Monday, April 9th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
A Memo To Doug Parker
By MDefl
This is a memo to Doug Parker, the CEO and Chairman of The Board for US Airways. I would email this directly to US Airways but it is not their style to respond to complaints from people who fly on their planes every single week.
Please feel free to share your horror stories. I will list in numerical form all of the things Doug, that is currently wrong with your little airline.
1. Your insulting emails - First and foremost, please stop telling me how everything is getting better. It is not. See everything I am going to type below. I want to gag everytime I see an email from you.
2. Delays - Yes, this happens to every airline and at every airport and it is inevitable. However , do other airlines strand their customers for hours on end because their customer service reps do not understand how to use the “new reservation systemâ€. I use the quotes because I have heard about the “new reservation system†6 times in 3 weeks.
3. Service - Your employees are surly, combative and in many cases downright sneaky. No one can help you at the counter or on the phone. Even when your airline cancels a flight (which happens all the time now) your ticket agents act as though we are lucky to even be allowed to speak with them. I heard an agent tell a young woman who was pregnant and trying to get home, “what do you want me to do about it lady� On another flight an elderly man became ill and the flight attendant asked if there was a doctor on board. Fortunately, there was and he was able to provide assistance. His reward was that flight attendant came back to him with a form to sign that would have transferred the liability from the airline to him! Needless to say, he did not sign anything. Oh, and the flight attendant was very nice (sugary sweet actually) when trying to obtain the Doctor’s signature. These are but a few examples of what I have seen recently.
3. Inaccurate Information - Doug, your website continually shows every flight to be on time. That is, right up to the moment when a customer arrives at the airport. It is at that point, that the flight will be cancelled and yet another traveler will be stranded by good old US Airways. Also, a $5 voucher after being given incorrect information by a flight crew on a connecting flight DOES NOT make up for the error.
4. Lack of Accountability - It is no one’s fault at US Airways. Just ask them, they will tell you. I called the 800 number pretending to be a happy client to see if they would own up to all of their current problems. Doug, your phone representatives (at least the one I spoke with) claimed the press was exaggerating the problems. Hmm…did you see the baggage claim area in the Philadelphia airport? This leads me to -
5. Luggage - This is an old problem that has never been resolved. 2 ice storms and hundreds of stranded bags later at the Philadelphia airport has resulted in the main stream press finally taking notice. I never, ever check baggage except plane side when I am on a commuter flight. This is where you can pick up your luggage immediately when departing the plane. Baggage personnel at Philadelphia tried to drive away with my bag, when, standing in the pouring rain, I yelled at them to stop. My reward was a US Airways person telling me to “calm down, obviously your bag is not in thereâ€. After writing his name down, they double checked and what do you know? My bag was in the vehicle and heaven only knows what my luggage’s final destination would have been if I had not spoken up.
6. The Condition of Your Planes - For the last 6 months US Airways planes, more often than not, reek of urine and body odor. Doug, you must not fly on your own airline or this would have been noticed. Try to fly in an annyomous fashion and you will quickly realize that your planes are not being cleaned. A 5 hour flight while being stuck in the last row next to the bathroom is never fun. Especially when you are a gold preferred (HAHA!) dividend miles member. Gagging the whole way due to the putrid smell only adds insult to injury.
7. Treatment of Frequent Flyers - Frankly, we are treated like crap by your airline. Your upgrade system does not work, your meals are a complete joke (when you don’t run out of them) and your “special†number does not provide frequent flyers with any service, much less premium service.
8. The Credit Card - I will vomit if I have to hear about the US Airways credit card one more time. Just sign up! 25,000 miles = a round trip to any domestic location in the United States. That is a flat out lie! Doug, you know as well as I do that to fly to any “destination†spot, US Airways doubles the mileage requirement. Not only that, but the bank you chose to partner with is the pits. I will save you from my personal horror story with them, but suffice it say they are a perfect partner for US Airways. Incompetence meets imcompetence.
9. Tracking Earned Dividend Miles - US Airlines belongs to a partnership called Star Alliance. There are numerous partners that you can fly with and still receive US Airways mileage credit. Up until 6 months ago, this worked perfectly and a customer never had to worrry about receiving the proper credit for miles. Then, like everything else with US Airways, it went to Hell. At first, all you had to do was call (the special gold number) if your miles were not credited and they would resolve the issue with you. Then, they started to require that a letter and a copy of your boarding pass from the partner airline be faxed to them. OK, it is not ideal and they really should have their act together but I am willing to do that. Oh, but that is not the end. The new policy, as of last week, is that a flyer must MAIL a letter, with the original boarding pass AND ticket receipt. Now, I have to be a clerk for US Airways. What a wonderful use of my time.
10. A Lack of Appreciation - Given all of the problems, one would think that US Airways would be bending over backwards to make the flying public, especially the frequent flyers happy. One would be wrong! Doug, how about this for a solution to regain some good will. Why not offer to deposit 10,000 miles (and make them count towards preferred status) to every frequent flyer account who has had a flight cancelled this winter? Standard emails stating that you are aware that there have been some problems just does not cut it with this traveler. You need to do much more to regain the confidence of your most important customers, the business travelers.
I left most of my personal horror stories with US Airways out of this memorandum. The examples I sited in the first person are not even close to the horror stories that I could tell. I have called United Airlines and they have agreed to give me the same status level that I “enjoy†with US Airways. As it stands now, I will only have to use US Airways when there is no other option. I will be decreasing my travel with them by approximately 80%. The truly sad part is that Doug Parker and his pals will be paid huge amounts of money and in the end will probably land US Airways into that unique free pass that exists for airlines. This is called bankruptcy where they can get away with not paying most of their creditors and actually begin purchasing another airline while still in bankruptcy.
Please take note Doug, that I did not resort to the easy, cheap tactic of taking a personal shot at you. Unlike your airline, I retain my class and dignity.
http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=627
----------
About Us
Right Pundits is conservative, cool, thoughtful, and edgy. We are mainly a political blog, but you’ll see entertainment, sports, and other topics thrown in according to the incredibly strange whims of each blogger.
We sponsor a USO Dance Show each Friday for our troops. Hope the word gets out and it grows.
As conservatives, the karma of the blog is intended to be independent of parties. Our natural inclinations will endear us with Republicans most often, but we are not here shilling for the party. Those Libertarians ain’t so bad either. What we ideally hope to achieve through “blogger diversification†is a broad enough cross-section of conservative ideas to make the website a worthy read. If we irritate all of you some of the time, we are probably doing our jobs well.
Because we are of various viewpoints, each person’s view expressed on Right Pundits stands on its own legs. The other bloggers won’t necessarily support it, so don’t leave here thinking “Right Pundits website thinks….. †We are individual bloggers expressing individual opinions, okay?
Most of us comment regularly at David Wissing’s excellent The Hedgehog Report website. So check that site out too. And when you are done there, check out RightLinx. Most of us blogged there for a short time.
Ideas for posts are always welcome by emailing McCain or leaving your good ideas in the Open Trackback posts which appear each Tuesday and Friday.
RightPundits launched in November, 2006. Yep, we’re pretty new around here!
A Memo To Doug Parker
By MDefl
This is a memo to Doug Parker, the CEO and Chairman of The Board for US Airways. I would email this directly to US Airways but it is not their style to respond to complaints from people who fly on their planes every single week.
Please feel free to share your horror stories. I will list in numerical form all of the things Doug, that is currently wrong with your little airline.
1. Your insulting emails - First and foremost, please stop telling me how everything is getting better. It is not. See everything I am going to type below. I want to gag everytime I see an email from you.
2. Delays - Yes, this happens to every airline and at every airport and it is inevitable. However , do other airlines strand their customers for hours on end because their customer service reps do not understand how to use the “new reservation systemâ€. I use the quotes because I have heard about the “new reservation system†6 times in 3 weeks.
3. Service - Your employees are surly, combative and in many cases downright sneaky. No one can help you at the counter or on the phone. Even when your airline cancels a flight (which happens all the time now) your ticket agents act as though we are lucky to even be allowed to speak with them. I heard an agent tell a young woman who was pregnant and trying to get home, “what do you want me to do about it lady� On another flight an elderly man became ill and the flight attendant asked if there was a doctor on board. Fortunately, there was and he was able to provide assistance. His reward was that flight attendant came back to him with a form to sign that would have transferred the liability from the airline to him! Needless to say, he did not sign anything. Oh, and the flight attendant was very nice (sugary sweet actually) when trying to obtain the Doctor’s signature. These are but a few examples of what I have seen recently.
3. Inaccurate Information - Doug, your website continually shows every flight to be on time. That is, right up to the moment when a customer arrives at the airport. It is at that point, that the flight will be cancelled and yet another traveler will be stranded by good old US Airways. Also, a $5 voucher after being given incorrect information by a flight crew on a connecting flight DOES NOT make up for the error.
4. Lack of Accountability - It is no one’s fault at US Airways. Just ask them, they will tell you. I called the 800 number pretending to be a happy client to see if they would own up to all of their current problems. Doug, your phone representatives (at least the one I spoke with) claimed the press was exaggerating the problems. Hmm…did you see the baggage claim area in the Philadelphia airport? This leads me to -
5. Luggage - This is an old problem that has never been resolved. 2 ice storms and hundreds of stranded bags later at the Philadelphia airport has resulted in the main stream press finally taking notice. I never, ever check baggage except plane side when I am on a commuter flight. This is where you can pick up your luggage immediately when departing the plane. Baggage personnel at Philadelphia tried to drive away with my bag, when, standing in the pouring rain, I yelled at them to stop. My reward was a US Airways person telling me to “calm down, obviously your bag is not in thereâ€. After writing his name down, they double checked and what do you know? My bag was in the vehicle and heaven only knows what my luggage’s final destination would have been if I had not spoken up.
6. The Condition of Your Planes - For the last 6 months US Airways planes, more often than not, reek of urine and body odor. Doug, you must not fly on your own airline or this would have been noticed. Try to fly in an annyomous fashion and you will quickly realize that your planes are not being cleaned. A 5 hour flight while being stuck in the last row next to the bathroom is never fun. Especially when you are a gold preferred (HAHA!) dividend miles member. Gagging the whole way due to the putrid smell only adds insult to injury.
7. Treatment of Frequent Flyers - Frankly, we are treated like crap by your airline. Your upgrade system does not work, your meals are a complete joke (when you don’t run out of them) and your “special†number does not provide frequent flyers with any service, much less premium service.
8. The Credit Card - I will vomit if I have to hear about the US Airways credit card one more time. Just sign up! 25,000 miles = a round trip to any domestic location in the United States. That is a flat out lie! Doug, you know as well as I do that to fly to any “destination†spot, US Airways doubles the mileage requirement. Not only that, but the bank you chose to partner with is the pits. I will save you from my personal horror story with them, but suffice it say they are a perfect partner for US Airways. Incompetence meets imcompetence.
9. Tracking Earned Dividend Miles - US Airlines belongs to a partnership called Star Alliance. There are numerous partners that you can fly with and still receive US Airways mileage credit. Up until 6 months ago, this worked perfectly and a customer never had to worrry about receiving the proper credit for miles. Then, like everything else with US Airways, it went to Hell. At first, all you had to do was call (the special gold number) if your miles were not credited and they would resolve the issue with you. Then, they started to require that a letter and a copy of your boarding pass from the partner airline be faxed to them. OK, it is not ideal and they really should have their act together but I am willing to do that. Oh, but that is not the end. The new policy, as of last week, is that a flyer must MAIL a letter, with the original boarding pass AND ticket receipt. Now, I have to be a clerk for US Airways. What a wonderful use of my time.
10. A Lack of Appreciation - Given all of the problems, one would think that US Airways would be bending over backwards to make the flying public, especially the frequent flyers happy. One would be wrong! Doug, how about this for a solution to regain some good will. Why not offer to deposit 10,000 miles (and make them count towards preferred status) to every frequent flyer account who has had a flight cancelled this winter? Standard emails stating that you are aware that there have been some problems just does not cut it with this traveler. You need to do much more to regain the confidence of your most important customers, the business travelers.
I left most of my personal horror stories with US Airways out of this memorandum. The examples I sited in the first person are not even close to the horror stories that I could tell. I have called United Airlines and they have agreed to give me the same status level that I “enjoy†with US Airways. As it stands now, I will only have to use US Airways when there is no other option. I will be decreasing my travel with them by approximately 80%. The truly sad part is that Doug Parker and his pals will be paid huge amounts of money and in the end will probably land US Airways into that unique free pass that exists for airlines. This is called bankruptcy where they can get away with not paying most of their creditors and actually begin purchasing another airline while still in bankruptcy.
Please take note Doug, that I did not resort to the easy, cheap tactic of taking a personal shot at you. Unlike your airline, I retain my class and dignity.
http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=627
----------
About Us
Right Pundits is conservative, cool, thoughtful, and edgy. We are mainly a political blog, but you’ll see entertainment, sports, and other topics thrown in according to the incredibly strange whims of each blogger.
We sponsor a USO Dance Show each Friday for our troops. Hope the word gets out and it grows.
As conservatives, the karma of the blog is intended to be independent of parties. Our natural inclinations will endear us with Republicans most often, but we are not here shilling for the party. Those Libertarians ain’t so bad either. What we ideally hope to achieve through “blogger diversification†is a broad enough cross-section of conservative ideas to make the website a worthy read. If we irritate all of you some of the time, we are probably doing our jobs well.
Because we are of various viewpoints, each person’s view expressed on Right Pundits stands on its own legs. The other bloggers won’t necessarily support it, so don’t leave here thinking “Right Pundits website thinks….. †We are individual bloggers expressing individual opinions, okay?
Most of us comment regularly at David Wissing’s excellent The Hedgehog Report website. So check that site out too. And when you are done there, check out RightLinx. Most of us blogged there for a short time.
Ideas for posts are always welcome by emailing McCain or leaving your good ideas in the Open Trackback posts which appear each Tuesday and Friday.
RightPundits launched in November, 2006. Yep, we’re pretty new around here!