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A few weeks ago, Delta announced a (temporary) baggage guarantee. At a glance, they would seem to offer 2500 Delta Skymiles if your baggage is not on the baggage carousel within 20 minutes of your flight arriving.
Delta baggage guarantee fine print
Seems fine, right? But then I started taking a look at the fine print for the Delta baggage guarantee. Here are a list of restritions for the Delta baggage guarantee
- Your flight must be flown between February 19th and March 31st
- You have to already be a Skymiles member
- You have to be on a Delta or Delta Connection flight – no codeshares unless the final leg is a Delta operated flight
- It has to be a paid fare – I guess no award flights? Fine print isn’t super clear on that but Delta hasn’t really given me reason to give them the benefit of the doubt, ya know? 🙂
- Oversize, overweight and special baggage is not eligible
Oh and of course Delta “reserves the right to suspend this baggage service guarantee at any time and without prior notice in the event of an airport baggage system malfunction, severe weather, or other conditions out of Delta’s control that would prevent timely baggage delivery” and “Offers and benefits are subject to change without notice.”
Reminds me of some of the hotel “Best Rate Guarantees” which in practice prove to be nearly impossible to get the hotels to honor.
(SEE ALSO: 5th time’s a charm – Best Western BRG FINALLY approved!!)
I normally don’t check bags, though there was the one time that my family and I tracked 17 pieces of luggage through the airport. I haven’t had any Delta flights recently to check out the Delta baggage guarantee – anyone have any experience with it (good or bad) to report?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
I put in a claim last week when my bags arrived at the carousel 24 and 26 minutes after landing (according to Delta’s own information). I’ll let you know if I receive my points. The claim process was very easy though.
Just to let you know, my 2,500 points posted March 23 for delayed baggage on March 12. So just 11 days wait to get my points. Result!
I’ve received it twice now & one of those times I also put in a successful delayed baggage claim. Every time I fly Delta now I start the timer on my phone when the doors open on the plane, walk to baggage pick up and then see how much time has passed when my bags arrive. It actually made me appreciate that most of the time my bags are on the carousel in less than 30 mins.