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I have been through US Airways customer service channels and have had multiple conversations with representatives who assure me they can act on behalf of executives. If so, their executives are clueless about customer service. I recently sent the following letter and, in return, got a call reaffirming their position that they did everything right and our experience was our fault. They also sent an email saying the would have no further communication with me. Read the letter and see what you think.

Mr. Scott Kirby
President
US Airways Group
111 W. Rio Salado Parkway
Tempe, AZ 85281

Dear Mr. Kirby:

You have a very serious customer service problem, in terms of policy, process and communication. I realize that this letter will be a bit lengthy, but I hope you will devote a few moments to understand our recent experience. I have documentation to validate everything contained herein.

On March 2, my wife and I arrived in Charlotte on Flight 1001 from St. Thomas. Upon arrival, we checked the departure board and noted that our connecting flight 3541 to Lexington, KY was delayed from 6:20 p.m. until 7:24 p.m. Since that left us with approximately two hours before the flight, we went to the USO lounge to get something to eat and relax.

Once in the lounge, we checked USairways.com and the departure board about every 15 minutes to make sure the information remained current. We were also signed up to receive flight change information via email and text message. There were no changes posted anywhere and we received no emails or text messages.

At 6:50 p.m. we went to the designated gate and found no one there. We went to the nearest departure board and saw that the flight was now scheduled to depart at 6:55 p.m. from Gate E-22, which was about as far away as possible in Charlotte. Given the time, distance and the fact that my wife was using a cane as she recovered from a leg injury, we were unable to get to the gate before it departed – 30 minutes EARLIER than the time that had been posted. Another couple, who had the same experience, said they raced to the gate at 6:55, but their seats had already been given to others who were on stand-by. Anyone who had not been sitting in the waiting area for a considerable amount of time had no hope of making the flight!

Clearly, US Airways personnel knew of the earlier departure at least 20-30 minutes in advance, because they had to board the plane. However, no notifications were made and departure time on USairways.com was not updated.

We had been gone from home for two weeks and, as you can imagine, we were devastated by this situation. In our mid-60’s we don’t handle situations like this as we might have 40 years ago.

I immediately called US Air Customer Service to try to get another booking (the lines in the terminal were daunting). The gentleman I talked with (named Kevin or Keith – I’m afraid I was too frustrated to write that down), kindly offered a new flight on Monday – two days later – and he seemed astonished that we didn’t find this acceptable. After considerable cajoling, he ultimately booked us on a flight the next morning – US Air 4003 – but he was very unhelpful in looking at flights into Louisville or Cincinnati that evening.

We then went to the gate where the flight had departed and an agent put us on stand-by for the only remaining flight that night, but she said the stand-by list was long (due to the folks who had missed Flight 3541 and those who were to have been on an earlier flight that was cancelled). We didn’t make that flight, nor did most others. Our checked baggage, however, made Flight 3451, so we had to make arrangements for someone to go to the Lexington airport to get our luggage that night.

US Air personnel made it clear that overnight accommodations would not be provided. We learned that we could spend the night in the baggage claim area. This problem was compounded by the fact that there was a basketball tournament in town and there were very few rooms available. After considerable effort, we located a room at a Hampton Inn, about 20 miles away.

Our out-of-pocket cost for lodging was $179.27, plus $60 for transportation,

After a largely sleepless night, we arrived at the airport on Sunday in plenty of time to make the scheduled 8:20 a.m. departure. Upon arrival, though, the departure board showed that it would leave at 8:10 a.m. As we got to the gate, the departure time changed repeatedly. We received the first voice mail notification of change at 8:35 a.m., reporting an 8:50 departure. However, there had been several changes prior to that. At one point, the times shown at the departure gate counter and above the gate differed, even though they were about 20 feet apart. We never received email notification.

In short, US Air has a problem keeping departure times straight in Charlotte, to the detriment of your customers.

Upon our return home, I wrote to the CEO of US Air, as well as to the VP of Operations and the VP of Customer Experience.

I received a reply from a Customer Relations representative, who advised me that this staff is empowered to act on behalf of company executives. Subsequently, I have had communications with a total of three different Customer Relations. They seem not to know that they’re all communicating on the same issue, even though I’ve provided them with incident citations from the other representatives.

Their empowerment seems to enable them to read from the same script and send letters and emails with essentially the same text. They have been extremely consistent in denying any responsibility on the part of US Airways. They’ve all assured me that they were sorry and would forward information about our experience to senior management and to management in Charlotte. Each has told me that we should have immediately gone to the gate and stayed there.

In the most absurd analogy, one of your representatives, whom I will not identify in order to avoid public embarrassment, likened airline travel to local bus transportation. She said, “If you got to the bus stop and the bus wasn’t there, you wouldn’t leave, would you?” Seriously? That analogy is so stupid that it’s offensive.

I wrote originally for several purposes: 1) I felt a need to vent our frustration; 2) I felt that US Airways needed to understand that there is a real problem with departure notifications in Charlotte; 3) I felt US Airways should acknowledge the problems we experienced and provide at least token compensation.

Simply stated, we did everything that reasonable, experienced air travelers should do. US Airways, however, failed in its responsibilities to correctly update departure times and to provide notifications via text and email. Accordingly, we were not only seriously inconvenienced, but also had to spend approximately $250 that should not have been necessary.

I realize that US Airways isn’t going to write us a check for $250, but it would have been entirely reasonable to apologize for the errors and credit our loyalty account with a modest number of miles for future travel. I even provided one representative with the text of a letter that would have been appropriate (I worked at a senior level in customer service for international firms prior to my retirement, so I have some background).

In the past week, we have booked travel for multiple trips in the remainder of 2013. We did not consider US Air for any of this travel because of this experience – with emphasis on the lack of customer service even more than the failure in Charlotte. Your current revenue loss is considerably greater than any modest credit you might have provided.

Frankly, now I’m beyond disappointed. I am angry. I am going to share my experience as widely as possible. Perhaps that will encourage someone within your organization to take a hard look at your policies and at the manner in which you deal with your customers.