Delta Checked Bag Guarantee
Put this one under “that's why we can't have nice things,” or maybe it's part of a greater trend with airlines shifting away from being consumer-friendly due to the pandemic. Delta announced it will be ending its checked bag guarantee program. This was such a creative and customer-friendly policy; we're sad to see it go. For those unfamiliar, under Delta's policy, if your checked bag doesn't arrive at the carousel within 20 minutes after a domestic flight, you can receive 2,500 bonus SkyMiles.
Checked Bag Guarantee is Ending Next Month
According to VFTW, Delta is eliminating its bag guarantee policy next month due to “the high cost of the program driven by awareness in viral TikTok videos and increasing ‘gaming’ of compensation.”
Indeed, there are no shortage of TikTok influencers bragging about how they earn a handful of SkyMiles here and there because their bag was late. Some TikTokers even claim to have received SkyMiles when their bag wasn't even late! So I can see why these viral videos and excessive gaming can contribute to the high cost of the program.
But perhaps Delta has made its policy too easy to recover under. With Delta, you have 3 days from your flight to submit a claim and you can do that online. In contrast, Alaska requires you to visit its baggage service office at the arrival airport within 2 hours of your flight's arrival. (Delta and Alaska are the only two major US airlines with a bag delay compensation policy.)
I am sure that gaming of this policy has cost Delta a pretty penny. But Delta's remedy here is quite extreme. Perhaps they could have made the compensation a little harder to earn, or increased the amount of time it takes for the policy to kick in.
Delta Checked Bag Guarantee Ending: ToP Thoughts
It's rather unfortunate to see a customer-friendly policy like this go away. I recognize that when folks take gaming something to the extreme it risks ruining it for everyone. But Delta could have remedied this a bit better than by blowing up the entire policy.
Did you ever earn SkyMiles through Delta's checked bag guarantee? Come join the discussion in the ToP Facebook Group.
