[jendempsey]

My husband and I travel a lot - as in 4-6 flights per week. We have been flying US Airways for most of those flights in the past couple few years. We have almost never redeemed miles for free flights however, this week, our teenage daughter had the opportunity to intern with a film production company in LA so we redeemed miles to fly her out. A couple of days ago, we learned the production is going to wrap early so called to change her return flight. 2 days and 4 attempts later, my husband finally got a supervisor named Carmen on the phone. Understanding all the stress she must deal with everyday, he was very polite but clear about what he would like her to help us with. Carmen said she could call someone to release a seat on an earlier flight but would only do so if we agreed to pay $150.00 change fee first (this is in addition to $80.00 we already paid to redeem miles for a "free" flight). My husband asked if she would make the call and see if they would accept miles instead. He specifically stated that he would pay cash if necessary but wanted Carmen to ask if it was possible to use miles. She flatly and rudely refused. My husband reminded her that we were talking about arrangements for a minor child traveling alone and all he wanted Carmen to do was make the call and ask. She made is clear that the child was irrelevant and refused to call without the money. My husband was stunned by both her refusal and her indifference and told her he had never been treated like this by any other airline and for as often as we travel US Air (demonstrated by the high number of miles we've accrued), he didn’t think a phone call was too much to ask. Carmen’s response: “Than call another airline! Thanks for calling US Air!” and then SHE HUNG UP ON HIM!
Bottom line? Apparently US Airways is unconcerned about doing something like stranding an underage girl alone in a city like Los Angeles. Our daughter was scared to death and as parents, we were panic stricken about our 5'2'', 95lb little girl being in LA with no way home. We were absolutely horrified that an airline has SUPERVISORS who are more concerned about cash than a child and don't even pretend otherwise. We have since managed to make alternate arrangements to get our little girl home however, I have to wonder how many other children US Airways have stranded and what may have happened to those children whose parents did not have the resources we did...