A long vent about Song and short National vent

[Deesknee]

I'm not generally a complainer (well, not publicly).
We hated Song. We took it in June and were not overly pleased (we've previously flown only Delta & Jetblue). No big deal in June just a few little things. On our Nov. flights there were a few larger things.
1. kept changing flights without notice.
2. we had selected our seats after first flight change they were nolonger assigned. I called got different seats. I had to keep checking the flights & calling to get our seats reassigned.
3. we get to the airport check baggage & get boarding passes. My 2yo is seated elsewhere. DH explains she's 2. Employee tells us he can't do anything, that we have to" take care of it "at the gate. We get to the gate plenty early. Earlier than the Song employees. When she arrives DH approaches her to discuss this problem. Before he says anything she tells him it will be a few minutes. Fine we understand she is getting the computers up & running.When she "opens" he is 3rd in line to talk to her. She is abrupt, rude when she informs him that is the seat she will have to sit in. He explains again she's a baby in a carseat. She informs him in a tone that says tough for you, that our baby is 2. (I guess she feels we are over protective of our 2 yo).
4. Finally, she calls DH name & says we can now have that seat. (I have to imagine she explained the situation to the person who got the seat & the were willing to exchange) I did notice the person sitting in what was to be my dd seat was alone. I even wondered if he was a marshal. If they even still do that.
5. The return flight, we checked baggage & got boarding passes. Checked passes just to make sure, before going to return rental car. We are missing on boarding pass. Ironically it was DD 2yo again. No problems getting it the empoyee had just missed in the shoot. He was very nice & apologetic.
6. flight changed between entering the airport & getting to the gate. (okay flight delays happen)
7. We get to the gate it was a madhouse (i think that is more the Song area of the airport than anything else)
8. The flight attendants on the flight down were nice. The ones coming back were cold, unfriendly, bordering on rude.
9. DS luggage (disney luggage no less) was torn. We didn't bother to mention it, because DH isn't positive he didn't do it when he picked up off the belt at Bostons' Logan airport.

Anyone who has had good experiences with Song, I don't mean to offend. If I have I am sorry. This is just our experiences. Maybe employees are getting upset knowing of the bankruptcy. Or maybe we just had a row of bad luck.

There, that was theraptic. Now lets talk about National.
1. Car wasn't cleaned out. Slurpy left in car. Dog treat on floor. Smelled like vomit.
2. missing driver seat floor mat
Our fault we kept it the whole vacation, because we didn't want to loose one precious moment at WDW.

When we returned it we told the employee that checked us in. Mainly because we didn't want to get blamed for the missing mat. He was very nice. He apologized, asked what time we picked it up, and gave us a # to call to complain.

 

[bicker]

All of the major airlines allow their customers to book 330 days prior to the date of the flights, but in doing so allow their customers to book flights off of a forecasted flight scheduled NOT an actual flight schedule. The flights WILL change, several times, until the official flight schedule is released, between three and five months prior to the flight. (Some airlines won't allow you to book flights against the forecasted flight schedule -- they make you WAIT until the official schedule is announced. If you prefer that, you can get the same treatment from the major airlines as well -- just find out when the official flight schedule is released, and then book your flights after that.)

Airlines will notify all passengers, either directly or through their travel agent (who may or may not forward the information on to you -- which is why it pays to either book flights with the airline, directly, yourself or make sure you have a reliable agent). However, they don't bother notifying passengers until the official flight schedule is released. There is no sense in doing so, if the flights may simply change again.

Seat assignments always must be reconfirmed after schedule changes. Consider seat assignments casual requests until just a few months prior to the flight.

Maybe employees are getting upset knowing of the bankruptcy. Or maybe we just had a row of bad luck.

Perhaps, but I think it simply more likely that this is pretty standard treatment for domestic air travel in the United States now. Sometimes you have good experiences; sometimes you don't; and similar reports can be found with reference to every airline.

 

[bavaria]

I'm sorry that you didn't have a good experience, but when I read your post, as a very frequent flier I thought to myself, 'yes, well....'

1) Delta like many carriers changes flight schedules; those who book well in advance are well advised to recheck their flights

2) seat assignments can be dropped with a change in aircraft or schedule, resulting in a need to have them reassigned

3) during item #2, parties may be separated as seats are reassigned. Re the gate agents: they usually arrive 20-45 minutes before flight time, depending on the size of aircraft and departure point. I sit there every two weeks and watch a line of people form well before the gate agent arrives. Once the agent arrives, they need 5-10 minutes to prepare the flight before they can serve anyone. Quite often they are fielding requests to be reseated. Usually they will take the boarding cards and start to play 'puzzle' reseating requests once check in has closed. It sounds like this was the situation in your case

I am not trying to negate your post, nor supporting the staff who were less than pleasant - just trying to clarify the state of air travel these days.

Unfortunately, for those who do not have frequent flier status, it can be much more challenging to travel than for those of us high status members who fly alone. The benefits of being a frequeunt flier make it a little easier for us overall (but certainly don't outweigh the drawbacks like being away from home a lot....)

Again, I'm sorry that your flying experience was less than pleasurable, but hopefully you had an enjoyable vacation!

 

[Deesknee]

in response to my post:
we booked the flight ourselves. Never did recieve an email regarding flight changes.
we did confirm our seat about a week before the flight.
I understand I have only flown about 6 times in the past 5 years. (only about 10 times prior to that). All of my experience has been based on flights from Boston to Orlando. I flew Eastern many years ago then Delta, Jetblue & now Song.
I had no problem with the gate attendants not arriving as early as us. I insist on getting there 1 1/2 hr - 2hr early. I feel they know their job much better than I do. They know the time they need.

Thank you for the info. Hopefully, my future flights will go smother with the new knowledge. Live and Learn.

 

[Arielle22]

DH and I flew Song out of Logan on 11/9 and returned 11/19. We loved Song. Our flight did change several times between when we bought them in May and when we left. I called on 3 different occasions and had no problem reconfirming our seats.

Our flight crews were very pleasant and we got to Orlando early (Yea!) We also had no problems on the trip home.


OP, I'm just curious but was it the 3 of you? If so were you and DH seated together?

 

[bicker]

Never did recieve an email regarding flight changes.

One additional note about this: Folks often find such notifications make it into their SPAM folders or are filtered out by their ISP. One of the many down-sides of SPAM is that sometimes the automation has a hard time telling friend from foe.

 

[Deesknee]

OP, I'm just curious but was it the 3 of you? If so were you and DH seated together?[/QUOTE]

No, actually it was 6 of us. Myself, DH, DS14,DS14,DD14, and DD2.

We didn't have a problem confirming our seats. Our online tix had the seats printed on them, it was when they issued our boarding passes that they had DD2 seated alone. DH sat was to sit with two the 14yo. I was to sit with one and the 14yo and the 2 yo.

All worked out ok. I was mostly surprised that they could change our seats so close to departure, and (maybe even more so) the gate attendant's attitude. I even thought perhaps DH had approached the subject nervously & in doing so had come off as angry. My first contact with this woman was when she came over to put the tag on my stroller. It didn't go on easily for her. (basically just kept getting tangled on it's own elastic.) I smiled at her and nicely said, nothing is simple is it. She did not look up at me, but grunted. Actually grunted. Now, usually I give people the benefit of the doubt. I have the attitude, who knows whats going on in their lives, but this woman was an angry woman.
Our June trip, every employee was friendly, kind and happy.

 

[bavaria]

Well, you've been very pleasant about things here, and very open to hearing our feedback (I don't like posting if it sounds like I disagree with someone, which I DON'T - was just pointing out what I see)

So I chalk it up to the Song employee, not you! Frankly, I can't imagine how tough it must be for the gate agents at MCO working the flights like SWA, Song, Ted, etc which are filled with families. They have to juggle a lot to keep families together.

I am often asked by the GA to move seats to accomodate a family (and do so if I can)

I remember once my flight was cancelled due to bad weather in Chicago, and I had to stay overnight in Orlando (oooh, that was really tough! ) I went to retrieve my luggage and the United staffer kept thanking ME for not being upset. It's always such a zoo there and they really do have unique problems with such a high ratio of tourists to business travellers.

It's the same in my home airport as I am in a high volume tourist destination...

 

[maxiesmom]

To the grunting woman you should have said "Excuse me, could you repeat that? I don't speak pig." I can't believe she grunted at you!

 

[Deesknee]

Well, you've been very pleasant about things here, and very open to hearing our feedback (I don't like posting if it sounds like I disagree with someone, which I DON'T - was just pointing out what I see)

So I chalk it up to the Song employee, not you! Frankly, I can't imagine how tough it must be for the gate agents at MCO working the flights like SWA, Song, Ted, etc which are filled with families. They have to juggle a lot to keep families together.

I am often asked by the GA to move seats to accomodate a family (and do so if I can)

I remember once my flight was cancelled due to bad weather in Chicago, and I had to stay overnight in Orlando (oooh, that was really tough! ) I went to retrieve my luggage and the United staffer kept thanking ME for not being upset. It's always such a zoo there and they really do have unique problems with such a high ratio of tourists to business travellers.

It's the same in my home airport as I am in a high volume tourist destination...

Thank you. Song was looking for people to give up there seats, both ways. I would have loved to give up our 6 seats & stay an extra night, but was not to be.

Again, I believe live and learn.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

That's really a bummer about Song... but this is why I like to fly Southwest.

People complain about the lack of seating assignment... but really, what good IS a seating assignment if it changes and you get permanently separated? With Southwest, the flights don't change, and if equipment does, it's the same seating setup. (Not that it matters)

Southwest folks have also always been super friendly to me, and allow me to make changes to my flights whenever I want for no extra fees.

 

[Arielle22]

Funny out of all 6 of you they picked the one who couldn't sit by themselves. It's too bad that you were treated poorly. You would think that they would try to be extra nice to the customer so the customer would return.

 

[bicker]

That's really a bummer about Song... but this is why I like to fly Southwest.

However, Southwest doesn't allow you to book flights against their projected flight schedules... they only allow you to book flights against their official flights schedules 3-5 months prior. You can avoid schedule changes with the major airlines also by waiting to book until the official flight schedules are released 3-5 months prior.

 

[CarolA]

Perhaps, but I think it simply more likely that this is pretty standard treatment for domestic air travel in the United States now. Sometimes you have good experiences; sometimes you don't; and similar reports can be found with reference to every airline.

I agree 100% and it's partially our own fault. I follow this board closely. There are literally hundreds of posts of folks looking for the $100 round trip airfare. So what we want is great service, friendly folks etc. for a WalMart price. WHat we get is WalMart service (which is what we paid for)

I travel a lot on full fare business tickets. Yes, the airlines are nice to me when I do and I get my perferred seat etc. And they should be nice to me, what little profit they have they are making on that $800 round trip to Nashville, not on that $100 round trip to Orlando!

 

[erikthewise]

I sympathize and wish things could be better.

Regarding #2, this has been a problem with Delta (and no doubt others) just about forever, since they started using computers. It's not just change of aircraft, flight number, etc., it's every time the schedule shifts by 10 minutes, they dump all the seat assignments. I think they do it just for fun. It's probably just one line in their software

IF (newdeptime NE olddeptime) THEN seatingmatrix = NULL

or something like that.

If you call them up, it's either "oh yes your assignment is still there" (then why doesn't it show up on the web site?), or "you're now in 27AB" (when you were originally in 14AB and it's the same aircraft).

I'm actually grateful for flying Airtran where you don't get seat assignments until the day before!

 

[CarolA]

Actually, it predates the computer models we have now. I remember hearing my Grandfather tell me how you did routing and schedule changes manually!!!! (At that point seats were all assigned at the airport!)

 

[DMRick]

So what we want is great service, friendly folks etc. for a WalMart price. WHat we get is WalMart service (which is what we paid for)
!

Not me..I get Walmart Prices (SW was $35-39 Ding last week for January..we paid $39 each way!!), heck, I get Family Dollar store prices, and I'm always treated wonderfully.

 

[CarolA]

Not me..I get Walmart Prices (SW was $35-39 Ding last week for January..we paid $39 each way!!), heck, I get Family Dollar store prices, and I'm always treated wonderfully.

Yes, but there are those who think the "cattle call" seating is a little Walmart. LOL!

I actually love SW and one of the bad parts about my move to Atlanta is no more SW!

 

[Deesknee]

That's really a bummer about Song... but this is why I like to fly Southwest.

People complain about the lack of seating assignment... but really, what good IS a seating assignment if it changes and you get permanently separated? With Southwest, the flights don't change, and if equipment does, it's the same seating setup. (Not that it matters)

Southwest folks have also always been super friendly to me, and allow me to make changes to my flights whenever I want for no extra fees.

I just want to make it clear, we Did finally get all our seats we had requested. I am extremely grateful for that. Truly. If the person who surrendered his seat is reading this, Thank You so very much.

edited to add: I don't think SW flys out of Boston. Do they?

 

[bicker]

Southwest flies out of some of the regional airports 1-2 hours away from Boston.