Another Customer Tale

[USlurker]

As I have posted before, I am a huge fan of US Airways. I've been a very loyal US1 for a long time. I grew up in a Piedmont town and I've always felt that the folks who work for U are the best in the business, bar none. I read this forum regularly and I believe that I understand the causes of the legitimate frustration many of you feel with your management and the degree to which the numerous concessions have hurt each of you. I wish I had some clue how to make that better, but I don't. I have continued to book 95% of my travel with U and I have continued to be pleased by the quality of the product (although I have certainly seen it decline over recent years).

The events of the holiday have seriously shaken my faith. I cashed in some of my many miles to fly my elderly grandmother to visit with the family over Christmas. Because I have far too many miles (of dubious value) and because I wanted her experience to be as pleasant as possible, I booked her on a first class award ticket. Like many of your VFFs, I tend to avoid PHL for connections when I can, but a holiday award ticket didn't have too many options. As a sidelight, isn't it an embarrassment that one of your two biggest airports is one that I (and many others like me) actively avoid?

Needless to say, her experience was horrific. In addition to the several cancelled flights, lost Christmas gifts and lack of information provided to anyone, she was generally treated rudely. She apparently missed one flight because no one could manage to get her wheelchair or a cart to the gate. The chronic understaffing, combined with the stress of managing what I'm sure was a very difficult situation led to a completely terrible customer service experience for her.

The 23 people at my house for the holiday and many of friends and employees regard me as a real authority on travel issues. They asked me how I could continue to support U based on this experience and I really don't have an answer.

I used to be confident that no matter what happened, the fine folks who work for US Airways would rise to the occasion and make the best of it. If poor management or bankruptcy judges or pay cuts have taken that away, then there is no longer any reason to fly your airline for me. For the first time ever, despite all the previous bad news, I am seriously considering a move to another airline for 2005. I wish you all the best no matter what paths we each take in the next year.

 

[GadgetFreak]

For what it is worth, I had a similar, yet very different holiday experience. I had booked a ticket for my father to come to PIT from CVG to visit with us as we visited my wifes family. Since US doesnt fly that non-stop anymore I booked it for Dec 24 with a Dec 26 return on Delta (aka Comair). So on Friday morning his flight was cancelled. The line at Delta at PIT for a nonstatus flyer was possibly several hours long. So Im in line to try to find out what is going on while calling on my cell phone. After about 45 minutes I get through on the phone. Line hasnt moved more than 5 feet. Guy on phone doesnt know where he is or when he has been rebooked. Check my cell phone internet and find other carrier out of CVG to PIT at about that time were US. Go to US check in for first class, wait maybe 3 minutes before getting to counter. They check and he wasnt on the US flights out of CVG. So I leave the airport all the while trying Delta again. I finally get someone on the phone to confirm he is on a late afternoon Comair flight and he does arrive on that. My dad used to fly a lot on business and knows better than to check a bag but the Comair bags at PIT were a mini version of PHL.

Then of course his flight on Sunday on Comair is cancelled. So I buy him a 1 way full fare ticket on US. But through CLT, not PHL. It wasnt without some problems, missed connection (still no idea why he was there in time) in CLT and a cancelled flight on the rebooked one but there is a big difference. First, I was able to get through to US and get good information and they were very helpful in rebooking. And secondly, even several days afterwards when I talked with my dad he started talking about how nice all the people at US air in both CLT and PIT were and how helpful they were to him.

That is what pisses me off so much about this situation. The US air people in PIT, CLT and most other stations (ie my home airport LGA) are absolutely the best in the business. This is especially true of the CP desk. Im a UA 1K and the US CP desk beats them hands down. But all of these great employees are being brought down by bad management and bad employees at PHL. Its a damn shame. Decisions by US management put the fate of the company in the hands of the employees at PHL. Several things have to happen for US to survive. But one of them is that the employees at PHL have to come up to the standards of the rest of US. If not, people just arent going to fly US.