I WAS BULIED BY U.S. AIRWAYS-PHILADELPHIA TICKET AGENTS. FURTHERMORE, I REALLY DO THINK OTHER SINGLE WOMEN TRAVELERS ARE BULIED MORE THAN SINGLE MALE TRAVELERS OR WOMEN TRAVELING IN GROUPS.
Read the following and weep. And when you’re done, read U.S. Airways' “
Customer Service Plan.” When they screwed up my flight, did they offer me a free hotel room? A meal? Common courtesy? Any of the things promised in their Customer Service Plan? Nope!
Instead, I spent about 15 hours hanging about airports on the East Coast trying to fly to the West Coast because of ineptitude and outright bullying, criminal behavior by ticket agents who clearly abused their power.
I was to fly from Newark, NJ (EHR) to Oakland, CA (OAK) on the morning of Oct. 23, where I would be picked up by a relative to attend my goddaughter's wedding (my sole reason for this trip). However, the flight was delayed several hours in Newark and that meant I would have missed connection to Oakland in Phoenix. They instead put me (a fearful flyer since good friend/pilot was killed in a plane crash) on a "puddle jumper" flight with twin props. - in first row emergency seat where I felt every air pocket - on flight to Phila., where I was to connect to flight landing in Oakland. I knew I would now be late for wedding ceremony but still hoped to make the reception. Then I realized that my flight from Philadelphia to Oakland involved seating in exit row, in a middle seat. As I arrived from puddle jumper flight terrified and feeling sick from nervous stomach, and as I had paid for upgrade to aisle or window seat b/c I am a small person and tend to get squished/feel claustrophobic when put in middle seat, I was concerned about my seating placement. US AIRWAYS 800 # reservation rep. said the ticket agents would "gladly" help me. God help us all if their behavior remotely exemplifies "glad" or "helpful" behavior. While they were unfailingly courteous to the man in front of me, they were curt and rude with me when my turn came to ask basically the same thing he was asking. I was not allowed to complete a sentence because an obnoxious ticket agent refused to even listen. Then a second ticket agent named Walter C. jumped in and basically told me to shut up and sit down, thereby forcing me to blurt out quickly that I needed a seat change because I was afraid I would be ill given the circumstances. That prompted this genius to grab my ticket and "determine" I was "unfit" for flight (he clearly did not think this - was only abusing his authority). I asked to see his supervisor, who was clearly his buddy and an even bigger sexist who seemingly did not think women should be allowed to speak.. This supervisor (Gary, I believe) also refused to let me complete a single sentence & actually seemed to "get off" on treating me -- a 51 year old woman -- like a child. I doubt this would have happened had my husband or any man been present with me. Gary decided to "punish" me for trying to speak by bumping me from the flight I had paid for. I called the 800 customer service rep. They were kind and arranged for me to get on a different flight. This clearly annoyed Walter C., whose face turned quite ugly with rage.. He left his post in a huff to find Gary, who returned to my new departure gate (where I was talking on my telephone with my relative in California). Gary was accompanied by a somewhat heavyset woman with bleached blonde hair and a Disney sweatshirt. These two asked me to step out of line. By this time I literally broke into tears. The bleached blonde, unprofessional looking woman said she was Gary's counterpart (e.g., also a "supervisor"). I believe her name was Barbara. She was offended that I asked her to identify herself, apparently. Both she and Gary were also offended when I again, after listening to Gary's power trip tirade about shutting up and "behaving," tried to rationally explain the situation. Any customer service rep I spoke with at the U.S. AIRWAYS 800 number - will confirm I was completely rational, only shaken from my horrendous flight from Newark to Phila. on that tiny plane. So these ticket agents took it upon themselves to bump me from yet another flight. I now had no prospects of making my goddaughter's wedding, but I still had a hotel room that I'd already paid for and, as Barbara delighted in telling me, I would not be reimbursed for my airfare. Walter C., by the way, had a quite satisfied smirk on his face as he beheld this spectacle. Finally, an 800 rep arranged for me to take a flight FROM A DIFFERENT TERMINAL so I could escape these bullies. I essentially flew out to California (to San Francisco airport, by the way - far from relatives' home) and spent all that money for nothing because of these classless ticket agents in U.S. Airways employ in Philadelphia. Perhaps I show my age, but I remember a time when the airline passenger, who pays a significant amount of money, by the way, was treated with common courtesy and when airlines believed in customer satisfaction. I have asked U.S. Airways for a refund of my airfare for this flight, given that I missed the wedding - the sole reason for flying to Calif. - based on a series of errors and outright bullying by their ticketing staff in Philadelphia. I would also like an apology for the cruel, humiliating and traumitizing treatment I was exposed to at the hands of their staff. I am not holding my breath -- but I wonder how U.S. Airways CEO Doug Parker would like it if HIS WIFE were treated that way?
I am also filing a complaint with the proper federal authorities about these actions by U.S. Airways employees, which I still feel traumitized by. I believe Walter C., Gary and Barbara stepped way out of the bounds of proper behavior. In addition, I am a former journalist and current blogger and PR consultant. I plan to investigate this to determine if this is an isolated incident or whether U.S. AIRWAYS treats single women travelers in this fashion more frequently than male passengers. I suspect I'll find the latter is true. Anecdotally, I've been told horror stories about flying out of Philly on U.S. Airways by women, including a friend who happens to be a respected professor of English at a major university, who said she was strip-searched at this airport for absolutely no reason AND WAS FLYING ON A U.S. AIRWAYS FLIGHT. I sincerely believe, based on the treatment I received compared to the man who stood in front of me at the ticket agent desk, that it is not safe for women to fly alone aboard U.S. Airways flights -- not if Walter C. or Gary's behaviors are indicative of what we can expect. Barbara is a disgrace to all women, incidentally.