As a former EAST WO supervisor, I'm amazed by the LACK OF COMMUNICATION about the changes in the pass policy.
#1. Was flying back from Hawaii with a friend. ETC down. Surprise surprise. AQ hates my employer, so they wouldn't help me with anything. Call res, said flight is tight, not sure all NRSA's will make it. Can't log into Shares - laptop dying. Although what good would it be as I can't check-in. Traded a US buddy pass with a friend at United, called HP res to change friend's SA7 comp pass from XXX - PHX to SFO - PHX, asked about the refund in fare difference (as in East Sabre, TIPS comes up with a reissue and offers to refund or addcollect fare diff), HP RES agent says to get it from pass bureau when I get back. Friend and I make it on UA, and in F!! Get home. Talk to pass bureau - they're like "what crack are you on".. call HP pass bureau - said they don't do refunds, need to call res... call res, said no ticket to refund, it was an even exchange, call Cust Relations - explained story, and that I NEVER would have allowed the transaction to happen as they are all telling me that i am out $80. I would have simply used another buddy pass and had the original Hawaii - phx pass refunded. CR agrees with me, said communcation sucks, and I need to talk to refunds. Finally get thru to Refunds.. refunds said she can't do anything without a supervisor authorizing it. Said no supervisor there to do it, need to call res.
So now I'm out $80 cause USAirways can't keep up their end of the bargain by keeping TheHub updated -- as a former supervisor I relied on the manuals and information in TheHub. Also, had the HP res agent told me "oh, you can't get a refund" I would have simply asked for a refund on the unused ticket and used a new buddy pass for the $30 flight.
#2. Friend flying on a pass of an HP employee goes to PHX airport, cant' check in as the HP agent says "I need his profile" and he doesn't have it. Told my friend that he's already listed, and its in the PNR, and to tell the agent to get a supervisor. Agent refuses to get a supervisor, refuses to check - in friend (WHO IS ALREADY LISTED!!). In a frantic, I list him on TheHub (have him pay at airport) in case he cant' get it squared away. New agent pulls up original PNR and issues ticket, friend on phone is amazed, then tells me the HP guys tell him to tell me that my buddy pass is useless now.
At this point I'm furious. At EAST, we could list buddy pass riders but it didn't get deducted from our bank UNTIL it was ticketed... now the moment we click on "OK" it deducts it -- so if they don't use it, you are OUT OF YOUR BUDDY PASS!
I finally got HP pass bureau to recredit my pass due to the PHX HP agent's inability to do his/her job.
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I'm very disappointed in the "New" USAirways. You'll notice my references to HP, and not US... this is NOT US anymore. As a supervisor, I was trained inside and out on our policies and trained my agents if they were unsure, to ask me, or look it up in FOCUS, or hell, call help desk. Where I worked, we had a massive amount of employees / retirees and employee ticketing was the first thing I learned (well, after how to board a flight!).
Dealing with HP Customer Relations and Refunds, I spoke to REAL HP employees and they too expressed disgust in the way things are being done... not really US vs HP, but the lack of communication.
So I feel for everyone out there who is getting burned by the new program & policy... I also feel for the HP'ers who once got 30 buddy passes a year and now get only 8. I wish there was a way to earn more to make ALL of us happy...
