DELTA: Departing Even Later Than Anticipated...

Here is the latest complaint letter in my expanding arsenal.  Unfortunately this happened during me & my hubby's honeymoon... but we put on our big girl panties and had a blast, even thought the following might make ya think otherwise!  It is purely hateful towards the airlines, the cruise was amazing and we'd do it again in a heartbeat :)

May 28, 2011

Delta/Air France Customer Relations
P.O. Box 20980
Department 980
Atlanta, GA 30320-2980

Reference Code: NCEAF96584

Bag Tag Numbers: AA476941/AA476937

To Whom It May Concern:

Air France lost my husbands and my luggage on May 21^st on our way to Nice via flight AF 7714 for our honeymoon, aboard a seven-day cruise on the Regent Seven Seas Mariner.  We did not receive our bags until May 26^th, six days later, in Palma de Mallorca at 7:00 pm in the evening.  Our honeymoon was completely ruined and we incurred expenses beyond what we had ever anticipated.  The experience of trying to find our bags and have them delivered to our ship was an absolute nightmare, which I will now explain in detail.

We began planning our honeymoon in August of 2010 with the help of Fuller Travel Agency in San Antonio, TX.  With the help of Annie Briehan, a representative with Fuller, we booked the Regent Seven Seas Mariner Cruise, Passport to Iberia on February 22, 2011.  The package chosen, all-inclusive, meant Regent booked all of our airfare out of Dallas.  We made arrangements through Annie from San Antonio to Dallas accordingly.  Below is the itinerary:

Date	Airline	Ref #	Flight	City	Depart	Arrive
5-20-11	American		652	San Antonio	06:00
5-20-11				Dallas/Ft. Worth		07:05
5-20-11	Delta	GRGTR8	DL 3087	Dallas/Ft. Worth	10:20
5-20-11				New York, NY		15:10
5-20-11	Delta	GRGTR8	DL 0082	New York, NY	17:55
5-21-11				Nice, France		08:20

                On our flight from Dallas to New York, flight DL 3087, the pilot announced that because of inflated fuel prices, the crew neglected to “top off” the tank.  Consequently, we had to land in Richmond, Virginia to refuel.  Therefore, we missed our connecting flight, DL 3087, to Nice at 17:55.  At JFK, a young lady helped re-route our flights so that we could make it to Nice in time to reach our cruise ship in Monaco that was leaving on the 21^st at 16:00 hours.  Below is the new itinerary we were given:

Date	Airline	Flight	City	Depart	Arrive
5-20-11	Air France	AF 011	New York, NY	21:50
5-21-11			Paris-DeGaulle		11:05
5-21-11	Air France	AF 7714	Paris DeGaulle	13:05
			Nice		14:35

The flight to Paris was very nice, the staff was helpful and friendly and the accommodations were great.  We arrived in Paris on time and made it to our connecting flight to Nice. 

You can only imagine the HUGE disappointment awaiting us in Nice when we heard our names being called over the loud speaker to meet with a staff member in order to file a claim because our luggage had in fact, not arrived.  The claims filing process was a complete mess; the staff was uncompassionate and of very little help.  They provided us with a claims letter and told us that we would be reimbursed 150 Euro’s each per day that our luggage was missing.  I gave the young lady our cruise itinerary thinking this would help to expedite the delivery of our bags to the ship.

For the next 6 days, the Seven Seas Mariner’s staff, my husband, and I tried to contact Air France to find out where our luggage was and when it would arrive.  The story changed from one day to the next.  We heard the bags went to Rome when we were in Portofino, to Genoa when we were in St. Tropez.  At one point, the airlines didn’t even know where our bags were.  On numerous occasions, we were hung up on, and no one ever apologized for the inconvenience.  It was frustrating and disheartening.  Each day we got our hopes up and were disappointed until late in the evening on the 26^th, in Palma de Mallorca when we finally received our bags.  This however, was too late considering we only had one day left on the ship in Barcelona.

Besides all of the inconveniences with the airlines, we also feel it is necessary to discuss the additional expenses incurred due to not having any luggage on a luxury cruise in the Mediterranean for 6 days.  My husband and I had to purchase clothes, toiletries and accessories in order to survive.  Below is a summary of our purchases:

Date	Port	Store	Item	€ Amount	$ Amount	Trans. Fee
22-May	Rome	H&M	Top Instessiti/Giacca (dress)	€ 49.95	$99.19	$2.97
22-May	Rome	H&M	Jeans Guardaroba	€ 19.95
22-May	Rome	7 Seas Boutique	Formalwear Mens (dress shirt)	$85.00	$85.00	$0.00
22-May	Rome	7 Seas Boutique	Casual Clothing (khaki pants)	$89.00	$89.00	$0.00
22-May	Rome	7 Seas Boutique	Swimwear (cover-up)	$36.00	$36.00	$0.00
22-May	Rome	7 Seas Boutique	Eyewear	$150.00	$150.00	$0.00
22-May	Rome	7 Seas Boutique	Toiletries	$2.95	$2.95	$0.00
23-May	Portofino	L'Ancora	Repo1 (Swimsuit)	€ 79.00	$111.61	$3.34
23-May	Portofino	7 Seas Boutique	1 Perfume	$132.00	$132.00	$0.00
23-May	Portofino	7 Seas Boutique	1 Perfume	$75.25	$75.25	$0.00
24-May	Marseille	Lafayette	B1E11 Salamanaca (panties)	€ 9.99	$303.71	$9.11
24-Apr	Marseille	Lafayette	E11 Number CH ML CO LIN (dress shirt)	€ 44.99
24-May	Marseille	Lafayette	B2 E11 Arlou Manteaubla (jacket)	€ 159.99
24-May	Marseille	H&M	Chaussures/Tongues (sandals)	€ 4.95	$63.96	$1.90
24-May	Marseille	H&M	Robes tissées (dress)	€ 19.95
24-May	Marseille	H&M	Robes	€ 19.95
25-May	St. Tropez	Boutique	Dress	€ 20.00	$30.00	$0.00
25-May	St. Tropez	Boutique	I Love St. Tropez T-Shirt	€ 30.00	$45.00	$0.00
26-May	Palma De Mallorca	Mango	Top Ra-Waikik	€ 22.00	$31.91	$0.96
26-May	Palma De Mallorca	Kiko	Brush Eyes (make-up)	€ 9.90	$18.06	$0.54
26-May	Palma De Mallorca	Kiko	Nail Polish Pads (make-up)	€ 2.90
28-May	Barcelona	Aerop Barcelona	HK-10 Big Trolley DU	€ 91.85	$130.70	$3.92
28-May	Barcelona	Delta	Extra Piece of Luggage	€ 55.00	$78.26	$2.34
28-May	Barcelona	Delta	Extra Piece of Luggage	€ 55.00	$78.26	$2.34
					$1,560.86	$27.42
				TOTAL	$1,588.28