Sneaky Delta raises its checked bag fee while Continental takes the flak
Filed under: Transportation, Travel, Consumer Complaints
No sooner did Continental announce that it's upping its checked bag fee that Delta decided there was enough blood in the water -- it could safely dive in, too. The business wires are atwitter about Continental's heavy job losses (1,700 souls), which the airline claims necessitated an increase in its checked bag fees, and while its competitor faces the music in the press, Delta sneaked in its own copycat fee.
So as of Aug. 4, Delta just announced, it, too, will charge an additional $5 to anyone who waits until arriving at the airport before registering checked baggage. That brings its own fee to $20 for one bag and $30 for the second.
The fee takes effect on Aug. 4 for tickets purchased on or after July 15. From now on, whenever you see a quote for a Delta fare, tack on $40 for a round-trip ticket if you're checking one bag at the airport.
Delta's bag charges are now in line with Continental, United, and U.S. Airways. Among the legacy carriers, only American Airlines holds out at $15 for the first bag ($25 for the second) no matter when you register your baggage. JetBlue and Southwest are still free.
It's getting to where the only thing you get for free on Delta planes is the forehead grease left on the window by the prior occupant of your seat.
I'll hand it to the price-setters at Delta: They've got cojones. Delta is currently facing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for a similar tactic. Last year, the manner in which it first instituted its baggage fees drew the suspicions of a Washington, DC, law firm, which has accused the carrier of an "invitation to collude" with AirTran. When AirTran brought in its baggage fees, Delta came right after, setting off some observers' alarm bells.
You'd think Delta would want to completely avoid the perception that it's instituting increases under the cover of similar increases by its competitors, but today shows that its legal sense may be as frayed as the hygienic standards on its planes.
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Airlines Hit Financial Turbulence
Delta just announced, it will charge an additional $5 to anyone who waits until arriving at the airport before registering checked baggage. That brings its own fee to $20 for one bag and $30 for the second.
Doug Pensinger, Getty Images
Doug Pensinger, Getty Images
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
7-22-2009 @ 7:30AM
maureen said...
Delta is sneaky and wont ever fly them again. Recently found out my Dad as Esophageal cancer, had to cancel a flight we had for a vacation in January and they are keeping400.00!!!!!! And heaven forbid using web fares with the credit. NO WAY have to call for a ticket 200 more than the Web Fare. They are a heartless company and in my moment where I need what i can get to fly 1000 miles home they keep this. Then they say we will keep in their prayers. I cant stand people who act so rightous. Delta sucks. I will never forget how they did this to me.
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7-23-2009 @ 6:05AM
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7-23-2009 @ 6:31AM
Jay said...
I can't believe they were so heartless and cold. I don't blame you for thinking they suck - I won't fly Delta now either! I know you might not think it will do any good but I would write a letter to the Better Business Bureau and complain. You should also get your local television news channel involved in the story and tell everyone what an unsympathetic airline they are. I am sorry about your Dad, hope his medical treatments help him and he feels and gets better.
Take care and Good luck!
7-23-2009 @ 7:59AM
Tracy said...
Why is everyone bitching about checked bag fees? I am a 1K Flyer with United Airlines (for all you coach people) a 1K Flyer is someone who flys more than 100,000 miles every year. 1K status entitles me to 3 checked bags for FREE!!! Even if I wasn't a 1K with United, stop complaining and stop being cheap. If you want to fly, it's going to cost you..... Get a grip people!
7-23-2009 @ 12:17PM
Niki said...
Tracy, they better offer free checked bags. Due to all these fees, more and more people are bringing carry ons that they normally would check. Being a 100K flyer, Im sure you always bring your items as carry-ons, to avoid wasting time at baggage claim. But what happens when you get on the plan and theres no more room for your items? Or have you not experienced this because you always get seated first? Lemme tell you that my husband is a premium flyer at AA, but AA didnt go to Albany. It was the ONLY time my husband couldnt fly AA, guess who was boarded last, then asked to check his bags because every single person brought 2 carryons, and stowed each one in the bins. There may have been room, if people would put stuff under their seat, or had stacked their belongings a certain way, but no.
7-22-2009 @ 9:17AM
George R. Franklin said...
My wife and I travel often for business. Our standard contract has, for years, specified that our clients are to book our air flights on Delta. That was, but is not, the case now.
Delta's quality of service has been lowering to the point of unacceptable. The checked baggage cost is just a recent matter. Here are a few others:
1. We traveled, first/business class from Atlanta, GA to the Dominican Republic. The flight time was 3 hours and 57 minutes. We were served pretzels both ways. Delta's telephone representative explained to me that their policy is to serve meals on flights with 4 hours or more of flight time. For a lousy 3 minutes, Delta wouldn't serve a meal to its first class passengers who paid full fare; no frequent flyer miles were involved here.
2. Delta is using more and more CRJ aircraft from Savannah, GA to Atlanta, GA. My wife does not like these "puddle-jumpers" so we select flights serviced by more conventional, and comfortable, jets. CRJ's only have coach seats, yet Delta does not lower round trip flight costs when we travel first or business class from Savannah to wherever we are going. I've done my homework; the round trip, first class fares are the same even when the leg from Savannah to Atlanta is on CRJ equipment.
2. Flights from Savannah to Atlanta (the Delta hub) are often canceled or substantially delayed causing missed connecting flights. We flew, again first class, to Phoenix, Arizona. The best Delta could do for us was to get us on another carrier's flight, in the coach cabin. Of course, Delta made no effort to recompense us for the difference in cost between coach and first class.
Everything Delta does now is designed to positively affect its bottom line; the customer, their regular and repeated flyers such as my wife and me, don't matter and that's a conclusion we came to reluctantly. There's more: we have written letters to Delta's CEO. Each time, we got a response from a lower level customer service representative who, no matter what his, or her, manner was, could not do more than repeat the "party line." Delta's senior executives are too important to even respond to correspondence to them. Certainly, they are busy, but any CEO worth his, or her, salt should want to know whentheir customers have issues. In their lofty position, it is called "the exception report" meaning, "let me know where our system is not performing as we should want it to do."
The bottom line is, that we now drive distances we never would have previously; cost is not the issue, service is. And, we just returned from a very long international trip on another carrier. The service was excellent, in terms of the airliner and the amenities such as meals (we were even provided with pajamas, slippers, and more!) In our business, we employ a very simple rule: as we grow (or plan to grow) we keep in mind those practices that helped us to be successful in the first place. The rule Delta needs to be reminded of is the customer is the only source of business and is, as the old adage suggests, "always right."
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7-22-2009 @ 11:57AM
Mary Anne Trout said...
I bought 2 roundtrip tickets on line to fly from Louisville, KY, to Mpls/St.Paul to go to my mother's funeral later this week. No mention of baggage charges was made on the confirmation print-out I received. I would not have known of these surcharges if I had not seen this on the internet! Surely everyone who travels also has a suitcase! Next thing will be a coin slot if the traveler needs to use the lavatory --- or perhaps this charge is already in place.
7-23-2009 @ 8:23AM
Kim said...
Good for you Mr Franklin!! While I do not fly as often as you do, I am a consumer who will pay double before putting up with those standards. I have been flying Delta for the past 8 years or so when I fly to LA as they had the best flights. But after reading what you have just written, I believe I am willing to pay a little more money and be a little more inconvenienced this year. It's the principle! I work for a fortune 500 company in the so called "customer service" side of it, and I bend over backwards to accomidate and help someone, as they are the backbone of why the company exists. The upper crust of these companies need to start remembering this!!
7-23-2009 @ 10:08AM
Barbara said...
I used to also fly Delta, but in the past few years they have become one of the worst airlines I have ever used. I was traveling to LasVegas and my friend and myself were stuck in Dallas airport for over 6 hours and all we got a s aresponse was; "we will have you in Las Vegas by Monday" it was Saturday. Then when they "found" a plane we were told they did not know it was in the air, it was coming in from Pheonix. I also wrote a letter and got some crazy response. I will never fly Delta again and have not booked a flight with them since. And now with the fees, it is just crazy. Give me JetBlue who raises the fares and you know what the fare is and you do not have to add on and additional 30-40 per trip. I guarantee Delta and the rest of the airlines willraise fees until people stop bringing luggage and send their items by mail.
7-23-2009 @ 6:57AM
Megahot1 said...
No you get more from Delta rude gate agents and Flight attendants. I recently flew Delta and checked on it's overweight flight policy and was told if you get to the gate and the stewardess decided you were too big they would put you off the plane and force you to buy another ticket. So to guarentee my flight I had to buy two tickets. So on the flight up I was told they never heard of that. Right!! Had to change seats to a no view seat because of extender on seat belt. On the way home I had to be confronted with a gate agent and two stewardesses in front of the whole plane, because they were going to take the seat I had to have and was forced to buy and place a standby person in it for their convience it was ok to fly in one seat. This confrontation came close to getting out of hand being bullied and made to explain every detail to everyone seated around me and having to tell the gate agent the ticketing policies of Delta and correct him on the way tickets are sold. Thewn having to produce id so they could verify both seats were mine and then when they relized they were not going to embaress me out of or bully me out the seat they left me alone. The VALUE TO DELTA FOR THE MOST EMBARRESSING DAY OF MY LIFE GET THIS,,, A FIFTY DOLLAR OFF CERTIFICATE FOR THE NEXR FLIGHT ON DELTA SO I CAN BE FURTHER HARASSED!!!!!! NO THANKS UNLESS IT IS THE ONLY AIRLINES TO GO THERE.
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7-23-2009 @ 7:01AM
paul g smith said...
Nope, don't fly... they lost me when I can't smoke, can't eat, and pushed in like a friggin' sardine... oh, and the flight folks are my grandmother, or father for that matter... Besides, See the USA in your Chevrolet...lol
Reply
7-23-2009 @ 7:18AM
Tommy said...
Nothing surprises me about DELTA, they were good at dirty
tricks when I worked for another airline that flew out of Savannah. Don't be surprised if you don't see that airline back
in the air next year.
Reply
7-23-2009 @ 7:18AM
Jenny said...
What the airlines didn't plan for with these baggage fees is the amount of carry-on luggage the planes now have. I was on a flight from Detroit to Boston, on a good-sized plane, and it took over an hour to both board and unboard because of all of the commotion around the overhead compartment. When people fly, they still need luggage, but they are going around the fees and causing more delays than before. I hate driving long distances, but I now have a rule that unless the drive is longer than 10 hours, I won't fly.
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7-23-2009 @ 7:28AM
Suzanne said...
I don't really care what other airlines do. I fly Southwest with no fees, and they are an honest & fun airline .
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7-23-2009 @ 7:40AM
Lou said...
If Southwest doesn't fly there neither do I. Let Delta and the other crappy airlines charge what they want because I will never pay it.
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7-23-2009 @ 7:55AM
Tom said...
you are a fool!!! what does that have to do with the price of baggage?
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7-23-2009 @ 7:57AM
marieantonette said...
Why would anyone fly anything but Southwest?? Just the baggage fee situation alone keeps me away from other airlines. Must be the first class thing.....
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7-23-2009 @ 7:59AM
Jenny said...
It's absolutely insane for ANY airline to charge bagge fees for the first bag. How are people supposed to travel without clothing and toiletries? If they want to penalize travelers for overpacking, that's bad enough, but NOT for the first bag. I, too, try to travel Southwest if they go to my destination, even though I have to drive 80 miles to the airport they fly from. Their positive attitude is worth it!
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7-23-2009 @ 8:06AM
Mimi13 said...
To fly to the Southeast from where I live Delta is virtually the only choice for a non stop flight. They make the flying experience an ordeal from the time of placing a reservation through the end of the trip. If there's a way to mess something up, they find it...cancelled flights, lost baggage, delays, overbooking, etc. My last flight when they didn't get enough volunteers to leave the overbooked flight they announced they'd only take the first 42 people. Why don't they just observe Southwest who makes everything SO easy and pleasant. They are so accommodating, and Delta acts like they couldn't care less whether you're a satisfied customer or not. Closest thing to being treated like air freight...and now they'll charge more for baggage. PLEASE Southwest, fly into Atlanta!!!!!
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7-23-2009 @ 8:09AM
sbhappe34 said...
Poor me. you should have to pay for 2 seats or pay for half of the persons seat next to you. No you are not being picked on the person sitting next to you is. Wake up it isn't just about you there are other innocent people. It is your choice to be overweight and uncomfortable so be prepared pay the price. Me my choice is to be comfortable and not at someone elses expense.
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