Delta Air Lines landed in the rough this week on social media, after ground crews were caught on video tossing a college team’s golf bags on the tarmac in San Diego.
The East Tennessee State University men’s golf team posted a video on X, the social media network formerly known as Twitter, showing a baggage handler flinging golf club bags from an airplane conveyor belt onto the ground, where another baggage handler picked them up and loaded them onto a cart.
“Nice of @Delta to handle our clubs with such care...” the team wrote in the post Tuesday, with apparent sarcasm.
By Thursday afternoon, the team’s original video post had been viewed roughly 9 million times, got about 49,000 likes, 6,000 shares and 2,700 comments.
Atlanta-based Delta responded on X on Wednesday: “We’re so sorry this is how your golf clubs were handled. It’s not who we are. And we’re working to make it right, so you’ll have everything you need to compete at the tournament this weekend.”
On Thursday morning, in response to a comment from another user criticizing Delta, an agent in the airline’s baggage service center posted: “The behavior in the video is not aligned with the caring experience our customers expect from Delta and we are actively addressing.”
The East Tennessee State team is headed to the NCAA championship, where it is grouped with Georgia Tech and the University of California, Berkeley and is teeing off Friday, according to its X account.
In a statement to media, Delta said: “We apologize to the ETSU Golf team and ask for a mulligan on how their equipment was handled.”
“We’re in direct contact with the Bucs to ensure they have what they need to successfully compete in the NCAAs,” Delta said.
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