A video is burning up the interwebs where a couple of Army soldiers tell how Delta charged 14 guys in their unit $200 a pop for checking a fourth bag, running up $2800 in fees. The soldiers are upset because even though standard Delta policy is to allow the military up to three bags for free, their orders said they were allowed four bags. Now they have to submit receipts to get their fees waived. At first it sounds like a slap in the face but other soldiers have chimed to say it’s really not the drama it’s been made out to be and it happens all the time.

In the video, one of the soldiers points out how his fourth case that tripped the fee was his weapons case, containing what he used to “protect myself and Afghan citizens while I was deployed in the country.”

As stirring as that sounds, echoing comments made by several self-identified service members, one Reddit commenter wrote:

These soldiers had orders which authorized them to carry 4 bags, which means they were authorized to charge any associated fees to their government-issued credit cards and have those fees reimbursed to them (or the credit card account) by their servicing finance office.

This is EXTREMELY common, by the way. It’s happened to me several times when traveling on military orders, and I’ve signed many travel vouchers with baggage fees listed on them for troops I supervise.

Indeed, KUSA reports, “Those soldiers now have to turn-in their baggage receipts to the Army. They will eventually be reimbursed.”

Delta wrote about the story on their blog and reiterated their published policy, while also apologizing to the unit and saying they would be reaching out to each of them individually.

Delta airlines welcomes Soldiers home.3GP [YouTube]

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