&*^%$#$ Usair Makes Me Angry!!!!!

[scoremoore]

USAIR strikes again. They cancelled one of our flights, and never informed us. Good thing I checked. We leave on Oct. 11. Boy, that really ticks me off!!!!! (not what I want to say). I was on the phone with Expedia who had USAIR on another line for almost an hour. Gee, it would have been great flying to Pittsburgh and found our connecting flight to MCO was cancelled.
No wonder they're floundering. This just isn't good business.

[ducklite]

When you book through a travel agent (That is what Expeida is in this case) the carrier notifies the TA of any changes, and THEY are responsible for notifying the client. It's the same principle as making changes to a reservation bookes through a TA, they will tell you all changes need to be made through the TA. It's an AGENT, they represent you. So your beef is with the wrong entity.

Anne

[pas2]

I know how you feel, just had that happen to us yesterday with our connecting flight out of Pittsburgh for Sat. We ended up with a completely new itinerary going out of Philly instead. Then we had to figure how we were going to get to Philly, etc. It is so nerve wracking to say the least. There is a bright side, we will arrive 4 hours earlier than planned. Of course we have to get up at 4am!!!

[Beverly Lynn]

Thank you Anne.
right now they have had to make a lot of last minute changes with the schedule and I know they do have a team of people working 24/7 on these changes. they are now very short in the res office here in pit that works these with the large amount of layoffs. they are trying to contact everyone that they can. everyone who has a flight please call and check on your ressies and if you have used expedia or travelocity or an agent please make them check for you as well. they do get notified by the carrier.

[nuthut]

Don,t get mad, try using a local travel agent who cares about your business. Those internet companies do not give a rip about you or your business! Any ticket on the internet can be purchased for the same price at a travel agent.

[GoldenOldie]

Originally posted by nuthut
...Any ticket on the internet can be purchased for the same price at a travel agent.
Not true anymore. Besides being able to book web only fares for $10 or so less than published rates on the internet, you don't get charged the anywhere from $10-$25 PER TICKET surcharge that many of the TA's now charge for your airline only reservations.

[BansheeBlue]

In terms of cancelling flights and not informing you, USAirways can't blame the current environment. My SO had a complete horror show experience with US Airways back in June, with them cancelling flights on him THREE DAYS IN A ROW, not informing him, CHARGING him $100 to reschedule a flight, then finally, when he GOT on a plane, they moved the plane out of the gate and held it on the tarmac for three hours. Meanwhile, as I checked flight status online, it clearly stated on the website that they KNEW they wouldn't be able to take off in time to make his connecting flight in Pittsburgh, but moved the plane out of the gate anyway! He got to Pittsburgh at 11:30pm and they had RUN OUT of hotel vouchers, there was no place to get food as everything was closed, and the next flight out wasn't until 9:30 am. We booked these flights through Expedia, btw.

A plus side is that I wrote a long detailed complaint letter (including copies of boarding passes, receipts, etc) and did get the $100 rescheduling charge refunded, as well as a $100 travel voucher (which I would never use but my SO has no qualms about, and he was the one who was having to go through all the trauma).

Sorry for the long rant, but in summary: be vocal and literate about your complaints!

[SNOWBOARDER]

I purchased tickets directly from USair and had the same problem. I won't give these people another cent...

[ducklite]

Originally posted by BansheeBlue
<snip>We booked these flights through Expedia, btw.



Expedia was acting as your travel agent, USAir would have notified them of the changes, and they should have notified you. Once a travel agent is involved the carrier is supposed to make all changed directly through them.

An analogy--you are buying a house. The seller decides to change the closing date. Do they call you? No! They call your Realtor. Your AGENT. Same thing. There are various laws that deal with AGENCY. Yes. It is a legal situation. So blame EXPEDIA, not the carrier!!!

Anne

[seashoreCM]

>> Run out of hotel vouchers

Write a letter asking for full reimbufsemet of the hotel room you did stay in. If the travel voucher they give/gave covers that plus some of the inconvenience, that would be adequate.

More Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

[helenk]

We have always used USair and thank goodness have not had any problems, but I am sure all the airlines have the same thing going on at some time or another. On our last trip we used AAA and our agent sent us the changes in the mail, on our trip in November I booked the flight on the usair website and have already received an e-mail about a minor change in the time that the flights are departing. Of course anything can change between now and then.
At this point I think the advice that has been printed before on other threads, you have to keep checking with the airlines themselves or on their websites for changes.

[BansheeBlue]

I do blame Expedia for being confusing and not doing their job in contacting us when the flights were cancelled. However, my main gripe is that the flights were cancelled three days in a row in the first place. No explanation given, it certainly was not weather related, weather in departure and arrival cities was clear. It *was* USAir's fault that they charged my SO $100 so he could get on the next flight (which was ALSO then cancelled, BTW) when they should have put him on standby. It was also USAir's fault (not Expedia) that they moved the plane out of the gate (just so they could say the flight left the gate on time!) knowing full well that Pittsburgh was too busy to receive flights, thereby leaving a whole planeload of people waiting 3 hours on the runway and then stranded at Pittsburgh airport with no flights to connect to, and no hotel vouchers to give them. Oh wait, they did give a $6 food voucher, but at 11:30pm, there were no food stalls or restaurants open!

*sigh* it all seems so trivial to complain about such things really. But I am a notoriously polite and patient person when it comes to travel, as it's such a privilege and a luxury. Still, this situation had me fuming. And like I said, I did write a complaint letter and got refunds and coupons. But hey, as the airlines themselves say when you are landing "we realize you do have a choice when it comes to air travel...", and I choose not to use USAir (nor Expedia) in the future.

[ducklite]

Originally posted by BansheeBlue
I do blame Expedia for being confusing and not doing their job in contacting us when the flights were cancelled. However, my main gripe is that the flights were cancelled three days in a row in the first place. No explanation given, it certainly was not weather related, weather in departure and arrival cities was clear. It *was* USAir's fault that they charged my SO $100 so he could get on the next flight (which was ALSO then cancelled, BTW) when they should have put him on standby. It was also USAir's fault (not Expedia) that they moved the plane out of the gate (just so they could say the flight left the gate on time!) knowing full well that Pittsburgh was too busy to receive flights, thereby leaving a whole planeload of people waiting 3 hours on the runway and then stranded at Pittsburgh airport with no flights to connect to, and no hotel vouchers to give them. Oh wait, they did give a $6 food voucher, but at 11:30pm, there were no food stalls or restaurants open!

*sigh* it all seems so trivial to complain about such things really. But I am a notoriously polite and patient person when it comes to travel, as it's such a privilege and a luxury. Still, this situation had me fuming. And like I said, I did write a complaint letter and got refunds and coupons. But hey, as the airlines themselves say when you are landing "we realize you do have a choice when it comes to air travel...", and I choose not to use USAir (nor Expedia) in the future.

The $100 was a communications error. When a flight is cancelled, you can go standby on the next available flight. If you want a guaranteed seat, you have to pay a change fee on your ticket. Is it ethically right, no. but it is the way the carriers work. They all do it, it is not a US Air thing.

As far as pulling away from the gate, you are possibly incorrect in your theory. The gate was probably needed for an incoming flight. Would you have preferred that people coming in sit on the tarmac for 3 hours? Also, I've been on many planes that sat on a tarmac waiting for clearence to take off, and being told it would be 45 minutes or whatever, then suddenly after ten minutes being told "we're leaving now!". It's NOT the carrier taht determines when they will take off, it's the tower, ie the FAA.

You do NOT know it wasn't weather related. There have been some severe weather problems in the USA in the past couple of weeks. They've just been overshadowed by other events. The weather in Seattle can effect a flight from Chicago to Pittsburg. Due to the continued ground stop at one of US Airs major hubs DCA, they've been scrambling to reroute planes in order to accomodate their passengers. Other airports have had unscheduled groundstops when incidents have happened. You don't neccesarily have all the facts.

If you do'nt want to fly USAir anymore, don't. Go fly United. Then you'll find out what a true lack of customer service, poor communications and cancelled flights are all about. Oh boy will you be in for a rude awakening!

In the situation we are in right now, we're all going to have to be a little more flexible and patient. And better to be stranded in PIT than at LGA IMHO.

Anne

[scoremoore]

After checking online again, we found that Expedia booked us on another flight from Pitt to MCO leaving at 8:00am. That's a problem when you don't arrive in PITT until 8:15am. Then they never called back when my wife was disconnected while on the phone with them. We finally got rescheduled leaving Buff at 6:00am connecting in Balt. and arriving at 10:30am.
So, they both kind of screwed up.

[regnurs]

After reading all the posts about flight cancelations I thought I better call and check our October flight from Toledo trough Pitt to Orlando. Good thing I called because the flight from Pitt was changed and we were scheduled to arrive at Pitt at 4:50p originally and the new flight is scheduled to leave at 4:10p. We changed our flight out of Toledo to 1:30p vs 3:50p to accomadate the earlier Pitt flight. What a mess!!! Now we do not have scheduled seats together on and of our flights and we have a 6 year old. Hopefully there will be understanding people on the flights who will be kind enough to change seats with us!!

[BansheeBlue]

Originally posted by ducklite
If you do'nt want to fly USAir anymore, don't

Well, that's my point. I don't want to fly them anymore because of the bad service and apathy they had to a situation that occurred over three whole days. Now why do I get the feeling that ducklite is a USAirways employee? ;)

Seriously, you sound angry with me for having a bad USAirways experience! I'm not making anything up, and I'm not upset with you or trying to discount what you are saying. And it looks like you feel the same way about United. I'll keep that under advisement (though I don't generally fly United except for International flights, and even then I think I've only flown United twice in the last six years). I'm mortified to think you've gotten upset with me, a new-ish poster (though loooooooong time reader/lurker)! I truly and sincerely apologize if I've been an annoyance.

That being said, I'm not a newbie when it comes to travel, I travel by air every month, and it is certainly a luxury to have a choice of service. And airlines CAN improve service dramatically, I remember when Continental was pretty ratty, and they made a fantastic turnaround the last five years or so. Right now though, most airlines are in such a tenuous situation that it's really more important they can keep their employees employed. And being a 100% New Yorker, with dear friends having lost their apartments and places of employment with the attacks (though praise and thanks to God not their lives), any thing us ordinary consumers can do to keep the economy up is important. I understand that FULLY. This is why I am undaunted with my plans to leave for WDW on the 19th. However, to put forward a bad metaphor, if there are two restaurants on my block in danger of closing, and one of those restaurants I had gotten food poisoning from, I would choose to give my business to the one that didn't have me running to the bathroom.

[pas2]

To Regnurs

We had the same problem of being split up with small kids, each of us had a different seat in a different row! Once everyone had boarded she announced that they had two children who had been seperated from their parents and would anyone consider changing their seats so we could sit togeather. Several people stood up and let us shift, and were very nice about it too. So don't worry it will all work out.

Concerning Expedia

I was told by Expedia on Monday (when we had to call them directly as to why our itinerary DIDN'T show our flight had been cancelled) that when an airline has a mass cancellation of flights their computer takes several days to update everyone's itinerary. Lesson learned - don't rely on Expedia to notify you or show correct info, call the airline yourself especially if your flight leaves in less than a week. BTW USAir didnt charge a cent to reschedule our entire trip.

[BansheeBlue]

Yes, yes, me again....

Just to let everyone know, I had a flight recently cancelled/changed by Delta, which I had booked through Orbitz. Turns out Orbitz sent me an email to let me know of the change, and responded immediately to an emailed question I had about the cancellation.

Orbitz also has an option called something like Traveler Care alerts (not sure, their site is performing maintenance now or I would look it up). Anyways, signing up for this free service means will contact you and I think up to ten other people via email/pager/palm pilot/phone or whatever method you specify to let you know when there has been a change, and will provide continuous updates on flight status the day of your flight and the days leading up to it.

So right now I'm very much liking Orbitz.

[ducklite]

Originally posted by BansheeBlue
Originally posted by ducklite


Now why do I get the feeling that ducklite is a USAirways employee? ;)

Seriously, you sound angry with me for having a bad USAirways experience

For the record, I am not a US Airways employee. I am not an employee of any air carrier, transportation company, or hotel chain. I am not a travel agent. I don't work in the travel or tourism industry, or the parent corporation of any of these. Neither do any of my immediate family members, or even less immediate that I can think of.

I am an IT professional for a Fortune 500 company.

However, I have flown well over half a million miles in my lifetime. (Yep, I sat down last night and figured it out... I got to 650,000+ and know there were more) I "used" to have a job that I spent 300 nights a year travelling. Different town most every night, it was a rare treat to stay more than two nights in a row in any hotel.

I am not angry with you for having a bad experience. However I think that you are blaming US Airways for things that were beyond their control. The first part of the problem was with Expedia, yet you blamed USAirways. Then you made all sorts of accusations about the weather, and the gate, etc., which I explained you might be making statements not based in fact. I am not saying that US was all right on this one. But I think you are placing a lot of blame on them for things well beyond their control. Right now the airlines are deeply affected by the events of 9-11. They are struggling to stay flying. US was hit extremely hard, maybe more so than many of the others due to it's hub at DCA being closed. I just think we all need to cut all of the carriers a little slack. (I draw the line at cutting slack on Pan AM's stupid no carry-on policy that IMHO is to improve on time performance, not safety. Not that it matters, I predict they'll fold before the end of the year.)

Like I said, go to the DOT web site and read the stats. You'll find that USAirways comes out way ahead of the other major carriers on a consitant basis in terms of customer satisfaction.

Anne

[BansheeBlue]

<font size=-2>DOT statistics or no, it didn't apply when my SO was treated rudely and given the wrong information and charged $100 for nothing. Above all, this was a customer service issue, and the representatives at every juncture of the company in question ranged in quality to not forthcoming with information to belligerent and insulting. As for my "all sorts of accusations", regarding the weather situation, I never said this WAS the reason the flights were cancelled, but rather that US Airways did not provide an explanation for the cancellations whatsoever, and I had to just try and figure out the reasons myself. If they had said "bad weather three days in a row" or "no crew to fly the plane three days in a row" or "whoops, sorry, let me put you on standby the next flight on any available airline", it would have been different. I see that there would be a reason a plane would have to leave the gate to allow others to deplane, but why even board a plane with no hope of taking off on time or getting it's passengers to their final destination. Though granted, this is a matter that should be addressed by airlines and the FAA. If my SO had been "stranded" at LGA, at least he could have taken a taxi home!

However, time to let this drop. I appreciate your trying to set me straight, but my decision still stands to not use them again. And from checking several threads on this board, there are many that feel likewise, as well as others who don't. Personal experience will weigh heavier against statistics every time!</font>

[Kristi1357]

BansheeBlue - I am SO with you on boycotting USAir! I wasn't going to post, but after reading this thread, I just have to.

Over the years, every single time I fly USAir, I live to regret it. I end up booking with them once again because they have a good deal going. We flew them last November to WDW and got bumped off of our flight home and received vouchers (I won't even go into how many times they changed our flights before we even left for WDW...). So, this year, I am using the vouchers to fly to Vegas. In light of everything going on with air travel, I am very understanding about changing flights. I took it upon myself to call USAir about a week ago to change my flights since I knew they would be different. Everything was all set. I got a call on Tuesday from USAir - they cancelled my flights are re-booked me onto a flight with 2 connections. I am flying Boston to Philly, Philly to Pittsburgh (how weird is that?) then Pitt to Vegas. I asked the rep. if they had anything better and all flights that day to Vegas are sold out. So, I've been calling daily to see if anything better opens up.

I just got off the phone with a customer service rep. She checked and there were no other flights from Boston to Vegas that day. I then asked if she could possibly check Manchester for me. She said no. I told her that the rep. yesterday checked the flights for me and didn't understand why it was a problem. She said that they shouldn't have. So, I then said to her that I know none of this mess is her fault - cancelling flights, rescheduling, etc. - but could she see my side of things. I then told her that every single time I fly USAir, I am bumped, cancelled, changed. Every time - literally. I again reiterated that I know these are extraordinary circumstances, and that in light of that, I thought she could simply LOOK to see if there are any available flights out of Manchester. She finally did check. BUT, while she was looking she started on a rant about her being the "worst customer service rep.", working for the "worst airline in the country", etc. I swear I did not badger her or in any way say that any of this was her fault. In fact, I kept saying, very nicely, that I knew it wasn't her, that things are crazy now, etc.

One more thing: I work at a Disney Store and I cannot tell you how many times guests have come into the store talking about how USAir always does the bait and switch. They sell you a non-stop flight out of MHT and almost always switch you, at the last minute, to a stop over in Philly. If I had a nickle for every person that has come in my store and told me that.... So, basically, I know it's not me - or you either Banshee!

Kristi

PS This time, I am NEVER going to fly them again. I would rather pay more with some other carrier than give any more of my hard-earned money to an airline that treats the few people are keeping their plans & willing to fly so horribly. It's simply unacceptable - they will be getting a whopper of a letter from me! In fact, if I could find a flight under $1000 RT, I would pay and fly someone else this week!

[ducklite]

Originally posted by flyingcircus
OK, Now I am pissed, and takes a lot to get me mad- so here it goes:

ducklite- I have been reading your rantings and ravings, and have let it go on. Now I know why you get poor service- you complain WAY TOO MUCH!!! What goes around, comes around, and in your case that seems to be the point.


Huh? I'm the one that is DEFENDING the carriers!!! I don't see where I've been ranting and raving at all... In general I get excellent service, and have very little to complain about...although I really do wish that CO would follow AA's initiative and give us a little more legroom on those 737-300's.

And as to why I don't defend United--well, first of all, I stopped flying them eleven years ago. It was a culmination of events that finally made me swear them off for good...but the final straw was making an emergency landing due to a situation caused by ground crew and pilot error. A situation which endangered the lives of everyone on the plane and many on the ground. That wasn't the end of it. What was the final straw was that the "owners " of United didn't care that we had made an emergency landing due to human error, in a city three hours from our destination. We were all left to fend for ourselves as far as getting rebooked. The lack of compassion was unforgivable--we had just landed, heads down, in the emergency position, and there wasn't even an apology. We were 70 some bewildered, scared pax who were left at an airport with no information. The "owners" who met us at the gate were not given any information which would help us, I don't blame them for this, but their higher-ups. They were told not to reroute anyone, yet they also didn't know if another plane was coming for us. More than anything, no one ever apologized. A sincere apology would have gone a very long way.

And as far as pointing out statistics on the DOT web site, it's there, it's the truth. Sorry if the truth hurts.

Anne

[flyingcircus]

Interesting- there were no employee owners 11 years ago!!

If what you say is 100% accurate, I wouldn't buy a ticket on them either.

But, I would like the following questions answered if this Did happen:

How do you know it was pilot/ground crew error- did the NTSB tell you this?
The agents were"told" not to rebook you?

If you are going to accuse United of pilot/ground crew error-you better have proof!
Now I know there are procedures, but there is NOT a procedure that they will not rebook you.


As far as stats on DOT- that is what they are-stats. As you know United and the pilot's union had a wage dispute last summer, and many of those"stats" are a result of that. NO EXCUSES, but that is part of the reason.

I really don't care if you are defending the other airlines. I am mad that you choose to slam my airline, which has many wonderful people working for it. I have NEVER heard of a flight that had an emergency landing strand their passengers without any help.

[ducklite]

Originally posted by flyingcircus
Interesting- there were no employee owners 11 years ago!!

If what you say is 100% accurate, I wouldn't buy a ticket on them either.

But, I would like the following questions answered if this Did happen:

How do you know it was pilot/ground crew error- did the NTSB tell you this?
The agents were"told" not to rebook you?

If you are going to accuse United of pilot/ground crew error-you better have proof!
Now I know there are procedures, but there is NOT a procedure that they will not rebook you.


As far as stats on DOT- that is what they are-stats. As you know United and the pilot's union had a wage dispute last summer, and many of those"stats" are a result of that. NO EXCUSES, but that is part of the reason.

I really don't care if you are defending the other airlines. I am mad that you choose to slam my airline, which has many wonderful people working for it. I have NEVER heard of a flight that had an emergency landing strand their passengers without any help.

It was a flight TPA to IAD. It made an emergency landing at RDU do to a fuel situation. Yes, I did get the final incident report from the NTSB, they said that there had been a miscalculation when the plane was fueled, we did not have enough to get to our destination. I do apologize, you are correct, UAL was not an employee owned carrier at that time. We got off the plane and were put on busses to the terminal. When we got there, there were two agents who told us they didn't have information to give us, the carrier didn't know if they would be refueling the plane or putting us on other flights. For almost two hours they did nothing but hand out $3 vouchers for a meal. Then they disappeared. I really don't know what happened next, I was tired and disgusted, so I walked over to US Air and booked a flight to Dulles on my own. Of course by the time I got there I had missed my connecting flight to SYR, the last one until noon the next day. Mohawk (talk about a blast from the past!) was the only carrier with a flight still leaving IAD and going to SYR that night. I was sent back and forth between Mohawk and UAL four times (they were in different terminals), trying to get reticketed onto Mohawk. UAL was very uncooperative about the entire thing. Finally a very nice Mohawk employee accepted the UAL ticket and rebooked me for the last flight out to SYR that night. My luggage arrived in Syracuse four days later.

I am sure there are a lot of really great people who work for UAL. And as I said, I do not blame the two women who were put in a very bad position by the management of UAL at RDU. It is the company as an entity and their management practices that seem to be the issue.

Anne

[flyingcircus]

ducklite,

First of all I have to apologize. I re read my posts, and I didn't mean to come across as such a b***h.:crazy:

I deleted my 1st post, cuz I wrote it in a hurry, and I should have read it again.

You do have the right not to fly United. Everyone has a right not to fly any airline. It is just hard right now, because I am seeing such turmoil in the US right now, and especially in the airline industry. Not only are my fellow workers mourning their losses, but also the loss of their livelihood.

I AM sorry that you experienced what you did with United. No one should have to go through that. I , even being a flight attendant, have never had to make an emergency landing (except for medical reasons). As for the customer service, that should not have been tolerated.

You can PM if you want, and I'd be happy to reply. I enjoy being a part of this group, because I like to help people out, and there is a ton of great info out there! I hate to be so negative, and I will not be doing that on this forum anymore! Take care!