait. I get a call back about 20 minutes later and the line is silent while I say hello over and over. After a minute, call ended. So I call Delta customer service again and the agent told me that they aren't allowed to transfer me to the baggage department so she gave me the number to call directly. While I was talking to her, I got another call back from Delta that remained silent until the call ended after 92 seconds. I even put the cell phone up to my home phone so she could hear the silent static on the line.  She said that she couldn't do anything for me and that was that. So this time I called their baggage department and sat on hold for the 20 minutes waiting for a representative to come on the line.

The final Delta representative that I talked to on the phone definitely qualifies for worst customer service of the year award. She was full of empty empathy for my situation, told me several times that nobody had the ability to document my case and give me a one day extension on my claim, and since I used the word "shit" once she was going to need to hang up on me for my abusive language. When I asked to speak with a supervisor to discuss my options, she refused to look for a supervisor and told me that Delta was not flexible on their policies and that they didn't care about the situation or what steps I had done to complete my claim within their time limits. They have definitely lost my business as well as that of my family and it's a shame, they had great people working in the airports on my flight from Portland to Salt Lake City to Mexico City and back as well as their flight crew too. It looks like I'll be sticking with Continental for my future flights. I'm left at the end of the week with 552 pesos of damaged goods and a very sour taste in my mouth.