Delta Air Lines is known for running a reliable operation. I don’t check bags frequently, but when I do, I’m continually amazed at how rapidly my bags are usually delivered, especially in Atlanta. A while back, Delta instituted a 20 minute “bags on time” guarantee for checked bags. If your bags weren’t delivered in 20 minutes, Delta will credit you 2,500 SkyMiles.

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Earlier this week, I was forced to check my bag because I was bringing some extra work materials with me and my bag was just too large to carry on. Our flight went fine, and we landed roughly on time. I usually stop off at the Sky Club or somewhere along the way to the carousel, but this time I went directly there where I waited. And waited. OK, it probably wasn’t that bad, but it felt a little lengthier than usual.

On a whim, I looked at our arrival time and at the time the bags were delivered to the carousel. The results: we blocked in at 11 minutes past the hour, and my bag was delivered at 34 minutes after the hour, a 23 minute wait. I decided to try for those 2,500 miles. Filing the claim was easy, I just visited Delta’s website where they have a page just for this.

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Fillable form on Delta.com

It took just a minute to fill out, and I submitted it. I had heard that responses were pretty quick, but I did not expect it to be this quick

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As promised, I took a look at my SkyMiles balance and the 2,500 miles had already posted.

The Bottom Line

I like that Delta has the confidence to make a guarantee like this. Even better, in my experience, they almost always meet their bags on time guarantee. When they don’t, they follow through.