[ksen1965]

On June 4th at Washington Dulles airport I have experienced along with my co-travelers, the most callous, degrading and dehumanizing treatment that made us feel no better than incarcerated criminals. As a member of the civil society I will try to fulfill my obligation by reporting the ordeal with full knowledge that nothing is likely to change for the better. Like investment banks the airlines are too big to be disciplined and they bullishly refuse to improve their ways.

On June 4th I booked a same day ticket to Kolkata, India via Zurich and New Delhi to see my terminally ill father on cardiorespiratory support and a family anxiously waiting to make some very difficult decisions. The United Airlines flight 0936 from Washington Dulles to Zurich was ready to depart at 5.45 PM when the captain announced that the auxiliary power unit was not working. Maintenance was called in and the familiar process of incremental delays and empty updates continued for about 2 hours. From the very beginning I explained my emergency situation to the gate agent and requested rebooking sooner rather than later. I was asked to go to the customer service or call reservation. The cue was obviously huge at the customer service desk and after 45 minutes a supervisor came in and announced that the Zurich flight will now board and depart. We came back to the gate only to be informed that the decision was still pending and regrettably the announcement was a miscommunication. It was clear to us that the supervisor simply played some tactics to diffuse an increasingly angry crowd.

There was a loud applause at the terminal when the boarding was finally
announced late in the evening. As everyone settled in their seats the captains voice came on the loudspeaker- ‘Ladies and gentlemen we really appreciate your patience but it was really a big mistake to allow you to board. The maintenance has not cleared the flight yet, and a key part of the faulty unit is still missing. But don’t you worry, sit back, relax and enjoy a drink while they fetch that part from another retiring aircraft and put it right back on. Another hour passed by before the final inevitable announcement- ‘Ladies and gentlemen we apologize but the flight has been cancelled. Please deplane and go back to the terminal where they will arrange for a new aircraft.’

We came back into the terminal at around 11.00 PM and found out that no additional flight had been arranged to replace the cancelled flight and the next flight would be fully booked. Chaos and commotion took over the customer service desk. Nobody appeared to have any clue and all the outgoing flights on June 5th happened to be full. People were asked to call reservation or to come back the next day. Until midnight we went on struggling to reconstruct our itineraries and wondering how to deal with our losses including such critical ones like attending to a dying parent.

I understand the unpredictability of mechanical malfunction and do not want to comment on the adequacy of aircraft maintenance. What I cannot excuse is the absence of empathy and common sense. They could have given the option of rebooking as soon as the malfunction was announced rather than confusing the customers over and over again with self-contradictory announcements. The more critical and time sensitive cased should have been dealt with an appropriate level of care and engagement. By no means should the customers be invited to board the flight that was not ready for departure and then taken off the plane again. The terminal and customer service staff showed utter lack of expertise in operating the system. They were visibly confused, asking questions to each other, struggling with the computer system and hardly ever making eye contact with the customers. Finally I believe that the airline should have arranged for a replacement flight in this scenario instead of scattering their customers all over the place and jeopardizing their travel plans in such an unpredictable manner.

Sincerely Yours,

Kaushik Sen, MD
Associate Clinical Professor, Hematology and Oncology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
June 5th, 2012

[jimworcs]

A damning crtique of the consequences of allowing airlines to grow too big to fail.