Delta Airlines and Bikes
Last summer, I saw a post on the BikePortland site that said Delta was following the lead of some others and dropping the $150 fee for bikes. A bike would still count as a bag, but even paying for an extra bag is cheaper than the bike fee. And since I work the credit card for miles I always get an extra bag.
As my recent trip that I mentioned in a separate post approached, I looked at options for getting a bike to Europe. Shipping services warned be that the bike could be held in customs for some period of time, so I gave Delta a second look.
Info on the website said that bikes were not subject to a separate charge if they met size and weight requirements. And as a bonus, no liability form was needed if the bike was packed in a hard case.
Day before my trip, I check the website. Still looks like my bike should go for free. It all sounded too good, so I took some screen shots of the relevant pages from Delta.com.
Get to the airport, put the bike on the scale, and the agent asks me for $150. I explained the policy, showed them the screen shots. They were having none of it. Seems I had bought my ticket before the policy change went into effect. I never saw that on the website.
So I pay my money, and as I wait for my plane, I email Delta to complain. My screenshots are attached.
I heard nothing back for two weeks. So I write again. The next day I get a email back from Delta. They gave me my money back!
Never in all the years that I have been flying has an airline ever given me money back.
Upshot: Delta will take a bike for free. And their website now mentions that the policy is only good for tickets purchased after July 2019. I doubt I had anything to do with that. The ticket agent who charged me seemed really annoyed to have to explain the policy about ticket purchase dates, like he had made the same speech about a thousand times. I expect that Delta much have gotten complaints from a lot of people. But to their credit, they did something to help at least one customer, and I am happy.