A Check In to Remember

Okay, so I haven't posted since we got home from London. Well here goes. The trip home, once we had checked luggage, went fine. It was long, and the Cincinnati-to-SLC leg of the trip seemed interminable -- you know, restless leg syndrome, etc. -- but all went well.

The horrible part of the journey was checking in at London's Gatwick Airport. We had heard rumors that Gatwick only allowed one piece of carry-on luggage so I went to the Delta website and searched from top to bottom for any mention of hand-luggage restrictions. They had all kinds of notices about different check-in times and security measures for every area of the world, but no mention of luggage: the standard one-carry-on-and-one-personal-item rule was all that was mentioned.  So we each had two pieces to carry on. 

Arriving at Gatwick, we saw large posters explaining that the one-piece rumor was true and that it was British law, not just a Gatwick oddity. The passport-security guy, however, told us we would be fine because nobody knew about the law and Delta would take care of us. Well not really. 

As we inched forward in line toward the counter, we quickly consolidated and prepared to check two extra items. At the counter, the agent (a pleasant man with a slight French accent) was, in fact, not prepared to take care of us in any way; he informed us that we would have to pay for each extra piece of luggage. I told him the extra luggage was Delta's fault for not informing us in advance of the law. 

He passed me over to the ticket counter where I explained to the agent there that it was Delta's fault and that I had no intention of paying for extra luggage; they must wave the charge and allow us to check the two extra pieces. The agent informed me that since I had been in the UK since August, I surely should have heard all about the law on TV or read about it in the newspaper. I informed her that there was no law that compelled me to read the paper or watch TV and that I most certainly had not heard about the law. 

I then went through it all again with her supervisor.  I reminded her that I had chosen Delta as my carrier and they had a responsibility to inform me of the British exception on their website, by email, by printing a warning/reminder on my confirmation, or by giving me a printed explanation when I arrived in Britain. I would not pay! After a few minutes of messing with her computer, stroking her chin, and muttering under her breath, she caved and said they would not charge for the two extra pieces. Dang rights! 

Even happier news was that they were so rushed and flustered with the extra luggage that they didn't charge us for our one very heavy overweight bag. So we escaped unscathed with several hundred dollars resting peacefully unspent in our checking account.

Well done Delta.

OXO

D.