Midwest to ground all MD80's by the fall [MERGED]

[bicker]

I'm guessing you never flew Midwest.

That is not the case. I did fly Midwest (Express) several times.

The reason many people were against the AirTran takeover was because they were worried about a loss in customer service specifically.

Why was AirTran able to pursue take over Midwest, instead of the other way around?

There is some very hard, cold realities here, surrounding the changes we are all experiencing, in the airline industry, and in the broader economy as well. By all rights, there should have been more instances, so far, where airlines went under, with passengers left holding worthless tickets. I think we need to focus on the fact that Midwest is still operating, their tickets are still valid, at least for refunds. This is a good thing, as it could have worked out differently.

 

[cbjl]

They've turned live chat off, too. Will reopen tomorrow.
If they actually updated their timetable with the new schedule, they might be able to avoid a lot of this phone time for customers and customer service reps. If their link listed in today's update to request refunds online worked, that would also seem to be more efficient.
Even if they offer a replacement flight for me, I think I'll take a refund if I can. I'm not sure I trust them anymore.

 

[Emmabean2000]

I am with a customer service rep right now, and BOTH my flights were cancelled, and no options to go with Northwest, as there were no confirmed seats available. I will get a full refund, but so much for the family trip AND running in the 1/2 Marathon. At least my kids will not be heartbroken, as we were going to surprise them this year.

 

[Inkmahm]

I'm guessing you never flew Midwest. It used to be so much different than the rest that people regularly drove up from Chicago to enjoy their service. The reason many people were against the AirTran takeover was because they were worried about a loss in customer service specifically.
They used to be a great company, and that's what makes the way they are handling things now very, very surprising.

Exactly. I even wore "save the cookie" t-shirts on my midwest flights last year to show support during the Air Tran takeover attempt! The Midwest flight crews loved it. Until now, I would ALWAYS fly Midwest over any other airline if I had the chance. Sometimes that meant flying Midwest part of the way to a destination and another airline the rest of the way. But if Midwest went where I was going, my butt was on Midwest.

Not anymore. I am now booked on Air Tran, the enemy, for my next 3 Florida trips. That is hard to swallow for a Midwest loyal customer.

 

[Vickibean]

Our October flights were eliminated by AirTran. So, I rebooked on Midwest.

Now, our Midwest flights are eliminated.

I just booked on AirTran before everything fills up and the price goes up.

I never really liked flying Midwest, anyhow. Just about every flight I ever took, about 8 of them, were delayed for some reason or another.

 

[cbjl]

I am with a customer service rep right now, and BOTH my flights were cancelled, and no options to go with Northwest, as there were no confirmed seats available. I will get a full refund, but so much for the family trip AND running in the 1/2 Marathon. At least my kids will not be heartbroken, as we were going to surprise them this year.

Was this for January (guessing based on the marathon)?

Can you post flight months & flight numbers that were cancelled?

I'm still on hold (23 minutes now) & just trying to anticipate what the options might be....

 

[Inkmahm]

I just got off the phone with reservations. The woman was very nice and handled all my refunds. She told me I could have gotten refunds online and I told her that feature was not working, all I got was the dreaded red letters saying I needed to call in. She said she'd report that to someone so that they'd fix the website.

I also will get my miles back for two flights we had booked with miles in December. She said to wait a bit to see that they are redeposited to my account, otherwise call again in a few days when it isn't so hectic. I'm hoping it works smoothly and our miles are back in our accounts without me having to call again.

 

[Inkmahm]

Why was AirTran able to take over Midwest, instead of the other way around?

AirTran did NOT win the takeover battle. Midwest never TRIED to takeover Air Tran.


Midwest was NOT taken over by AirTran. It was sold to a group of investors, including the silent partner NWA.

 

[Inkmahm]

I am with a customer service rep right now, and BOTH my flights were cancelled, and no options to go with Northwest, as there were no confirmed seats available. I will get a full refund, but so much for the family trip AND running in the 1/2 Marathon. At least my kids will not be heartbroken, as we were going to surprise them this year.

Try AirTran or Delta... go to Orbitz and do a search. You can still get there!

 

[bicker]

AirTran did NOT win the takeover battle. Midwest never TRIED to takeover Air Tran.

Yes sorry... I fixed my earlier message, having detected the same error in my earlier message, as you were typing this.

 

[Inkmahm]

Frequent Flyer miles tickets are different!

Midwest just called me back, the same lady that handled my refunds. She said in their class on how to do all of this, it wasn't covered as to what they should do for FF miles tickets. Her supervisor says FF miles tickets have to call the FF miles people (who aren't there yet, until 8 am) to get their miles back. But since they have all of my information, the supervisor is going to give my info to the FF people when they get in to process our miles back into our accounts.

How could they not anticipate that some of the tickets affected would be FF tickets?

And now, I'm off to the activity I had planned for this morning before I had to fix plane tickets. Again, good luck everyone! I hope you get your seats or your refunds, whichever you want.

 

[Inkmahm]

Yes sorry... I fixed my earlier message, having detected the same error in my earlier message, as you were typing this.

A true loyal Midwest customer would never had made that mistake.

 

[cbjl]

I just hung up with customer service - who sounds a little frazzled already, but my rep was very nice.
They put us on an alternate flight in Nov, but we lost our spots while I was on the phone, so I took a refund.
Our Jan flights were moved to
departure of 9:20/1:00 arrival &
return 1:35depart/3:25pm arrival.
I took the new Jan flights since thats just a small family trip. Now, off to find new tickets for our big family gathering in November.
AirTran or Delta - who is more reliable???
any thoughts?

 

[bicker]

A true loyal Midwest customer would never had made that mistake.

There is apparently no such thing as a true loyal customer. cbjl used the term "AirTran takeover" first (here)... there never was an "AirTran takeover". It was an "attempted" takeover. cbjl was mistaken in wording in that message, as I was in my later message.

(And actually, it was after posting that reply that I got to thinking that the takeover didn't go that way and went to Wikipedia myself, to check it out. That's why my correction, at 8:25 am, came so soon after your message at 8:23 am.)

cbjl: Please consider going back and fixing your earlier message, as I have fixed mine.

 

[McKelly]

Whew, I still got my flights out for Christmas, just changed times, but still non-stop and acceptable times. Good Luck to everybody!!

 

[DisOrBust]

So I'm on hold as well.

Do they give you NWA as an option?? I saw a flight I would concider....

Can I assue my refund will go thru and book elsewhere now since I have the red letters as well...

TIA!

 

[bicker]

I don't recall: Did anyone check the threshold for schedule changes? For some airlines it is as much as four hours, so if they can get you to your destination within four hours of your original flight, even on another airline, then they don't have to offer you a refund. Given that, if there is an alternative within whathever the threshold is for Midwest, I wouldn't assume (i.e., make non-refundable reservations elsewhere) that you'll definitely be offered a refund until Midwest confirms it.

 

[nikandboys]

On hold for 15 min now...trying to get refund for sept.
But did get air tran online for $20 cheaper with picking own seats. Got similar times to original flights and they were direct also!

 

[karebear1]

So- are you saying that if your flight has disappeared when you check it- it is no longer available? My flight down to Orlando shows up, but my return flight does not.

Also- what happens if you booked through Travelocity and not Midwest?? Does anyone know?

 

[bicker]

It is up to Midwest, but in some cases airlines have refused to process changes through their reservations line when a travel agency, like Travelocity, is involved (since they've ostensibly paid the travel agency to provide customer service to the passenger), referring the passenger to the travel agency to make changes.