(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 |
I am horrified that my experience isn’t the exception rather the norm with us airways. The abbreviated version is that the gate agent wouldn’t put me on standby on a flight in the midst of crazy weather delays but I we able to purchase a new flight from an online sight. The flight was way over half empty. I am in the midst of what seems like futile escalations.
This aligns with my experience. I paid over 600 for a ticket IAD to CLT. Arrived early, watched flights get cancelled as I travel to visit a terminally ill relative and was overjoyed when I got a seat on flight US 2675. Imagine my despair when as the door was closing my name was yelled out and I was embarrassed to be pulled off the plane for a vacationer heading to the Caribbean with a “confirmed ticket.” They tried to get me in a taxi to DCA to A flight leaving in less than 2 hours-30 miles away. I am now waiting 5 hours with no vouchers on a flight. They took care do uSAirways Vacationers over a standard ticket! I fly many airlines and will likely need USAirways again but will never forget the shabby treatment when I needed a little understanding.
Us Air Lines
Chairmen and Chief Executive Officer, Doug Parker
4000 E. Sky Harbor Blvd.
Phoenix, AZ 85034
Dear Sir,
I am writing to you about an incident that is so troubling that after two weeks of careful consideration I have decided to contact you regarding this incident. This incident occurred at 5:30 pm in the Philadelphia International Airport on August 15, 2013 after exiting flight 3847.
We boarded our flight in Baltimore (3847) and we were lead onto the tarmac and handed a porter our luggage and then we walked up the steps to the airplane. When we arrived in Philadelphia we were off the plane and realized we didn’t know where to pick up our luggage so my husband asked an airport employee, in the waiting area of the airport, the employee kindly said, “through that door” and pointed back to the jet-way bridge we exited the airplane. I sat down in the waiting area and my husband went to get our carry- on bag. A few minutes later I heard yelling and I looked down the hallway to the airplane and saw my husband with a woman yelling at him. He had made the mistake of opening the door at the end of the jet way bridge to see if that was where we were supposed to collect our luggage.
I intervened and said, “How dare you yell at anyone like that” the name on her tag was Kelly J. She was holding his carry-on bag Kelly J. proceeded to brow beat and yell at him for his mistake. My husband is a good and honest man and who has great patience and he stood there apologizing and explaining he didn’t know where to get his carry on. None of this satisfied Kelly J. she continued to angrily brow beat my husband yelling loudly enough that the people in the airport were beginning to stare down the bridge to see what the ruckus was.
Kelly J. never stopped yelling at him, I asked her to keep her voice down and how dare you yell at anyone like this but she continued talking over everyone. It seemed that we personally offended her. She continued to go on about the $11.000 fine that could be imposed. I asked her to please write us out the fine and let us go. She said, “No, I want to see your boarding passes”. I asked why, she said because I wanted to. I asked her to call security to get a person who was not so out of control to talk to but she kept demanding boarding papers. (We had already exited the plane)
If this is a punishable offence I would like to suggest that the door should be locked and also marked as DO NOT ENTER. I have enclosed a photo of the same door that I took upon return from Italy at the Philadelphia International Airport. This was a simple mistake that enraged your employee beyond belief.
We had a witness to this horribly embarrassing situation and it was the pilot who simply stood by. He may have been waiting for Kelly to assault my husband and hopefully he would have intervened. I asked him if he could talk and if he could stop her and he said, “I’m just watching”. He too went along with this out of control employee. My poor husband was so upset he was desperately looking for his boarding papers in my carry on but was too upset to think since Kelly J. never stopped talking for a moment and very loudly, she seemed to just want to vent and not discuss facts and with no consideration to us as guests.
I finally just took our carry – on bag which Kelly J. was no longer holding, proceed to walk away and suggested to my husband that he walk away from the out of control employee. He never did find those papers and he too walked away from that horrid woman.
I implore you to investigate the possibility that there is a security camera or audio recording of this event so you will know I speak the truth. There is one witness to this incident, and that was the Pilot who stood and watched this happen, I’m sure he was too afraid to intervene and possibly get the wrath of Kelly J. upon him, so he just stood there. I am sorry I didn’t get his name too but I was too frightened to try to get around Kelly J. to see his name. There is something very wrong with Kelly J. I don’t know if it is a mental problem or a personal issue but this incident still upsets me.
After that ordeal we both sat traumatized on a 9 hour flight to Venice, Italy. I had no extra blood pressure medication as we only take it in the evenings and it was packed in our checked luggage. We spent nine days in Italy, Croatia, Turkey and Greece and the incident at the airport still haunts us both.
If my company had an employee who did that I would want to know about it, so I decided to write this letter.
Sincerely,
Carol L. Vaeth
Do you know that the President & CEO of US Airways was arrested .
Here is the link
US Airways CEO arrested on DUI charge
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/17067903/ns/business-us_business/t/us-airways-ceo-arrested-dui-charge/#.Ub5NJuf2bE0
I’m not really sure what a DUI arrest more than six years ago has to do with U.S. Airways customer service or lack thereof.
This US Airways will now bring bad luck to new American Airlines Group. Stock Holders of American Airlines should have got rid of Doug Parker who is the current CEO of US Airways and this fool will be the new CEO of new American Airlines Group . Thomas Horton, who is the current Chairman, President & CEO of American Airlines is much capable to run the New American Airlines .
US Airways in- flight customer service is the worst …what can you expect from US Airways ground service. This US Airways filed for Bankruptcy Protection in a U.S. Court more than once.
I came from a Huston flight and when I arrived at LAX I was trying to catch my connecting flight to San Diego. I encountered HENRY, assisting flight #6338 boarding on 02/21/13 at 4:30, and had very poor costumer service skills, he was rude and made no eye contact. The worst part was when his supervior George asked to talk to me, he was even more rude than Henry, and after I explained to him what had happened with Henry he told ME that I was the one being RUDE. After a 3 hour delay, and after losing my connecting flight to San Diego and losing my transportation to my final destination, all i got was poor costumer service, THEY were rude to ME, the costumer. This is just UNBELIEVABLE … I’ve been a COSTUMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE for more that 10 years in the Hospitality Industry and I thought that ” THE COSTUMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT” but George the Supervisor in LAX doesn’t know that yet. It seemed like he was feeling good while making me feel like the LIAR and the TROUBLE MAKER. I was not taken care of properly.
I can understand that they don’t have enough flights to accommodate everyone, but for me costumer service is more important. I can tell you that they don’t have basic costumer service skills, and SUPERVISOR GEORGE was the worse. I cried because I was thinking that he was going to take care of me, but he made feel HELPLESS. He thought I was crying because I didn’t want to wait for a flight, but i was really waiting for my delay but NO was for his behavior towards me.
Sorry but I try to ask other agent for his superior, and she told me that he doesn’t have any superior and he saw me, called he agent to know what I said, I heard because I went directly with him to ask his name and again RUDE when I asked his name, no last names I understand.
Hopefully some budy could do something abou it. Ohh!! I never ask forr anything about all the incovennience and I eeven thing aboutit.
They do not work with people with any illnesses. i had a similar incident but not as difficlt as yours. They will only change my flight for 150 even after they gave me a credit and now to use my credit i have to pay an additional 150. I have also submitted various complaints to BBB, etc. So I will not stop either.
Here’s my saga. I sent out the 11 letters certified today. I figure I’ll be lucky to get back my double luggage fee’s from what I’ve been reading.
January 17, 2013
Doug Parker
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
US Airways
111 West Rio Salado Parkway
Tempe, AZ 85281
RE: Flight Issues
Dear Mr. Parker,
Before I start, I would like to mention a few things. There were 6 people in my party traveling including two teenagers. I am permanently disabled (My ID proving this statement is copied to this letter.) I try hard not to let it stop me from travel with my family on vacations and life in general. I also do not like to draw attention to my problems with walking distances or by traveling with a walker or wheelchair unless absolutely necessary though I unfortunately must own both. I prefer to pace myself traveling slower than most and it usually works out just fine; except this time. The swelling caused from this experience in my knees, legs, and feet has finally gone down after a full week of staying in bed and missing work. In the past I have travelled on various airlines numerous times and have had good and bad experiences along the way (lost luggage, cancelled flights etc), however no experience has ever compelled me to write a letter of this nature. In fact, in my entire lifetime of interacting with companies and businesses on a daily basis I have never written a letter to a company to share my experience – until now.
1. To begin, we were scheduled to return home from Kahului/Maui on Sunday, January 6th on US Airways Flight 8595. We paid $290.00 for our luggage prior to boarding. The connecting US Airway Flight 23 in Honolulu to Phoenix was scheduled to leave at 11:15 p.m. and was cancelled before our flight from Kahului/Maui even arrived at 9:52 p.m. A few of the passengers had received an email while flying from Maui to Honolulu about the canceled flight. We did not. The staff on the airplane did not have any information, a U.S. Airways representative would be available for information we were told at the boarding desk when we realized the flight was cancelled..
This did not happen. We were very disappointed by this. No one was at the boarding gate for US Airways Flight 23 to tell us anything. We had to hunt down information on where the US Airways employee’s were. We were told that a U.S. Airways representative would be coming to meet us in the baggage area to head there.
This did not happen either.
By 11:30 p.m. we retrieved our luggage all 11 pieces and then proceeded to stand in a line for almost another two hours and were given a number while in line to call for new arrangements. I understand that the nature of the airline industry means that sometimes parts fail and due to safety reasons a flight cannot be operated. While no one representing U.S. Airways actually apologized, the airline was gracious to put us up for two nights at the Royal Prince Hotel in Waikiki. We were told that a hotel shuttle would take us there and to wait outside where the shuttles come by for rentals. Wrong, we were given a travel voucher, but not for a shuttle and only some of the taxi’s accepted them we learned. After over an hour of walking and waiting we were helped by an airport employee who ordered a taxi who would accept them. We arrived at the hotel at 2:00 am and were given two rooms with only full size beds for six people to sleep in. The next morning we had to rent a minivan for six for the next two days or remain in the hotel with hyper teenagers. The United Flight 200 they booked us on did not leave until 8:02 p.m. and we had to be out of the room with all our luggage at noon on Tuesday morning, thus another reason for a rental. The food voucher’s we received would cover a cup of coffee in the hotel for all three meals for each of us and nothing else literally ($5 for breakfast, $5 for lunch and $10 for Dinner). Please review their menu and prices, heck even a McDonald’s breakfast is over $5 now as we learned.
* Please note as well at this point my oldest daughter, her boyfriend, my husband and myself are scheduled to report for work on Monday morning after our flight arrived and my two younger children where to go to school only missing a few hours. Due to the flight cancellation for two days we were not be able to work or attend school.
2. The real issues begin as we arrive at the airport on Tuesday, January 8th. Our United Flight 200 was scheduled to depart at 8:02 p.m. We arrived more than two hours before the flight. We then went to check-in and my son, husband and daughter’s boyfriend were checked in first. Their three tickets came up when the confirmation number I was given was keyed in. We put through the first 5 bags we grabbed which turned out to be mine, my oldest daughters and her boyfriends. Didn’t matter as we were all going on the same flight. I had to pay for the luggage again and was told US Airway would reimburse me, no worries. Next the woman at United tried to locate my two daughters tickets and mine. No reservation for us. The woman tried calling US Airways and got nowhere, I called the US Airway number I had and was told we were booked and the woman at United was “lying” if she said we were not. After the supervisor at United got on the phone with them another hour had passed. It was too late for my husband and the boys to get through security to even catch their plane and my husband wasn’t thrilled about leaving us girls behind either with no idea how we were going to get home. The United Flight 200 left on time. We were not on it, but our luggage was which is in violation of TSA rules I’ve been told by Midwest Homeland Security since.
3. The same night the United Flight 200 left without us and with our luggage we were then told by US Airways they got us on a flight back to Maui on Hawaiian Airlines and the flight left at 9:33 p.m. so we had to hurry to there. We would get a connecting flight in Maui to Phoenix and then on to Chicago. After walking/running all the way to the other end of the airport with our remaining luggage and carryon bags we were not booked on the flight at all. It was already overbooked by ten people per the Hawaiian Airlines employee. We then had to walk all the way back to the US Airways check-in at the other side of the airport. I was close to an asthma attack and my legs and feet were swollen to pain by that point.
While we were already frustrated by these events, the anger towards U.S. Airways was a direct result of no one working with us at the Check-in area. No one was there and wouldn’t be until an hour or so later per the phone calls made trying to find someone to help out and there were a lot of people who had been booked on United Flight 200 that did not get on the flight either because of screwed up reservations made by US Airways. We were told close to 10:30 p.m. that we would be spending yet another night and day away from home. Finally we were given boarding passes which I refused to leave without for the next night on United Flight 200 leaving at 8:02 p.m. with a voucher for another hotel called the Ala Moana Hotel. My daughter, her boyfriend and myself at this point had no luggage or clothes to change into, since our luggage had gone to Chicago already. I had to buy tee shirts that night in the gift shop that was still opened for her and I to sleep in. The next day my daughter and her boyfriend walked down to a to Mall located by the hotel to buy clothes for all three of us to wear since ours were wrinkled and dirty from our ordeal the night before, which should never have happened. The food vouchers were a complete waste as I still have them all. This hotel stopped serving food at 10:30 p.m. and the neighborhood was questionable to walk around looking for some place to eat at after midnight when we finally got there. We woke up starving at a little after 10:00 a.m. and discovered they stopped serving breakfast at 10:30 a.m. and nothing again until dinner at 5:00 p.m., which would be when we were leaving for the airport. I also forgot to call the limo company again since I was not feeling well at all to change our pickup and was charged for a no show at the airport when they went to pick us up.
4. Finally, we boarded the flight home after paying for the remaining 6 bags of luggage, again being told US Airways would reimburse us for the double payment. The six of us were scattered all over the plane with no one willing to trade seats. So no one was sitting with each other including my 13 year old son and 16 year old daughter. It’s a good thing my son is a well behaved child. Flying that long and far sitting alone without adult supervision even near his seat was unacceptable. I was appalled that the this happened given the inconvenience we had already suffered.
At this point, I have to say this experience will serve as my most negative traveling moments and I have traveled a lot around this world in my years before and after being disabled. We missed days of work and my children school, which my son could not afford to miss believe me or just ask his teachers at the Catholic School he attends. As well, the disregard that I saw shown to the needs of the passengers to stay informed of what was happening and the impact to the lives of real people was also inexcusable.
While weather- and equipment-related delays are understandable, the level of miscommunication by your staff is not. I believe U.S. Airways needs to take full responsibility for the inconvenience and expense we suffered due to your company’s inability to plan for equipment problems, as well as the massive communication breakdown that occurred among your staff. I do not know how U.S. Airways intends to try and make this up to us. But I would love to hear from you how you intend to try. I expect to be compensated in some form or similarly made whole. I await your response within two weeks.
Waiting in response,
Katherine XXXXXXX
cc: Scott Kirby, President, US Airways
Elise Eberwein, Executive Vice President, Public Affairs, US Airways
Robert Isom, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, US Airways
Andrew Nocella, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Planning, US Airways
Tim Linderman, Vice President, Reservations, US Airways
Tom Chapman, Vice President, Government Affairs, US Airways
Kerry Hester, Senior Vice President, Customer Experience, US Airways
John McDonald, Vice President, Corporate Communications, US Airways
Donna Paladini, Vice President, Customer Service, US Airways
Travelers Information and Names Related to this Experience
US Airway Confirmation [deleted].
Second Confirmation 1/6/13 from US Airways: United Airlines Flight 200 Ticket Confirmation [deleted].
1/8/13 the same confirmation number [deleted] for the aborted flight back to Maui and final United Flight.
“Names Removed”
All expenses and receipts are available to send to you, but in an effort to keep this short I did not include them. Expenses include: Food, minivan rental, clothing, double luggage cost, limo and lost wages, not to mention mental stress and physical pain during this time.
“Copy of State Disablity ID Removed”
Does anyone ever get satisfactory results from their complaint letters?
Nope.
But we have choices! we do not have to continue paying money to a Company that does not value us.
While some of these complaints seem more serious than mine, I do agree with those who will choose another airline in the future. USAIRWAYS has no use for it customers. They can save money by firing those people in customer service, because that section is useless.
As a word of advise, never sign up their $25.00 on-line expedited service where they advertise expedited service at the ticket counter, security and early boarding preference. The do not honor service at the airports. This fee and service are almost fraudulent.
I have flown USAir/America West over 1 million miles and let me assure you they suck. The issue is that they really don’t care about your problems. There are some other airlines out there like Delta that value your business and I would suggest to you all that you try another airline!
I don’t know where to begin. My two children, aged 13 and 16, were traveling from Boston to San Francisco via Philadelphia on US Air. They arrived in Philadelphia at 4 PM and went to their gate for the connecting flight which was scheduled for 5:45. Flight was delayed twice and then finally was scheduled for departure. However, they told my kids that the flight was overbooked and that one of them would have to stay behind. It was actually the 13 year old that was involuntarily bumped. When I made the reservation US Air told me that he could not travel alone but it would be possible for him to travel with his 16 year old sister. However, US Air apparently felt that it was OK to bump him. My daughter, of course, refused to fly without him. So, she stayed behind as well. They gave her a voucher for $425 for future travel and gave my son a check for $100. They also gave them $50 in food vouchers and told them to take the shuttle to the Hilton Hotel! My kids did eventually find their way to the shuttle after getting some food in the airport and asking many different people where they could find the shuttle. They arrived at the Hilton about 10:30 PM after taking the shuttle and the hotel refused to accommodate them because they were unaccompanied minors. I could not be reached and was unaware that all of this was happening. I thought they were safely on their flight to SFO. I don’t fault Hilton for not accepting them. I believe they were correct in their decision. However, US Air is a completely different story. Hilton called US Air to come and pick up the kids. After about an hour, they sent a chaperone to pick them up and take them back to the airport where they had to wait until the woman finished her shift. She then took them to the airport Marriott and checked them into a room and took the room next door for herself. My daughter was frantic with worry during this whole ordeal. They eventually got on their flight the next morning at 7:45 am. I just don’t know what to do about this. I feel that US Air was completely out of line making 2 children stay behind by themselves. Does anybody know what can be done about this or who I can speak to in order to lodge a complaint? Any help would be appreciated.
They have laws against this, cared for or not by airlines, long and short get lawyer and file against them as they had a contract and are to care for ur children. They gave them a little of nothing when they should have cared for the children and serve the contract.
My story is regarding my mother. She bought a round trip ticket from Seattle to Tucson, with a plane change in Phoenix. The first part of the trip to Tucson went smoothly. She then had the opportunity to leave Tucson a week early, so I drove down and picked her up and brought her back to my home in Phoenix for a visit. Her return trip on US Airways was the same: a flight from Tucson to Phoenix, change planes, and continue to Seattle.
I advised her to let the airline know that she wasn’t going to take the Tucson to Phoenix flight and would simply board the second flight in Phoenix.
She did call and was ultimately charged $300. I was in disbelief that they’d charge my mother, a senior citizen, $300 for a flight that she already had a seat on. I called and emailed customer service and was told that because she wouldn’t be catching the first flight, the second flight was voided and a new one-way ticket had to be purchased from Phoenix to Seattle.
Repeat: to get home, they made her buy a $300 one-way ticket for a flight on which she already had a paid-for seat.
I find this to be abusive and an outrage. I’m glad for this site, though. While this case isn’t as egregious as some of the other stories posted here, this site does give us a place to come together and voice our experiences. Hopefully, when enough customers complain, maybe US Airways will care.
US-Airways customer service is horrible. Some employees are understanding and want to do the right thing by a customer but some seem to get enjoyment out of saying no to a reasonable request because it’s “company policy” Someone in customer service at the executive level needs to put some time into thinking about how to keep customers and even more important, attract them from the competition. The way US-Airways customer service works today is to drive away customers. They would prefer to send a plane out with 21 empty seats than to fill one with a frequent flyer that arrives early for a flight. When a customer walks away unhappy who is a frequent flyer on another airline you will never encourage that customer to fly with you again. Wake up US-Airlines or your competition will continue to take your customers.
It’s appalling what this family has gone thru. I wonder what other passengers will say if your wife came into the plane and made an announcement to everyone that she was sick with a virus but she was left with no choice but to fly because she would have been charged by the airline a change fee. Im sure that if the other passengers had knowledge of the situation they would have said “We do not want to get sick, let her change her flight to another date so that others health is not compromised”. Just a thought????? But I know its too late for that. I work in the health field and I can tell you first hand that if one of the passengers has AIDS and US Airways allowed a sick passenger to board which caused another person to die – your talking about a BIG LAWSUIT.
I myself am battling with US Airways right now. They are charging me a change fee of $150 and a flight from reno, nv to san jose, ca is going to cost me $900+ not including the change fee. I could fly to another country for what they’re charging me. US AIRWAYS is unwavering about their terms and conditions but you would think that at this day and age where airlines are suffering they would be more about gaining customer instead they are pissing them off with their stupid and ridiculous rules!!!!!! I tell you what I would rather throw $170 down the drain than give them another penny. Im posting this on FACEBOOK since the CEO’S of US AIRWAYS dont seem to care. FACEBOOK is the new social media and its the virus that will infect US airways and hopefully bring them down. How ironic right?
My partner and I came to visit family in Ohio on July 3. The service we received was contemptful and thoroughly odious.
We have kosher meals; which were served to us frozen (as they can only be opened by the passenger.) I opened mine and press the alarm for an attendant. It took stewards half an hour to respond. I had not finished my meal when a steward took it away from me and was so rude to us.
We complained about the service when we arrived at my in-laws. Thus far all we have received is a holding response. The complaint was made on July 4th. It is now July 17th. Still nothing.
This is the first time I have felt so incensed that I wanted to really do something about this airline. We are powerless, helpless and if you can’t afford to pay up, you’re treated like crap!
On the whole the staff are lovely and polite but will not make any concessions for travel arrangements, unles you have money!
We booked in at Columbus at the start of our journey as we were unable to book on line. I need an aisle seat as I have a dodgy hip and always need to move around. My partner was given his seat but not me! My partner and I cannot sit together now, because to do so we will have to pay for it!!!!
We pleaded with the very helpful and courteous staff at Charlotte NC to be seated together, but no, we will be at opposite ends of the plane now.
My partner has problems with flying but if we’re together I can reassure him. To say that I am outraged and incensed with anger doesn’t quite sum up the mood.
We will have another dreadful experience now, and to make matters worse the person who served us going over (that we complained about) is on our flight home!!
Compared to others experiences, this is minor, but I want to cry right now. I feel so powerless, cut off and I’m worried for my partner. Please excuse this anger fuelled rant.
Dear Jonathan,
I just got back about an hour ago from a horrible trip through US Airways. I googled how to send them a complaint, and you’d be glad to know that your website was the first search result that came up!
Your ordeal is definitely especially horrendous. Flying wasn’t always like this, you know? Before, the couple hundred bucks you spent on a trip got you a meal on board, a pillow, blanket… flight attendants were more than willing to help out. Now, we’re packed into planes like sardines, overcharged, our bags that we now pay to be transported get lost or left behind and we receive no refund or explanation. And you know why it all continues this way? Because we take it. Because, at the end of the day, I need to get to Philadelphia, and the US Airways flight is still the cheapest, so I put up with this bullshit.
The only way this is going to change is if people stand together and refuse to fly with certain airlines and take the power back to show these airlines that if they don’t treat us in a dignified matter, their business will indeed be hurt. I wish more people were interested in starting a campaign like this – becasue I certainly am – and with tools today like your blog and social networks, it’s more than possible.
I couldn’t agree more. Where do I sign up. Let us know!!!!!
likewise. i am in the process of filing a bbb complaint. ridiculous
It is unfortunate to read about these experiences. Here is our letter we submitted today that we experienced yesterday.
To whom it may concern: I am writing this complaint in regards to a flight attendant named “Patty” on our flight from PHL to SJU. We had backed away from the gate and the plane was at a standstill waiting to take off. Our 7 year old son was trying to get adjusted into his seat so he could nap (it was a connecting flight from Chicago so we were up early). He was buckled but fidgeting somewhat when Patty aggressively walked up to him directly and loudly scolded him to sit properly, wagging her finger at him and forcefully yanking his seatbelt around his waist. She scolded him while the other passengers looked on and our shy son, who is a good flier, started crying in humiliation. As the other passengers looked at her in disbelief, she sat back in her seat and proceeded to tell the passengers facing her that “it’s a cultural thing.” We found this comment to be COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE! We don’t know what culture she was referring to, but any profiling of this sort is absolutely unacceptable. We are from Chicago but of Indian decent but clearly she thought we were from Puerto Rico or potentially thought it was part of the Indian culture but whatever her reason it was completely inappropriate to treat a child that way or profile to other passengers. We are in Puerto Rico on vacation and our son started his trip feeling embarrassed and sad, and even brought up the incident today, 2 days after our flight. We approached Patty about this as we were leaving the plane, and were less than satisfied with her response. We are dreading our return back to Chicago on Sunday with US Airways. The pure fact she called it a “cultural thing” has us considering escalating this to the press and governing agencies as well as discouraging my 250 employees to cease using US Airways as well. This is unfortunate as our first leg from ORD to PHL was quite pleasant, but it is unlikely that we will be choosing US Airways as our airline in the future. We are extremely upset over this incident and hope you will train all employees to give children the same level of customer service as adults, if not higher.
On May 25, 2012, my husband and I headed from wilmington, NC to Seattle Washington to leave on a cruise. When we landed in Seattle our new luggage looked anything but, with one piece being torn. While on our cruise, my husband had a heart attack (mild, thank God) in Skagway Alaska and had to be airlifted to Anchorage. We were not going to make our return flight because the Doctor would not release my husband to fly until Sunday and our flight was scheduled for Saturday. We called US Air to let them know what happened and was told absolutely not under any circumstances even medical emergencies, could our tickets be changed. We would need new one way tickets home. After quoting a price almost equal to our original round trip tickets, we were quite upset, but were told there was nothing that US Air could do. So, we paid dthe money and asked for a receipt for the unused portion for the travel insurance company. We were told we would get one in the mail. We flew back home on June 4. On June 20, I called the airline because I still had not received a receipt. On this wonderful call, I was informed that the reason the new tickets cost so much was the $150 each for changing the “unchangable” tickets. And a $25 fee each for doing so over the phone. After expressing my intense dislike for the policy, the lady finally says, if I will email them through the complaint department, I may be able to get my $300 back. It is not their policy to let you know when they charge you the fee. I sent my email, have not heard yet but not many hopes. I will not fly US Air again. I have told my travel agent, and anyone else that will listen. They told me the fee was automatic and not waivable. We called from the hospitality house at the hospital. Sending them a fax from the doctor would have been extremely easy. They just do not want my business I guess. Well they won’t have it anymoe.
There are lots of sad, frustrating stories on this site. Let me tell you mine. I was scheduled to return to my home cite from Philadelphia via DCA on connecting flights. The second flight was cancelled, something I was not told but discovered on my own while monitoring the flight status. I called the US Airways Reservation line and was told the next available flight was THE NEXT DAY departing Philadelphia at 3:50, connecting via Charlotte, and arriving in my home town at 7 PM THE NEXT DAY. I asked twice if that was the first available and was told “yes.” I even asked if the agent if she was sure that was the first available and she said “yes.” Not believing that this was the only option, I waited an hour in line at the Service Desk in Philadelphia. When I got to the desk, I asked the exact same question to the person there (who was excellent by the way) and was told that the first available was THAT SAME NIGHT, non-stop to my home city. She then had to check with her supervisor since the flight had been changed. There was space available. I caught that flight which was only about 2/3 full. Had I not checked with the desk I would have stayed overnight in Philadelphia. To say the least, this was my last flight with US Airways.
Doug,
Hope all is well and apologies for having to bring this minor item to your attention, but I have been given no other opportunity for escalation.
Also apologies for the long winded story which details the facts.
On 5/11/12, my wife and daughter (18mth old) boarded US Airways flight 27 from JFK to PHX and then the connecting flight 45 from PHX to KOA. We are going to Hawaii to meet my parents, brother and sister to celebrate my 40th Birthday, my wife’s birthday and Mothers day for all 4 women.
Our luggage, 3 black duffle bags are checked in at JFK.
Within one of the bags are all of the wrapped gifts including 7 birthday and Mothers day cards.
Arriving at KOA we collect our bags and proceed to the hotel (Fairmont Orchid), 40 minute drive. We are scheduled to meet the rest of my family who have flown from Australia to attend the gathering. Upon entering our room and unpacking our bag, we find that one of the bags has been opened and all of the gifts have been ripped open.
2 key gifts are missing – 1 Watch and 1 Purse, both gift wrapped. All of the cards are open.
I contact hotel security to complete a report and take pictures, please see attached pictures.
I contact US Airways (800 428 4322) and the analyst explains that I need to file a report back at the airport. I explain to him that I cannot get back to the airport until the day that we are leaving the island, he say ok, complete upon your exit. Please see my Cell phone records which indicate this 10 minute conversation at 3.56pm on 5/11/12.
As you can see on the phone records, I also speak with American Express after US Airways and the American Express team apologies for the inconvenience and give me a claim number for my phone call – 228100 – something that the US Airways analyst did not – this will become relevant later in the explanation.
On 5/18/12 we depart KOA for PHX and on our departure we speak to the US Airways supervisor at the airport who completes all of the necessary paperwork and then states that she will be filing overnight and will phone my cell with the full claim number – which she did. Claim Number: KOA US 01546178
We return home and complete all of the necessary documentation and send to US Airways.
On May 28th, I received the attached US Airways response to my claim stating that since we did not complete paperwork until 5/18, the claim could not be ‘honored’.
On June 1st, I also received an email response to our request to have the theft investigated by US Airways. See attached email, which explains that it not US Airways, but the fact that the baggage goes through multiple channels and therefore a theft cannot be investigated. Are you seriously operating an airline which cannot maintain who touches the baggage which is then put on the plane – what if the person put items into my bag instead of removing them – I shudder to think of the consequences.
Finally, I would like to request the following:
My claim to be processed and reviewed correctly – it is deemed that I am due the refund of the goods stolen, (approx. $1064.69), then please reimburse me or provide me with a valid explaination of the situation.
Review your current Baggage Claim process as it pertains to raising the claim – stating that the claim has to be raised at the airport is not the best use of current technology.
Review your current Helpdesk policy on logging calls and ensure that all calls are logged – especially to phone number 800 428 4322
Review your current Baggage Claim phone number as the following number (480 693 2191 – you try and call it) goes to a Voicemail which states the call will be returned in 2 hours, yet I left 6 messages from 8am on 6/4/12 and only had a call at 3pm. Also, there is no call back number which means when the analyst calls and the phone call is missed, the process starts again. This must be inflating the amount of Valid calls you are receiving to the Baggage Claim center.
Inform your Baggage Claim supervisor (only known as Joe), that he should be prepared to provide his full name when providing an update to ensure that any escalation or praise can be directed correctly.
I will leave for you to discuss with your directs on the best way to move this item forward.
Regards,
Matthew Hall
I left out of Tampa Fl. on May 22 (UA3205).Was 2 women at the desk and wer not Polite. I ask for help on the computer and there reply was: You speak english don’t you follow the directions. I told them I hadn’t done this . Every time I fly someone is at the counter to help. She came around the counter and said “you do know how to spell your name don’t you. I pushed the wrong key backed up the women said I guess you can’t.
I think you should have someone look into this. You have lost me as a customer over this. All I wanted is a little help getting started.
I have been flying for many years and never ran into this before.
It was a US/United flight in the early morning. They told me I had to go over to United and have change everything because I needed 2 tickets made.
Jacqueline K Hill
30l N. Wilder Road
Plant City F. 33566
Is interesting that our home airlines treat us in such a miserable ways as if we were cows led to the slaughters. Recently I was traveling in Europe with my husband and after spending 5 weeks in Spain we were flying to France for a week and then back to the North America. In Spain we made a mistake and arrived to the airport the day after our original departing due day. Iberian Airlines told us that our flight was the day before. We told them of our mistake and that any help from the beautiful woman who was helping us would be welcome. IN the forms that we signed it stated clearly all the limitations and the non refund fees once the tickets were bought. So we were ridiculously I surprise when in less than 30 minutes she took care of our problem and we were sitting in our seats and saying Adios to wonderful Spain.
Then why can’t airline folks in the USA be more helpful and kind instead of been so GREEDY and thinking of the mighty buck. Rules can me change specially when the needs calls for it and seats are empty. Our economic is a mess and flying keeps going up. A little help at the counter or over the phone customer care can go a long ways instead of making it so painful in those moments when we are in a terrible position, all alone and need it the most. Is not difficult doing this at all and at the end is a win/win deal and great public relation for ANY airline.
What a horrible experience I had today with this company. I will make sure I will never use their services again. My flight was delayed, for 12 hours. They gave me at the gate a new ticket with out even telling me that the flight is cancelled. I had to ask a friend to drive 3 hours to come and pick me up to be on time for a meeting. And the next day I have to drive for 2 hours to pick up my baggage.
When I asked for e refund they told me that its impossible, that even if a claim iI will not get a refund. How is this possible? To pay for ticket, pay 25$ extra for one bag, which I wasn’t aware of, and then pay for a car to rent, gas on so on…
It’s just not worth it, better pay a few extra bucks with a competitor company and you will be more pleased.
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…
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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.
After reading the many valid and painful complains I too wont fly with this airline. But I must say, what you were asked to do and what you did was of a small consequences. I too had accommodate families in similar situation. That to me is not a big breaker deal specially if I am flying to my destination and on time. I see as helping someone who needs it. Sometime those moments happen without warning. But if you really felt that way then the time to voice your opinion was at that moment. But I bet that afterwards you would had felt terrible. You did the right thing.
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.
Beth — I doubt that their “Terms and Conditions” say anything about poor customer service, rude employees, and overall incompetence. As for actually reading something, I suggest you actually read everyone’s complaints.
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.