(Follow the whole story at http://blog.kamens.brookline.ma.us/tag/trapped-in-georgia/.)
(If you’re trying to find out how to complain to US Airways, see this posting.)
March 10, 2009
Doug Parker
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
US Airways
111 West Rio Salado Parkway
Tempe, AZ 85281
Dear Mr. Parker,
I am writing about the outrageous experience which has prompted my wife and I to decide that we will never willingly fly on US Airways again. I will also tell you about my efforts to share our experience with as many people as possible and to urge our elected representatives to take action to make what happened to us a thing of the past.
At 3:30am on February 23, the day my wife and our five children were scheduled to return to Boston from a trip to Georgia, I was woken by a panicked phone call: “I’ve got the stomach flu. I’ve been throwing up for hours and I can barely walk. There’s no way I’m going to be able to fly today. I need you to change our flight.”
I immediately called US Airways and asked to move the tickets a day later. I was told that it would cost $1,250 ($750 in change fees and $100 per ticket because the new flight was more expensive under the arcane, incomprehensible, rigged pricing system your airline uses). This was well over half the original cost of the trip. Incredulously, I asked, “Surely you must have a policy for waiving the charge for changes due to sudden, serious, contagious illness?” No, I was informed, there is no such policy.
Thinking that perhaps I would have more success in person, I rushed to Logan airport and repeated my request at the US Airways ticket counter. The people there were unfailingly polite and tried their best to be helpful, but on one point they were unwavering: they could not waive the charges. I left the airport with nothing but a slip of paper showing how to contact your customer relations department, which was pretty much useless because it doesn’t open until 9:00am, by which time my wife would have had to leave for the airport, a two-hour drive from where she was staying.
I called my wife and listened to her sob hysterically as she realized that she was being forced to choose between risking her health and her children’s safety and spreading a dangerous virus, or spending a great deal of money we did not have to postpone her travel.
In fact, there was no choice, because her host, an experienced nurse who had been struck by the same virus herself a few days before, said that she couldn’t possibly fly in her condition and refused to drive her to the airport.
I proceeded to spend pretty much the entire day fighting the US Airways bureaucracy in an effort to get my wife’s tickets changed for less than $1,250. Let me tell you about that hellish experience.
The slip of paper I got at the airport had two telephone numbers on it. When I called the first number, 866-523-5333, a recording informed me that I should contact you through your Web site to receive a response within a few days, which of course was entirely useless for getting help with an urgent issue. Then I was hung up on.
When I called the second number, 480-693-6719, a recording said I had dialed an invalid extension. Yes, that’s right, one of the phone numbers given to me by US Airways employees at the airport was simply wrong.
I then wrote a letter summarizing our situation and sent it to the fax number on the slip of paper, 480-693-2305. I doubt it will surprise you to hear that no one ever responded to that letter.
After that, I decided to call back the first number again. I’m not sure why I thought I’d get a different result the second time, since there was nothing in the recording to suggest that. But it’s a good thing I did, because this time, rather than being told to go away, I was put into a queue, where I waited for almost two hours before being connected to a customer relations representative.
I told her my story, and once again, I was informed that the terms and conditions of our tickets did not include a waiver for medical emergencies and therefore the fees could not be waived.
Up to now, I had been nothing but polite to all of the US Airways employees with whom I had dealt. I acknowledged, to each employee, that I understood that the airline’s policy was not under his/her control. In each encounter, I politely asked if there was someone else to whom I could speak who might be able to override the policy.
I’m sorry to say that my politeness ran out during this call. I lost my temper. I yelled. I berated the agent for yet again mouthing the platitudes about “terms and conditions” and “airline policies,” when she knew as well as I did that the terms, conditions and policies were created by the airline and the airline could change them on a whim. I listed all of the people and media outlets to whom I was going to complain if the airline didn’t solve the problem. I pointed out how absurd it was that the airline gives passengers nothing when it has to cancel flights due to circumstances (supposedly) beyond its control but then expects passengers to pay an exorbitant fee when they cannot fly due to circumstances beyond their control. I told her that it was simply reprehensible that the airline expected my wife, who spent the night alternating between lying on the bathroom floor, vomiting, and having diarrhea, to get on a plane with her five children a few hours later. I pointed out how outrageous it was that the airline preferred for my wife to expose many people at the airport and everyone on both of her flights to a serious, potentially lethal virus, rather than letting her and her family fly the next day.
She told me to calm down, put me on hold for a few minutes, and then came back and claimed that if I faxed them a letter from a doctor that my wife was unable to fly this morning, they would waive the fees. She told me to fax the letter to 480-690-2300.
I got such a letter from the nurse who cared for my wife during her illness and refused to let her get on the plane. She went to a great deal of effort to produce the letter, since she had taken the day off to care for my wife and had to drive in to work to get hospital letterhead on which to write. But she got it, and she faxed it to me, and at around 3:00pm Eastern time, I started trying to fax it to US Airways.
I say “started trying” because, although I repeatedly tried faxing the letter to 480-690-2300 for five hours, I was never able to transmit it successfully. Most of my attempts before 7:00pm failed because the line was busy. A few attempts failed because there was no answer. And a very small number of attempts failed because the fax machine on the other end hung up in the middle of the first page of the fax.
Thinking that there might perhaps be a problem with my fax machine, I also made many attempts to send the fax from my company’s eFax account. These attempts also failed.
At around 4:00pm, I called your customer relations department again in a desperate attempt to find out what to do about the fact that I had been told to provide you with this letter but was unable to do so. I waited for around 40 minutes before being connected to an agent, who informed me that there was absolutely nothing he could do. There was no email address to which I could send the letter that would be read quickly; there was no other fax machine to which I could send it; there was no way he could get in touch with the agent with whom I’d spoken before to make alternate arrangements. That part of our exchange is so astounding that it bears repeating (emphasis added):
ME: “Can you look up the name of the agent I spoke with before and speak to her about this to try to figure out a solution?”
HIM: “No, I’m sorry, there are so many people here that I probably wouldn’t be able to find her.”
ME: “Well, don’t you have a telephone directory? Can’t you call her extension?”
HIM: “No, we’re not allowed to make outgoing calls to other people in our department.“
At 7:00pm when your customer relations department closed, the fax machine stopped answering completely. It is simply mind-boggling that a major international corporation would use a single fax machine attached to an actual telephone line for urgent incoming faxes, rather than an Internet-based service such as eFax with essentially unlimited capacity.
At this point, I had tried unsuccessfully all day to get my problem resolved through your customer relations department, and it became clear that for my wife and children to be able to come home the next day, I was just going to have to call your reservations number, change the tickets, pay whatever ransom you demanded, and then try after the fact to get some sort of refund.
Imagine my surprise when the reservations agent informed me that we were not going to be charged the $150 per ticket change fee because there was a notation on the reservation that the fee had been waived! Someone apparently decided at some point during the day to waive the fee despite never having seen the letter that had been demanded of us. Wouldn’t it have been nifty if whoever decided this had called to let me know, thus sparing me from several hours of wasted time, aggravation and panic? (Incidentally, my wife brought the letter to the airport with her the next day, but they didn’t want to see it there either.)
I was, however, still charged $100 per ticket because of the bogus difference in fares, for a total of $500 in ransom to get my family home from Georgia.
My wife’s experience on her trip home was equally frustrating. The check-in agent informed my wife that the agent who changed her tickets on Monday night did not reserve seats for her connecting flight, and for some reason he couldn’t do so either, so he couldn’t give her boarding passes and she was going to have to get them at the gate. This, despite the fact that there was only a 30-minute gap between the scheduled arrival time of the first flight and the departure time of the second, and it was unlikely that my wife would make it to the second flight with five kids even if everything went perfectly.
When my wife arrived in Charlotte, the people there were amazingly polite and helpful and bent over backwards to try to get her to her connecting flight before it left. I’m speaking about employees of the airport, not US Airways employees. These helpful people were hampered by receiving all sorts of contradictory information from US Airways – her connecting flight had already closed its doors, or it hadn’t. The flight had already left, or it hadn’t. The flight was going to leave on time, or it wasn’t. Every US airways employee seemed to have a different story. Because of all the contradictory information, my wife insisted that they bring her to the gate so that she and our children could try to board the flight.
When they got to the gate, lo and behold, the flight hadn’t left, and there were five seats open on it that my wife and children could take. They boarded the flight, and they arrived safely in Boston a few hours later.
There are so many things wrong with how we were treated by US Airways that I’m not even going to try to enumerate them all. If you can’t figure out from my narrative what your airline should have done differently, then your airline is truly beyond hope.
Now let me tell you about what I am doing to get out the message about your lousy airline.
- I have written about our experience extensively on my blog (http://blog.kamens.brookline.ma.us/tag/trapped-in-georgia/) and will continue to do so.
- I have submitted my story to various consumer advocacy Web sites such as http://consumerist.com/ and will continue to submit it to additional sites.
- I am trying to get a guest Op-Ed column published in a prominent newspaper about the risk to public health and homeland security caused by your policy of forcing people to fly while ill by threatening to charge them exorbitant fees for changing their flights (an example column is attached).
- I will be sending letters to all of my federal elected representatives urging them to enact regulations requiring the airlines to allow sick passengers to change their flights without incurring a financial penalty.
I will do my best to ensure that the cost to your airline in lost business due to damage to your reputation far exceeds the $500 you forced me to pay to rescue my family.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Kamens
encl: Guest Op-Ed column submitted to the Boston Herald
| cc: | Scott Kirby, President, US Airways |
| C.A. Howlett, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, US Airways | |
| Andrew Nocella, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Planning, US Airways | |
| Tom Chapman, Vice President, Congressional & Federal Affairs, US Airways | |
| Kerry Hester, Vice President, Reservations and Customer Service Support, US Airways | |
| Jim Olson, Vice President, Corporate Communications, US Airways | |
| Donna Paladini, Vice President, Customer Service, US Airways |
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Tags: airline fees, trapped in Georgia, US Airways
Following my experience at the hands of the Dividend Miles fascists that run that operation at US Airways, I have made a concerted effort to use alternative domestic carriers for any business travel our foundation requires from time to time. US Airways will ultimately bankrupt for certain given the lack of attention regarding their inability to provide service for one’s hard earned dollar these days in this tough economy. I wish your organization well, it needs a serious CEO management change; what are the BOD thinking? The stock holders will ultimately pay the price. Is this air carrier taking their queues from Bernie Madoff School of Operations. I think so…
[...] enough people have linked to my complaint about the abuse my family received at the hands of US Airways that it is now the first match that comes up when someone googles for “CEO of [...]
I think this is a pretty recurring theme. My experience today is so similar to many of those below. I am about to board my last US Air flight ever. I will drive 1,000 miles before getting on another US Air flight, or pay twice as much on one of their competitors.
Their new customer service montra should be: “We’re not happy until your not happy!” This I believe they would excel at, and have shown great promise today.
The email below says it all. I will never fly USAirways again, futhermore, I make sure every time I walk past their ticket counter, I will tell everyone know how poor their service really is….what a joke!
Thank you for your reply.
We apologize that our original attempt to resolve this issue did not meet your expectations. As customer satisfaction is our main focus, we want to be sure the decisions we make are based on research, facts, policies and procedures, as well as customer perceptions.
To ensure our original decision was handled in the appropriate manner, your file was reviewed a second time with a member of leadership. After careful evaluation, we were unable to discover any additional information that would alter our original resolution. We apologize as we realize this is not the response you had hoped for, but future requests for evaluation will not be considered and the file has been closed.
If you should need anything further, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you.
Roger Bonaparte
US Airways
Passenger Refunds
6728214
April 6, 2012 at 1:00 pm
I just spoke with a representative for Mr. Parkers office in regards to the service failures with the Unnaccompaied Minor Program with US Airways…My son is 11 and flew for the first time to France by hiself…The rep that call me back was not even falmiliar with their own UM Program brochure…he put me on hold while he read it and then said I dont see a sevice failure after I told him that my son sat in his chair for 7 hours without going to the bathroom, as he was unsure when it would be his turn…that took his carry on bag and never returned it to him during the flight… Not one pint person was assigned to him…I know of other UM Programs with other airline and I dont understand why US air does not get it….when they lost 2 children just a few weeks ago….They even had forgotten to escort him down the jetway till I metioned it to the agent at the booth by the jetway….I’m furious….having him treated like… this when my family spends thousands on internaional tickets with them… what more can I do!
My wife, our 18 month old, and I recently returned from a round-trip from Rome To NY on USair. After our horrific ordeal with this airline, I was determined to vent my frustration by detailing what I thought would have been a uniquely disappointing experience to the CEO, but after reading all of the other letters, I realize that it would be like pissing into the wind.
Therefore, I have decided to just provide the cliff notes and the bottom-line:
-We had a scheduled 5 hour layover in Philadelphia, however our flight was delayed, so we now would be there for over 6 hours. Since traveling with an 18 month old is no bargain to begin with, I decided to inquire about earlier flights. Despite the fact that there were 4 flights with available seats leaving earlier, USair wanted to charge us $150 to get on a flight. But what was more infuriating was that one of the earlier flights (with available seats) had also been delayed making it’s new departure time the same as our original scheduled time. So in other words, USair wanted to charge us $150 in order to depart at our original scheduled time — remarkable! What a brilliant scam — just delay all of your flights and then charge people extra money in order to depart on time.
-For our return flight to Rome I looked into the possibility of a shorter layover. Again, despite available seats on a number of later flights, Usair wanted to charge us to make the changes — this time nearly $1, 200. We decided we would prefer to buy a year’s worth of diapers for our 18 month old, instead of paying the $1,200.
-During the 45 minute flight from NY to Philly, I decided to sit with my son in the back of the nearly empty plane. However, when the two non-working USair flight attendants seated nearby heard him briefly cry, they asked me “wouldn’t he be more comfortable in the front of the plane.” I wish I were glib enough to have responded as Tom Hanks did when he was in “Philadelphia” by asking — “No, would it make you more comfortable.” I guess it just makes good USair-sense for him to have disturbed the paying passengers instead.
-Our check-in at LaGuardia was beyond belief! I won’t go into the details because it’s the same old story as the others above, but I want to point out that Tricia P. was the rudest, most condescending ticket agent that I have ever dealt with. So here’s the bottom-line: I know it probably doesn’t matter to Tricia P. (or this crappy airline) and it’s just business as usual in gouging and treating customers like crap, but I take comfort in one thing — I have always been, I am, and always will be better than you, Tricia P.
Obviously, US airways is not concerned with customer service or personal attention. I too will never fly with them again. My daughter and I wanted to get on an earlier flight the same day via standby. We waited for the ticketed passengers to board and approached the desk. I ask if there are seats available and I was told “yes.” Now, I ask if we could get onto this earlier flight and are told, “sure, for $50 per ticket.” (ironically, on that particular day the website was advertising “relaxed charges for changed tickets” because of weather delays at our destination).
Even though our change was not related to a weather condition, how do they justify this policy? Now, at this point in time, two names are announced for last call to board. These two passengers miss their flight by minutes and we commiserated together in front of the gate.
Unbelievingly, the two passengers who missed their flight were rewarded by being put on MY later flight for NO CHARGE!!!!! I, however, was told to pay to get on a flight with empty seats.
In the past two months, JetBlue and Continental have each waived fees, although against written policy, for my two college students flying home for Thanksgiving.
I’d rather walk to my destination than give US Airways my hard-earned money again.
I will also be spreading my dissatisfaction via facebook, twitter and every other social networking vehicle I can find.
I am one of the growing number of people who will NEVER again willingly fly USAir. I had the misfortune of flying them on 1/20/12. After taking my APPROVED carry-on from me at the gate because it did not fit in their overhead bin, they returned it to me at baggage claim DAMAGED. This after a more than 3 hour delay because they did not have a pilot to fly our plane. On my return trip on 1/22/12, I watched as the gate agents in CLT allowed several people to board with 3 carry-on bags. This even after the passenger was told to consolidate her bags into 2 & refused to do so! USAir has damaged my luggage during my past 2 flights, delayed me EVERY time I’ve flown them and even cancelled flights for no reason and offered no compensation. As a matter of fact, after a flight last year when they took my carry-on at the gate, they then lost my bag. When I went to ‘lost luggage’ the woman there was extremely rude to me and told me to leave! I refused because she had not answered my question and she threatened to call the police on me! I told her to go ahead because I had done nothing wrong! When you call, you are on hold forever or hung up on by their representatives. With the horrific customer service and scheduling issues they have, it’s a miracle they are still in business. I will rent a car and drive or take a bus if I can’t fly another airline because I will certainly never give them another dime of my hard earned money.
I found this site as I was attempting to find email addresses for any US Airways Management. I wrote this email to the compliant department on US Airways Online. Three months later, I have yet to be given any response! I have called several various numbers attempting to speak to anyone about this in person and/or check the status of my email. I was told there was NO ONE I could speak to on the phone and the only way to address a complaint was through email! So frustrating!!
Here is the email letter I wrote, If anyone has information on somewhere else I may send it to get attention, please let me know!
My sister and I were recently on a US Airways flight from LaGuardia Airport to Mobile Airport. During the course of our flight, we had several complications and inconveniences due to misinformation, lack of professionalism, and discourteous behavior on the part of various US Airways staff members.
Our flight was originally scheduled for 7:45PM out of LaGuardia Airport. The flight was operating behind schedule because the aircraft for this flight was affected by an earlier flight crew availability issue. The flight was delayed one hour and now scheduled for 8:45PM. We received a phone call on the afternoon of the 25th from a US Airways customer service agent informing us of this delay. The agent notified us that this delay would potentially cause us to miss our connection flight in Charlotte, NC and also notified us that there were no later connections available. The agent advised us to rebook our flight to an earlier flight that evening to ensure we would make our connection. The agent informed us of flight 1489 which would be leaving LaGuardia Airport at 6:59PM. He told us that me and my sister had successfully been CONFIRMED for this new flight and we should arrive to the airport and proceed to the gate for the new flight 1489. The agent stated all flight alterations had been complete and no further action was needed on our part.
We canceled our remaining plans for the evening to arrive at the airport an hour early on time for our new flight. Upon arrival to the new gate, we were informed that we were in fact NOT confirmed for flight 1489. We had been successfully removed from our original flight 2547, however never rebooked on the new flight. The gate agent further notified us that flight 1489 was completely full and we would have to be placed back on our original flight. We informed the gate agents of our correspondence with the agent over the phone, inquired why this mistake was made, and who I could contact regarding this incident. No information was provided for me. The agents informed me they had no information regarding this and that there was nothing they could do. They would simply put me back on my old flight. I was upset because I was given misinformation, arrived to the airport early for a flight I was never confirmed on, and also would most likely miss my connection at this point. I asked to speak to other agents or supervisors. I was told not be become upset, because even though a mistake happened, it was not the fault of any of the gate officers. Not once, did any agent apologize for misinformation that was given to me by US Airways workers nor did any agent show concern or offer any additional assistance. After talking to several agents, one was able to locate the on record the correspondence I had with the US Airways agent over the phone. She informed me that my correspondence was recorded and I spoke to an agent by the name of William, no further information was provided for me. I asked to speak with the manager on duty. The Manger told me there was not much they could do, but they would place us on standby and see if there was any possibility to get us on the flight. The Manger, like other agents was not courteous and did not once apologize for the inconvenience that we were going through as a result of US Airways error. We were asked by the manger to wait by the gate as they attempted to locate seats for us. Me and my sister waited by the gate. After a few minutes, I began to walk to the restroom that was a few feet away from the gate. As I proceeded to walk, the manger raised her voice at us and commanded “I told you not to move from here!”. As we continued to wait by the gate, we witnessed extreme unprofessionalism by all US Airways Gate agents. There was about 5 agents behind the gate working. Often after speaking to customers, agents, and even the manager would roll their eyes and talk disparengingly about customers while still on the gate. This was witnessed by several customers, and several customers voiced their offense by the agents behaviors. This behavior continued as we waited. I requested the number for customer service so I may be able to file a compliant. The manger told me that she would not write it down for me and that I could find it on the back of the ticket, (it was not written there). I asked her for her full name, and she just told me “it’s Yale, you don’t need my last name, I’m the only manager here.” We were finally able to get on to the new flight and make it to Charlotte Airport.
At Charlotte Airport, we continued to have bad experiences with US Airways Agents. Our connection from Charlotte to Mobile, flight 2517, was further delayed. We were only informed of this when we would ask the gate attendant, as no flight update announcements were made. The flight was delayed until midnight. It was11:25 and the flight was still not boarding, so I inquired from the gate agent if the flight would be delayed further, she told me it would be, but an exact time is not available at this time. She would make an announcement when more information was available. We walked over to a store while we waited. When we returned, all customers had already been boarded. I asked the gate agent, why an announcement was not made. She raised her voice with me, yelling “I never said it was delayed!”. We boarded the flight right before it took off. While on the flight, the flight crew was very kind and courteous, however seemed not properly trained and informed. We asked a crew member at what time the flight was scheduled to land or how long the estimated flight time was, and she responded “I have no idea”. She did not attempt to acquire this information from any other staff member or let us no any other way to obtain this information. I fly very frequently from Mobile to the New York Area, as I have appointments every six weeks. I have flown several different airlines, and have never experienced behavior from workers that has exhibited such unprofessionalism, misinformation, and lack of courtesy.
My wife and I along with 12 other people flew from Philadelphia to Cancun on Christmas Eve. 5 of us filled out the credit card for the 30,000 miles and all the other stuff. 4 of us were approved however my wife was not! So no big deal, until we did a little investigating. Somebody lost the application! Of course you all know that the application has SS# birthdate, address, salary, place of employment, phone numbers. This information is very valuable. I have been on the phone for 7 hours today with US Airways, Barclays bank, the corporate headquarters. NOBODY will take responsibility and NOBODY is willing to help. US Airways says – The bank didn’t input the information. Barclays bank says we never got the application. I have had to call the credit Bureaus to put fraud alerts on her SS# and name. I have had to call the bank, Credit cards, DMV, all this because nobody is willing to help.
i just tried to book international award travel on line. NO seats in envoy class were occupied and the web site indicated the trip could be booked for slightly more miles than are currently in my account and offered the opportunity to purchase the miles. it then would not let me book the trip so i called the 800 number- the agent told me international award travel could not be booked on line. she then told me all award seats in envoy class for my travel dates and those close to them were sold out; she could not explain why none were occupied and why the web site had indicated the dates were available. they did not get my travel but they did get what i paid for the extra miles. is this some kind of fraud in marketing?
I just got off the phone with them, the person was so helpful but the airlines are terrible. My son is a US Marine coming home for Christmas. He is stationed in Beaufort, SC for the last six months. He is in 29 Palms, CA for the last 35 days doin his combat training preparing for deployment to Afghanistan in March. While in CA he found out what his liberty was, he booked his flight immediately he was coming home for Christmas he was not going to miss another one knowing that in March he will be in Afghanistan any where from 7 to 9 months and possibly up to a year. As anyone who served in the military things change all the time. But this time it was good news, he got an extra days liberty and can come home a day earlier…..HOORAH!!! He calls US Airlines and finds out it will cost him an additional $313.00. He was so disappointed. He called and said he was keeping his original flight home. He first didn’t have the time to sit on a phone and wait and second he couldn’t see spending that kind of money to much especially since Christmas is two days away. I cried I was so upset. I have not seen him in five months. I said to him did you tell him your a Marine that they have to make exceptions for the military. He said he didn’t and that he really didn’t have the time to sit on the phone with them and ask if I could do it. I call and am devastated that the person said US Airlines does not wave fees for anyone….could you imagine my shock? I explained that my son had no control over his liberty, the Marines tell you and that is that. The person did try different things to make it work and in the end he did get the $150.00 waved but I had to pay the difference($163.00) of the ticket that was booked in advanced but now being changed within the 14 day limit,yes a real catch 22, just moving the ticket from 12/23/2011 @ 6pm to 12/22/2011 @ 6pm. I know also that if ever possible me and family will never fly US Airways again. My RANT with this is not only for my Marine but for all military there should be exceptions to the rule. They have no control over these things and should be excluded without penalties. Please do not let them have to choose between their families and money. That is what US Airways is doing to our military and in return our Hero’s are loosing precious time without their families.
My complaint has to to with the incompetence of the ground crew in Huntsville, AL. On 11/29/11 I had a 6 am flight with marginal weather conditions. We all boarded and were waiting for take-off when the pilot announced we would be going through a deicing. The pilot said we needed deicer 2 and the airport only had deicer 1 and we had to be off the ground within 15 minutes for deicer 1 to be effective. I am not sure what any of that means, but it sounds like they may have been gambling with our lives. OK, we get off the ground into the wild blue yonder and the pilot announces that we have to turn around and land because the ground crew forgot to close a little 8″ X 6″ door on the plane. We had the door closed and then we had to refuel. This delay caused a domino effect of missed connections for the rest of the day. I was supposed to land in Detroit at 11:16 am. When I got to Charlotte, NC they handed me a new ticket that departed at 1 pm. Once in Detroit airspace pilot informed us we were 20 minutes early, but a front had moved in and it was too windy to land at the moment. I memorized the steps to get to my shuttle connection that was to take me to Jackson, MI so I would waste any time reading. I had already missed the shuttle I was supposed to be on and ended up at the shuttle pick up zone at 3:06 pm and it was gone. I waited for the next shuttle at 5:15 pm. By the time we reached Ann Arbor, MI the rain had turned to snow, by the time we reached Jackson, MI there was about 3″ of snow. At 8:15 when I finally took possession of the right hand drive jeep to take back to AL there was about 5″ of snow half the town was without power the hotel where the bus dropped me off lost power and the rooms were calling the desk and being told they couldn’t do anything about it. I can’t stay there I put it in 4 wheel drive and drove the interstate for about 4 hours at 20 – 40 mph stopping everywhere there was a group of motels and all were full. The snow by this time had gotten so deep the police had set up flares in the snow to direct traffic off an exit and through a town and back out on the interstate. I finally found a motel with 2 rooms left. It was 12:30 am. and I had just crossed the Indiana state line. I expected to be at home in my own bed between midnight and 2 am. The ground crews incompetence cost me $145.00, 1 day, the stress of trying to beat a winter storm, the stress of driving in it to find a room and I now have a terrible cold. I feel I should be reimbursed my monetary loss at the very least. I know $145.00 isn’t much money to a lot of folks, but it means a great deal to my family, with Christmas and property tax due.
Husband and I come off a cruise on our way home on 10/31/2011 on flight 2680 from New Orleans, LA to Charlotte, NC at 4:17pm. A couple with infant and stroller boarded first. As we boarded, they were sitting in our seats which was right before the restroom. The flight attendant advised us to sit right beside the restroom because they had a baby and stuff. I said okay but it was not okay. If I wanted to sit by the restroom, I would have indicated for our seat arrangements to be right beside the restroom online. Baby or no baby, they should have sat in their assigned seats. The flight attendant was out of line by tell us to sit elsewhere. I would have been wronged or put off if I had voiced my concern.
The problem with the airline industry now a days is the passengers have become their own travel agents, booking their flights online and not reading the rules and restrictions of their tickets before purchasing. When ever they have to change a reservation and call the airline to do that, they are surprised to hear that their is a penalty to change their ticket. They are surprised because even though they clicked that box that says “I agree to the terms and conditions of this ticket” but they never actually read it. People should start taking some personal responsibility for their own actions and stop blaming everyone in sight when things do not go the way that they think it should.
No, that’s not the problem, but thanks for playing.
I won’t even make your hair stand on end – it is the same as everyone who has taken the time to post….. the only way to get the job done is to hit them in their own pockets. Don’t fly with them and make sure your friends don’t either! When stocks drop, people are out of jobs, then maybe someone will stop all this travesty to their paying customers and treat us decently again.
remember money talks and customers will walk…to the nearest competitor!!
My wife and I upgraded to first class for a US Airways flight from San Francisco to Philadelphia. My wife had recently fractured her foot, and the upgrade was to not only provide more leg room, but to facilitate boarding and departing the plane. We were about the 6th and 7th people to board the plane, but the overhead storage bins in first class were entirely filled – with the luggage of the flight crew. I had to store our carry on luggage toward the rear of the plane, and then fight the departing line, inconvenience the passengers behind us, to retrieve it. I complained to the stewardess (who was the owner of at least some of the luggage), but she simply stared straight ahead and would not address the situation. As limited as storage space has become, the flight crew now takes up more of it at the inconvenience of the passengers. Unbelievable!
I am never flying with u.s. airways again. Upon getting ready to board my flight in Houston,Tx my sisters and I were told that we had to check out carryon bags at the gate. We did and it turned into a nightmare. Upon reaching our connection in charlotte it was discovered that the attendant in Houston mistagged ny bag. Not only to the wrong destination, but also the wrong name. When I reached my destination they located my bag promising that I would receive it the next day. That didn’t happen. It took from Saturday until Monday afternoon for me to be reunited with my bag due to their carelessness. Causing alot of undue pain and suffering on what should have been resolved quickly. I have flown all over the world and have never seen such lack of professionalism as with this airlines. Even though they due have the few employees that attempt to do their job correctly, there is so much lack of quality from so many others, all the way up to supervisors who won’t take your calls or return them to the people at the gate counters who are inept that I would not recommend them to anybody. BEWARE OF U.S. AIRWAYS!!!
my wife and i have used us air 40 years. many times ft. lauderdale and now costa rica us air policy states air miles cost round trip usage 1 way. did business with united, more customer service understanding. in the times of what the us is going through dont you think your airlines would be a little more competitive? i think us air is not up to date on the economy. is your company into sales or sales pervention. i have sent letters before with no response, so this im sure will be same. ps your counter help are rude and dont understand social graces and im sure that why us air does in spite of attutide. maybe this time i will get a responce. jboston pres. & ceo eagle industries
Similar stories of poor customer service with the same ending. Was scheduled to go from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia on 10/12/11 on Flight 98 but my meetings ended so I headed to airport early to see if I could catch standby on earlier flight, which I did get a Standby Ticket. During the period of time waiting for Standby flight I recieved 3 calls from USAir notifying me of delays due to maintanence issues on my orginal flight pushing it back to an 11:30 pm departure. At this point the standby flight was full so myself along with 12 other passangers attempting to do the same thing went to the gate counter and handed in our standby tickets at which point they told us they were GOING to put us on (not offering to) a flight to Laguardia then to Philly as our orginal flight might not make it. We all board the flight and roll directly from gate to holding area as is usual anymore (need your ontime departure status, which for those that don’t already know means left gate not took off) and waited for almost 2 hours which eliminated any hope of connecting flight to philly. Upon arrival at Laguardia we (12 ppl) went to customer service and were informed we would have to wait till 6 am today to get the next flight. We asked if there was a way of providing ground transporation back to Philly, which is only 2.5hrs away, and the answer orginally was no. However, after some coaxing they supposedly attempted to call for ground transportation, but instead came back to tell us that we asked to be changed to the Laguardia Flt (Which is BS) and because of that and the fact that our orginal flight was going to go Philly later that evening they were responsible for nothing other then getting us on the 6am flight to Philly, and when I say nothing I mean no food, toiletries (some passengers were only in Pitt for the day) and most importantly no HOTEL for the evening. At this point 5 of us got refunds to our credit cards which was like pulling teeth, went to National Rental Car (they were great) and rented a minivan to drive the 2+ hours ourselves. So if your in Laguardia and see USAir Customer Service Manger: Jamie Negron run as fast as you can as he isn’t going to do anything for you.
We arrived in Philadelphia on time in to terminal C on 23 September 2011. Our next flight was out of Terminal F. On the bus ride over to Terminal F we received a voicemail message stating that our flight out of Philadelphia to Portland, ME, had been cancelled.
We went back to terminal C and walked up to a departing gate ticket agent. She was a short black woman with glasses and short bleached blonde hair.
We inquired as to why our flight had been cancelled. She told us “two reasons; one due to the weather and second due to flight congestion.” She was very nice and did her best to assist us. She explained that the next available flight out of Philly to Portland ME would not get us in to Maine until approximately midnight. We did not want to sit in the airport for over 12 hours waiting.
She first offered us a departing flight to Boston but as standby passengers. We declined that.
She said that she had a flight in to Boston that left at approximately 2:30 pm. I stated that we had paid for tickets to Portland, ME. She said she could book our flight on the Boston connection but she could not help us with a refund on our ticket. She directed us to go back to Terminal F and go to the ticket counter where you checked in your bags.
We got back on the shuttle bus to Terminal F. On our trip back to Terminal F I received a phone call from US Airways automated service informing us that our new flight in to Boston had also been cancelled.
We continued on and got in the LENGTHY check in line. After waiting for approximately 40 minutes we got to the counter and were RUDELY and disrespectfully talked down to by Debra R, a black woman in probably her late 40’s, early 50’s with short black hair. It was 1140 am.
We received no greeting, we received no smile, we received no eye contact.
Her first words were, and I quote, “what do you need?”
I began to explain to her that our original flight had been cancelled in to Portland ME and that we were alternately booked on a flight to Boston. I continue to say that the ticket agent at the gate in Terminal C directed us to come to this section to get a refund since we were no longer flying in to Portland.
She put up both of her hands, cut me off and said, quoting again, “well that’s your fault. You chose to fly in to Boston and not Portland so you don’t get a refund.”
Each time I began to speak after that statement she cut me off and spoke over me. She kept trying to back me in to a corner and continually stated “did you or did you not accept to fly in to Boston?” I replied yes but……and she again cut me off –this time placing both of her hands up along the sides of her face and said “I can’t help you – you chose to fly to Boston so that’s your fault, you shouldn’t have chosen to accept that flight!”
My wife then stepped in. My wife told Debra R that no we had not chosen to go to Boston but we had to get to Maine one way or another and since our flight had been cancelled; not once but twice our choices were to either fly to Maine the following day or fly to Boston, rent a vehicle in Boston and make the two hour commute to Maine. My wife also told her that we had contacted Enterprise Car Rental to try and get the same vehicle we had on reserve in Maine and Enterprise quoted us a price of $900.00 vice the $270.00 price from the Portland location.
Debra R., yet again, put her hands up attempting to have my wife stop talking and said she’d go ask her supervisor if we could get a refund and turned away and walked off.
On her return to us another ticket agent asked her a question and Debra R carried on approximately a 2 minute conversation with this other agent while we were standing at her counter area waiting on her (my wife had her pen and paper out documenting the events).
Upon her rude return, she told us that we could not be refunded for the ticket.
I asked Debra R to have her manager come speak to us. Debra R responded that her managers do not come out front.
My wife then asked her who was the man she just went and asked about the refund and she stated he was her supervisor. My wife stated – well let’s not play with words – you know what we were asking of you – please have him come over here.
John, the supervisor, a tall light skinned black man, came to the counter.
He, too, gave us no greeting. As he walked up to us, Debra R was saying to John “they just don’t get it – they don’t seem to understand me” like we were not present.
John was in stride walking over to the counter and stated “Sir, you don’t get a refund. You chose to fly to Boston instead of Portland.” My wife corrected him again and stated that is not what we chose; in order to complete our journey as scheduled we were given Boston as an alternative.
My wife, speaking directly to John, stated that we had indeed heard Debra R’s comments and yes we did understand what she said but she was so blatantly rude and kept throwing up her hands that we knew we were not being understood by her.
My wife then stated that the ticket agent at Terminal C had sent us to them for a refund in the ticket price difference. John stated that obviously she didn’t know what she was talking about. He stated that there was no price difference; it cost the same to fly in to either Portland ME, or Boston, MA. I asked him to look up in his computer who the agent was that had booked us and sent us to their area. John stated he could not do that.
My wife responded back to him and told him that she had already used our computer to verify if there was a price difference and in fact there was a $40.00 price difference per ticket. John told my wife that she was incorrect; that the tickets were priced by region not location.
John’s attitude was one step above Debra R. John’s heavy accent made communication very difficult.
I asked John US Airways was going to put us up in a hotel until the morning when we could get confirmed tickets to Portland and his response was “No – it’s not our fault. It’s an act of nature.”
My wife at that point pulled her piece of paper back out where she was taking notes and their attitude slightly adjusted; not notably improved; slightly adjusted.
Debra R. then gave us a pink form for a reduced room rate and booked us on another flight in the morning and gave us a half sheet of paper with our new flight information printed on it.
24 Sep 2011 – 0515 am. We arrive for our 0730 flight.
The ticket agent’s name was Rosa R. Yet again – no “good morning” – absolutely nothing. Rosa R was looking down at I believe her computer screen, made no eye contact and said “what can I do for you?” I replied “well good morning to you” and she responded “good morning.”
My wife attempted to hand her the half sheet of paper we had received from Debra R.
Rosa R stated, and I quote again “I don’t need to see that. That’s why I ask the questions” and pushed the paper back across the counter.
I don’t often reference my military background. I served over 30 years and have traveled all over this world. I can honestly say that I have never, and I mean never, been treated with so much unprofessionalism and disrespect than we experienced in less than a 24 hour period of time from the employees in Philadelphia with US Airways.
My wife is a civil service worker and is in the military housing field and performs customer service all day long.
Customer service takes a particular type of person and from what we experienced in Philadelphia, these employees were so far out of line and unprofessional that we wonder what type of training they are provided?
With so very many people without jobs, Debra R, John and Rosa R should either go back through some intense customer service training or, in our opinion, be replaced by individuals who care about the people they are supposed to be assisting.
I did attempt to send this email via the email website, but for some reason when you click on the option to send a complaint/comment in via email it does not open that link. I wonder why????
I’m on this horrid flight (1735 to N.C) right now. I can’t believe this airlines is still operating. Thanks for being a complete ass “Debra C.”
I recently flew this pathetic excuse of an airline to Daytona Beach FLA from Boise Idaho. I was going to rescue my fiance’s belongings as he was deployed to Afganistan and had to leave in 24 hours. I live in Boise. I flew down, retreived the items and not being familiar with the area did not know where to go to ship them. I called US Airways and was told that if I upgraded to first class (although there were no first class seats available until my last leg of the flight from Pheonix to Boise) I would get the first two bags free of charge. I had 7 total and none of them were over-weight. I was told that the 3rd bag would be charged as the first bag for $25, 4th as the second for $35 on and on….their baggage fee schedule is ridiculous to say the least, but I knew I’d be into it for $4-$500 dollars. Well, I get to the counter after wrestling these bags alone to be charged $925~~~I had upgraded for $100 and paid $480 for my trip! I had no choice as my flight was leaving shortly so I paid it. Upon arriving to Boise I asked the Baggage customer service desk about these charges and she said it made no sense, and that I was “clearly overcharged”. She gave me an email address as apparently there is no phone number for the complaints. I then received an email that stated the fee was correct – that although I had the first two bags fees waived, the third was charged at the $125 3rd bag rate rather than as a first bag! Totally contradictory information! So, my 24 hour trip to Fla cost me $480 for the original ticket, $100 for the first class upgrade, and $925 for the bags! Please never fly this airline – there are so many other choices and I can only hope and pray that they are finally held accountable for the robbery they are performing on a daily basis against their customers – the ones that make or break their business….this is nothing short of stealing…their fees should be regulated and their staff better trained and knowledgable…they stole over $400 from me….with no, “thanks to your fiance for his service to our country”….when they say it’ll cost you to serve – they mean it literally – especially while flying US Airways.
My daughter and her friend booked flights on US Airways last evening. Her friends flight went through and she received confirmation. My daughter was booted off website after credit card information was given. We immediately got back on the website, and within 5 minutes, the price had increased by almost $400. Of course the airline tells me my daughter’s friend must have purchased the last ticket at that price and now the seat located next to her is $400 more. Ridiculous!!!
Well, the saga continues. I made a reservation in Feb 2011. I was scheduled to fly to SFO first class, paid $2400 for two tickets. When I tried to check in online I was prompted to call the 1-800 number. I did and was told I did not have a reservation! of course, my charge to my credit card occured in Feb 2011. Long story short – first class was now full as it was 17 hours before my flight and those checking in were able to upgrade to first class. Therefore I was refused my seats. I had to leave from Orlando instead of Tampa – my original flight in order to get first class. Paid $85.00 for parking, $67.00 for gas, $10.00 in tolls to get to my destination. US Airways did not feel it was their fault!!! NEVER AGAIN will I book on this airline or buy anything that they are associated with. I will notify the FAA and BBB as they overbooked first class which is illegal per the FAA.
We were heading to Philadelphia for my cousins first wedding, and the economy transit got us their about 5 minutes late, and when we went to check in our bag at 6:21am for a flight at 7am, they told us too bad you cannot get on this flight. Mind you I said to them my cousins wedding is at 5pm East Coast time and you are telling me you cannot get us on this plan because our bag is 5 minutes late yet our plan does not leave for 40 minutes. They simply said too bad and guaranteed we would get on a 8:55m flight, so we waited another 2 hours in airport telling my family back East I am not sure if we will make the wedding, but maybe ceremony now because US airways being total ****holes. So the 8:55 flight is boarding and they tell us owe we cannot get you on this flight because we overbooked it, so now you will have to do the 10:55am flight. So another hour we wait furious and get a phone call now saying the 10:55am flight canceled. We are beyond furious and the help center basically telling us too bad. So now we are at home in Arizona while our family is in NJ and cousin having her first wedding, and we are not there because a 5 minute baggage part was just minutes late. Uncalled for so now we are going to a local news station to air this as well for shame on a corporation to ruin a wedding for our family leaving us too the only family members not in attendance. Never fly US Airways and you can twitter it please do so to make sure people switch to another carrier. US Airways sucks and maybe the CEO will have this happen to his daughter one time so he understands why some family could not make her wedding. They must have flown US Airways.
We booked 29 people for our annual vacation in December. My daughter was granted leave from the US Air Force. We payed for our trip 2 months ago. US Airways has cancelled a flight leaving 10 of us without travel (our other friends were smarter and booked elsewhere) 1/2 of us were re booked on different days and my family was not re booked at all. We were told we cannot have the other open seats on the plane on new dates (despite our reservation dates, thankfully the resort has been accommodating) We were told our only 2 options are to cancel, or take the 25 hours flights both ways, with no where to stay while we travel with children. I am sure my eldest daughter would love to spend her USAF holiday leave in Dominican, without her family. US AIRWAYS is the worst company I have ever had the displeasure of working with. I will NEVER deal with them again. Nor will anyone I can affect.
I feel all your pain, as I was treated horribly by a US Airway flight attended while on board a plane in NC. I am starting my complaint campaign and would like to benefit from your experience as to who I should contact at US Airways. I have already filed a complaint on line to no avail. So if any one has any idea of who I could contact, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
I came across your letter while looking up the address of the president of US Air to vent my own horrible experience this past weekend.
Hoorrayyy for you!!! Just reading your letter I felt your pain. I hope the airline refunded you the $500 after all was said and done. If they didn’t, you should invest in a good lawyer and try to get it back anyway.
I was on line searching to validate whether or not the contact information for US Airways CEO that one of their agents gave me was true and came across your letter. Like you I have been talking to agents for an entire month trying to get the $150 they charged me for changing my flight destination to attend a funeral. I was promised on June 28, 2011 that I would be refunded the money if I fax them a copy of the obituary or death certificate to 480-690-2300 (Sounds familiar). to this day I have nothing but phone charges and lost time (listing to agents, automatic systems, music, etc.) to show for my effort. I tols them that this would be my first and last time traveling US Air. At this point, I will continue to pursue my refund for the principle of this issue.
I stumbled on this as I was searching for the email address of the CEO of US Airways to file my complaint. Here’s my story…a US Airways flight attendant had me arrested after a Charolette to Greenville SC flight last week. Before takeoff, my Blackberry was in airplane mode but she insisted it had to be turned off, which I did after inquiring if airplane mode was acceptable. When the flight arrived in Greenville there were 2 officers to take me off the plane. Evidently when I asked if airplane mode was OK, this US airway flight attendant interpeted it as challenging her and therefore I was “unruly”!!!!! The GSP officers (who were very professional) investigated, heard from fellow passengers who saw the alleged “altercation” and took my statement. The officers morphed from being very upset with me originally to being very happy to release me once they investigated! What a waste of their time. Add me as another frustrated ex-customer who will do anything possible in the future to NOT use US Airways.
the most arrogant people i’ve ever run across are u.s. airways flight attendants–give them a little authority and they become little hitlers.