DOT July report card-Consumer Complaints
- Thread starter US Oringinal
- Start date
It is great that US is finally tracking the Express operation. We will see if the stats for all the express operation are reveal
US1YFARE
Veteran
- Mar 31, 2004
- 3,932
- 54
yes, I had an AA flight cancel today and they called me to tell me that the flight had canceled and that they had rebooked me in FC on another flight. I never received that type of call from US.
AA's service in FC is light years ahead of US. Breakfast flight (approx. 900) miles was a choice of omelet or cereal with fresh blueberries along with a banana. you also had a choice of bagels or bisquits. Lunch flights (flights about 2 hours) have been warm nuts, hot towel, a choice of turkey wrap with pasta salad or buffalo chicken salad, cheese and crackers, grapes, and warm chocolate chip cookie. Dinner flights (about 2 hour flights) have been warm nuts, choice of teriyaki chicken or pasta dish, choice of bread, salad, and piece of cake. What's US serving these days on a 2 hour flight? Stale pretzels?
hey, by the way what is Ray's Magic Number 18?
DrBeth
Senior
US serves NOTHING in coach and the snack basket for every meal in F!
:unsure: I am trying not to think about this disastrous NYY season!
hp_fa
Veteran
- Feb 19, 2004
- 3,290
- 178
US1, I have a longstanding unasked question and it is not designed to be a slam or attack.
What is the thing about warm nuts? I have seen you, and others, make mention of this numerous times and I don't get it. I'm not suggesting that stale pretzels are acceptable, but what is the draw of warm nuts? For me, a nice bag of fresh cashews or nut mix would be fine, but that's me.
Well, I guess it's good that they fill your belly like that on 2 hour flights since AA has been consistently in dead last place for on time arrivals at least since Jan: they figure you'd miss dinner at home anyway! Too bad they can't pop in a movie on of their md80s as you wait out the delays... People are less enraged when airlines offer CONSISTENTLY poor OT service if their bellies are full full full!
That's why we pass out cookies when we are late: calm 'em down a bit
jimcfs
Veteran
I know my nuts are always warm... but I digress.
Warm nuts are just one of those FC amenities that have made us feel special over the years. Just throwing a foil bag with 4 or 5 cashews in it or that crappy snack mix isn't the same as one of those warmed up ramekins of mixed nuts.
leprechaun
Senior
I handled this DOT stuff for East Consumer Affairs for 15 years before it closed. Maybe I can shed a little light on this for y'all...
1. If the customer identifies the Express carrier directly in their letter, the DOT assigns it to that airline and the complaint is not counted in US statistics.
2. If the customer doesn't ID Express, the complaint gets initially counted against US. But - prior to the report getting issued, Customer Relations gets an advance look at every single complaint that will make up the final report. They have an opportunity to pour over them with a fine-toothed comb to identify if any are Express' responsibility, code-share partners, etc. Customer Relations can then "challenge" the complaint to the DOT and the Express carrier or other airline and ask that it be moved. Likewise, the other airlines can do the same to US. In the end, the complaints that get reported in the DOT's rankings should be "purely" US Mainline related if all went according to plan.
3. The DOT only ranks airlines that account for > 1% of total domestic passenger revenue. That's why you don't see the wholly-owned carriers Piedmont and PSA on their monthly rankings - they're too small.
4. DOT complaints are ENTIRELY separate from internal complaint data. Airlines are not required to report complaint data to the DOT (except those related to customers with disabilities, and those don't become part of this ranking that we're talking about here). To become a DOT complaint, the customer actually has to get so mad that he or she initiates contact with the Feds.
5. I can't provide facts about how West Customer Relations tracks and/or reports Express information internally these days, so I won't speculate. I do know that East Consumer Affairs did so very aggressively.
Hope that helps.
vantheman63
Senior
OMG, WAY, WAY, WAY TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!! ROTFLMAO!!!!
Now that I'm done swabbing the coffee off my computer....
Customers should just do what I did...and I think they are....take it somewhere else...
I'm actually flying US today because it fit into one of two silos for needing to fly US....(a.) ONLY when it's absolutely necessary/there is not other way and/or (b.) when it's just DIRT cheap.
Thats when US is my "carrier of choice," when I have no choice or when it's CHEAP. Thats all the product is worth...C H E A P.....sadly.
(The people on the front lines are worth better than "cheap," for sure...)
DrBeth
Senior
jimcfs
Veteran
You need to get rid of those tighty whities then!
At least I know I have a warm pair, as do many others on this board... unlike some airline exec's we all know.
DrBeth
Senior
At least I know I have a warm pair, as do many others on this board... unlike some airline exec's we all know.
And chicks like me, we don't have them either!
I go to a full-service.....uh.....air carrier!
