The Nasty Fine Print from Delta Airlines

Saturday, 07 August 2010 | by Pat's Picks

I hereby revoke my recent praise for Delta Airlines and American Express with the “first bag free” benefit for passengers carrying the Delta/AmEx credit card. That benefit seems pretty straight forward as I’ve explained it, right? When you show up for a flight and identify yourself you’ll be entitled to check a bag without the $23 fee.

I didn’t arrive at that explanation on my own. Under the banner “Card Benefits,” Delta’s website boasts: “Check your first bag for free on every Delta flight.”

Knowing I had a lot of Delta travel booked this summer I dutifully applied for the card and requested the companion card for my wife. And it worked beautifully a couple of weekends ago when I checked us in for a flight to Atlanta. But today I’ve learned that if my wife checks in for a Delta flight without me present, her spiffy new Delta/AmEx gold card is useless for the free bag benefit.

Despite the simplicity of the marketing statements, Delta and American Express have found a way to squirm out of the free bag promise with their fine print. I now know that an asterisk on the marketing offer indicates only the “basic cardmember” gets the free bag benefit. My wife is a “additional” cardholder on this account, so she gets nothing.

I had assumed she and my kids would get their “first bag free” when they were travelling with the Delta card this weekend. Instead, we’re out $69 (3 bags at $23 each) and I’m feeling cheated.

Technically, Delta and American Express have plenty of footnotes and asterisks that defend their policy of only offering the free bag when the actual account holder is one of the travelers. But morally they’re wrong. The marketing implies that the benefit goes to anyone carrying the Delta Gold card. And this impression isn’t something I’ve just made up. Every other credit card benefit I can think of, such as rental car coverage or cash back, applies to every cardholder—not just the account holder. That’s how the Delta bag check benefit should work too.

Thankfully, my next flight is on Westjet. They just let you check your bags for free without any fine print.