False promises and price gouging
 

In December 2010 I paid for two tickets on US Airways. I expected to be reimbursed by the client company (Washington Publishing Company) that was asking me to travel. They mandated the booking method and then refused to reimburse me.

I called US Airways and was told by US Airways that I would have a credit of 880.60 for the two tickets which I could use any time prior to December 2011.

Now, the Airline is refusing to honor the credit in full and they are scamming me for another $175 per ticket ($350 total) to book any other flight using the credit.

I suggested a resolution to the third person I spoke with, Jay (another customer non-service person, Meg, was abrasive, took everything personally and called me stupid).

I suggested the airline allow me to book two tickets now (est. total $800), keep the remainder of the credit due me, and we would be done.

They refused.

According to them, I could only use one credit / one ticket and would have to pay the "rebooking fee" of $350 for the two tickets. This would mean that I would lose about $230 on the original deal and have to pay another $350 (total of $580) so I could "use" the credit I was told I had.

This is so-called "rules based" price-gouging and consumer fraud at it's most insidious.

They could have let me use the money I already gave them $880 for the tickets, they would not have lost one penny, in fact, they would have made $80 on the deal, and they could have had a less-unhappy customer. Instead, they prefered to lie to me and cheat me.