[nathansmith]

I'm ****** at NWA. Even though I checked in 1 hour early, they gave away my seats. Instead of explaining the problem, I'm going to post my emails & responses directly from NWA customer service and how they used their 'canned' responses to the situation:

FIRST EMAIL:
My family & I
experience very bad customer service on our current trip. > I am
travelling with my 2 month old son, my 2 1/2 year old daughter & > wife
on the way to my brother's wedding in Nashville. > We checked our bags
and received our boarding passes 55 minutes before > boarding. Having
kids, we had to change diapers and it took us until 25> minutes before
boarding to get to the gate. When we arrived at the > gate, the woman
told us they were over booked and we didn't have a seat > on the
plane!!> I asked here how a company can take your money, then not
provide you a > seat on the plane, she said to me:> "When you purchase
the cheap tickets on the internet, this sometime's > happens"!! THIS IS
ONE OF YOUR EMPLOYEES. 1 minute before boarding, > they founds seats for
us as others had not shown up for the flight!> Here is what make me
really mad. We had other friends on this flight! > They witnessed the
flight crew mention that they wanted to get away > early and there were
empty seats that they were giving away! This was > after we already got
our boarding pass. They knew these were our seats.> My parents live in
Nashville, my family, my sister's family & my > brother's family all
live in Ontario. We used to like NWA as a good > option to fly down as
they are inexpensive and direct to Nashville. We > all usually fly down
2-3 times per year (that's a lot of tickets). From> what your employee
told me, "buying the cheap tickets doesn't guarantee > you a seat!".
Well, I may as well spend more and fly Air Canada out of > Toronto.>
This in my mind is bad customer service. You don't take someone's money>
and MAYBE give them a seat on the plane! > I have to fly back today on
your plane, but I'm not sure I will anymore.> Your airline is not living
up to your customer service claim.

RESPONSE FROM NWA:

Dear Mr. Smith,> >
RE: Case Number 6438885> >
Thank you for sharing your concerns regarding the service
provided while> you and your family were traveling with us to Nashville.
On behalf of > everyone at Northwest Airlines, I sincerely apologize for
the > unprofessional behavior of our gate agent.> > After reading your
remarks, I certainly understand why you wanted to > bring this matter to
our attention. I can only imagine how upsetting it > must have been for
all of you when you arrived at the gate and the agent> was very rude to
you when she advised that your seats had been given > away and the
flight was overbooked. I am sorry that she told you that > this was done
because you purchased cheap tickets on the internet. In > addition, I
apologize that the flight crew mentioned that they wanted to> get away
early. Please know that we expect our employees to be helpful > and
professional at all times. Please know that I will be sharing your >
comments with our Customer Service and Airport Operations leadership >
team for internal follow up. Thank you for taking the time to share >
this disappointing experience with us.> > Again, Mr. Smith, I apologize
for the unprofessional behavior of our > gate agent and flight crew. I
hope I have been able to address any > concerns you have about our
overall customer service. As our valued > WorldPerks customer, your
business is important to us and given the > opportunity of serving you
in the future, I am confident Northwest will > not only meet but exceed
your expectations.
Sincerely,
Michelle Mohr
Customer Care
Northwest/KLM Airlines

MY FOLLOW-UP EMAIL

Michelle,
although the agent was rude, this was not the main reason I'm ******
off, it is your business model of not having seats available when you
took my money. I have flown many times and have never experienced this
with any other airline. It is even worse when you have a 2-month old, a
2-year old going to a wedding.

I'm sure you will work at being more polite to your customers, however I
can't trust buying tickets from NWA anymore not knowing if I will
actually get what I paid for.

I will be telling my friends & family to avoid using your airline as
your email doesn't give me any renewed confidence in your company.
Perhaps you should take a lesson from a company like Jet Blue.

NWA RESPONSE

Dear Mr. Smith,

RE: Case Number 6438885

Thank you for writing and allowing me the opportunity to further review
your concerns. I am sorry you were dissatisfied with my first response.

I understand you feel I have not adequately addressed your concerns.
Again, I am truly sorry for the problems you encountered when you
arrived at the gate and were told that your seats were given away.
Please know that I thoroughly reviewed your correspondence and
unfortunately, there is nothing more I can add. I am truly sorry to
disappoint you, as I understand this was not the answer you were
expecting.

Mr. Smith, I am truly sorry for your disappointment with our service.
Your support is important to Northwest and I thank you for your
additional time and effort. We look forward to the privilege of serving
your air travel needs again soon.

Sincerely,

Michelle Mohr
Customer Care
Northwest/KLM Airlines