Worst Airline! No Compensation
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As I flew home from Christmas, I was excited to see that my flight (US Airways) to White Plains, NY from Indianapolis, with a connection in Philadelphia, was running completely on time. I was not one of the unfortunate people who had my flight canceled due to weather, resulting in days of sitting around an airport. My flight arrived at PHL about 5 minutes late, but there was still enough, if I hustled, to make it to my connecting flight. I RAN down terminal A in order to get to the shuttle to take me to terminal E or F, I can't remember, on the other side of the airport for those unfamiliar with PHL. The shuttle wasn't there, but the US Airways attendant assured me that she had called the gate of the connecting flight to let them know there were passengers waiting for a shuttle, and that the flight was in fact waiting for us to get there. Amazing. The shuttle arrived and the driver was less than quick. In fact, I think we were all a hindrance in his ability to flirt with the female US Airways staff member on the shuttle. He was driving slowly and chatting away with this female staff member while those of us on the shuttle were trying to connect to a flight. But, I wasn't worried, I still had 25 minutes before take off. I got to the gate approximately 20 - 22 minutes before the flight was supposed to take off. This was a connecting flight, so I was already checked in. Meaning I SHOULD have until 15 prior to take off before the gate closes. (Side note, I have an email from US Airways that states: "The closing of our flights at the gate begins 10 minutes prior to departure with the door to close on the aircraft at 5 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time.") Yet as I ran up to the gate (I was the first person from my flight to make it to the gate), the US Airways attendant was walking out of the door and to the plane. I watched him close the plane's door from the window of the airport. I tried speaking to several US Airways uniformed employees who all looked at me as though I had an extra eye in the middle of my forehead. No one would stop the man. No one would even attempt to open the door to tell him there were other passengers there to board. Mind you, still prior to the 15 minute cut off. When the man finally came back inside, I was considerably upset. His response, "We close the gate at 15 prior to departure time." I looked at my cell phone. It was just at that moment 15 minutes prior to departure. I had been standing there for at least 5 minutes. I was on time. After 10 more minutes of arguing and other passengers showing up, the US Airways agent told me he would no longer speak to me. He stated, "I am not a manager. I don't have to deal with this." I told him he should probably find a manager fast. 10 more minutes later a manager, young man in a pink sweater, strolled up to the gate. He was met by the same questions we had asked the first rep. "We were told the flight was waiting." "Why did you close the gate early?" "Why wasn't I let on the flight? I was here on time."
Now, it is my assumption that they had customers on standby and assumed that our flight wasn't going to make it to PHL in time to connect. They then gave our seats to standby customers, instead of waiting an adequate amount of time for us to board. When I asked the manager about this, he said that this was absolutely not the case. Flights MUST close their doors 15 prior to departure. It is not a negotiable issue. And that US Airways would "never," and I quote, "NEVER" allow standby passengers to board if there is still a chance that ticketed passengers will be arriving on time. Also, the manager informed me that it is not regulation to hold a flight for passengers. Remember these quotes.
The manager finally re-booked those of us waiting on different flights. Two of us excepted flights to a nearby airport 2 hours later. Not a huge time difference. I was still furious I was not allowed on my original flight, but 2 hours wouldn't kill me. I asked where my luggage was. The manager said he assumed it was on the plane going to White Plains, my original destination. I asked him kindly if he could check into that. He came back 5 minutes later and said my bag had never made it onto the plane. It would be re-ticketed and placed on my next flight. He also explained to us that we were holding standby tickets. He said, "You will be on this next flight. As I look over the flight information for connecting passengers, I can see that there are 7 passengers that are on flights that will NOT make it to PHL in time to make this connecting flight." Really? He was promising standby people seats on a flight under the assumption that ticketed passengers would not make it in time?? Isn't this what he JUST promised me didn't happen to my seat on the original flight?
So we waited for the next flight. When it comes time to board, it is mass chaos. Come to find out, the manager and US Airways had given out roughly 20 standby tickets for this flight. The gate agent was allowing standby people on the plane before ticketed passengers. There were ticketed passengers showing up that had no seat because the agent was stressed to the max and basically allowing people to board that weren't supposed to be boarding yet. Ticketed passengers were not allowed to board this flight and no one seemed concerned. I quickly knew that I would NOT be boarding this flight that I was promised I would be on. And when I looked at my phone again, the time was 10 minutes prior to take off. The gate was not closed. There was chaos as to who should board. The manager was called over again. Those 7 passenger that would "Never make it in time," well they were there at this point. Furious as well. We were asking the manager why the gate hadn't been closed? It should have been closed 15 minutes prior to boarding and there should not have been standby people on that flight if they were going to continue with the same procedures that had kept some of us off of our original flight.
The manager started freaking out. He had a group of 20 or so people around him, all angry, and I know that his job is not easy. Unfortunately, he had lied to us about the status of the flights passengers, and that we would make this flight. They handed out too many standby tickets. They were unorganized. He then sent 7 of us to another flight that was leaving in 15 minutes. He said they were "holding the flight" for us. (Remember, earlier he said that US Airways couldn't hold flights for customers.) We ran to the next flight, boarded, sat down and finally, I felt like we were on our way. Except we weren't.
The flight attendant stated that the last 3 people on the plane, my name included, had to exit the plane due to weight restrictions. You have to be kidding me. At this point I went crazy. I could not wrap my mind around everything that had happened that morning. I walked off the plane into the tunnel and asked to talk to a manager. A manager was there and said there was nothing he could do. I informed him that he needed to take someone else off that flight. There were people on that flight that had just landed in PHL and I had been there for hours. I had the right to leave first. I was practically in tears at this point just wondering when I would be going home. Luckily for me, one of the people they had asked to leave the plane was flying with his girlfriend who didn't want to leave without him. So she left the flight as well and I was then allowed to re-board. I was the only one allowed to re-board. Finally, I was leaving PHL.
I arrived at the next airport, an hour out of the way for my ride, and there were two US Airways employees working out on the runway. That is two people helping with arrivals, helping with departures, helping with luggage. Two people. We sat on the plane for quite a while on the runway. And low and behold, it took another 30 minutes of waiting inside for the luggage. And of course, my luggage was not there. Go figure. I filed a claim and it was supposed to go to my original destination and then it would be delivered to me. Except 45 minutes later when I called US Airways to check on the status (the young man at the gate did not seem confident in knowing where my bag actually was), I was informed that my bag had just landed. At the airport I had just left. Again. Furious. Had I been told the correct destination of my luggage I would have stayed at the airport to pick it up. Instead I had to wait 7 more hours to get my bag.
Now the airline has heard this story. And of course, they are completely unwilling to do any form of compensation. They say that my experience is unusual for their airline and that it was all "weather related." Nonsense. Complete and insulting nonsense. US Airways has the worst customer service of any airline that I have ever flown. No one on the customer service lines with help, in fact at one point I was informed that they no longer communicate with customers via telephone. You have to email your complaints. I did finally speak to someone live this morning who called me after I requested so in my 2nd or 3rd email, who did listen, and then told me that there was nothing they could do. A line from one of the emails states, "The travel incident you describe is regrettable, and we apologize for the difficulties you encountered. Our intention is to offer the best travel experience possible. The details you have provided indicate that we have failed to meet our intentions." They are aware that they did not meet their expectations, and yet I am still denied even a small amount of compensation for the baggage that they lost/delayed/didn't know where it was/sent to the wrong airport, or for being treated like dirt and yelled at by US Airways employees at the airport. When Delta sent my bag to the wrong airport only a week before, they compensated me $75 immediately. US Airways is a joke as far as customer service. Everyone should do themselves a favor and never fly with US Airways.
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Jan 19, 2011, 2:40 PM
I got my refund. I called Customer Service for the umpteenth time and got an intelligent, helpful agent who saw the problem immediately, followed up, and called me back to let me know that Refunds had agreed to pay for the full amount of the useless ticket. Why this could not have happened the first time, I'll never know. I probably spent a total of ten hours on this matter.
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