[ArmyMom]

My son is US Army soldier, currently serving in Afghanistan. Since he will be back on his base by the Christmas holidays, I helped him purchase his ticket home through Priceline on June 30, 2012. Because he is in a remote outpost somewhere along the border of Afghanistan, phone calls, information, and communication is very limited. He was given the wrong return date for his leave, and the ticket I purchased for him got him back to the base one day too late. I called US Airways yesterday afternoon, after speaking with Priceline. At their suggestion, and in light of his situation, and because Priceline told me I might have to negotiate a transfer fee of up to $150, I called US Airways. The representative I spoke with was a nice lady, but she did have some difficulty finding my son’s ticket information since the departing ticket was not a US Airways’ jet. All she did to change his ticket was to move the dates up one day keeping the times, airlines, etc. the same. There was a cost of a little over $100 for the difference in the price of the flights. She then told me I would be responsible for the additional $150 transfer fee for, I guess, not getting my son's dates right the first time I booked my flights. In the past, my son had flown back and forth to his base on two different airlines. And even though I had to change his dates a few times before, I have never paid any amount other than the difference in ticket cost. Both Delta and Continental waived the transfer fees because we had no control over the changes. But not US Airways; a total amount of $279 was the cost of making one little change in their computer.
So, God willing, my son will arrive safely from Afghanistan and will not have to change his flight dates again. Anyway, when I spoke to my husband after all this he was surprised that any airline would do this to military personnel especially someone who coming home from fighting and will see his family for the first time in 11 months. He encouraged me to write this complaint, and this man never believes in filing complaints. My sister, who is in the television news industry, called me later and demanded I contact US Airways Customer Services and if that doesn’t work, to get in touch with an investigative reporter, because as she said, "This is not right!"
From reading posts here, I doubt I will get my money back. And US Airways can be grateful that I am not like the marine mom who was disciplined for taking her son's phone call at the boat factory in Tennessee that she worked at in February, 2011. Just google "Marine's Mother Receives Apology for Phone Call Suspension" to see what I mean. She single-handedly nearly shut down that business. As I told US Airways in my complaint, "I am proud we live among people who care so much for their soldiers; you know, those men and women who now risk their lives in a war on terror. They are the ones who knew their calling after the World Trade Center in New York was attacked using to US Airplanes filled with passenger. And now your airline can't even give one of those soldiers a $150 break! I find this very disappointing and hurtful, and worse, I doubt your airline would have even missed the $150 if you didn't get it because it bought nothing. The representative I spoke with was on the payroll anyway and the only other entity working on my problem was a computer that she input the changes to."
Any suggestions as to what to do if my complaint to US Airways does not work will be greatly appreciated. It's really not about the money anymore; it's just disgusting what big corporate businesses think they can get away with.