A Delta passenger's urine-soaked-baggage nightmare

A British man's days-long quest to find his lost luggage ends with a disappointing discovery: Someone peed all over his clothes

posted on June 23, 2011, at 6:27 PM

The contents of Sy Haze's luggage are laid out on his hotel bed in a video that shows off his pee-soaked clothes. Photo: YouTubeSEE ALL 16 PHOTOS

Best Opinion: TIME, The Stir, Gawker

The video: The airlines losing your luggage — it's every traveler's nightmare. Unfortunately for Sy Haze of Britain, a missing bag was just the beginning of his particular travel hell. While Haze settled into a Delta flight on Father's Day, his bag — packed for his week-long trip to Minneapolis — was inexplicably on its way to Boston. By the time Haze arrived in the U.S. and inquired about the missing luggage, his bag had already been head-scratchingly sent back to London. The bag then came back to America, and, after "dancing its way around the U.S." for four days, was finally delivered to his hotel room. But there was another big problem: The "overwhelming stench of urine." In a video posted on YouTube, Haze pans a camera over the contents of his suitcase, zeroing in on the more saturated items. (Watch the video below.) "It's absolutely disgusting, " says an outraged Haze, who blasted Delta's complete "lack of interest." Since the video was posted, Haze says Delta has been "bending over backwards" to rectify the situation, and gave him a first-class ticket back to London. Considering his vow to "never, ever fly Delta Airlines ever again, " Haze can, at least, go out in style.

The reaction: Oh my, says Frances Romero at TIME. This is "despicable." And Delta had better make sure it never happens again. Though at least Haze got some internet-enabled retribution, says Nicole Fabian-Weber at The Stir. His viral video is "horrible press for Delta, " and the "pee-pee head" at the heart of this scandal will likely be found and fired. In the meantime, says Matt Cherette at Gawker, Delta may want to change its longtime slogan "You'll love the way we fly." Because there's nothing to love about urine-soaked luggage. See for yourself:


A Delta passenger's urine-soaked-baggage nightmare

A British man's days-long quest to find his lost luggage ends with a disappointing discovery: Someone peed all over his clothes

posted on June 23, 2011, at 6:27 PM


The contents of Sy Haze's luggage are laid out on his hotel bed in a video that shows off his pee-soaked clothes. Photo: YouTubeSEE ALL 16 PHOTOS

Best Opinion: TIME, The Stir, Gawker

The video: The airlines losing your luggage — it's every traveler's nightmare. Unfortunately for Sy Haze of Britain, a missing bag was just the beginning of his particular travel hell. While Haze settled into a Delta flight on Father's Day, his bag — packed for his week-long trip to Minneapolis — was inexplicably on its way to Boston. By the time Haze arrived in the U.S. and inquired about the missing luggage, his bag had already been head-scratchingly sent back to London. The bag then came back to America, and, after "dancing its way around the U.S." for four days, was finally delivered to his hotel room. But there was another big problem: The "overwhelming stench of urine." In a video posted on YouTube, Haze pans a camera over the contents of his suitcase, zeroing in on the more saturated items. (Watch the video below.) "It's absolutely disgusting, " says an outraged Haze, who blasted Delta's complete "lack of interest." Since the video was posted, Haze says Delta has been "bending over backwards" to rectify the situation, and gave him a first-class ticket back to London. Considering his vow to "never, ever fly Delta Airlines ever again, " Haze can, at least, go out in style.

The reaction: Oh my, says Frances Romero at TIME. This is "despicable." And Delta had better make sure it never happens again. Though at least Haze got some internet-enabled retribution, says Nicole Fabian-Weber at The Stir. His viral video is "horrible press for Delta, " and the "pee-pee head" at the heart of this scandal will likely be found and fired. In the meantime, says Matt Cherette at Gawker, Delta may want to change its longtime slogan "You'll love the way we fly." Because there's nothing to love about urine-soaked luggage. See for yourself:

Some Thoughts On Why Airport Staff Are Becoming So Unfriendly, Unprofessional And Incompetent As They Act To Ensure Our General Safety & Comfort To Hear Them Tell It
As the airlines become more and more expensive, eight dollars for a scratchy, thin, inadequate, wool-like covering, stewardesses and stewards, staff and the jackbooted TSA-ers groping children, disabled, elderly, least likely to harm anyone seem to be targeted to be publicly humiliated? How disgracing mothers, children, contaminating everyones feet as we all stand on the same filthy footprint spot which I have never seen cleaned, publicly humiliating medically frail patients, subjecting Cancer patients who do not want their breasts or grosin areas squeezed, embarrassing veterans who have saerved our country now saddled with clostomy bags, clearly a private, shameful hell as an incontinent citizen whose life is difficult enough just dealing with such a loss of personal control now being made fun of as their right to privacy and dignity is stripped by clumsy, non-medically trianed policing staff, jerking tubes loose, and looking through wet diapers? Really we are going to be safer because someone does this to another human being? It's bad enough airline and auxilary airport staff are being reported to be profesional bullies who are enjoying every moment of being given authority to de-humanizing their community by victimized passengers reporting their horror stories online stating employees are down right nasty, unfriendly less accomodating, acting like flying customers are merely an annoyance rather than paying customers trying to visit relatives, vacation or conduct business travel. It seems more important for an aviation authority whose own air traffic control employees cannot even stay awake long enough to see planes land safely but they have time to be the dress code police a new division necessary to protect and serve our community by arbitrarily picking and choosing who they will detain, mke miss their flight just for kicks and review their fashion statement and penalize accordingly for the good of humanity. It seems there is an abuse of authority, invasion of privacy and subjective condeming of currently acceptable fashion styles worn all over the streets of America. How is an aviation authority able to fine a customer for their dress choices, popular personal style when they are breaking no state, local or federal laws and with no written specific written guidelines on acceptable dress code published in any airline publications in order to board located anywhere in the airport except on the dry, accusatory lips of employees? It seems aviation authoirty is the new principal of fashion crimes preventing mini skirted women from flying, but allowing a white man in a bikin to freely board, arresting and detaining ???a unaccompanied black kid with sagging pants charging him with what?? He was hurting who? wearing a popular style kids of all races across America wear boarding hundreds of planes a day now deeming you non-boardable by an aviation authority. So will police now start ticketing and arresting kids in hundreds walking down the street under the authority of the aviation corporation? So where does this leave us as a community, laws do not need to pass through the legisaltion, no need to be voted on, just try to take a trip and be falsely accused of a manufactured charge, be held, questioned, bullied, felt up and down, searched inside and out for the amusement of TSA henchmen who to date have found absolutely nothing on any passengers that was a threat to any flight. It now seems being different or a person of color looking makes you suspect so do not fly, wearing stylish, tight, or short clothes makes you suspect so do not fly, wearing a hat makes you suspect so fo not fly, being elderly or disabled makes you suspect so do not fly, It seems just walking, talking and breathing makes you suspect so do not fly A.sking questions about anything you are subjected to verbally or physically while under the airlines all powerful authority will get you surrounded by policing authorities who will get tough with you, not answer any questions and you will be held for questioning. Asking questions about any procedures or excessive force used againest you is not a crime anywhere in America except in airports. So people who are still a part of a kind, loving respectful community and support tolerancem fairness, justice and civility; why is anyone going to continue to subject themsleves to using the airlines that cuurently treat passengers like criminals because they wish to use flying as their choice of transportation being stopped, groped from earhole to asshole, if you are ill and wear diaper violated passengers report employees invade your privacy, with callousness and ignorance and will pull down panties in front of hundreds of people and search it for urine, colostomy bags will be searched for urine and you will be humiliated in front of your friends and neighbors and strangers while your dignity is stripped away all for the good of our public safety and to to travel treating passengers like human beings, . All that effort and one lonely suitcase cannot be returned to a gentleman without stealing his sweet smelling high priced products, and pissing in suitcase and pissing him off. One or the other abuse of authority, violation of his right to priavcy, or downright theft of his personal property would have been enough to show no one cares anymore about the passenger, but I am sure the laughing employee who cracked his side expressing how unimportant it was for him to do anything about finding out who did this, arranging payment for the damage or offering some kind of apology, tickets, even if he had listened with any empathy for the passenger. A real pig did that horrible act and we should all be outraged at the action and the treatment of this passengercupn reporting this. The new attitude just pay for the damn ticket and get in line to be pissed on and pissed off courtesy of --------------------airlines, take your pick they might as well all be named the "all the same unbelievable bullshit airlines". I'll walk before I subject myself to the airlines new world order!

Respectfully,
A citizen who is not gonna take it!

To Anyone At Delta Or American Airlines Who Happens To Care More About Their Customers Than Their Bottom Line,
I travel quite a bit personally and for business. While I have flown with a number of airlines, I had never flown with either Delta or American Airlines- and now I know why. I am extremely irate that a company would admittedly put its bottom line above the satisfaction of its guests and in turn, ruin a family’s dream vacation.
Our daughter is going to college this coming fall and we looked at this vacation as a celebration of her graduation, a Father’s Day present for my husband, and potentially one of our last vacations with our “kids” as our daughter would be entering womanhood when she turns 18 in August. I spent months planning this vacation- starting last December. Due to Delta though, instead of being the dream vacation I planned, it turned out to be a $10, 000 nightmare.
There are so many poignant facts that I need to relay to you, I’m not even sure where to start or how to put these points into a manner that you will be able to follow along with. I am going to first list how the day was planned and then how it turned out due to Delta’s uncaring and selfish motives.
DAY 1 JUNE 18, 2011
PLAN:
We were scheduled to leave BWI on flight DL1825 at 9:00am for Atlanta to catch connecting flight DL547 at 12:10pm and ultimately arrive in Providenciales at 3:02pm to begin our dream vacation. Upon arriving in Turks and Caicos, we were going to have a late lunch as soon as we arrived (since the airlines do not provide food- even when traveling all day), hit the beach for a while and then get dressed for “Dance Around The World” and a late dinner at Mario’s Italian Restaurant. My daughter is about to start playing Division 1 soccer in college in August and has a very stringent daily workout routine. She works out every day- even on vacation (she worked out every day we were in Mexico June 5 – 12), so she was planning to get in a run with my husband and work out at the gym. The kids (14 and 17) planned to hit Liquid Nightclub and dance the night away while my husband and I unpacked everyone, showered, and climbed into bed exhausted, but excited to enjoy Father’s Day and the remainder of our vacation.
REALITY THANKS TO DELTA AND AMERICAN AIRLINES
We arrived at BWI and found complete mayhem at Delta’s ticketing gate. There were multiple lines, no one knew if they were in the right line, there was only one lady working the baggage line for people who checked themselves in at the self-check-in kiosks and multiple people were fretting that they were going to miss their flights because the lines were taking so long. I asked my husband to wait in line so I could try to find someone who worked for Delta to see if we were in the right line since we were flying internationally and there is normally a separate international ticketing line. After searching and finally finding someone, I was told I was in the right line. So we waited only to find out we WEREN’T in the right line. We got in the right line and waited some more. We checked our bags, boarded the flight, and thought the worst was behind us. HOW WRONG WE WERE!
We arrived in Atlanta and headed across the entire airport straight for the gate to catch our next flight. As we approached the gate, we heard them paging our name and ran over to the counter. Your representative, Doris House, said that “Delta regularly oversells their flights by 10 seats to account for cancellations, but unfortunately no one cancelled, so we did not have seats.” At first I thought she was joking and waited for her to say “just kidding”, but it quickly became apparent that she was not kidding. I told her that I paid for this flight back in January, I checked us in on-line yesterday, and the boarding passes I printed out said “confirmed”. She said that “she understood, that we didn’t do anything wrong, it was just luck of the draw”. They were asking for volunteers, but who in their right mind would volunteer to stay in Atlanta when they were supposed to be lying on the beach in Turks and Caicos??? They were offering a $400 credit to take a later flight and a $600 credit plus overnight hotel accommodations, and lunch and dinner vouchers for people who would take a flight the next morning. Surprisingly, no one jumped at the chance to miss a day in paradise. I asked repeatedly if there was anyone that I could speak to as the resort we were staying at was approximately $8000 a night and now we would be missing out on an entire day. Doris said that there was no one I could speak with and nothing I could do. I told her that I wanted a number of someone I could talk to, so she gave me one, but when I called it, it was only open Monday – Friday. I told her I wanted a weekend number and she gave me another number which turned out to be a fax number when I called it. The third number she gave me was only available on weekdays as well, so I gave up as I watched our luggage being removed from the plane and our day flying away along with everyone else that was on our flight. I asked what was going to happen to our luggage and Doris said it was being re-routed with us. Doris told me that we were going to be routed through Miami and would leave Atlanta at 2:55pm on flight DL1860 and leave Miami at 6:25pm on American Airlines flight 625 arriving in Providenciales at 8:05pm. She said that since we would be arriving more than 4 hours after our original arrival time, they were reimbursing us twice the amount of our tickets. Since I spent about $2, 000 on the tickets, I was shocked when she said the amount was on $356 per person. They would not be reimbursing us for the taxes, fees, or for the flight from Baltimore since we were able to get on that one. GETTING ON THE BALTIMORE FLIGHT DOES NOT HELP WHEN IT DOES NOT GET YOU TO YOUR FINAL DESTINATION!!! I told Doris that this was not acceptable as we were losing money by not being at the resort- not to mention the aggravation of having to take yet another connecting flight. She said that that was all she was able to do other than offer me a $100 credit for a future flight. YOU WERE OFFERING PEOPLE $400 - $600 PLUS HOTELS AND MEAL VOUCHERS, BUT WE WERE ONLY BEING OFFERED $356 PLUS $100 CREDITS??? YOU OFFER MORE TO PEOPLE WHO ARE VOLUNTEERING TO HAVE THEIR DAY RUINED THAN YOU DO TO PEOPLE YOU FORCIBLY RUIN??? HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE??? Doris assured me that she was doing the most she was authorized to do and I could contact Customer Care for further reimbursement. So I asked for lunch vouchers to feed my children and spent the next 30+ minutes in line at Delta waiting to get the reimbursement checks and new boarding passes. Robert from Delta was very unsympathetic and seemed annoyed to be dealing with us. Imagine that- you guys ruined our day and your associate cops an attitude because he has to do his job! We went back to the other side of the airport to board flight DL1860 which ended up being delayed and left at 3:45pm instead of 2:55pm. I should have been lying on the beach with my family- not boarding 2 more planes! We arrived in Miami, looked at the monitor and saw that the flight to Providenciales was on time (thankfully, but since we arrived late into Miami, we had 10 minutes to get to the gate.) We ran across the airport- me in high heel sandals- we had to go out and re-enter security and sprint to the gate. I told my husband and son to run ahead and hold the plane. When I finally made it to the gate, my husband looks at me and tells me that this flight was now delayed an hour! So we sat in Miami’s airport with nothing to eat for dinner and waited for this plane to depart. The flight left an hour late at 7:25pm and we arrived in Providenciales shortly after 9:00pm. We waited for our baggage only to find out it wasn’t on the plane. So instead of getting on our shuttle to the resort, we had to go get in line to report our missing baggage (Record locator TMUEOY for bags DL021520, DL021519, DL021518, and DL021517). ALL 4 BAGS WERE MISSING! EVERYTHING WE HAD FOR THE TRIP WAS IN THOSE BAGS! We were told that the next flight would not arrive until 1:56pm the next day and that our bags should be on that flight. I asked what we were supposed to do for toiletries and clothes for that night and the next day and was told that we would just have to wait until the flight arrived tomorrow. After putting in our claim, we had to wait for other passengers to file their claims before the shuttle would take us to the resort. By the time we arrived at the resort (Beaches) it was after 10:30pm- all of the better restaurants were closed as were all of the shops. I asked the resort staff if they had anything- toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, etc as we had left our house at 5am, been through 4 airports, and we smelly and exhausted. Unfortunately, they did not have any deodorant and were out of toothpaste and the shops were closed. So we went to our room with toothbrushes to brush our teeth with water, razors, and shaving cream. My daughter was angry that she wasn’t able to complete her workout for the day. Since we were sharing a room with our 2 teenagers, everyone had to sleep fully clothed in the clothes we had been wearing all day- regardless of how uncomfortable or smelly they were. The kids were both pissed off and didn’t want to go to the disco smelling the way they did and not having any “cool” clothes to wear, so we all went to bed hungry, smelly, exhausted, and livid that I spent $800 for us to put our heads on the pillow wearing the same clothes we had left the house in that morning.
DAY 2 FATHER’S DAY JUNE 19, 2011
PLAN:
Wake up wearing fresh clothes and have a nice Father’s Day morning breakfast with the family. Go to the beach, have a nice family lunch at Barefoot On The Beach, partake in the resort’s activities throughout the day, my daughter, husband, and myself wanted to work out at the gym and go for a run, enjoy a Father’s Day dinner at Le Petit Chateau, have the resort photographer take family photos to commemorate our last Father’s Day with our daughter as a “child” and take part in the “White Out Party”. We also saw a sign upon check in for a Glow Worm tour which only happens at certain times of the year after a full moon! How exciting that we just happen to be here for this! Something we definitely want to take part in tonight after our bags get here!
REALITY THANKS TO DELTA AND AMERICAN AIRLINES
We decided to let the kids sleep as late as possible since we did not have any luggage, it would be less time that we would have to listen to them complain about not being able to go to the beach or enjoy their vacation. So my husband and I put shaving cream under our armpits in lieu of deodorant and headed out to breakfast without having our hair brushed, no make-up, etc. I was so angry about the circumstances, it made for a very unpleasant breakfast. The kids woke up angry that they wanted to go to the beach and I told them that we were told that we would have to wait until the plane landed at 1:56pm to get our luggage, so I asked them if they could just find other things to do for a few hours. All of the resort’s activities are outside- water balloon fights, snorkeling, volleyball, chess, pool activities, etc, so I decided to go buy my daughter a bathing suit as I realized that even if our bags were on the plane that landed at 1:56pm, we probably wouldn’t get them until 4pm. I asked my son if he could just swim in the shorts that he had worn on the plane since I really didn’t want to waste all of our money on buying clothes if our bags would be arriving in a few hours. He refused to wear the shorts to swim in citing that if the bags didn’t arrive, he wouldn’t have a dry pair of shorts. So we went to 2 different gift shops hoping that one would be cheaper- which it wasn’t. I asked both kids to pick the cheapest swimsuits they could find which turned out to be $58 for my daughter. My son and I got in a huge argument because he said the cheapest suits were ugly and he didn’t want to wear them. I told him it was that or he swam in the short he had worn yesterday. He grabbed the swimsuit ($31) with an attitude and went into the dressing room to change. My husband and I resigned ourselves to spending the day in the hotel room as it was too hot outside for me to wear the long capris and t-shirt with no way of getting in the water to cool myself. When we got outside of the gift shop I realized how strong the sun was and that we didn’t have any sunscreen (it was packed in the luggage). It was $21 for one bottle of sunscreen! I asked the kids if they could just try to stay in the shaded areas of the resort- which only resulted in another fight. Dismayed and frustrated, I decided to call the airline to find out what I was supposed to do all day without, any luggage or necessities such as sun screen. The lady was very nice apologized for my situation, and told me she would give us a $250 allowance to go buy bathing suits, sunscreen, deodorant, and anything else we needed. I hung up and went back to the gift shops to get my husband a swimsuit ($44) and flip flops ($51) since he had worn tennis shoes on the plane. I got the sunscreen ($21) and went to find the kids to spray them down. Once the three of them were somewhat situated, I went back to the gift shops to find deodorant, toothpaste, and a swimsuit for myself. Unfortunately, the first 2 gift shops did not have any one piece suits and the only tankinis they had were small. I am a 38D, so I really need a swimsuit with top coverage which their bikinis did not. So needing to get out of the clothes I was wearing due to the heat and the fact that I had been wearing them for 32+ hours straight, I bought a cover-up ($54), a small tube of toothpaste ($3), and one can of deodorant ($12) for all 4 of us to share. The resort was out of bug spray- which we had 2 bottles of packed in our luggage. Later that evening we would understand why the resort was out and had a ton of itchy bites to punctuate my anger! At this point I went back to the room and put the cover-up on over my bra and panties hoping that no one else would recognize it as my bra and panties and that the Caribbean breeze didn’t blow the cover-up up revealing my undergarments. Finding my daughter, she told me that they were hungry, but that they had been rejected from the restaurant because the boys didn’t have shirts and she needed a cover-up. Embarrassed and even more irritated, I called American Airlines back and explained that everything was very expensive on the resort and that we had gone through the $250 and still didn’t have enough clothes to even get into the restaurant for lunch. The representative was again, very polite and nice and told me to just go and get whatever we needed and not to worry about the amount- just to save my receipts and submit them when I got home. I went back to the gift shops and bought 2 shirts (one for my son ($46) and one for my husband ($46)) and a cover-up for my daughter. As I was still walking around the resort in my undergarments, I gave my family their clothes so they could go get lunch while I looked for a bathing suit. The boutique had a couple of one piece suits, but the only one that fit (I am 5’10” and have a long torso- hence why I usually wear tankinis) was cut extremely low. As I had no other choice, I purchased that one ($78) and went to find my family. I had the pleasure of listening to my son question why I got the bathing suit I did as my “breasts were hanging out everywhere and I should have just gotten post it notes from the hotel”. He thanked me for embarrassing him by wearing the bathing suit to which I cried “I didn’t have any other options and I didn’t appreciate him humiliating me any more than I already felt by having to wear the stupid suit. Since my family had already eaten while I tried to find that bathing suit I went off to have lunch by myself only to be told that the restaurant had just finished serving lunch. So I had to go eat at the little joint that is open from 11am – 6am- so much for a nice lunch with my husband and family on Father’s Day! After I finished lunch, I called the airline to see if our bags had arrived on the 1:56pm flight and was told that the luggage still had not been located. The next flight would be in at 8pm that night and I would need to call back then to see if it had been located. I asked what we were supposed to do about dinner as the restaurant we had planned to eat dinner at required “resort evening wear”- nice dresses, no sandals, long pants for men, etc. I was again instructed to get what we needed and to save the receipts. I decided to nix the idea of the resort photographer as we did not have our outfits, make-up, straightener, etc. I once again gathered up my family and headed back to the gift shops. My daughter and I got white dresses($54 and $89) as there was a “White Out Party” that evening and went to get underwear as the ones we wore to the airports were pink and purple (unable to be worn under white dresses). Unfortunately, the resort only had underwear for little kids or very large people (we took them out of the packages to see if there was any way to make them work- there was not!). So we had white dresses and no underwear leaving us with dark patches showing through. I had to have a conversation with my daughter about shaving off her pubic hair! CAN THIS DAY GET ANY WORSE??? The only pants in the gift shops were horrible! They looked like pants old Cuban men wear. My son and husband both refused to wear them. So after arguing that the restaurant would not let them in without pants, we ended up changing our Father’s Day dinner to a less formal restaurant. I then proceeded to purchase 2 pairs of shorts ($56 each) for my son and husband. My husband refused to get another shirt to wear to dinner because he was concerned about how much everything cost and was worried that the airlines would not reimburse us for the clothes we were forced to buy. My daughter was upset that she was again unable to complete her collegiate workout schedule due to not having clothes or shoes, so I purchased a pair of cotton capris ($34) that she could wear to run barefoot in and sleep in (the shorts she wore on the plane were tight, white shorts that were very uncomfortable for her to sleep in the night before). I purchased a 3 pack white t-shirt ($19) that my daughter could wear one to run/workout in, my son could wear to dinner along with the shorts (although not a dressy shirt for dinner, he could wear it both there and at the White Out Party, and I could wear the third shirt to sleep in if needed. I had to breakdown and buy a pair of sunglasses ($19.99) to replace the ones packed in the luggage as my son was complaining that his eyes continued to hurt throughout the day from not having his sunglasses. The very expensive sandals I was forced to buy for my husband earlier had rubbed in between his toes raw, so he opted to not wear shoes on the extremely hot concrete/asphalt paths. Instead, he burnt the bottoms of his feet and proceeded to run from shaded area to shaded area and walk in the grass when he was able to. He looked like a ridiculous spy on a mission darting from shade to shade. With his feet being sore, our bags still missing, and everyone really grumpy from our second ruined day, we decided to pass on the Glow Worm tour knowing that we may never have the opportunity again. We went back to shave ourselves and get changed for dinner, but for my daughter and I, not having our make-up, hair straightener, jewelry, perfume, etc, we left for dinner feeling anything but pretty. The $12 can of spray deodorant left huge white chunks of deodorant escaping from our armpits- only increasing our sense of ugliness and embarrassment. Like my daughter and myself, my husband did not have any underwear either, so he went to dinner “free balling” it as they say. As there is a strong Caribbean breeze here, we had to hold our dresses to make sure they did not blow up and expose our bare bottoms. After dinner, which was very uncomfortable knowing we hadn’t even been able to do our hair or make-up, I saw that my son’s bag had arrived and went back to the lobby to call American Airlines to check on our luggage. We were told that the flight had been delayed (SURPRISE) and wouldn’t be landing until 10:30pm so my son’s bag must have been on the earlier flight, but they were still unable to locate the other 3 bags. I asked the representative who again was very nice what were supposed to do if the bags didn’t arrive. She said the same thing as all of the other representatives- just save your receipts and submit them. I explained what our day had been like and explained that I would just like some clean underwear and bug spray- which the resort didn’t have. I asked if the airline would pay for a taxi into town to purchase these items and was told that they didn’t know- all I could do was submit the receipts to see what I could be reimbursed for. I SPENT MY ENTIRE DAY RUNNING FROM GIFT SHOP TO GIFT SHOP TRYING TO PIECE TOGETHER SWIMSUITS, CLOTHERS FOR LUNCH AND CLOTHES FOR DINNER. I DID NOT SPEND ANY TIME AT THE BEACH, AT THE POOL, OR PARTAKING IN RESORT ACTIVITIES. I BARELY SPENT ANY TIME WITH MY HUSBAND ON FATHER’S DAY. ON A SCALE OF 1 – 10, MY ANGERS IS ABOUT 1000! I was told that by the time the bags got through customs, it would probably be around 1am. I asked the hotel to call the room if the bags arrived- regardless of the time. I went back to the room and put on the same capri pants that I had worn all the day before and that morning to sleep in. My husband had been spending the day handwashing his underwear in the bathroom sink instead of lounging by the pool- what a way to spend your vacation! We went to sleep- if you could call it that as I was up throughout the night checking the time knowing that the hotel staff had not called. What a horrible day in paradise. This will definitely be a Father’s Day we will never forget, but not for good reasons. There will be no photos- even ones taken by me- as everyone was so pissed off all day and didn’t feel they looked pretty, so no one wanted their picture taken.
DAY 3 JUNE 20, 2011
PLAN
Wake up after a luxurious night’s sleep to have breakfast as a family. Go on a horseback riding tour. Have lunch, enjoy the resort’s activities, have dinner at Marino’s (since we weren’t able to the first night), watch the Reggae Dance Party, kids go to Liquid Nightclub, etc.
REALITY THANKS TO DELTA AND AMERICAN AIRLINES
Had a very restless night’s sleep tossing and turning waiting for a call from the front desk. My nose was very sore and when I woke up to use the bathroom I saw why. I wear foundation with SPF every single day of my life. I also brought a hat in my suitcase because I know how sensitive my skin is to the sun. Since I spent my entire day yesterday running around trying to call the airline and get clothes together for everyone and never actually sat out at the beach or pool, it didn’t cross my mind to put sunscreen on. Not having my foundation or hat, my nose had blistered and bubbled and my forehead is extremely burnt as well.
My daughter is still really pissed off since she doesn’t have any of the cute clothes and new bathing suits she purchased for this trip. She still has not been able to fully complete her collegiate workout because she still doesn’t have tennis shoes or her sports bra. Knowing that we are going to have to have to cancel the horseback riding tour because we do not have tennis shoes or jeans and the resort doesn’t sell either of these, we decide to let the kids sleep and skip breakfast so we don’t have to listen to them complain.
I checked with the hotel only to find out that they bags did not arrive. I called American Airlines at 7am and sat on hold for 20 minutes before hanging up. I had breakfast with my husband wearing the same bathing suit and cover up that I wore the day before and my husband wore the same shorts and t-shirt from the day before. I called the American Airlines again and sat on hold for 15 minutes before the representative answered to see if there was an update and to see what we were supposed to do about the horseback riding tour, underwear, clothes for the day. The lady said that they had already given us a $500 allowance and that was all they could do. I told her that I had explained to everyone else that I had spoken to at American Airlines that EVERYTHING WAS VERY EXPENSIVE HERE! We had already spent @$720 the day before just trying to get bathing suits and clothes for lunch and dinner. We weren’t trying to buy a new bathing suit or cover-up every day, but we needed clean clothes for lunches and dinners and since we didn’t have any underwear, we would like to avoid putting clothes back on that we had already excreted in. She said that she understood, but that we were at our limit. I asked what would happen if they could not locate our bags and she said that it would go to settlement and take months to resolve. As it was, once I submitted my receipts it would take at least 8weeks to be reimbursed! THAT ANGERS ME FURTHER AS I DO NOT HAVE AN EXTRA $1, 000 SITTING AROUND JUST TO PAY FOR THE MISTAKE THAT DELTA MADE! Every time I checked on the bags I was told that it looked like Delta never turned them over to American Airlines. The flights coming in that day were at 1pm and 3pm. I told the representative that I would buy clothes for lunch and I would call back after the 3pm flight, but before dinner to see if they had located the bags. I did not want to have to buy clothes if the bags were going to arrive. This made my day more miserable because it required multiple calls to the airline- each call lasting at least 20 – 30 minutes and multiple trips to the gift shops- lasting about an hour before each meal. WHAT A WASTE OF A VACATION! I told her that we had found this little cultural market next to the resort and asked if we could buy clothes from there because they were cheaper but they did not have a computerized receipt- only hand written ones. She said she did not know what American Airlines reimbursement committee would accept. I explained that I was trying to save everyone money- the gift shop was soooo expensive. I could buy the same thing next door for a lot less. Again she said she didn’t know, so I said I would just buy them from the gift shop. I went and purchased something for my daughter ($51) and I ($54) to wear and a t-shirt ($28) and shorts ($56) for my husband to wear during lunch. We hung around the resort instead of going on the horseback riding tour. Unfortunately, my forehead and nose was so sunburned that I spent most of the day trying to figure out how to stay out of the sun. Going in the ocean was out of the question as the snorkeling mask hurt terribly so I tried to stay in the shaded areas, under the umbrellas, and when my husband asked me to go in the lazy river, I held my hand over my nose and looked ridiculous the entire time. By this point though, I was becoming used to being humiliated and looked at oddly by resort guests and staff.
After 3pm I called the airline and was told that they still had not been able to locate our luggage. Every time I had to go purchase clothes, it started another argument. My husband and I hardly ever argue, but he was astonished at the cost of the items in the gift shop and was worried that we would not be reimbursed. As we prepared for dinner I decided I would just wear the same thing that I had worn to lunch and my husband was going to wear the same thing that he wore to lunch in order to keep costs down and end the argument. We would change our dinner plans again to a restaurant that was less formal with the dress code. My daughter was not as understanding though because all of the friends she had made at the resort had different clothes for the meals and different bathing suits and different clothes for Liquid Nightclub and she was forced to wear the same things, go out without underwear, and have no make-up or hair accessories. Both her and I wore the same strappy, dressy sandals all over the resort and beach and had been wearing them since Saturday morning at 5am. Our feet were sore and the sand had gotten in between our feet and the sandals and rubbed the skin raw. I ran next door to the Turks and Caicos Cultural Market and bought her a dress for dinner ($30). As we walked over to Reflections Buffet after 5pm, I saw a man unloading our bags from a cart! I was so excited! I ran over and hugged him! We didn’t even want to let them bring the bags to our room because we didn’t want to let them out of our sight. I did go back to the lobby to call American Airlines to let them know that the bags had arrived, but while sitting on hold, I realized that I had already wasted so much of our vacation on the phone with these people that I just hung up. The hotel staff said that the airline would be notified.
I realize that this is very long and I hope that you have continued to read it- the 20 minutes it is taking you to read this is nothing compared to the 3 days my family has lost.
This was supposed to be a once in a lifetime vacation- we saved up for this vacation knowing that we would probably never be able to go to the Turks and Caicos again. We were supposed to be celebrating our daughter’s graduations and entrance into adulthood and my husband’s last Father’s Day with his “little girl”. I spent months researching and planning this vacation and when you put that kind of effort into planning the perfect vacation and it turns out to be nothing close to what you envisioned, it’s heartbreaking.
We spent so much time being angry at the circumstances and arguing with each other those first 3 days that even after we got our bags the vacation was ruined because too many mean words had passed between us to just flip a switch and act like nothing ever happened. My husband’s birthday is July 1st and wanted to get him a massage at the spa, but instead of being happy about it and enjoying it, he was angry that I had spent more money considering the amount we had already spent on clothes and toiletries. By the 5th day, my nose and forehead were peeling like crazy, so we decided not to have the resort photographer take our photos this trip. Another lost memory.
If our flight had been delayed or cancelled due to the weather or terrorist activity, I would be far more understanding. But to hear from a Delta employee that you regularly, intentionally overbook your flights with no regard to the people or the dreams you are affecting, it is shocking and unacceptable. Just on the way home yesterday we heard 4 Delta flights asking for more volunteers to give up their seats- our flight included! If I was to post an ad on the internet that I had a car to sell and someone purchased it, paid in full, and upon delivery of the vehicle I told them that I never really had the car, I would be arrested and charged with a felony. Yet you can offer tickets for sale that you really don’t have. I am dumbfounded at this sense of logic. Having never been affected by it, I never really thought about it before, but now that I see how devastating this can be on a family, I am appalled and want to figure out a way to bring this to the public’s attention and hopefully affect change with the airlines.
I am writing to you for two reasons. Albeit, writing this has just made me angry all over again- especially since I am forced to spend all this time writing this in order to be reimbursed (which I would not have had to do if you didn’t kick us off our paid-in-full flight and lose our bags). First, I would like to be reimbursed in a timely manner for all of the clothes and minimal toiletry items we were forced to buy. I have included all of the original receipts. The resort offered us 15% off all clothing items. The amounts above are before the discount. The total amount incurred is $902.72. Secondly, I am really hoping that someone at Delta or American Airlines can understand and sympathize with the horrible experience we had and the cost (both monetary and emotional) your deliberate act caused us. I would hope that your companies would be willing to try to make this situation right. I am anxious to hear your response and see if you try to reason and convince me that your profit is worth more than your customer’s happiness. We cannot get back this past week- it is lost to us forever, but you still have the ability to get back a future customer- let’s hope that you see each customer as a value and are not okay losing one family (and every family that they know) to defend your stance of protecting your bottom line.
Sincerely,
Dawn Burch

We traveled out of JFK at the beginning of March and not realizing there are complete scum bag losers that would work for Delta my boyfriend put an engagement ring in his bag because he didnt want it to go through security and ruin the suprise of proposing to me. We arrived at JFK at a very slow time of day giving these pieces of crap all the time they wanted to rummage through our bags. He hid it very well and they found it either through TSA scanning it or by it being so slow they had time to look. Yes we know he should have carried it on him-hind site is 20/20 so no need to comment on that-we get it. Now no one at Delta wants to even talk about it, so basically its ok for their employees to steal out of your bags and they say oh well we have a policy BLAH BLAH. Bottom line is YOUR employee committed a FELONY yet tough sh*t for the passengers. I wouldnt fly with Delta again if I received free airfare to anywhere I wanted to go. BEWARE!

I flew from New York to Shanghai. I was told that my luggage couldn't be checked in because I arrived 55 min before the flight supposed departure time. The flight was actually delayed 2.30 hours. On that day they didn't accept my luggage to be checked in on another flight to Shanghai. I called the luggage center as soon as I
arrived in Shanghai. I talked to a man called Gabriel that told me to
send my friend who kept my 2 big bags back to the airport to have them checked in on a flight to Shanghai. He said he would write a note the the JFK delta system to let them know. My friend went t0 the airport and he was told that sending the bags without a passenger is a breach of security. That person gave me wrong information because the people at the airport told me friend that it is very clear that this option was not even feasible. I am very disappointed with Delta and the way they handled such a common issue.
The worse part is that my bags would have had time to be check in on the plane since it was so delayed...I suspect the airline to announce the delay after boarding to save some money on compensation to the customer for delay above 2 hours.
I complained on their website and asked for my bags to be shipped to me; they refused and offered to give me a 50 usd voucher for another delta flight...of course I told them to keep their voucher! What is 50 usd when it costed 600 usd to have the bags back!

We traveled out of JFK at the beginning of March and not realizing there are complete scum bag losers that would work for Delta my boyfriend put an engagement ring in his bag because he didnt want it to go through security and ruin the suprise of proposing to me. We arrived at JFK at a very slow time of day giving these pieces of crap all the time they wanted to rummage through our bags. He hid it very well and they found it either through TSA scanning it or by it being so slow they had time to look. Yes we know he should have carried it on him-hind site is 20/20 so no need to comment on that-we get it. Now no one at Delta wants to even talk about it, so basically its ok for their employees to steal out of your bags and they say oh well we have a policy BLAH BLAH. Bottom line is YOUR employee committed a FELONY yet tough sh*t for the passengers. I wouldnt fly with Delta again if I received free airfare to anywhere I wanted to go. BEWARE!