Terrible Airline, Bad Customer Relations

[DDMAN]

:down: :down: I purchased a very exopensive coach tickt for my daughter to come home for Thanksgiving. This is the second time she flew US Airways and both times she experienced delays that caused her to miss her connection. She was supposed to arrive in Philadelphia at 4:18 pm. However, she arrived in Philadelphia at 7:08 pm and the connecting flight to Los Angeles left three minutes early at 7:02 pm. I have been on a number of flights with other airlines that were held at the gave allowing connecting passengers to board. I would have hoped that for my daughter's (and others) expensive coach ticket that US Airways would have done the same. Since they didn't, she had to fly to Las Vegas to make a connection to Los Angeles. I called US Airways reservations to request compensation and was told I had to either go to the airport or send and email, so I asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor gave me a telephone number to Customer Relations. When I called Customer Relations I got a recording maggage that stated, "due to high call volume we are unable to take your call, please go to customer relations on the web site and send us an email." So I sent the email. A couple days later I received a reply offering a $100.00 Electronic Travel Voucher with a bunch of restrictions. You can't even us it when you book on-line. They require that I call reservations and I must to inform them that I have the voucher. Wonderful, if I use it I get to pay the extra fee for calling reservations. So what is electronic about the voucher if I can't us it to book on-line? Anyway, I sent Customer Relations a reply and told them that their offer was an insult and I expect more, but their reply was: "Thank you for your recent correspondence to Customer Relations at US Airways. We appreciate another opportunity to respond to your concerns. We apologize our original attempt to resolve this issue was not to your satisfaction. As customer satisfaction is our main focus, we want to be sure the decisions we make are based on research, facts, policies and procedures, along with customer perceptions. Please understand we are not trying to diminish the unsatisfactory incident you have encountered. We are very concerned about any breakdown in service that disrupts or detracts from the enjoyable travel experience our customers have a right to expect. To ensure our original decision was handled in the appropriate manner, a member of management reviewed your file a second time. After careful evaluation, we were unable to discover any additional information that would alter our original resolution. Again, please accept our apology for your inconvenience. Although we did not provide the level of service you should expect, we sincerely hope you will give US Airways another chance to earn back your business". I guess US Airways has no clue how to retain customers anfer giving them a miserable experience.

 

[USCREW]

What was the reason for the delay?

 

[YVINTERN]

Welcome to US Airways...I was even on a paid revenue trip that entitled me to $400 compensation and of course US Airways sent me an Air Check Plus Voucher...what a joke...they really cracked down on the freeloading of vouchers in Customer Relations...Guess those McInterns wised up.

 

[JS]

I'm not reading all that in one big giant paragraph.

I quit reading after the part where you said that she had to fly to Las Vegas to get a connection to Los Angeles. It sounds like she still got there the same day, just late.

It doesn't excuse the lateness, but honestly, where have you been? Airlines (especially US) are late an awful lot, and you can count your blessings if you don't get stranded overnight.

Use the $100 "electronic" voucher and quit whining about it!

 

[NCFL]

:down: :down: I guess US Airways has no clue how to retain customers anfer giving them a miserable experience.

Correct your statement, please. The *NEW* US Airways has no clue how to retain customers. The old (East) US Consumer Affairs office was quite effective, and responded with a personalized letter or phone call to most customer contacts. It was a Consumer Affairs Department, not a complaint handling facility. There's a big difference.

After responding to the customer, East made sure the applicable department head received a copy of your complaint via e-mail at the exact same time your reply was sent so the appropriate feet could be held to the proverbial fire with timely and actionable information. The West system used photocopies and co-mail, which is about as reliable as, well, the New US Airways. Feedback was so late getting to departments, that by the time it arrived, it was useless. How can a manager coach an employee on something that occurred three months ago?

Sadly, the plea by the East to keep its approach to customer relations at the new company was deemed too expensive, and the facility was shuttered. I think 3 people decided to make the transition West. At the time the East office closed, it had an average employee experience level of 17 years. The professionals there weren't perfect (nobody is), but they knew their stuff backwards and forwards. I can't quote a figure for the Tempe Customer Relations average experience level, but I suspect it is VERY low. It sure ain't 17 years.

 

[Dog Wonder]

If you are not satisfied with the company response, file a complaint with the DOT.

They do care about those numbers.

 

[tea42]

sounds like she got a very fast reply....if it was this past week, well, CLT and PHL both had wx issues. Sorry no more heart left for pax that want and want and want even more....and by the way, what is a "very expensive coach ticket"? Ticket prices, on the average, are the same that they were 10 years ago.....

 

[Dog Wonder]

Welcome to the board.

Obviously, corporate would rather you file a DOT complaint than treat you like a human being.

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

Welcome to the board.

Obviously, corporate would rather you file a DOT complaint than treat you like a human being.

So how would you have done it differently?

 

[sharktooth]

I'm not reading all that in one big giant paragraph.

I quit reading after the part where you said that she had to fly to Las Vegas to get a connection to Los Angeles. It sounds like she still got there the same day, just late.

It doesn't excuse the lateness, but honestly, where have you been? Airlines (especially US) are late an awful lot, and you can count your blessings if you don't get stranded overnight.

Use the $100 "electronic" voucher and quit whining about it!

BS.

Lateness is no damn excuse.

I want to belong to a society (country) where, while we may never achieve perfection, at least we try.

You want to accept substandard, go to that part of Dilbert where living in mud is the norm. or you could live with Bush. I want to make the world better, you and the hat, no cattle can sink out of sight for all I care.

Damn, I cannot believe Darwin allows idiots like you and Bush to live.

 

[DDMAN]

Thank you to all that provided input.

I apologize for the giant "paragraph." I am new here and some other sites/forums are not paragraph friendly.

Here is some further input relating to the responses to my topic:

> Technically she did arrive the next day. The orignal flight was supposed to arrive 11/21 @ 9:59 PM and she actually arrived 11/22 @ 1:20 AM approximately. The last time she flew US Airways (January '07), she was supposed to connect through Charlotte and because the flight was delayed they rerouted her through Philadelphia and she still wound up getting delayed until the next day and had to stay over night at a hotel (age = 17). I did not complain then since we were not paying for that trip.

> We certainly experienced the "New USA" Customer Relations. It sound like the "EAST USA" was far better with retaining customers due to problems.

> An expensive coach ticket is > $800.00 round trip.

> I will certainly take the time to file a complaint with the DOT. Thank you for the input.

> How would I have done it differently? We gave US Airways a second chance and had the same problem. I guess the answer is to use other carriers.

Thank you again to those that have offered input.

 

[REAL PI Agent]

Thank you to all that provided input.

I> We certainly experienced the "New USA" Customer Relations. It sound like the "EAST USA" was far better with retaining customers due to problems.

> An expensive coach ticket is > $800.00 round trip.

> I will certainly take the time to file a complaint with the DOT. Thank you for the input.

> How would I have done it differently? We gave US Airways a second chance and had the same problem. I guess the answer is to use other carriers.

You're just one of the typical whinning snotts that need to be smaked back into the real world. !st, why was the flight late, was it to to a over congested mass of air space called the northeast? Was it a mechincal problem? 2nd, Do you think that airlines cause these problems just so we can here "people" like you b==tch? There are things out there that a carrier can't control, but you want compensatin. What you realy want is everything free and yesterday.

 

[NCFL]

[/quote] There are things out there that a carrier can't control, but you want compensatin. What you realy want is everything free and yesterday.
[/quote]

I think this customer would have been fine if Cust Relations had explained what happened, why flights can't always be held, and had given even a shred of a personalized apology...especially when the person wrote back still unhappy. Standardized form letters don't always cut it with customers.

And flaming someone like this (not going to read big paragraph, you're a whiner, etc.) is inappropriate. Maybe taking a little time to do the job Customer Relations should have in the first place might help this person understand the myriad reasons why connections cannot be held. Yes, US is sorry the person missed his/her connection, but there are a lot of valid reasons why inbound flights can be delayed, and there are a lot of valid reasons why outbound connections cannot always be held -- especially if there are other flight options later in the day/evening to accommodate the customer. What's more, it could have been pointed out that the Conditions of Contract specifically state that flight schedules cannot be guaranteed because of the occasionally unpredictable nature of air travel.

Is US sorry for the delay? Yes. Will it give someone a free ticket or a refund for it? No, but it might offer an expression of apology in the form of a discount for a future ticket purchase. The amount of compensation seemed appropriate in this case. The delivery missed the mark.

Hmm. I should be on the US payroll still.

 

[JS]

DDMAN, arriving at 1:20 AM rather than 9:59 PM is not an overnight delay and the only person you're fooling here is you.

It's three hours and 21 minutes late, which isn't what is supposed to happen, but you know what? Life is unfair, nobody's perfect, a three hour delay (on a cross-country trip that is longer than that anyway) is not worth a $100 voucher in my opinion. What you should have done is take the voucher and be glad that you ended up ahead.

Come on, do you expect us to believe that a three hour delay cost you or your daughter more than $100 in additional out-of-pocket expenses?

I don't quite understand the previous trip, where she got stuck overnight but you didn't complain because you weren't paying for the trip. Was it a buddy pass?

You should post this on FlyerTalk. You'll get lots of sympathetic posts there; FlyerTalk is chock full of whiny, demanding, perfectionist (perfection from everone else) crybabies.

 

[NoMoreKoolAid]

DDMAN, arriving at 1:20 AM rather than 9:59 PM is not an overnight delay and the only person you're fooling here is you.

It's three hours and 21 minutes late, which isn't what is supposed to happen, but you know what? Life is unfair, nobody's perfect, a three hour delay (on a cross-country trip that is longer than that anyway) is not worth a $100 voucher in my opinion. What you should have done is take the voucher and be glad that you ended up ahead.

Come on, do you expect us to believe that a three hour delay cost you or your daughter more than $100 in additional out-of-pocket expenses?

I don't quite understand the previous trip, where she got stuck overnight but you didn't complain because you weren't paying for the trip. Was it a buddy pass?

You should post this on FlyerTalk. You'll get lots of sympathetic posts there; FlyerTalk is chock full of whiny, demanding, perfectionist (perfection from everone else) crybabies.

Very well said JS. I think he was treated fair with his 3hr delay. Heck I was flying on United out of IAD to LAX...the flt was running 3hrs late from ORD...no one really making any big demands or complaining. It seems that pax still have this conception that if they complain they get free tickets. Those days are long gone. As I feel bad for DDMAN's daughter arriving a few hours late you really cant control mother nature or air traffic control issues.
If you read postings on FlyerTalk you know Frequent Flyers try to stay away from ORD DAL PHL ALT. All the big hubs due to delays.

Sorry for your troubles DDMAN. Happy Holidays.