Fuck USAir

[Mikey]

I'm just glad I got completely off the Road Warrior treadmill in January. Six months was enough to convince me.

I have a week's worth of free car rental, one SWA flight, one night credit at an IHG hotel and "almost" a gold card at AA to show for it.
Oh yeah, and a real appreciation for my own bed.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

Oh yeah, and a real appreciation for my own bed.

You know who else would appreciate their own bed? Your wife.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

Oh...it's on, Michael. It's on.

:x

[Left Seater]

Was in Philly yesterday on Biz -pulling up to airport on rental shuttle got a message from them saying flight cancelled for mechanical. Stand in line 20 minutes only to hear this female silverback say No flights home available. "Check another airline?" - Already did, nothing. Only thing tomorrow is a 5:30 AM with a 4 hr layover in O'hare. "Uhhh - no that doesn't work what about a hotel and meal voucher?" "No dice sucka, not our problem" By this time I'm pretty pissed and wanting to know why it's not their problem since their shitty plane broke and they can't get me home. "Step away from the counter or Ima call security to have you removed" - At this point I'm ready to kill. She then tells me she gonna refund the unused portion of my ticket and I'm on my own. Rather than fight the mall cops seated nearby, I drag ass to the hotel I'd just checked out of that morning. Luckily SWA had a seat left today through Midway.

Fuck USAir - and I just filled out my first DOT complaint. I'm sure it will result in NADA, but made me feel pretty good to do it

That sucks. I think I have met that same female silverback in PHL before as well.

My suggestion, or what I would have done in this case was to go the the USAir lounge and pay for a day pass. Then I would have asked the agent there to help me with rebooking. These agents are usually much more helpful and willing to try all sorts of things. Then if still no dice they are usually more empowered to award hotel and meal vouchers. I also usually have a list of hotels ready to suggest to them, ie Marriotts or Hyatts.

I have filled out a few DOT complaints and it does seem to make you feel better at least.

[Y2K]

Although there's very little "bright side" to this story just remember that nobody screamed "Allah Akbar" and planted you in a Midwest Cornfield.

[Mikey]

Oh...it's on, Michael. It's on.

:x

It's on what? Your drapes?

[trev]

Airline customer service pretty much sucks. The last time I flew out of SD to Ft Lauderdale about a year ago, I get a call that my flight is 5 hours late, before I leave for airport. Get to airport, another 2 hours delay due to same mechanical issue. That said, we finally take off 8 hours late, I get to Ft. Lauderdale around 1 AM, no more hotel shuttle. . Total nightmare. In a strange town, middle of the night, no Delta service employees in sight to help me out. No luggage in the baggage claim. Found a little office with a nice lady who did get me my luggage and a car to my hotel. She could not believe the non-service I got from her airlines.

[poptart]

I just filled out my first DOT complaint

The proverbial note on the windshield.







Gruntslinger salutes you!





:wink:

[poptart]

This responds to your communication regarding US Airways. The U.S. Department of Transportation seeks to ensure that all airline passengers are treated fairly. Complaints from consumers are helpful to us in determining whether the airlines are in compliance with our rules and to track trends or spot areas of concern that warrant further action.

Based on the information you have provided, your complaint appears to fall under the Department's rules. We will forward your complaint to the airline and ask the company to respond directly to you with a copy to us. Airlines are required to acknowledge receipt of a consumer complaint within 30 days and provide a substantive response to the complainant within 60 days. We will review the airline's response. If you need to contact me, please include your name and case number (see above). I will make every effort to reply to your message within one business day.

If our review of your complaint and the response from the company discloses a potential violation of our rules, we may pursue enforcement action. Generally, we pursue enforcement action on the basis of a number of complaints which may indicate a pattern or practice of violating our rules. Your complaint may be among those considered and may lead to appropriate enforcement action including the assessment of civil penalties. However, we have no authority to order compensation for individual complainants.

We have entered your complaint in our computerized industry monitoring system, and it will be counted among the number of complaints filed against this airline in our monthly Air Travel Consumer Report. This report allows consumers and air travel companies to compare the complaint records of individual airlines and tour operators. The data in this report also serve as a basis for rulemaking, legislation and research. Consumer information for air travelers, including the Air Travel Consumer Report and our pamphlet Fly-Rights, a Consumer's Guide to Air Travel, can be found on our website: http://www.dot.gov/airconsumer. Thank you for taking the time to contact us.




LOL

[smackaholic]

Only the gubmint can take 4 lengthy paragraphs to tell you "tough shit".

So, let's see if I have this right. If you tell the airline 30 minutes before a flight, never mind, I can't go, I want a refund, their response will be something along the lines of....





even though they likely filled the seat because they oversell? But when the opposite occurs, it's too fukking bad.

Damn, I am glad I'm not a road warrior. Actually, I kind of am a road warrior these days, but I get to fly Sonata Air. So far, they haven't had any flight cancellations. A bonus is I don't have to worry about the right seater having a bad day and deciding to auger us into the dirt.

[Diego in Seattle]

Only the gubmint can take 4 lengthy paragraphs to tell you "tough shit".

So, let's see if I have this right. If you tell the airline 30 minutes before a flight, never mind, I can't go, I want a refund, their response will be something along the lines of....





even though they likely filled the seat because they oversell? But when the opposite occurs, it's too fukking bad.

Damn, I am glad I'm not a road warrior. Actually, I kind of am a road warrior these days, but I get to fly Sonata Air. So far, they haven't had any flight cancellations. A bonus is I don't have to worry about the right seater having a bad day and deciding to auger us into the dirt.

No, you only have to worry about the left or right seater falling asleep because they're working two jobs to make ends meet (like the co-pilot of Colgan Air Flight 3407)...

[Smackie Chan]

I don't travel for business nearly as much as I used to, and feel pretty fortunate for having had relatively few hassles when I was a frequent flyer. I did have to fly from DC to LAX a few weeks ago, however, and it sucked going both ways.

I was scheduled to fly nonstop from National (DCA) to LAX on an American Airlines flight at 8:20 AM. When I awoke that morning to get ready, I checked American's Web site and saw the flight had been rescheduled to 2:10 PM. This wasn't entirely unexpected since it had snowed pretty heavily and flight delays had been forecasted. At least I got notification in sufficient time before heading to the airport. Shortly after arriving at DCA for the 2:10 flight, it started getting slipped in relatively small increments - 10-20 minutes at a time - until the departure time was 4:30. We boarded for a 4:30 departure, but after sitting on the taxiway/runway for a while, we didn't actually take off until ~5:30. Had an aisle seat (my preference) just behind First Class, and the flight was uneventful other than being delayed over 9 hours.

DoD uses an online travel booking service called Defense Travel System (DTS), through which employees can book flights, hotels, and rental cars. It works pretty much like Travelocity or Orbitz. Each travel location has Federal per diem rates for lodging - we get reimbursed for actual hotel costs up to the per diem rate for the particular area. We get to select flights from a number of different carriers, with a wide range of prices. The gov't typically doesn't raise much of a stink about what flights are chosen, even if the cost is significantly higher than the cheapest one available. It also lists rental car options, sorted from least to most expensive. We must justify renting from anyone other than the lowest cost provider, even if the difference is just a penny. Justification is usually approved, but I usually just select the cheapest to make things easy. Seems penny-wise & pound-foolish to require justification for spending a few more cents on rental cars, but they're fine with spending a few hundred dollars more for a preferred flight. Oh well, I stopped trying to make sense of gov't long ago.

Finally got into LAX after 8 PM after originally being scheduled to get there before noon, so I was pretty beat & irritable. All the rental car agencies for LAX are off-terminal, meaning one needs to catch a shuttle from the airport to the agency to get a car. LAX uses a color-coded system for the different types of shuttles that operate - red for hotels and courtesy shuttles, green (I think) for parking shuttles, and purple for rental car shuttles. I needed to rent a car, so I stood under the purple sign. Stood there for a half hour or so waiting for a shuttle for SixT, the cheapo rental car agency I selected. Every other agency had multiple shuttles come & go, but no SixT. Called them to find out wtf, and was told I needed to wait under the red sign because the shuttle for SixT was actually a Renaissance Hotel shuttle, since the rental counter was in the hotel lobby. I caught a shuttle for an adjacent hotel and walked to the Renaissance.

After renting a car in the hotel lobby, I was directed to take an elevator to the 4th floor to pick up my car. Went to the 4th, handed them my paperwork, and they didn't have the key, so they had to send someone back to the lobby for it. After coming back with the key, they couldn't find the car. They finally located the car, but the tank was only half full, so they amended my contract to stipulate that I only needed to return it half full. Drove down the four floors to the ground level, and found that the exits were barricade controlled, and nobody was around. Couldn't get out of the damn garage! Someone finally appeared and asked if I'd been given a card to swipe that would open the barricade. Of course, I hadn't been given one, so he let me out. Finally checked into my hotel after midnight.

I was counting on my return flight being just as hosed, since there was heavy snowfall that day in DC. But we ended up departing LAX on time, which somewhat surprised me. I was monitoring the flight path on the screen mounted on the seat back in front of me, and saw that we were within 50 miles of DCA - just about home! Then, the plane started to circle. Shortly afterward, the Captain announced that the runway at DCA had been closed to clear snow, and the plane didn't have enough fuel to maintain a holding pattern. So we diverted to Pittsburgh to refuel and wait for the runway at DCA to reopen. As I mentioned, I prefer aisle seats, but was unable to get one on this flight so had to settle for a window seat near the rear of the plane. I'd had pretty good luck while traveling frequently not to get stuck next to fatties, but not this time. Had a 400-lb heifer in the seat next to mine, and was able to enjoy her company even more while stuck on the ground in Pittsburgh. Finally took off and got back to DCA after spending ~3 hrs in Steeltown.

Now I'm waiting for my luggage at the carousel, and it doesn't arrive. Went to the lost luggage counter to file a claim, and they tell me that the unloading of the bags from my flight hasn't been completed, and I should go wait some more, which I did. More bags came out, the carousel stopped again, and my bag still hadn't arrived. Went back to lost luggage, told them what happened, they said unloading still hadn't completed, and I should wait some more. I said I'm not coming back a 3rd time and wanted to submit a claim now, which I did. Of course, as soon as I did, my bag came off the carousel.

I typically take a cab to & from DCA. There are taxi stands outside baggage claim that usually have long lines of people waiting for cabs, so I typically call a cab to pick me up. Weather had been bad that day in DC; it was cold, but it had stopped snowing. When I called the cab company, they said they had suspended operations due to the weather and couldn't send a cab to fetch me. Very few cabs were running at the airport, and there were lots of people waiting for the few that were. So I had to stand in line, freezing, waiting for one to take me home. Finally did get one that a lovely couple agreed to split with me, and was able to get home.

Can't wait for my next trip!

[Screw_Michigan]

TL, DR

[Goober McTuber]

A couple years back I booked the flight for our February 2014 vacation to St. Maarten (United). Tickets were roughly $800 each - direct flights, round trip. A few weeks after I purchased them they showed up on United's website for $200 less. I called United, spoke nicely to them, and they agreed to give me the difference, less $100, in two travel vouchers.

Our return flight last year was delayed, then cancelled. United flew us back the next day, and gave us two $200 travel vouchers for our trouble.

So about a year ago I was watching ticket prices for our February 2015 vacation and one day they dropped to $627. I called United, and said I wanted to buy two tickets and use my 4 travel vouchers. They said I could only use one voucher for each ticket. I pointed out that I had 4 vouchers that were all generated from one trip, so I should be able to use them all at the same time. We went around and around for some time, I got put on hold for 10 minutes, we went around and around some more, then she hung up on me.

I called back, got a different rep, and pretty much repeated the whole process. Then I went back to the United website and learned something that I did not know. Back in the old days a round trip ticket was decidedly cheaper than two one-ways. Not any more. The two one-ways were not the same price, but they added up to $627. I bought 4 one-way tickets, used all 4 vouchers, and spent about $550 for two round trips.

It will only get worse as airlines continue to merge, and we have less and less competition.

[Diego in Seattle]

(!) Language NSFW (!)

[smackaholic]

I think I'd rather take greyhound than fly anywhere these days. at least they have wifi

[smackaholic]

Only the gubmint can take 4 lengthy paragraphs to tell you "tough shit".

So, let's see if I have this right. If you tell the airline 30 minutes before a flight, never mind, I can't go, I want a refund, their response will be something along the lines of....





even though they likely filled the seat because they oversell? But when the opposite occurs, it's too fukking bad.

Damn, I am glad I'm not a road warrior. Actually, I kind of am a road warrior these days, but I get to fly Sonata Air. So far, they haven't had any flight cancellations. A bonus is I don't have to worry about the right seater having a bad day and deciding to auger us into the dirt.

No, you only have to worry about the left or right seater falling asleep because they're working two jobs to make ends meet (like the co-pilot of Colgan Air Flight 3407)...

WTF is up with flying a plane being a minimum wage job these days? I'm sure flying a plane is a hoot and all, but, i would think that most pilots have the edumacashun to go do something else for at least twice the dough. I am generally a free market type, but, this might be a case where gubmint should step in and require they pay these dudes more than a burger king manager, for the exact reason dago mentions above. They have strict flight hours restrictions, but, to the best of my knowledge nothing saying they can't be stocking shelves at wallymart on in their downtime.

[Goober McTuber]

I am generally a free market type, but, this might be a case where gubmint should step in and require they pay these dudes more than a burger king manager, for the exact reason dago mentions above.

Another big government Republican. Shocker.

[Mikey]

I am generally a free market type, but, this might be a case where gubmint should step in and require they pay these dudes more than a burger king manager, for the exact reason dago mentions above.

Another big government Republican. Shocker.

[Goober McTuber]

I try to stay out of airplanes as much as possible.

SEC! SEC!

[molly]

I had a small problem with American last February and it resulted in having to be on the next flight. While standing in line with my kid, the first time traveling alone, I lost my shit because I couldn't get answers and was going to miss a flight that I was at the airport over 2 hours in advance of and ranted like a lunatic on Twitter, hashtagging them and using #yousuck and #aasucks. It worked because that person who messaged me through Twitter, was able to get through to the desk person who had everything ready for us, bumped us to a nonstop (LAX to New Orleans; supposed to change in Dallas) and waived our luggage fees. On board, they gave both of us free meals and free snackboxes.

[Left Seater]

The four most important words in airline travel, hang up call back.

[trev]

miss molly rockin'

Good Golly Miss molly

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Word. She comes over to see me mostly, FYI. :wink: