JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The “sea of bags” at Delta Airline’s baggage claim at Jacksonville International Airport only got larger Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating the airline as it struggles to resume flights as normal following last Thursday’s global software outage. U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the investigation will ensure Delta is following the law and taking care of passengers during the disruptions.
At JAX, Delta passengers told First Coast News they plan to file complaints. Some of the owners of the luggage at JAX, some of which has been there for more than a day, said they didn’t know their luggage was there. Workers are helping people find their luggage
One man said he checked bags for work that all ended up at different Florida airports and he’s across the country.
“We haven’t seen our bags in over two days,” said Candace Johnson.
“Overwhelmed, overwhelmed,” Andrea Perez said about how she was feeling. “I just spent like 72 hours trying to get back to my stuff and now I have to go through all of this.”
“Our bags have been somewhere in the Twilight Zone,” said Baird Fulghum.
Fulghum said he was told his bags were in Detroit; then he found one here.
“I AirTagged my luggage,” said Perez. “It is here.”
Perez also hadn’t seen her luggage in days.
“We got stranded at JFK for like three days, didn’t have any of our luggage,” she said. “It was here in Jacksonville.”
Delta said customers can submit a claim for lost baggage and request reimbursement for hotel, meal and ground transportation expenses. U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urges Delta passengers to share information with the Department of Transportation as they investigate Delta.
Upstairs at JAX, passengers are also dealing with cancellations.
“This is crazy,” said Tasha Henderson at the check-in area for Delta. “This is crazy.”
Henderson said her family came from Georgia, planning to fly out of JAX for vacation only to find out their flight was cancelled. Henderson said they were told the earliest they could fly out would be Saturday.
“There’s no flights leaving out at all,” Henderson said about flights to her destination. “We cannot leave out until Saturday. They have no hotel for us to stay at so where are me and my family gonna sleep at? They have no more vouchers. What are we supposed to do?”
Henderson’s flight was one of the more than 460 Delta flights cancelled by Tuesday afternoon, according to the tracker FlightAware.
An airport spokesperson advised checking your flight status before coming to the airport.