Lost Luggage Lament 

Dear @Delta,

You have an atrocious system for delayed luggage!!! Below is an expanded and edited version of my response/rant to your email survey about our delayed flight into Atlanta, which in turn caused us to nearly miss our flight to Charles De Gaulle, then Budapest on the SkyMiles partner, Air France. 

Of course, I don’t hold you responsible for the weather, and your pilot on the San Antonio to Atlanta flight had no choice about circling Atlanta or the diversion to refuel in Birmingham, Alabama which ate up (what seemed to be) a comfortable 2 1/2 hour layover. 

We were able to board the AF flight, in spite of arriving at Gate F1 just as the doors were closed. We were spared a cascade of problems missing that connection would have caused. 

Unfortunately, our luggage didn’t make it. 

Other than incomplete, contradictory, and then failed,  information via the Delta app, the system completely broke down. (The app showed our luggage still on DL70  from Atlanta to Amsterdam, long after that plane landed and even after we picked the luggage up in Budapest.)

My first reaction was a direct message via Twitter, with no response.  24 hours later, I was told there was a software issue,with Twitter.  The public Twitter account, @Delta, was little help, involving 3 or 4 different people over the 28+ hours, contradictory advice, and delays in answering of an hour or more. This is *Twitter* in 2017. If you are going to use social media, use it well and realize the importance of rapid response!

There is no way to navigate the automated system for  international telephone “support” on a mobile phone, even with my fastest typing and  assistance from a partner reading the necessary numbers to the caller. 

The phone system did eventually try to switch to live help, but the first few times I was left with silence after a few bars of music. After a minute or two, I assumed I was disconnected. Then, on the fourth or fifth attempt, I got a recording and discovered  that the Delta Airlines “live help”  keeps Eastern US time zone hours. I was in Hungary, so… Jet lag, long distance international phone charges, the many distractions of a foreign country.  You send people around the world for pity’s sake! 

The baggage handler at the Budapest Airport,  Malev GH, did not answer the phone, even when we went to the airport and used the yellow “customer service” phones. (Spell check appropriately changes that to “Malevolent.”) 

The online support did not work. Since we were told by the AF agent to contact you, we weren’t given the number for a complaint. Without the numbers, I couldn’t fill out the forms. 

The phone system is impossible to navigate and dependent on US time zones! 

I cannot stress enough the hassle of attempting to get our delayed luggage in Budapest before we embarked on a river boat cruise and began a fantastic 3month European tour. I hope my rant helps you make the necessary improvements.