DOT July report card-Consumer Complaints

[US Oringinal]

The July DOT report card is out. US Airways finishes the month near the top among the Majors in on-time performance , around the middle in baggage handling , yet at the very bottom in terms of complaints filed. We received more complaints per passengers carried than any other carrier! :down: :down:

ATTENTION TEMPE! Even though we're running a much better operation than before, our customers are not happy customers..........

While I'm sure they will explain these numbers away by saying customers are "adjusting" to our ala carte program, our company execs need to wake up and realize that people will(if they haven't already) begin actively booking away from US........

Despite the frontline employees busting their tails to improve our operation, passengers are NOT happy with the way they are being treated by USAirways.....and it has to do with Tempe's ill-conceived, passenger unfriendly policies, not with the front-line employees. We've been at or near the bottom in terms of consumer complaints for several months and it's not getting better.

Tempe's continued treatment of our customers as replaceable commodities is going to hurting us all....and will adversely effect(if it hasn't already) our bottom line.

Discuss..........

 

[Dog Wonder]

Perhaps the Customer Relations department is not doing its job.

 

[hp_fa]

Perhaps the Customer Relations department is not doing its job.

Customer Relations can only do so much if Parker and Kirby are making decisions that are bound to aggravate customers.

 

[luvthe9]

The July DOT report card is out. US Airways finishes the month near the top among the Majors in on-time performance

ONLY because the company pads the flight time BIG TIME.

 

[phlus2]

Perhaps the Customer Relations department is not doing its job.

What exactly is their job? They long ago stopped replying to my letters! Guess they figured I had enough "dollar off" coupons for future travel.

 

[signals]

Hmmm <_<

I'd bet that most of those complaints were because of the 'bye-bye freebies' anticipation. "Oh lets complain now so that we get upgraded with free drinks before they charge us for oxygen!"

Gosh, we're 2 months in the future and July means butkus to the rational!

US seems to be filling most flights in my area and the airport is BUSIER than July! When will these passengers STOP flying to make my life easier??? I mean when does this slow down start? I am willing to bet that it will be a really busy Holiday season, that's why I'm saving my time-off!

 

[tadjr]

ONLY because the company pads the flight time BIG TIME.

I dont see this big time padding compared to other carriers. I did some checking tonight and here is what I found...
PHL- ORD AA 215-230 UA 210-232 US 216-228
ORD-PHL AA 155-215 UA 156-209 US 155-208
ORD-CLT US 153-204 UA 143-155
CLT-ORD US 158-211 UA 158-210
PIT-MCO US 208 WN 210-215
MCO-PIT US 211 WN 215
CLT-LGA US 145-200 AA 155-215 DL 205-208
LGA-CLT US 156-214 AA 205-215 DL 202-226
PHL-FLL US 243-248 WN 245-315
FLL-PHL US 242-245 WN 250-255
ATL-CLT DL 106-120 FL 100-122 US 105-120
CLT-ATL DL 109-125 FL 105-123 US 114-126
CLT-DTW NW 144-156 US 139-148
TPA-PHL US 228-233 WN 235-240
PHL-TPA US 245-247 WN 245-255
PHL-DEN US 414-415 WN 415 UA 411-421
DEN-PHL US 329-332 WN 345 UA 326-333
PHL-ATL US 211-224 DL 208-225 FL 206-225
ATL-PHL US 159-218 DL 202-220 FL 156-215
CLT-DFW AA 240 US 230-251
DFW-CLT AA 225-230 US 223-233
PHL-MHT WN 115-145 US 119-130
MHT-PHL WN 125-130 US 125-133
PHL-SFO UA 605-618 US 559-608
SFO-PHL UA 524 US 516-522

I dont see any cities listed that US has BIG TIME padding added to their flights vs other airlines. Of course there might be a city pair in the system that this doesnt apply to, but I tried to do several hubs and compared against several different carriers.
These are mainline/express flight times in some city pairs and vary by time of day so thats why some cities have a big difference showing.

 

[Hadenough]

ONLY because the company pads the flight time BIG TIME.

I am about tired of this attitude. While I agree there might be some padding of flight times you need to give the employees some credit. We bust our a$$ to get these flights out on time and do so day after day. You try to unload 3 to 4 tons of cargo and then turn around and load that much back on or more in the amount of time allotted. If we wanted to we could delay almost every flight. The same goes for C/S. They do a great job getting these flights out on time. So give some credit where its due. We can't do much about the complaints because we can only do so much without some help out of Tempe.

 

[BoeingBoy]

I dont see this big time padding compared to other carriers.

1 - you need to look at not just scheduled times between cities, but also airplane types since different planes can have different speeds. That would make seemingly comparable block times padded if US operated a slower plane.

2 - then there's the "gotta close the door 5 minutes early" pressure. That constitutes 5 minutes of extra pad all by itself since it allows an extra 5 minutes over and above schedule to get from A to B.

3 - then there's the addition of ground time which is a form of pad - more ground time affords the planes a better chance of leaving on time.

4 - finally, no less than Isom has said that the schedule was padded to improve on-time performance.

Jim

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

ONLY because the company pads the flight time BIG TIME.

What are the real flight times based on?

Is it what the computer says from take off to touch down?

Like when the pilot says that we will be a half early and only accounts for flight time and aggravates things by not mentioning that there may be ground traffic OR since we are early that our gate is occupied?

Can't some people wait to announce an "early" arrival UNTIL we are at the gate.

On time is when you say you will get there. What is the problem with that?

 

[UPNAWAY]

Even with the complaints being in last place they did improve by over 50%.

And as to the padding if you compare D0 to D0 and A14 to A14 YOY you will see the % improvement for D0 is higher then the % Improvement for A14. If there was a lot of padding the D0 improvement should reflect in the A14.

 

[SolidCactus]

I often wonder if the complaints are because of express, and not so much the mainline operation. Honestly, almost any time I've been frustrated with US, it is because of express... Stuck waiting for crew, flights cancelled because of crew issues, gate agents at F in PHL who are downright nasty, no air conditioning in the dash. I fly mainline every week, and I can't find much to complain about other than stinky 737s...

 

[UPNAWAY]

If the flight is IDed in the complaint then the Express carry get it.

 

[freedom]

I often wonder if the complaints are because of express, and not so much the mainline operation. Honestly, almost any time I've been frustrated with US, it is because of express... Stuck waiting for crew, flights cancelled because of crew issues, gate agents at F in PHL who are downright nasty, no air conditioning in the dash. I fly mainline every week, and I can't find much to complain about other than stinky 737s...

Mesa airlines , need i say more ? we've made improvments , how about them eh ? that company is like the plauge ... i'm still hoping that they go under , i hate that company ... their worthless ....

 

[DrBeth]

This is what I would complain about as a customer:

1. Taking away the 500-mile minimum and bonus miles as a long-time, short-haul elite customer. These are two small examples of how US Airways does not value elites. I know many elites contacted Customer Relations about this, to no avail.

2. E-TUV redemption. I earned quite a few vouchers last year and when I call to redeem them, it always goes badly (I call the Platinum line.) Every time I am put on hold for 30 minutes minimum and after the 30 minutes, I find out that they can't apply it to the fare I found, they can't apply it all, they have to call a supervisor, someone tries to charge me a booking fee (which is waived for vouchers!), etc. I have had so many problems that I was referred to two different liaisons in the Executive Offices to book them for me. All I ever redeem them on is a basic roundtrip, TRI-CLT-LGA or EWR, one single fare/ticket, as per the Terms and Conditions. It's not rocket science, is it? I still have two more to redeem. If anyone on here is a reservations agent and knows what to do, e-mail or PM me and I'll let you do my next booking!

3. Finding out when I get to the airport and/or on board plane that I have to pay for luggage and drinks if I am non-elite.

4. Finding out on board that there are no snacks at all on short-haul flights, not even to buy.

5. usairways.com does not provide schedule changes to customers automatically like other carriers do.

6. The service in F class is not what the other airlines still provide. I am comparing my experiences among DL, NW, and US only. The other two airlines have a better F product.

These are just a few remaining issues that need to be resolved, from my own personal perspective only as an 11-year frequent US Airways flyer.