[TRIXI]

this is the exact letter I sent with names withheld.
it's long, but it's worth the read!


01-30-08



Customer Relations
US Airways
4000 E Sky Harbor Blvd
Phoenix, AZ 85034



I am writing to you to relate to you our experience with your airline. I would have probably written anyway, but coincidentally I was also highly encouraged to write to you by numerous of your employees who witnessed our predicament as it was occurring as well as listened with disbelief after the fact.

My ‘husband’, X, ‘daughter’ Y, (life partner & his daughter I believe is the accepted terminology) and myself, Jules, secured round trip tickets on US Airways non-stop from Anchorage to Las Vegas, December 24, 2007 departure and January 5, 2008 return. The 5/6 hour non-stop is essential to us as X is 6’6” and 285’ and is unable to sit in normal airline seats for very long due to severe back injuries he has sustained in the past, not to mention that he just does not fit size wise. I always have to get him into bulkhead or an exit row; we usually do not end up sitting together.

On Dec 24th, our commuter flight from Homer AK to ANC was cancelled due to weather. The flight would have been 50 minutes, getting us to ANC 3 ½ hours before USO 116, departing at 4:52 pm. So we went home, got in the truck and drove 2 hours/100 miles in a blinding blizzard to the nearest airport, in KENAI, AK and just made the flight to ANC from there. When we got to ANC, we had 45 minutes to make the 4:52 flight. We had to change terminals, paid a taxi -$12.00- to take us faster than airport bus would, we got to the front counter at 30 minutes to flight time and were told our seats had been given away. This was very upsetting as we needed to be in Las Vegas early Dec 25th to pick up X’s 2 sons who live there and it would be the only day we were allowed to spend with them.

The counter person told us that he had re-booked us on the same flight on the 25th, as 4:52 pm, and suggested that we come back to the front counter at 9:00pm that same night, the 24th, and sign up for stand-by on the US AIR redeye flight.

So we tried to find a place to eat dinner at the airport. Nothing at all was available in the terminal that US Air is in. We grabbed all of our luggage and took the airport bus to the other terminal. There the restaurants were open in the terminal but past security. So, we checked our bags into the baggage storage area- $23.00- so we could go thru security to a restaurant. Of course, when we got to security we were not allowed thru as we had NO BOARDING PASSES!

We then took a taxi -$14.00_into Anchorage to a close restaurant for dinner. Then after dinner another taxi - $15.00- back to the airport to wait in line for stand-by for the red-eye flight. We got our luggage from the one terminal and took the airport bus to the other terminal. Did I mention that it was 4 degrees Fahrenheit outside that night ???? as we were forced to traipse in and out of the terminals, standing out in the cold waiting for busses and taxis?

At 9pm we returned to the front counter of US AIR. And waited. Until the counter person opened the counter 45 minutes later. Luckily we got a very nice and helpful woman ‘Judy’ I believe, to help us. She first informed us that we were in fact NOT booked on the 4:52 flight on the 25th as the previous counterperson had assured us we were. She put us on the standby list for the redeye and said it looked as though we had a good chance to get on. Now, at 10 pm, we had to wait until 1am to see if we could get on that flight. Nothing like spending Christmas Eve on the floor of the airport!

When the redeye was almost through boarding, we were called to the podium and told that there was 1 seat left if we wanted to split up. It would stop in PHX then arrive in LAS at 8 or 9 am on the 25th. We were also told that the other 2 of us could go through SEA on an AK AIR flight in the morning and arrive in LAS sometime the afternoon of the 25th. So X got on the flight. Wedged himself in between 2 others in the middle seat and anticipated a miserable 7-8 hours in this position.

Then they pulled him off the plane and sent me and Y on, said there were 2 seats available and X could fly later thru SEA. As Y and I were halfway down the ‘jet way’ (?) X came running down and told us they found out there was only one seat, so he was going and we were not. A few minutes later as Y and I stood at the gate with the gate agent, out came X. There had actually not been even one seat available for him…

By the time we got back to the front counter of US AIR with ‘Judy’ it was 2 or 2:30 am. The 25th of Dec. She probably spent an hour with us trying to figure out how to get us to LAS AT ALL!!! We were ready to go back to Homer at this point and can the trip.

We ended up with an itinerary of AK AIR to SEA, then to Salt Lake City and finally into LAS at 9pm (?) on the evening of the 25th. We would not be able to see X’s 2 boys at all, which was the original emphasis of our trip. At this time Judy did suggest that we stand by on AK AIR earlier in the morning and said that if we could catch one of the first 2 flights to SEA we were confirmed on a 10am-ish flight to LAS which would get us in to LAS early-mid afternoon.

This is what we did. We slept on the airport couches closest to the AK AIR front counter. We ate breakfast in the airport before our flight, -$24.00-we also spent almost $10.00 on water bottles during this long waiting period.

( Did I mention that our daughter, Y, is a Type I insulin dependent diabetic who cannot go many hours without food of substance)?

I got in the AK AIR front counter line at 4am and got us on the waiting list for stand by on the first flight to SEA; we checked our bags and went to the gate, where we did in fact get on the first flight to SEA. That got us to SEA in time to catch the 10am (?)US AIR flight to LAS where we were confirmed in 1st class!!!! (THANK YOU JUDY!!!) & thank the stars above! X was ready to can the whole trip if he had to sit in another seat he did not fit in.

Obviously by the time we boarded that flight we had been travelling 24 hours, with only ‘airport floor sleep’, running from counter to gate etc. and very tired and weary. And we have spent $73.00 + dinner that we would not have had we made our original flight.

AND THIS WAS NOT THE ‘BAD’ PART OF THE TRIP…please READ ON……….

Our vacation went well, we drove from Las Vegas to Phoenix, and we were intended to fly home to AK from PHX with a simple short stop-over in Las Vegas.

On January 5, 2008 we went to the PHX airport to board flight U0141 at 9:52 am. We boarded the flight essentially on time, but as we sat in the plane the power flickered on and off a couple of times, then off. The captain informed us that the generator had gone out on the plane, but we could ‘hook up’ to airport power (?) to get down the taxiway.

So we taxi-ed into line for take-off and there we sat for about an hour. The captain said it was due to wind at LAS which closed one runway leaving only one runway open for landings.


When we finally landed in LAS, we were told not to get off the plane as our ‘late-ness’ caused us to be close to taking back off. They were going to load the passengers on the plane and take right off. After appx 10 minutes, we asked if we could get off the airplane and get something to eat for our daughter, as it was now about 11am. (maybe it was then 12 noon LAS time).

We were told yes, but stay close and listen for re-boarding announcements. We got something to eat, stayed close, and listened. All that was announced was that we should stay at the gate and keep listening. X asked to go back on the plane to get something out of the overhead bin. When he reappeared in the airport from the plane, he had ALL OF OUR BELONGINGS! While on the plane he had encountered the Captain who informed him that this plane was going NOWHERE as it had been discovered on landing that it was severely leaking HYDRAULIC FLUID and had to wait for another part (an engine) to be flown in. We probably sat at that gate for 1-1/2 to 2 hours before they announced that they had found us another plane coming from Los Angeles to fly the 100+ passengers waiting for their direct non-stop flight to ANC.

About 2:20 pm US AIR moved us to another terminal where the flight from L.A. was supposed to land and we would be boarding at appx 3pm. The flight arrived at appx 3:15. We got in line to board. Then the announcements started. We were waiting for a ‘flight crew’. We had pilots on board ready to go, but no flight attendants. An hour or so later, rumor was that there was a flight crew being flown in for our flight. A while later, we watched the pilots walk off the plane and leave the gate area. They had ‘timed out’ we were told.

At appx 5:30 pm (still Jan 5th) we were told the flight was cancelled due to lack of pilots and crew, at which point in time we were sent to a room in another terminal where all hell broke loose. I ran, and got position #5 in line. Except that the 1st class passengers were attended to before the number system started. After about 1-1/2 hours, the first 4 first class passengers had not budged from the agents ‘helping’ them…..and they were being told the earliest flights to ANC that ANY of us, including them, would be the 12th of Jan, a full week later!!! And that each person would be given 2 nights hotel by US AIR!!!

Everyone with a cell phone was on it trying to re-book, trying desperately to find a way back to ANC. People were yelling, screaming, crying, it was very stressful and disconcerting!

Agents were telling people to go to the bus station and take greyhound. Some passengers were turning around and going back where they had come from, completely cancelling their trips. Some were re-routing through California, Minnesota, etc. only to take a chance at getting on a flight to ANC from somewhere else.

Even though the ‘Customer Service’ counters in each US AIR terminal had been 10’s of persons deep all day, I decided to leave X in the room with our #5 and attempt to get to the ‘customer service’ counter down the hallway. Eventually I got to the front of the line and to the counter. The 2 agents I worked with were very pleasant, helpful, and both who had worked there for numerous years said this ‘situation’ of our flight being flat out cancelled and no flights with availability to ANC for a week was, and I quote, “the worst we have ever seen”..

Sure enough, I was told the first seats available for us would be issued for Friday the 11th of January, a full week away. I had to be back at work on the 7th. Y had to be back in school on the 7th. We had intended to be home this very evening, Saturday the 5th of January and intended to have all day Sunday the 6th to unpack and relax. Not to mention that we only had a couple of extra days of diabetic supplies for her, needles, test strips, and most importantly of all: 2 types of insulin.

I asked the agents to please just get us to SEATTLE ASAP, as we know from experience there are numerous flights a day from SEA to ANC for us to at least try to stand by on. They did get us tickets (see copies enclosed) on US AIR for the next morning, Sunday Jan 6th from LAS to SEA, but the SEA to ANC leg of the trip was Jan 11th on AK AIR. By this time it was appx 7pm,we had gotten on the first plane in Phoenix at 9 am and spent the entire rest of this day sitting in the Las Vegas airport, running from terminal to terminal and being told a pack of lies at every turn. We were given for that nite transportation to a hotel, one night in the hotel, and each a $20.00 voucher they said was good for food for 24 hrs. We waited about an hour for the transport to the hotel, when we got to the hotel we were very hungry and found they had no restaurant, no food, just a sundry shop with chips and junk….luckily the desk clerk suggested that the casino-restaurant across the street might accept the coupons, which thankfully they did, so we got dinner at about 9pm. I spent until midnite on the phone trying to get us seats from SEA to ANC. I explained that our daughter was an insulin dependent diabetic and did not have enough supplies for another week. No one seemed to care at US AIR. No luck. I slept until 3am, then started again on the phone with every airline to no avail. I was shocked that we were only a couple of days from heading into a medical emergency and there was no one taking it into account!

We took the shuttle back to LAS at 6am on Jan 6th. We checked in for the US AIR flight at the Kiosks, which offered us 1st class seats to SEA for $100.00 each, almost together, which we did purchase since our original seats were bulkhead on the LAS-ANC flight that was cancelled, we did not want Y to have to sit alone, and for X's sake-physical comfort; -$300.00 total- then we checked our bags. We were told by US AIR that once we got to Seattle, we were at the ‘mercy’ of AK AIR. That the first flight we stood by on would take our baggage to ANC so we would possibly be without our luggage for the entire week if we did in fact not get seats until the 11th. AND that we would have the choice to stand by on each of their flights until we got on. AND that at the end of each day that we did NOT get on a AK AIR flight we would have to go to the front counter of US AIR and ask if we could get a hotel and food coupons. When we again questioned them about the medical issue, US AIR told us that it would become the problem of AK AIR once we were in SEA.

We then found the AK AIR counter and 2 agents in the LAS airport and spoke with them. One of them was very understanding about Y’s diabetes, was very helpful and somehow arranged that we would be boosted up close to the top of the stand by list once we got to Seattle.

On the US AIR flight from LAS to SEA, in conversation with one of the flight attendants relating our tale of the previous day and the US AIR cancelled flights, she looked at us quizzically and mentioned that she had eaten breakfast with the captain of that 2nd cancelled flight, the one we were told was cancelled by lack of crew; and the captain of that 2nd flight told her that flight was actually cancelled due to mechanical reasons, and had been cancelled as soon as it landed in LAS. That means that we sat in the 2nd terminal for 2-3 hours ABSOLUTELY unnecessarily while the US AIR agents and everyone knew we were not going ANYWHERE on that plane!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we got to SEA, we checked our bags and started to stand by on each flight, moving from terminal to terminal almost every hour. I did find out that we had been bumped higher up on the stand-by list due to the medical issue. Which was a good thing as there were over 91 people on the stand-by list trying to get to ANC. And we were all migrating from terminal to terminal for each flight as they each turned out to be oversold and begging for volunteers to bump off.

I found an available AK AIR gate agent midday and asked again for help. She turned out to be a supervisor and actually recognized my name and was aware of our predicament! She worked for quite a while and somehow squeezed us onto the 11:30 pm flight that night to ANC, Jan 6th, 2008! We continued to stand by on each flight, schlepping from terminal to terminal, taking the train from one side of the airport to the other every hour to stand by hoping for seats on each and every available flight from SEA to ANC. When 2 seats became available we decided to break up. Y and I got on one and flew out at 6pm hoping to get to ANC in time to catch the last commuter flight of that evening home to Homer. Of course, we arrived in ANC just a few minutes to few to retrieve out baggage, shuttle to the other terminal, check in and have time to catch the last flight back to Homer. So we braced ourselves for another night to be spent sleeping in another airport. She and I ate dinner and went to the counter area or our commuter airline and tried to get some sleep so we would fly out on the first a.m. flight and could try to go to school/work Monday morning. X continued to stand by on each flight, schlepping from terminal to terminal, to no avail, and finally got on the 11:30pm (ish) flight to ANC that we had all been ticketed for. He met up with us in the Anchorage airport at about 2:30 am and also tried to get some sleep, as his commuter flight would leave at 5:30 am to go to Kenai to pick up our truck, then drive 2 hours back to Homer. Y and I flew direct an hour later to Homer so she could get there in time for school.

Our trip home started in Phoenix early morning on the 5th of January. We got ‘lucky’ and ONLY spent all day Saturday, all day Sunday, and Monday morning (as opposed to the entire week as US AIR had booked us) in airports eating bad food, buying lots of bottled
water, (appx $98.00 more unnecessarily spent for airport food, plus the $300.00 for the 1st class tickets) for these 3 days of trying to sustain ourselves and our diabetic daughter, get some sleep and trying to get home before our ticket itinerary called for on Jan 11th.

All in all, the delays, cancellations, misinformation, etc. cost us dearly not only time-wise; but also emotionally, mentally, and physically. X missed Christmas with his sons. We spent 3 unnecessary days and 2 unnecessary nights in airports, and 1 unnecessary miserable night in a Las Vegas downtown hotel. We were forced to take 2 more flights than we planned to. We spent numerous more hours flying than we planned to. And lots of hours hanging around airports, having to spend our hard earned money on food and water just to make it through the days where/when we should have been either on vacation or back in the comfort of our own home unpacking and getting ready to get back to work/school.

Our original itinerary we selected purposefully to be only 2 simple direct flights intended to get us to and from our destinations as quickly as possible with no overnights, changing planes, or need to spend extra time or money in any airports.

Financially we are out at least $471.00 which has been documented in this letter for food, water, and simple creature comfort on a flight that was not on our schedule and we should not have had to be on.

I have never in my life experienced anything like this. I have never had so many agents who are supposed to be there to help be so unhelpful and seemingly uncaring. I do give kudos to ‘Judy’ in Anchorage for trying so hard to get us ONTO our vacation. I also appreciated the agents in LAS who were finally honest with us and did what they could to get us to SEA.

AK AIR went above and beyond the call to get us home safely and in a timely manner. No one else tried anywhere near as hard as they did.

I have researched Rule 240, and where US AIR stands on it is unclear.

I have printed and read your ‘Customer Service Plan’.

I do not know for sure if there is anything you are ‘obligated’ to do for us. I do not know for sure if you ‘owe’ us anything.

I do know that on page 15, Amenities/Services for Delayed Customers,
It does discuss:

‘expenses incurred as a result of a flight cancellation or….resulting in a delay exceeding four hours, as outlined below.’

I do know that on page 17 ‘Compensation for flights to or from Alaska’…
it discusses compensation for:

‘customers denied boarding involuntarily to or from Alaska.’


I do know that regarding ‘Special Needs Passengers’ EVERYONE I spoke with in your company in person and on the phone really dropped the ball. I did not see any exhibit of “kindness, awareness, and respect’. All I heard was that there was nothing US AIR could/would do to help in our situation.

I know that I will, as you suggest on page 8, forward a copy of this to the U.S. Dept of Transportation.

I just hope that someone has actually taken the time to read this.

(end of original letter.)
after numerous attempts by US AIR to ignore me and 'blow me off' I relentlessly stayed on top of this incident with them. They finally, lamely, offer me 'vouchers' for future travel on THEIR airline..............HENCE:





I SENT YOU A 9 PAGE LETTER DATED 01-30-08 EXPLAINING IN DETAIL THE TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES WE HAD DURIING OUR WINTER VACATION DUE TO YOUR AIRLINES. I ALSO EXPLAINED IN DETAIL THAT US AIR FLIGHT DELAYS AND CANCELLATIONS COST US OVER $500.00 THAT WE HAD NOT INTENDED TO SPEND IN THE AIRPORTS AND TO FLY US AIR FROM LAS TO SEATTLE; IN ADDITION TO 3 EXTRA DAYS AND NIGHTS WE WERE FORCED TO SPEND ON THE FLOORS IN VARIOUS AIRPORTS.

YOUR RESPONSE, DATED 02-04-08 WAS TO AUTHORIZE THREE $300.00 TRAVEL VOUCHERS FOR US TO USE IN THE FUTURE. IN CASE YOUR CUSTOMER RELATIONS PERSONNEL HAVE NO IDEA WHERE ALASKA IS OR HOW FAR IT IS FROM YOUR THE ONLY AK AIRPORT IN ANCHORAGE TO THE ONLY PLACE US AIR FLIES FROM ANCHORAGE, PHOENIX/LAS VEGAS; LET ME EXPLAIN SOMETHING TO YOU. WE LIVE 250 MILES FROM ANCHORAGE. FOR US TO FLY OUT OF ALASKA, WE HAVE TO FLY TO ANCHORAGE WHICH COSTS US ALMOST $300.00 EACH PERSON FOR A ROUND TRIP. WE HAVE NO REASON TO EVER TAKE ANOTHER TRIP TO EITHER PHOENIX OR LAS VEGAS, BUT BECAUSE THAT IS THE ONLY PLACE YOU FLY FROM ANCHORAGE, WE WOULD NEED TO PURCHASE THREE TICKETS TO PHX OR LAS FOR $600.00 OR MORE EACH, THEN PURCHASE THREE MORE TICKETS TO OUR FINAL DESTINATION , WHEREVER THAT MIGHT BE. IN THIS SCENARIO, WHERE THE TICKETS TO ANOTHER DESTINATION FROM PHX/LAS WOULD LIKELY BE A MINIMUM OF $500.00 MORE PER PERSON, WE ARE NOW FACING SPENDING ALMOST $1500.00 PER PERSON SO THAT WE CAN USE YOUR OFFERED $300 VOUCHERS AND FLY NUMEROUS EXTRA HOURS AS WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO FLY THROUGH PHX OR LAS.

WHEN AIRLINES ASK FOR VOLUNTEERS TO 'BUMP' TO THE NEXT FLIGHT BECAUSE OF OVERBOOKING, THOSE VOLUNTEERS NOT ONLY GET TO THEIR DESTINATION ON THE NEXT FLIGHT, THEY ARE ALSO COMPENSATED WITH 'FREE' ROUND TRIP TICKETS ANYWHERE THE AIRLINE FLIES FOR THEIR INCONVENIENCE.

WE WERE INVOLUNTARILY AND PERMANENTLY 'BUMPED' FROM OUR FLIGHT HOME TO ANCHORAGE, TOLD THE NEXT AVAILABLE FLIGHTS WERE A WHOLE WEEK AWAY, US AIR DID VIRTUALLY NOTHING TO HELP US GET HOME, AND YOU WANT US TO ACCEPT 3 VOUCHERS THAT WILL DO NOTHING OTHER THAN COST US AT LEAST $4000.00 TO USE? US AIR IS NOT THINKING CLEARLY IF YOU FIND THAT TO BE 'FAIR' OR 'JUST' COMPENSATION FOR THE HELL WE WENT THROUGH SIMPLY TRYING TO GET HOME AT THE END OF OUR VACATION.

I AM AWARE THAT I AM NOT THE ONLY UNHAPPY CUSTOMER OF YOURS. BH (assc of FAA) IS A BUSINESS ACQUAINTENCE OF MINE, ALSO FROM ALASKA, WHO ALSO SEEMS TO BE GETTING THE SAME RUN-AROUND AS I AM AS HE ALSO WAS BOOKED ON THE CANCELLED US AIR FLIGHT JAN 5TH, 2008 FROM LAS TO ANC. AND LEFT HIGH AND DRY BY US AIR TO FORAGE HIS WAY HOME, TOO

(end of ALL communication between myself and US AIR)

DON'T FLY US AIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks for reading!


JULES
p.s. it also broke up our family, X left that fall!!!