Us Airways Dead Last

[Twicebaked]

US Airways has most consumer complaints


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By Thomas Olson
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, November 5, 2005


US Airways ranked worst in consumer complaints in September, according to government data released Friday, while its merger partner America West Airlines ranked sixth-best of the 19 airlines tracked.
The two airlines merged on Sept. 27, but their consumer complaints are still collected and reported separately, said a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation. It compiles monthly reports for the nation's 19 largest airlines, which represent more than 95 percent of U.S. passenger flight revenue.

Consumer complaints pertain to passenger problems with flight service, overbooking, refunds and the like. Another report covers baggage handling.

US Airways has bumped along at or near the bottom for some time. It ranked dead last, or 19th, at least four of the past 12 months, and no higher than 13th in the past six months, the data showed.

"The real caution is what this portends for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays," said Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, an advocacy group based in Radnor near Philadelphia.

"I have full confidence America West management will get their arms around this. But the question is, how fast?" said Mitchell, noting that most of the merged carrier's top executives are from America West.

America West has fared better, but erratically. The airline ranked among the top 10 performers in consumer complaints in four of the past six months, but finished 13th in July and 16th in May.

The transportation agency also reported baggage-handling complaints per 1,000 passengers yesterday. There again, the old US Airways ranked in the bottom quarter (15th) in September, with 5.29 complaints per 1,000 passengers.

America West ranked in the top quarter (fifth), with 3.02 complaints per 1,000 passengers. The airline placed fifth or higher in all but one of the past seven months.

"The former US Airways portion does have challenges," said airline consultant Mike Boyd, head of The Boyd Group, Evergreen, Colo. "But you're not going to see too much more of this as the new management takes over."

Meanwhile, US Airways said October traffic (excluding America West) fell 15 percent, to just below 3 million passengers from nearly 3.53 million a year ago. The carrier's load factor, or percentage of passenger seats filled, slipped to 74.8 percent in October from 75.6 percent. Overall capacity decreased 12 percent last month from prior year levels.

America West flew fewer than 1.81 million passengers last month, less than 1 percent fewer than its more than 1.82 million passengers the year before. Its load factor was 77.3 percent, a 2.1 percent decline from October 2004.




Although this seems dismal at beat, we weren't always at the bottom. As I am not one of the "big wigs", what exactly can this new management do to change this? I have seen nothing on the US East side to boost morale. I believe this is a huge problem that we have over here.

 

[gonzo]

What was USA ranked before the merger?

 

[Twicebaked]

As this may seem dismal, we were not always at the bottom. I am not one of the "big wigs" and I am not sure what the "new" management can do to change this. I know morale has been in the toilet for years, but I have seen NOTHING from the new management to boost morale on the US East side. To be honest, I have seen absolutely nothing going on on the US East side. Everything is now focused on the Tempe/PHX area. I am not bashing anything, it is just an observation which others have posted here before.

Constructive Thoughts???? :blink:

 

[BoeingBoy]

What was USA ranked before the merger?

It's not merger related by any means. We were also last in Sept 2004.

The biggest problem was baggage - 25% of our 52 (East) complaints were about that. The others:

18% were over refunds (9 complaints)
14% customer service (7).
10% for each of flight problems, fares, and disability related (5 each).
8% the catch-all "other" catagory (4).
6% res/tickiting/boarding (3).
2% oversales (1).

Note: these won't add up to 100% because I rounded them to the whole percent.

We (East) tied Northwest for 3rd worst as far as total number of complaints with 52, ahead of Delta with 54 and American with 78. But the rankings are based on complaints per 100,000 enplanements, so our size relative to those carriers put us at the bottom.

Jim

ps - for comparison, West had 5 complaints with 3 for flight problems, 1 for res/ticketing/boarding and 1 for baggage.

 

[US1YFARE]

well, they better figure something out. I'm done waiting for my bags at PHL. From now on, I am waiting 20 minutes and going to baggage claim and telling them to deliver my bags to my house. A baggage claim person actually recommended that to me. There is no reason that I have to wait over an hour EVERYTIME I check bags--that's ridiculous.

How do they measure complaints? Calls into Consumer Affairs? To the DOT? How does it work?

NW is on strike and would be expected to be do poorly...no excuse for US

 

[BoeingBoy]

From the report:

This section summarizes aviation consumer complaints filed with the Department in writing, by telephone, via e-mail, or in person. DOT has not determined the validity of the complaints. The report does not include safety complaints (which are handled by the Federal Aviation Administration) or security complaints (which are handled by the Transportation Security Administration).

 

[longing4piedmont]

NOTE TO DOUG.

The old US East / Al Crelin approach of trying to put lipstick on this pig didn't work and is not working now. If you want to save your hide and your investment, you may want to try something new. (Getting rid of Al would be a start). Time to role up the ole sleeves and get to work. (Hint spending a week or two in PHL would be a great place to start.)

Not real good news when you factor in this report does not include baggage issues. What you are seeing above is the Haarvaard business acumen that has killed a once great airline and no amount of lipstick is going to cover it up. As we say around here, the chickens have come home to roost.

Hmmm, I wonder how one would ship a live chicken........... :blink:

L4PI




View attachment 3598

 

[JAXPax]

I gave US a DOT complain this time last year, and unfortunately, only after I sent a DOT complaint and CCed that letter to consumer affairs did I get any sort of response.

What happened was a flight attendant gate checked my rollaboard after asking my permission, and I said no as it had electronics inside, and then later removed it from its proper storage area and gate checked it anyway... broken digital camera by the time it made it to baggage claim at PHL (a good hour after my flight landed). I got the "not responsible for poorly packed electronics in checked luggage" runaround (and being told a 737 is an RJ where all rollaboard have to be gate checked) from local bag service, PIT central claims, and consumer affairs. Registered letter to DOT got results. Shouldn't have to come to that.

 

[US1YFARE]

Shouldn't have to come to that.

not that it is critically important, but what is your status?

 

[BoeingBoy]

Ya know, there's another aspect to the DOT report that I find interesting. The "Complaint" section is the only section based on numbers not filed by the airline.

All the other rankings are based on the info filed by the individual airlines operating on their own certificate. So you have, for example, both American and Eagle in the on-time performance rankings.

With complaints, the name of the airline on the side of the plane, etc, probably determines which airline is complained about. So if Mesa leaves bags behind on a flight operated for US and a passenger complains to the DOT, it shows up in our rankiing. If a passenger has a bad flight experience on a Chautauqua flight operated for US, it shows up in our ranking. Etc.

The price of having a hodge-podge of Express operators.....

Jim

 

[diogenes]

There are three factors leading to the statistics.

1. Morale - UEast has been thru two BK's, and is looking down the barrel of further paycuts/layoffs. All the happy talk in the world isn't going to impress them. Parker needs to communicate the bottom line now, and quit stringing it out. If he doesn't, he's going to look like the 'same old same old' to UEast.

2. Structure - Every aspect of regional jet operation has been discussed here before, and the bottom line is - RJ's cannot routinely carry full passenger/fuel/cargo loads, rendering them, unless carefully intergrated into the operation, a hinderance to smooth operations and customer service. Factor in the inexperience of new-hires, and you have the recipe for customer dissatisfaction.

3. Lack of accountability - With the myriad of express operations, everybody can blame somebody else. For instance, a station I am familiar with went by the Express Operations Manual when deicing EMB 145's - no running engines, leave APU on. This one operator insisted on going by their manual - shut down APU, and run engines - a safety hazard to the personnel in an open boom. The fact is, once the company submitted operational plans for Express (all operators) to the FAA, and the FAA approved them, that plan became Holy Scripture REGARDLESS OF ANY OTHER DOCUMENTS. The operator insisted on their procedure, which the station refused. This led to many delayed flights, confrontations and ill will. Did it get resolved that year?Nooooooo - it flared up again the next year. This, despite being bucked up to veep at mainline and the operator, and them agreeing the Express manual was the controlling document. So far as I know, the dispute continues.

 

[JAXPax]

not that it is critically important, but what is your status?

I'm a 70-85 yearly segment Gold. I've only complained 3 times to Consumer Affairs, along with about 30 compliments on employees.

 

[MarkMyWords]

Just a question.......We ranked very near the top of the DOT stats for On Time performance.......where is that in this article?

 

[US1YFARE]

I'm a 70-85 yearly segment Gold. I've only complained 3 times to Consumer Affairs, along with about 30 compliments on employees.

Well, you'll be platinum now.

But anyway, I'm surprised that they gave you the runaround as a Gold with that much travel--they are usually pretty good to Golds at Consumer Affairs--at least that is what I've heard. It shouldn't really matter, but you think that when a loyal US2 or US1 calls in, they would listen a little more carefully to what you are saying and try to work something out to keep you happy--particularly if you are not a big complainer.

I have a post about problems with the CP desk--what am I supposed to do--complain to a supervisor EVERYTIME the level of service is not what it used to be? That is so time consuming and all it will do is put me on a list of "problem people".

 

[BoeingBoy]

Just a question.......We ranked very near the top of the DOT stats for On Time performance.......where is that in this article?

It could be argued that the consumer complaint ranking is a better indicator than the rest - as I said above, the other rankings are based only on the operations conducted under the US certificate. So Mesa, Chautauga, etc, could be late 100% of the time and not affect our on-time ranking. Likewise, baggage (PAWOB rather than customer complaints to the DOT) - Mesa, Chautauga, etc, could misplace all the baggage and not affect our statistics.

That said, and for those who haven't seen the DOT monthly report....

On-time: East 86.3%, West 86.8% - #2 & 1 among the "big 11" we compare ourselves to.

Neither East nor West had any flights late at least 80% of the time, likewise for at least 70% of the time.

Cancelled flights: East 1.5%, West 1.2%. That put East #8 of 11 and West #6.

Mishandled bags: East #11 of the "big 11", West #3. On this one the East rate was 5.29 per 1000 passengers - almost identical to what is reported internally for mainline only. The only difference is that the Emb-170 operation is included in the report to the DOT (same certificate) but is included with Express on the internal report.

Involuntary denied boardings (this one's for Jul-Sep): East #4 of the "big 11", West #7.

Jim