First of all does anyone KNOW the EXACT rules about traveling with a bike on Delta?
Yesterday, coming back from Christmas at my parent’s, I went to check in at the airport with my bike. Normally I don’t mention the word bike within 100ft of the airport, in hopes that I won’t be charged the $100 fee. Anyway, I get there and the woman says, whoa, thats a big case. I responded with “uh huh.” She said it’s probably oversized. I said, “uh huh.” She said, let me measure it. She came up with a LxHxW measurement of 85inches. Then, she goes and checks the rules. She comes back a couple minutes later and says, “Im sorry, that box is too big to take on the plane, Delta has a maximum luggage size of 80 inches.” Then she told me to hold on. Another woman comes up and asks, “Is that a bike?” Reluctantly, I said “yeah, it’s a bike.” Then she told me to hold on. They talk to each other for a second, and then neither of them look at me. I wait there while the original woman is on the phone for 10 more minutes. I called my parents to come back to the airport, because they might be taking my bike with them. 10 more minutes go by, my parents show up. She is still on the phone. The airport is empty. One other guy is waiting for his little bag to get a luggage slip, so that he can go to through security. She never looks up. He waits there 10 minutes, and the 2nd woman finally slips the sticker around his bag, and he leaves. My parents need to leave, so we ask the 2nd woman what is going on. She says that the box is too big, and they don’t know what to do. My parents said forget it, we have to go, we’ll overnight you the bike. So the 2nd woman gives me the bike back from across the counter, and I continue on without the bike (30 minutes later).
What kind of box or case was the bike in? I’ve never heard of any airline not taking a bike case because it was to big. Also what airport were you at? Z
Trico Bike Case. Traveled with it 50 times. I was in Daytona Beach, a small airport, but again, traveled through that airport with the same case 20 times.
Sounds like you got some new employees that had never seen a bike case - these same Delta rules are nationwide - wonder what would happen in Kona the days after the Ironman if the Delta employees decided to follow this rule!
You might want to write a letter or send an e-mail to Delta and let them know what happened. I’m sure the customer service would like to hear this story. (My brother flies for Delta and is always telling me to call and let them know if I have any service problems when I fly Delta)
I will post this again, as there are a zillion threads floating around on airlines and bike cases:
Regarding Delta
I’m a platinum medallion flier
I’ve talked to 9 different customer service agents/5 different ticket counters about this policy
The official policy is so convoluted, no one knows what it REALLY is
Here’s the best way (read: cheapest) to get it handled( a little shaky morally, but not that bad):
Dress reasonably well (I always wear comfy jeans, nice black work shoes, and a business blazer over my golf shirt, more on why in a sec)
Check in at CURBSIDE, once you’re at the counter YOU ARE FUCKED and will definitely pay AT LEAST $100 each way for the bike case)
When you walk up to the curbside checkin, have 2 $20’s clearly visible in your hand and ask the guys to help you out with checking in.
If they ask you, “Is that a bike case” respond “It looks like a TRADE SHOW DISPLAY to me” and visibly raise the 2 $20s so you are absolutely sure he can see them. Then ask, “You’re not going to make me check that inside are you?”
Every time I have tried this, they say something to the effect “Nope, we’ll take care of you out here”
The reason is that DELTA has no restrictions on TRADE SHOW BOOTH DISPLAYS, even oversized ones, as long as they roll and aren’t a pain in the ass.
So this method costs a total of $80 (or $40 if you only use 1 $20 each way) and the curbside guys all take great care of you.
Unethical? You decide, I don’t have the slightest hesitation with all the other zillion dollars I spend with Delta to exploit a hole in their own system.
btw this scenario gets repeated every time you talk to delta’s customer service. yes, even including the super-special extra experienced platinum customer service reps. it’s a hole in their system. Exploit it.
hummm I’d like to save that 40 bucks curb side. If I wear a teeny tiny mini skirt with no underwear and bend over pretending to adjust the straps on my bike case…
I encountered this coming back from Australia at LAX. The delta counter lady (new) said that I was going to have to pay an overweight and oversize fee ($200). I said, NO, it’s a bike and you have a flat fee for that. The problem is that that ‘Bike’ doesn’t come up on their computer. They have to input Surfboard, etc.
The person has to be experienced to know that and she wasn’t. If I hadn’t fought her on it, she wasn’t going to budge. Finally, a supervisor came over and explained it to her.
Delta has to be the crappest airline i’ve ever had the misfortune to travel on. Not only did they charge me to carry my bike (and bike box) after i rang them up when ordering the tickets and was told i would not be charged, they also managed to lose my bike box in both directions (sent it to wrong airports), damaged the box, and the bike and caused a huge delay when i got home (kept sending it to incorrect airports). When i wrote and complained they apologised and sent me free tickets, that i had to redeem in the USA in an actual airport (not on the phone/internet), which isn’t a whole lot of use to me, as i live in the UK, and repeatedly kept making the tickets out to “Eric”, when i kept informing them my name is “Ric”.
Absolutely, the worst airline ever. The planes were shite too. Don’t think i’ve ever been so cramped on a plane before. It was like DVT city.