Delta Air Lines is out today with a new baggage delivery guarantee. If your checked bag doesn’t arrive on the carrousel in 20 minutes or less, Delta will give you 2,500 SkyMiles for your trouble. Alaska has had a similar timeliness guarantee for some time, and I’d wondered if Delta might come up with something to compete. In my experience, Delta does an excellent job of delivering bags to the carousel in a timely manner. More often than not, when I check a bag, it’s waiting for me on the carousel in Atlanta.
Alaska’s guarantee features the option of 2,500 miles or a $25 travel credit, which I think I’d prefer. Miles are a relatively low-cost apology, but tend to be something people appreciate. Delta’s offer runs through March 31, 2015. As Lucky opined earlier today, this is likely some kind of test. Operationally, Delta seems to be firing on all cylinders. If my baggage checking experiences are any indicator, they won’t be paying out very many bonus miles. No matter what, I think it’s a good gesture, and I’d like to see other airlines do something in this regard.
-MJ, February 19, 2015
2,500 SkyRubles that devaluate daily – big deal!
If Delta doesn’t even know if your dog (taht you paid an extra $200) is on the plane or not how are they ever going to pull off this?
I finally got around to reading the story about the $1.1 billion in bonuses delta is paying this year. The story implied that employees were getting about 16% of their pay or over two months’ pay as bonuses. I’m assuming that is an average figure and not all are getting the same percentage payout. The story also said that employees in Atlanta would receive $450 million of the total. I also assume that less than 41% of delta’s 80,000 employees are based in Atlanta. Atlanta employees maybe receiving such a large amount of the bonus pool because the executives there… Read more »
(last post)… those who have the resources, will do what they will when it comes to flying choices; those who don’t have the resources to make alternative choices, or who are ignorant, will maintain the status quo, that constitutes the majority and benefits Delta. this behavior is a natural consequence of reduced competition; having been involved in the past several airline mergers, the regulators were only concerned with gate swaps and competition in destinations served; the “what if” calculation such as the impact in possible changes in frequent flyer programs, was considered too speculative, and was never part of their… Read more »
Watching Delta roll out these “enhancements”, is like watching the share price of publicly traded Spirit Airlines soar.
up is down, down is up, black is white, white is black, the sun sets in the morning.
gawd help us.
We’re in uncharted territory. All I can say is that if Delta’s changes are too much to bear… one must vote with their wallet. That’s about all I can say. If there is a true shift away, then Delta will implement changes. Otherwise, they get proven correct.
wow, 2,500 sky pesos?
well, that totally turns around my attitude… i was a little upset at their not posting their award schedule any more, at having those 12,500 one way flights turn into 20,000 mile flights (when available), at their lack of concern for elite and normal flyers, but heck, this baggage guarantee with a 2500 sky peso bonus is they don’t perform, well, that just changes everything.
gawd, Delta is really firing on all cylinders.
Haha. Note my use of the word “operationally” in the phrase about firing on all cylinders.