I found these comments on another board.
US Reservations Is Driving Me Crazy!
One of my good friends goes to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, and he lives in NJ outside of Philly. Before he went back to school, he asked me to book his flights from PIT-PHL to come home on holidays and such. Interestingly enough, US had better fares and better schedules than WN, so I booked him on US flights.
For starters, the US website makes me nuts. I hate the fact that I have to pick the flights before I can find out the price - it makes it so hard to compare different prices on different flights!!! Why can't they do it like AA, CO, DL, or anyone else that gives you the price on each individual flight?
Secondly, about ten minutes after we booked one weekend visit home, he decided that he wanted to switch the weekend he had booked - not a problem; we were within the 24 hour cancellation grace period. Trying to speak to someone at US with half a brain is nearly impossible - they're all outsourced and nearly impossible to understand! I had to hang up on the first two agents because I couldn't understand what they were saying, and the third guy had to put me on hold for 35 minutes just to cancel the ticket. To make matters worse, the US website wouldn't show the status of the ticket - it kept saying "ticket not found." I ended up booking another ticket on Travelocity.com, and US's website wouldn't let me pull it up to check that eveything was alright.
To make matters worse, my friend's mom just sent me an email to tell me that the refund on the canceled ticket never showed up, and the agents are completely useless every time I've called. I can barely understand them, and they all claim that the refund should have been processed. No kidding - but clearly, something failed along the way, and none of them know how to fix it. One agent told me to "wait six statements and then call us back if you see nothing."
I don't mean to go on such a tirade here, and I will admit that I'm about to plug CO here, but oh well. Why can't US be like CO? CO has all of their res agents in the US - with no accents and difficulty in communication. CO's res agents can handle refunds on the spot, and their website is one-hundred times easier to use - allowing you to see all the fares at once and letting you see any reservations under your name, regardless of where they were made. You can also change your seat assignment after the fact - yet another thing US's website cannot do.
No wonder US is doing so poorly financially - it's like pulling teeth to book a flight with them! Now I apologize for being so critical, but I would like to see the CEO of US book a ticket and then deal with reservations over the phone at US and then attempt to do the same with CO. There's no comparison, and if a relatively travel-savvy person (myself) has a hard time with complex issues, how the heck can an "average Joe" do anything?
Now that I'm done with that, I apologize for getting so angry, but I just needed to let off steam - it was making me nuts. Clearly, CO isn't perfect either, and I've had my fair share of gripes about them, but at least I can understand their agents when I call. My sympathies to anyone that lives in PHL or CLT and has to deal with this on a routine basis.
US Reservations Is Driving Me Crazy!
One of my good friends goes to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, and he lives in NJ outside of Philly. Before he went back to school, he asked me to book his flights from PIT-PHL to come home on holidays and such. Interestingly enough, US had better fares and better schedules than WN, so I booked him on US flights.
For starters, the US website makes me nuts. I hate the fact that I have to pick the flights before I can find out the price - it makes it so hard to compare different prices on different flights!!! Why can't they do it like AA, CO, DL, or anyone else that gives you the price on each individual flight?
Secondly, about ten minutes after we booked one weekend visit home, he decided that he wanted to switch the weekend he had booked - not a problem; we were within the 24 hour cancellation grace period. Trying to speak to someone at US with half a brain is nearly impossible - they're all outsourced and nearly impossible to understand! I had to hang up on the first two agents because I couldn't understand what they were saying, and the third guy had to put me on hold for 35 minutes just to cancel the ticket. To make matters worse, the US website wouldn't show the status of the ticket - it kept saying "ticket not found." I ended up booking another ticket on Travelocity.com, and US's website wouldn't let me pull it up to check that eveything was alright.
To make matters worse, my friend's mom just sent me an email to tell me that the refund on the canceled ticket never showed up, and the agents are completely useless every time I've called. I can barely understand them, and they all claim that the refund should have been processed. No kidding - but clearly, something failed along the way, and none of them know how to fix it. One agent told me to "wait six statements and then call us back if you see nothing."
I don't mean to go on such a tirade here, and I will admit that I'm about to plug CO here, but oh well. Why can't US be like CO? CO has all of their res agents in the US - with no accents and difficulty in communication. CO's res agents can handle refunds on the spot, and their website is one-hundred times easier to use - allowing you to see all the fares at once and letting you see any reservations under your name, regardless of where they were made. You can also change your seat assignment after the fact - yet another thing US's website cannot do.
No wonder US is doing so poorly financially - it's like pulling teeth to book a flight with them! Now I apologize for being so critical, but I would like to see the CEO of US book a ticket and then deal with reservations over the phone at US and then attempt to do the same with CO. There's no comparison, and if a relatively travel-savvy person (myself) has a hard time with complex issues, how the heck can an "average Joe" do anything?
Now that I'm done with that, I apologize for getting so angry, but I just needed to let off steam - it was making me nuts. Clearly, CO isn't perfect either, and I've had my fair share of gripes about them, but at least I can understand their agents when I call. My sympathies to anyone that lives in PHL or CLT and has to deal with this on a routine basis.
