call for EDF US Airways boycott (and other airline horror stories)

[JaBlue]

[censored] you, US Airways. [censored] you.

I was scheduled to leave for Richmond, VA on a Friday. Had a return flight scheduled 10 days later on a Monday. Got strep throat on Teusday, was too sick to fly. Rescheduled with an agent for the Monday after the Friday. Now I was scheduled to fly into Norfolk and out of Richmond. Cost $100 + difference between airfare, which was like $3. Arranged on the phone with an agent in Thailand or India or something.

Here it begins.

Going...

Monday: Go to SFO, ready to fly SFO-Charlotte, Charlotte-Norfolk, arrive around 11:00 EST. First flight delayed an hour. No surprise there. When we get into Charlotte I see that the next flight is delayed until 12:15. [censored], my dad's in the middle of a two-hour drive to pick me up. Call him, he resigns to waiting 3 extra hours for me at Norfolk.

Midnight rolls around and they make an announcement that the flight is canceled. Reason? One of the flight attendants has been working too long and cannot continue due to FAA regulations. This is something they should have known and informed us of at 10:00, when the flight was originally delayed. If they had realized this, they could simply find a replacement for the one person that cannot work. At midnight there was no replacement to be found. They say, "normally we would send you (a fullish shuttle plane) to a hotel, but there is some kind of convention and no hotels are available... if you can find a hotel and bring the receipt back we will send you a check in the mail." Meanwhile they had arranged another flight for us at 7:40 the next day.

So they wanted us to wander around Charlotte, 15 min cab ride from the airport, at midnight when we would have to leave the hotel at 6:00 AM anyway. I slept in baggage instead.

Teusday: 7:40AM flight is delayed until 10:50. Ugh. Didn't sleep at all Monday night and now another day's gonna be wasted just catching up. That's 1/7th of my vacation with my Dad.

Returning

Monday: scheduled to fly on American Airlines out of Richmond to San Francisco by way of Richmond-O'Hare, O'hare-SFO. Go to American self-check-in an hour early. 3 people in line. Nobody around. Insert credit card. Itinerary shows. Print boarding ticket. Will not print. See attendant. Oh, no...

"US Airways has 'control' of your ticket and we cannot print it. Go to US Airways agent to print your ticket." On over. 50 mins from flight time. Go there. They can't print my ticket either. Agent helping me calls superiors, slowly works on the problem. Nothing gets accomplished in 20 minutes, 30 minutes from departure time and I'm getting nervous. She asks for my previous flight information. I don't have flight numbers, etc. but say I can look it up, remembering the original departure times etc. US Air only has 5 day's worth of flight data recorded. I can look it up in my email if they have internet. They don't have internet on their computers. WTF? "That's why people bring computers with them." Wow. WOW. [censored] YOU AGENT. I explain the process I went to to change flight info, she looks it up. Then she drops the bomb, "when you rescheduled the flight, you canceled your return trip." Woah. WHAT? Why was I not told this on the phone? You're telling me I paid $100 extra to CANCEL MY RETURN FLIGHT? Now I have to buy a new last-minute ticket to SFO. Now I'm out another $350, and have to hang around the airport for a while again and lose my day in San Francisco.

I start arguing with the agent, saying that everything that has happened has been US Airways's fault. I'm entitled to a free ticket to SFO at least. No dice. This incompetent half-wit's chief argumentation technique consists of replying "no" to any sentence without attempt at assimilation of content. Goes on like this. She thinks I'm angry at her but everything I've said is "US Airways..." She's clearly not going to give me anything. Conservative Richmonders are getting nervous. Condescending eyes are upon me. Argue longer. Lady still won't budge, or explain why, other than "no." "its not US Airways fault."

Can I see your manager?

You're speaking to her.

You've got to be kidding.

I leave, $350 and a center seat on a 6-hour flight later.

Will be calling customer relations, and if I don't get something up and above the money that was wasted, I'm going to small claims, which guarantees to be more of a pain in the ass than it'll be worth. But its the principle. Suggestions for going about this?

---

The dumbest thing I did in all of this was not ask the Richmond manager for her name (she wasn't wearing a tag)

US Airways is not getting any of my business. Ever. And I spend thousands on airfare each year. EDF, do not let yourselves be held subject to the mercy of this awful airline.

[Tom Ames]

I recently had an experience similar to the first leg of your trip with Continental. My overnight stay in the airport was caused by weather delays so they really weren't responsible. However, I had a terrible experience with the staff who were re-scheduling everyone's connecting flights. I e-mailed Continental's customer service department with some details, and promptly received an apology and a voucher. The voucher didn't cover a full flight, but I really didn't expect that much from them.

I think I'd go the e-mail route first (if available), then pursue it with phone calls if you're not satisfied with their response. Good luck.

[jba]

pretty standard cross country plane trip clusterf*. shame on you for not having a confirmation # for your rescheduled itinerary, but it sounds like your only misstep.

the richmond manager could not possibly do anything for you. you can't get on the plane without a boarding pass and the computer won't print out a boarding pass until you buy a ticket. not sure what you expected her to do. she can't just write you out one with a pen or anything.

also "thousands on airfare each year" isn't really getting you anywhere sorry to say. to them you are a side business that is just used to fill the cheap seats. I used to spend thousands a month and the only real difference that made is they would smile a lot more when they said no.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

begin boycotting airlines for terrible experiences and your bus/train riding while increase shortly thereafter

[defixated]

It's hard to tell whether this particular incident was a data entry error or a systems issue or an individual CS problem, but I think USAir has a bad corporate culture.

In the 90s I was on a USAir redeye in which their safety video (volume at full shriek) included an ad for a credit card. Spamming captive passengers = "We just don't care about your experience".

I avoided USAir for ten years. Last year I flew them twice (once my gf booked the flight, another time I needed a specific arrival into PHL). Same irritating ad!

It's remarkable how a tiny increment of customer care (Jet Blue, Virgin) turns people into evangelists. I don't get into that, but I think of avoiding companies like USAir and Best Buy as the consumer equivalent of "Life's too short to deal with [censored]".

[Los Feliz Slim]

This story is standard, and probably belongs in OOT.

[KurtSF]

Somehow, airports always seem to bring out the worst.

This was on United, shortly after 9/11 and shortly after I got married. So everyone was a litle tense at the airport, plus we were in that awkward in-between time when att of my wife's IDs didn't match. The plane ticket and our credit cards were in her new name. I had my DL and passport, my wife had her DL with her old name, her birth cirtificate, and our marriage liscence showing we were married. I called the airline and TSA before our trip to make sure this ID was sufficient, and was reassured by everyone that it was. I bet you can guess where this is going. We fly from SFO to Chicago no problem, then Chicago to ALB, spend a week with family, then get on the flight from ALB to Chicago. Last leg of the trip, we're almost home!

We've gone through security, we just got off another United flight, and at the gate the gate agent says to my wife "Sorry, this ID doesn't match the ticket. You can't board the plane." I had already had my ticket ripped and was about to go down the jetway, but now they wouldn't let my wife on the plane. I say to the gate agent "I know, but its OK, we have the birth cirtificate and marriage license."

"Doesn't matter, she can't baord the plane."

I explain, patiently at this point, about how I called TSA and United and both said the ID was OK, and about how every other gate agent from this same airline thought it was OK, and how we, in fact, just 30 minutes prior got off a United flight.

"She cannot fly without proper ID."

Now I'm getting angry. "But she has proper ID!" People are starting to stare.

"Look, I'm a supervisor, and I can tell you that there is no chance that she will get on a flight to San Francisco on this airline."

For [censored] sake! Nightmare images are flying through my head about having to rent a car or take a bus, missing work, etc, etc. This is where it gets positivly surreal. The gate agent has asked us numerous times to step out of line so others could board the flight, so now, staring at each other in disbelief trying to piece together what was happening, my wife and I step back toward the waiting area. The gate gent pipes up again "Sir, your're already checked in, you have to board the plane. If you don't get on the plane its a violation of FAA regulation and I'll have to call an Air Marshal."

Slackjawed, I'm pretty sure these are the exact words I uttered: "First of all, your crazy if you think I'm getting on a plane without my wife, and second, could you please call the Air Marshals. Maybe they will striahgten you out."

"You have to get on the plane, sir."

As matter of fact as possible I say "I'm not getting on without my wife." She gets it and goes to the podium, uses the phone for a couple seconds, then returns and asks us to wait by the podium for the Air Marshals to arrive. We do, and she continues taking tickets from the other passengers. It takes like 20 miutes and 2 g-men in suits show up. The gate agent pulls them asside for a second to tell them something, then they take us into an area that has been curtained off for searches. They check our ID, ask us a few questions about where we are going and why, then they unpack all of our carry on luggage and go through everything. With our clothes spread through the whole terminal, they say "have a nice flight," and leave.

Evil gate agent is gone, and we get on the plane without incident. At this point it dawns on me what just happened. The evil [censored], at some point, realized how bat-[censored] insane she was being, and told the Air Marshals that we were randomly selected for a security check, and there was no mention of why she wasn't going to let us fly. To top is off, the crazy gate agent was a flight attendant on the flight, and spent the entire time avoiding my wife and I. She wouldn't make eye contact. When she came around for drink service (no more meals on planes) she skipped me!!! Everyone else got drinks, I had to ring the attendant call and get someone else to bring me a drink. She said "buh-bye now" to everyone getting off the flight, but convieniently had other business to attend to just as my wife and I exited the plane.

Let me tell you, if ever I was motivated to do violent bodily harm to anyone, it was that [censored].

I hate flying. Thanks for letting me share my horror story.

[J.A.Sucker]

On the way out, you should have had them rent you a car when your flight got cancelled so you could just make the 5 hr drive instead of sleeping in baggage claim. People do this kind of stuff all the time. It sucks that the airline is imcompetent, but worse things could happen.

On your way home, I would have burned that [censored] down. You should get a free flight, which will probably be delayed 6 hours because it's US Air, but you could at least go somewhere fun... eventually.

[wdcbooks]

I am now going to be taking the Acela for any of my business travel where it is at all feasible. It is comfortable, fast, rarely delayed, and it deposits you in the center of the city you are trying to get to.

I travelled to Denver for business along with twenty-five other people from all over the country. Four people had such bad flight experiences that they didn't make it to the meeting. I was scheduled at 3:00 and arrived at midnight.

[El Diablo]

Ja,

Unforunately, LFS is right. This is pretty standard w/ majors these days.

OOT thread

Similar OOT thread.

I've flown USAir once this year (to Vegas) and they seemed to be having all sorts of problems sorting things out after one flight was cancelled. Generally, if you are flying a major airline out of a city that is not a hub for them, if something gets screwed up it can be a real pain in the ass.

Nowadays my flights are almost all either JetBlue or Southwest. If I go to Houston, I fly United or Continental. Other than that, I try to stick to JB/SW and otherwise stick w/ United out of SFO if I can't get there on those airlines. I'll be adding Virgin America to the mix now, though.

Anyway, definitely write up a letter to the airline. Sounds like your flight should most definitely not have been cancelled and I think you hvae a very good shot at getting your return flight refunded and maybe some additional compensation.

Definitely mention the fact about the FA going illegal - if the flight was delayed in advance, then as you mention THEY ALREADY KNOW AT THAT POINT SHE GOES ILLEGAL, so there's no excuse to wait until midnight to announce that.

OK, locking this thread, feel free to bitch more about airlines in the OOT thread, I feel your pain. So glad I don't travel all the time for business anymore.

ED: Changed my mind, in the time I typed this a couple of good airline horror story posts... So, I'll keep this open for the time being.