Sure, I had to hustle some, but I got to the airport with 55 minutes to spare. Easy through the counter check-in, smoother than boiled okra through security, and then it’s kick back and wait at the gate.
And wait.
And wait.
We start to figure something’s wrong when it’s twenty minutes before departure and we haven’t started boarding. The announcement comes: the flight to Philadelphia’s cancelled and we need to re-book.
The line at the desk is thirty deep in seconds, and moving like pond water. A few other passengers and me go over to the next US Airways desk, ask if they can help facilitate the re-book. There’s a flight to Pittsburgh that departs in fifteen minutes and it’ll connect those of us who are heading for Seattle at about the same time as we would have connected in Philadelphia. Blank look from the US Airways rep at the desk. No, she says, with attitude. That desk is handling the re-book.
OK, one of us asks. So what are you doing?
Blank look.
We go back and get in the thirty-deep line. It crawls.
Five minutes to Pittsburgh departure. Another rep comes to the next desk, gets on the PA, tells us they can facilitate the re-book. I get Miss Blank Look. She does my re-book in seconds. No acknowledgement. Icy attitude.
I hustle. I make the gate. I’ve got seat 17D: an aisle, just like I’d asked for to Philadelphia. I make my way back. All of row 17 is populated by a big woman and her brood. I squat down, show the cute little girl in 17D my ticket stub: Are you in 17D, I ask. Yes She Is, her mother declares sharply, and glares at me. The girl’s much sweeter than her mother, and I don’t want to press it. I go and find a flight attendant and show her my ticket stub and explain. She’s sympathetic, kind. Asks me to go and wait at the back of the plane while she squares it with the desk. Perhaps I’m again the victim of Miss Blank Look.
Minutes crawl. Everybody’s seated but me. Finally, they put me in a window seat over the wing.
The pilot comes on once we get airborne. He explains that traffic’s going to have us go back up through New England and New York and hook down through Ohio and into Pittsburgh from the west. Should arrive around 8 PM.
My connection to Seattle departs at 8:15.
Well, long story short: I make the connection. I get a seat. It’s an aisle. The flight’s OK, and I do some reading.
I get into Sea-Tac a little before 11 PM and head to the baggage claim. I usually don’t like to check bags, and stuff it all in carry-on, but I’m out here for a wedding, and you don’t stuff a good suit. So I checked the big garment bag.
You’ve likely guessed: the belt goes, no bag. My fellow fliers from Pittsburgh find their rides and depart. I’m alone with an empty luggage carousel at five before midnight. I go to the US Airways baggage folks, and get Miss Blank Look’s attitudinal twin. I can understand how one might be tired at such an hour, but hell, it’s three hours later for me. She rolls her eyes when I tell her the circumstances. She sighs. Apparently, she’s frustrated that I came to her five minutes before the end of her shift with something as trivial as a lost bag. With a fine-ass suit in it that I’d intended to wear to the wedding I flew out here for. There’s one more flight due in tonight, she tells me. Here’s the number to call. Maybe the bag will come in on that last flight.
Now: I’m going to tell you how the story ends before I tell you what happened next. I pick up the rental car, go to the hotel. No bag that night. I’m in clothes that I’ve been wearing all day, and I walk next door to the gas station / convenience store and pick up a toothbrush. I wake up the next morning, I call the US Airways lost-baggage line. It’s Voice-Mail Hell: no human to talk to, just push this number, then this number, and oh sorry, your bags have still not been located. I pass on a family gathering to drive back down to the airport and, well, I try to start out nice, and I succeed, but it doesn’t do me much good. Still, at least no attitude this time. The US Airways lost baggage desk doesn’t know anything about that one last flight last night: they don’t know why she would have told me that. Finally, we have an insight: when are the next flights from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia coming in?
You get the idea, and can figure why I’ll never fly US Airways again: their wretched customer service, their ugly attitudes towards customers where seats and flights can be cancelled with no attention to the consequences. Hell, you’ve already paid for your ticket; why should they care about what happens to you after they’ve got your money?
But what happened when I finally left the US Airways baggage claim, sans bag? I’ll tell you. I went to the rental car desk, and the clerk — who was friendly, and cute, and quite sweet — talked me into upgrading my rental. I got me a big American V-8 for $10 more a day. And I wheeled it around and down and out of the rental lot as K-Funk began to play the intro to Metallica’s “Am I Evil”, and I pointed the car’s nose north on I-405, put the hammer down on that dark and empty freeway, and we made it all better.
US Airways has “lost” my bagggage twice. The last time was in March when I went to St. Thomas. Although they did deliver them the following day, we spent an entire day with nothing–no clothes, toiletries, etc.
We didn’t have the problem with bad attitudes, but we still won’t fly them again.
email minus exclamation
am currently in the middle of the baggage hell. US Airways, Orlando to Philly to connect there on British Airways to London. Nobody knows where the luggage vaporized!
U.S. Airways does indeed suck ass. However, most every other airline is the same. I like United and Continental the best though. Nortwest usually makes me wish I was on US air….
U.S. Airways lost my bag on the transfer in Philly. I’m in Barcelona and can’t get access to any call centers in Europe cause the phones dont work. The US call center has no idea where the bag went and can’t help me locate it. This is the worst nightmare ever…
Never fly US Airways and tell all your friends and family members its worth it to pay more for another airline ticket then U.S. Airways!
USAirways practices sadism on its beleaguered customers. They have treated me abusively, misdirected me, lost my luggage for a week, scolded me for not moving quickly enough, delayed my flight. And NOW, they have charged me 63.7% more than they quoted me for a ticket. I continue to use this airline because I live in hope. Every other flight is good. But those odd flights are getting more and more brutal. I have wasted more of my valuable time dealing with these people than I can calculate. Do not make my repeated error. Do not book again because you have had a good experience. USAirways and America West will find a way to make you regret your next experience.
It is hard to make everyone bag on every flight. When you show up late to the gate like 20 mins prior to departure don’t plan on having your bags in the downline city. Also something’s can happen to your bags…the tag can fall off and maybe the baggage handler didn’t read the tag right. So it went somewhere else. Well hey you have a lot of bags that have to meet tight connections in Phily, Charlotte. When the plane is arriving late its very hard to get all the connecting bags on the right flights…you never know when you fly US Airways if your bag is going to be there when you arrive…Be aware that these things do happen ALOT with US Airways…You better cross your figures before you fly with US AIRWAYS…you never know when your bag is going to be lost or smashed by someone running over your bag!
USAIR is a joke and by the way, so is AmericaWest. This merger should work nicely for the two of them. Bags lost in Philly (seeing a pattern here) after a cancelled flight to columbus for excessive air traffic. I have flown millions of miles and have never heard of a flight being cancelled for excessive air traffic. I took the flight to Dayton, Oh that left just a few minutes after the Columbus flight was supposed to leave and made it to Dayton. My 6, mostly very large bags, however, are still nowhere to be found at 7:45 the following morning and very little help from the baggage claim department (they hung up on me twice just trying to transfer my call, and no I was not being a dick at that point). I was told to call them at 10:15 this morning for an update. In summation, the employees were rude, the airline arrived late, with numerous delays both going and returning and my bags apparently are in USAIR limbo somewhere. Avoid this airline at all costs. It has been the worst experience I have had in commercial air travel.
I fly coast to coast on business once a week normally on Delta without any problems. The one time I tried US Airways I arrived 40 Mins prior to departure and there was nobody at the desk (no automated check-in machines either). I made numerous pages for assistance with no results….Finally 15 mins after departure somene came out and told us we have to be there 30 mins prior. Myself and another passenger explained we were 40 mins prior and they virtually accused us of making things up. They booked me on the next flight (5 hours later). On the return flight I was sitting at the gate waiting until finally 15 mins after the scheduled departure time they informed us that the plane was still on the ground at another airport and could’nt say why and they’d put us on the next flight. (I firmly believe this was because there was only 5 passengers and they did’nt want to make a flight for so few people). Upon arrival at my destination my bags were missing. I was PROMISED next day delivery 3 days later they can’t find them. These companies spend millions trying to figure out why they’re going broke, perhaps they should as a passenger or two!
Yesterday was my first time to fly US Airways. I can honestly say that they were trying to piss me off at every turn. Why are they losing money? Because they haven’t figured out that happy customers would want to fly the airline again. Anyway, I’m done with those bozos.
going through hell -lost baggage–Phil. to Madrid. I see a pattern for Phil. losing luggage. Doesn’t anyone care? Frankly no. Any suggestions to contact the powers that be, if any.
Been a Am Wet elite member for years. Never any problem with good old “HP.” That’s all changing. Today is the 2nd time in six months that they’ve lost luggage – and it’s when I interface with the old US Airways. One was a transfer in DC – and now Boston.
Transferred from USA/HP to Air Canada yesterday – and the luggage didn’t show. Now I’m talking to the usual people in India who tell you they’re “very, very sorry.”
I called the old elite number in Phoenix – now THEY won’t help.
So good old AmericaWest now has a new terrible reality.
I’m on the first day of a seven-day East Coast business trip – and calling home to get clothes FedExed. The irony is that I’m going to be on three radio talk shows – and they always start with “Welcome to Canada – how’s your visit going?”
It’s such a helpless frustrating feeling when the airline says, “We’re very very sorry there’s nothing we can do . . .”
Long story short: if you want your luggage to arrive when you do, don’t fly US Airways. Nice model of professionalism, US Airways: you’ve clearly worked to develop a brand identity of bumbling incompetence and blank and ugly hostility towards passengers.
I had a flight 47 on July 16th from PHL to SFO on US Airways
This was a first class ticket booked by United as a code share on US Airways.
I am asked to proceed to the gate to get the seat number.
At the gate they say I should be patient and wait. I waited and waited. At 915pm which was the departure time I was told that I will be bumped off the flight.
Now is the disgusting part….
Here is what they said….
– Sorry we will have to bump you off the flight as it is overbooked
– We can do Nothing about it since u r a United customer
– If you want to rebook or get compensated take ur matter up with United.
At 915pm all United counters are CLOSED. Here I am stranded at the airport with no booking and no compensation.
I spent the night in PHL and had to go to United the next day when they opened up.
This is how ridiculous US Airways is. They can bump off a first class passenger with a confirmed paper ticket and not care a hoot about it.
They did not even bother about what I would do so late when there were no options left for me.
I HATE US Airways and will NEVER travel or let anyone I know use that airline. I will make all efforts to publish this expereince everywhere possible. They should be sued for this behavior since they cannot just disregard a confirmed tcket as if it did not exist.
If anyone knows of other forums I can approach please send me email at snehal@cyberdude.com
I am going to make US Airways pay for this.
I flew from Germany to Kansas, City with US Airways. The flight attendants were very rude on the flight and not to mention, I changed planes in Philadelphia and when I got to Kansas City my luggage was not there and they did not have a clue where it was and I called several times and the customer service guys lied to me and said that my luggage never left Germany and what a bunch of bullshit that was because I picked up my bag in PA and boarded a connector flight. This is the second day without my bags and I have only the clothes on my back.
I just flew back home from Albuequerque,NM to Louisville,Ky on American Airlines. Our plane was cancelled because of mechanical difficulties. Our 2nd plane came @ 6pm bound for Dallas,Tx. American said they couldnt get me to Louisville that day or any other airport ie.Indianapolis,Cinncinnati,etc that day. They put me up at the Days Inn near the Dallas airport. The hotel was disgustingly dirty inside and out. I felt like I was in a hotel full of criminals from the appearance.There were stains on everything in the room. The breakfast offered the next day in the filthy restaurant looked like something from a 3rd world country. Got the 1st plane out the next morning–good! In Albuequerque I was told that my luggage couldnt be sent straight thru to L’ville and that I would have to claim my 2 bags in Dallas. In Dallas American Airlines said my bags had been sent on to Louisville. When I arrived in L’ville big surprise…they didnt have either 1 of my bags.they werent sure if they were in Dallas or Albuequerque. Finally 1 was found in Dallas,flown in and eventually delivered 2 days later. Still no 2nd piece of luggage after 7 flights from Dallas to Lville.Eventually midnight ,day 2 the 2nd piece of luggage arrived. Sheila at the Lville airport and the 2 delivery guys here were nice and concerned.The 800 number was useless and most American Airlines people eithered lied or didnt care that my stuff was lost. What happened to friendly service,caring ,”we try harder”,etc. I visualized a very fat ,content American Airlines CEO on a beach in an exotic locale sipping frozen drinks with little umbrellas singing “I wonder what the poor people are doing today” (from Camelot). L
The people at US Airways are the most inept morons on the face of the planet. Screw them and their Walmart express.
I have had terrible luck w/USAirways.
following is a letter sent to Customer relations (via website) and to ATTN of Doug Parker – CEO, and Ron Rhoderick, Dir of Customer Service.
Doug Parker
6244 E Berneil Ln
Scottsdale, AZ 85253-1848
(480) 991-0763
ATTN: Doug Parker – CEO, US Airways
Ron Rhoderick – Dir. of Customer Service
Re: Conf. #1SLSPE
Yours is the worst travel experience I have ever encountered. Your airline is a disaster at handling customers during flight interruptions; ranging from baggage handling to keeping customers informed of progress on problems and instructions to enable their further travel.
Customer relations at gate and on phone friendly to indifferent, but they are in the dark, misinformed or uninformed, and less than enthusiastic. Who can blame them? They are obviously encountering poor integration of US Airways/America West systems even a year after your merger. Pilots and staff overheard at various locations also in the dark and complaining of your disarray.
Started Yesterday (Monday) a.m. in Houston (IAH) with an 8:36 am flight to PHX and connecting to FLG. A computer part failure caused cancellation. Follow-up flight also cancelled for same reason after replacement part failed. (Plane subsequently departed with crew and other WS Airways personnel for PHX.) Each time checked luggage was unloaded to baggage carousel and passengers forced to re-book in a 1+ hour line at gate, then re-check in a 1.5-2 hour line at check-in, then pass thru security again – total of 3 times. Finally arrived in PHX too late for connection to FLG. With no instructions from ground crew, took 1hr to get a proper motel voucher rather than the computer printout with all motel comp’d passengers names issued to me in Houston. There were no food vouchers offered nor available when requested @ Houston all day. Arrived at PHX motel 1 a.m Tuesday.
Left motel at 6:30 am for airport. PHX-FLG flight was cancelled @ departure time (8:45 a.m.), with no notice of delay or cancellation until then, though the gate crew could see there wasn’t a plane on the tarmac, and a full contingent waiting to board! When queried, the gate crew was unaware of the reason for cancellation; cited perhaps weather; Doppler radar shows spotty rain and occasional strong cells moving quickly thru area. Possibly cause for delay, but not cancellation.
Living in Flagstaff, I am prisoner to your airline, as it is the only service there. America West performed reasonably well the times I travelled with them. US Airways is a disaster.
I will continue to relate these incidents to others, on blogs and to the local and national media, and will include your response(s) or lack thereof.
Awaiting your reply and plans for resolution of my and fellow passenger’s complaints.
Sincerely,
M.T. Dolan
US Airways practices a fraudulant technique known as “bait and switch”. They listed two morning flights from Phoenix to Asheville on their website; a 6am for $600 and a 9am for $400. I had to get there early so I paid the $600 for the 6am flight. However, US Airways cancelled my 6am flight and re-booked me on the 9am flight. They offered no compensation nor to at least refund me the difference in price. I’ve contacted US Airways, the FAA and the Attorney General to no avail.
Is there anywhere we can go to stop this fradulant practice?
I used to love US Airways and flew with them exclusively. Over the past two years they have degraded as a company and no longer provide any level of quality customer service. My recent experience is outlined extensively on my website and I have yet to be satisfied by anyone from US Airways.
http://www.rinsem.com/us-airways-worst-customer-service-lack-of-respect/
Michael
http://www.rinsem.com
I have to say. I am permanently boycotting this airline. After reading the news the other day..they removed and arrested 6 muslim imams for doing nothing other than PRAY before getting on their plane. I am a Christian, and I ALWAYS pray before i travel by any means: air, land, boat… I would think that even though this is a post 9/11 country, we are also POST-Civil Rights Battle from the 60’s. Dr. Martin Luther King did not die, and Rosa Parks did not make a statement on the bus, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott did not occur to free just blacks from discrimination, but to make a point about our country and it’s unequal treatment of all citizens. They did not do this in vain..they did it for ALL people of ALL faiths from ALL backgrounds for ALL time. Does anyone else see this as just plain wrong about what happened the other day? Read below if you haven’t heard:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15824096/
I will never fly US Airways again. My husband and I were on our way to go on a cruise for our honeymoon, and they lost one of our suitcases. We left Hartford CT, to Phildelphia, to Puerto Rico. We arrived in PR with finding only one of our two bags, along with about 20 other passengers who also did not have their luggage. We were told when it was found they would bring it to the next port of call. By the third day of our seven day cruise, calling useless customer service, we knew we would not have our luggage. We were told that we would be reimbursed up to $2500, if they could not locate the luggage. By this time we were just hoping to have it at our house when we got home. NO SUCH LUCK, we went through the claims department, and filled out all the necessary paperwork, eight weeks later a check for $800 arrived. This just pissed us off even more, this hardly covered what we lost, not to mention what we bought because I had NO clothes. We called the claims department one more time and we were told to call our insurance company to see if they could cover anything…..The nerve.. Why should I call my insurance company when US AIr has no idea where my luggage is and it was there responsiblity to not lose it.
We are now in the process of filing a law suit in small claims court, hoping to get more money out of them. The $800 does not even cover the plane tickets we purchased, plus the terrible service from the start checking in right up to every idiot we talked with about our luggage.
Again we will never fly US AIRWAYS and we tell all our friends and family the same.
Add me to the list of US Air Boycotters. Their ticket agents think that you are at their mercy and they can do whatever they want to ruin your trip. My husband just had an incident where he left last friday, Dec.8, from Charlotte to Egypt. He had two suitcases weighing 70 lbs each, which is the allowed weight for the overseas travel. I called a week earlier to make sure US Air would allow the same weight on their segment, and they told me it was fine as long as it was on the same ticket, which it was. The agent charged my husband $150.00 dollars for the extra weight, he had a nasty attitude and then he never sent the luggage to Egypt. My husband is currently in Egypt for about one week with no luggage, not the mention he is diabetic and has his medications and supplies in his suitcase, because he will be there for several months! A trace from Egypt found his luggage still
in Charlotte. I have been calling customer service and faxing letters and have had no one even care a bit about my problem. I feel so angry and disgusted with their customer service!! Now my husband is in the same clothes for almost a week and had to check into a medical facility to get his blood sugar under control due to the extreme stress he has been under from the Ticket Agent at US Air, by the way his name was Joel M. so if you are ever waited on by a Joel M, you better just wait for the next agent cause he will give you the trip from Hell!!
I HATE US AIRWAYS and will never fly on it again. Although they have lost my baggage twice, I agreed to give them another chance, but they blew it when they began their loudly intrusive audio and video commercial during the plane’s ascent. When asked to at least turn down the VOLUME of the commercial, the flight attendant told us, “it’ll be over in a second!” By my watch, it was a full two minutes between our request and the end of the commercial. In addition, to add insult to injury, the flight attendant got on the overhead plane PA and read ANOTHER commercial announcement about some credit card associated with US Airways. In my view, this is a total abuse of their captive fare-paying audience. Well, I will not be purchasing a plane ticket from them again!
We really DON’T WANT USAIRWAYS in Atlanta or anywhere else. What a shame if they take an emergina Airline and destroy it again. Just as they did several years ago. I think US Airways became a real crummy airline after they emerged from bankruptcy and they are looking to take Delta down them
I usually don’t swear, but fuck US Airways! I was flying home after the holidays Chicago-Pittsburg-Newark. I checked in one of my bags at O’Hare and took the carry-on with me. Since there was no space in the overhead compartment the flight attendant took my carry-on to “store it”. Without any authorization she checked in my carry-on (which had all my personal documents, money, laptop, SLR camera, and boarding pass for a connecting flight) and when the plane took off she gave me a baggage slip with Pittsburg as my final destination. I had no choice but to run, get my carry-on and get on my connecting flight. I missed the flight due to a US Airways thoughtless and incompetent flight attendant. I was then rerouted to LaGuardia where I filed a claim to have my checked-in baggage delivered. I was told the bag would be delivered the next day. Four days later I still have NO bag (I can’t even imagine the cost and time to replace my belongings, not to mention my thesis notes). I spent countless hours calling the airports. The bag was checked-in in Chicago and then absorbed into the US Airways black hole with no record. Why do they even bother putting the tags on? Does anyone run this airline? The liabilities limitations on the claim really do not give the employees the incentive to be accountable. Have the authorities investigated what’s happening to the baggage at US Airways?
I asked to speak to a customer service representative and the little witch on the customer service line actually had the gall to tell me “no”. I responded that I was the customer spending good money to fly the airline and she proceeded to tell me that it didn’t matter, they were going to tell me the same thing. When I was connected to a supervisor, the little witch tried to charge me $10 to rebook a flight that they lost. I told that wasn’t going to happen and that she needed to put her supervisor on the phone. On another occasion I was on hold for 28 minutes and was disconnected. Oh – all of these so called customer service operators are working out of a call center in India. I only call this God-forsaken airline for my employer. Literally every occasion that I have had to deal with US Airways has been an exercise in patience. I will personally never fly this airline.
I will never fly US Airways again.
It is the hub here in Philadlephia with 3 of 6 terminals.
Plus it is the default airline for our 16,000 employee firm.
Our daughter had a nervous beakdown 6 weeks before our flight, and at their request, we presented the requested hospitalization documentation.
16 weeks later, their response is that they will give us neither a refund or a credit, since 1 year has passed since we booked the tickets, and they don’t do this for medical reasons ever.
Not to mention that they lost my mother in laws luggage last May.
US Airways is a great airline, but the desk guys are horrible! At Chicago, I was supposed to pick up my nephew at the gate the desk guy told me to go to. My nephew called and said they pulled at the gate and were getting out. No plane where I am. So i tell the desk guy. He gave me a blank look and said that the plane is here. I told him that my nephew called, and he gave me an angry look. Then he said to try a gate at the other side of the airport, and it was there and my nephew was really ticked off, as was his flight attendant escort.
US Airways clearly has some customer service problems, given that so many people seem to hate US Airways and advocate boycotting them.
Way to build your worst-reputation brand, US Airways. Care to comment? Or do you carefully train your reps to be assholes to the people foolish enough to fly on your airline?
I called US Airways to purchase a ticket over a week in advance. Just as soon as I was informed that they could not issue me seat assignments for two legs of my flight I told the agent that I no longer wished to purchase the ticket.
The next day I received an Email confirming my flights and a $630.10 charge to my credit card. I called US Airways and spoke to an agent and two supervisors. They refused to refund my money.
I am expected to try and use the credit towards another flight in the future and pay a fee for changing the ticket. I tried to explain that I didn’t purchase the ticket but I was hung up on!
USAirways is rapidly losing customers and credibility due to its complete disregard for customer service.
I am still 6 days later missing luggage b/c USAirways called me to tell me my flight was delayed and then about an hour before the new departture time, they “un-delayed” my flight. WHO DOES THAT? WHY NOTHE CALLING ME WITH A RECORDING TELLING ME MY FLIGHT IS DELAYED ONLY TO UN-DELAY IT?
I have spoke with over 20 people in customer service, baggage resolution and at the physical airports and NO ONE can help me. I actually plead with them and say “I just want someone to help me. If you can’t help me, please tell me who can help me!!??”
They are poorly trained and have no willingness to help the customer. It is actually a disgrace. Do passangers have no rights? I am not a greedy person, but this is all screaming “class action”.
I just want some compensation for the minutes I went over on my cell phone, my brand new luggage that is lost, and the time and aggrevation I have put into this! It is absurd!!
We flew US Air for the last time on February 5, 2007. Arrived several hours before the flight, checked 9 pieces of luggage on a straight flight from Philadelphia to New Orleans. Only 8 bags filled with dirty clothes landed in New Orleans, the one bag that contained valuables of course never appeared. Each time I have attempted to speak to someone to resolve this, my call is turned over to a foreigner (most probably) in another country whom I cannot understand. I Hate US Air and will walk before I fly with them again.
Heres’s a switch…
I work for an airline in Washington state and I LOVE IT~!
If passengers took at least SOOOME iota of responsability for thier travel my job would be a piece of cake.
I have had passenges who:
DON”T KNOW WHAT AIRLINE THEY ARE TRAVELLING ON ~!!!!
DON”T KNOW WHAT TIME THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO LEAVE
DON”T KNOW WEATHER THEY HAVE PAPER OR ELECTRONIC TICKETS
” PS IF YOU DON”T HAVE YOUR PAPER TICKETS THE DAY YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO TRAVEL YOU PROBABLY WON”T BE GOING ANYWHERE”
This is the KICKER…..
DON”T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE EVEN GOING ~!!! This one kills me~!
When the passenger is asked this information this is usually the response :
“Well can’t you look it up in your computer???” NO I CAN”T~!
IF YOU DON”T KNOW WHERE YOUR GOING WHAT AIRLINE YOUR ON OR WHEN YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO LEAVE.. THEN HOW THE HECK ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW~!!!
Passengers who book thier own flites are guilty of several things that can cause issues upon arrival at the airport…
Booking the WRONG DAY… MONTH …… FLIGHT….CITY
YES EVEN CITY~!
Wich is hillarious considering if you use Travelocity, Orbitz or Cheap Tickets they all display the ITINERARY BEFORE YOU BUY YOUR TITCKET~!
READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS BEFORE YOU BUY….
All most allllllllll tickets are NON REFUNDABLE PENALTY FOR CHANGE ~!
WHY? You ask….Because when you purchase a ticket you are agreeing to what is known as a ” CONTRACT ” and YES WE WILL CHARGE YOU~!
SEATING .. THIS IS MY FAVORITE~! YOU ARE NEEEEVER GARAUNTEED A CERTAIN TYPE OF SEAT ON THE AIRCRAFT… YES YOU HAVE ONE BUT YOU ARE NOT GARAUNTEED A WINDOW OR AN ISLE… WHY? Because AIRLINES have the right to designate seats for certain types of travellers…
IE: PRISSONERS Being escorted by GUARDS, HANDICAPPED, UNACOMPANIED MINORS ECT….. Sooo just because you selected that seat when you made your reservation or when you checked in does not mean you will get to keep it~!
If you used a travel web site to purchase your tickets they are your TRAVEL AGENT.. NOT THE AIRLINE~! Call them if you screwed up your ticket~! Most airlines will refer you back to your travel agent first to resolve your mistakes.
Get to the AIRPORT EARLLLLYYY~! Don’t show up to the airport 30 mins prior to departure with bags and expect to get on…~! Airlines have bag cut off FOR A REASON~! Your bag does not just go on the bag belt and then go directly into the belly of the aircraft… Nooo trust me it doesn’t~!
Travel Documents ~!…..FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BRING THEM~!!! PASSPORT, PHOTO ID… ORIGINAL BIRTH CIRTIFICATE OR CERTIFIED COPY…. NOOOO HOSPITAL BIRTH CIRTIFICATS~!
NO YOU CAN NOT GO TO MEXICO OR CANADA WITH A DRIVERS LICENCE~!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU CAN NOT HAVE 12 CARRY ONS~!
Most travellers do not realize that Boarding Agents can be personally FINED $5000.00 for vialating FAA “FEDERAL GOVERMENT” regulations regarding carry ons. THIS IS NOT NOT PAID BY OUR EMPLOYER~! IT COMES DIRECTLY OUT OF OUR PERSONAL POCKETS~!
COMMUNICATE YOUR TRAVEL PLANS WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY ~!
WEEE get TONS of these people who are looking for you and HAVE NOOOO CLUE WHERE, WHEN or WITH WHICH AIRLINE YOU ARE ARRIVING
I saved the best for last BAGGGAGE ~!
99% Of the people I check in DO NOT HAVE THIER NAMES ON OR IN THIER BAGS… NOR DO THEY DOUBLE CHECK THE CLAIM CHECKS THEY ARE GIVEN BEFORE LEAVING THE TICKET COUNTER…BIGGEST MISTAKES~!
IT GETS BETTER…. HALF OF THEM DON” T KNOW WHAT THIER BAG LOOOKS LIKE ~!!!! We are looking for a Purple rolling bag that actually turns out to be a BLACK DUFFLE BAG~!…..and then they wonder why it can take more that a day to find the bag~!!!!!
I have worked in this industry for a little over three years and I personally have YET to see a passengers bag not SHOW UP~!
LIMITED LIABILITY~! Items that are FRAGILE or Perishable are never covered. Items that are EXTEMELY EXPENSIVE such as MUSICAL instronments or WORKS OR ART… and YES CASH~! ARE NEVER COVERED.
Can you believe people stiiiiiiiiillll put thier WALLLETS, CASH, JEWELLRY, TRAVELLERS CHECKS and KEYS IN THIER CHECKED LUGGAGE
??????? ARE YOU PEOPLE INSANE??????????
IF you pay attention to any of this and keep it in mind you may find your traveling expiriences improve greatly~!
US Airways is a joke! Gross incompetence to say the least. They simply cannot get their act together! While checking in at Port Columbus Intl Airport for Ft Lauderdale connecting in PIT, the back log of flights that should have already taken off for other destinations (DCA, PHL, LGA) obviously affected my flight in departing on time. At 9:30am we should have boarded yet the three previously flights mentioned that were scheduled to depart at 900 still had not completely boarded even at 9:45am. At 10:30am we finally boarded and then encountered an “overweight” issue. A passenger willing to give up his seat caused an additional 20 minute delay as we departed at 1100am, arrived PIT at 11:40 and missed my connection for FLL. They said they rebooked me on a flight from PIT to DCA to go back to PIT then on to FLL. They said “Wait, this doesn’t make sense, I think you need to speak with SPecial Services” I go to special services, get a supervisor involved and asked what the 800 Custome Relations number was. The Supervisor asked his co-worker “Isn’t it something like 800 and spells out a name? ” “What’s that word again?” as he asks the person he supposed to be supervising. Then they said the only flight was leaving direct from PIT at 6:00 pm. I had to wait 6 hours at PIT airport for the flight. Then at 5:30 (boarding time) a plane was at the gate with crew unaccounted for. The missing crew was supposed to ferry the plane out of there to DCA so as to make room for the arriving plane to depart at 6:00. Well that never happened. They had to do a gate change and that plane arrived PIT lat. We boarded at 6:30pm then had to de-ice and didn’t depart PIT for FLL until 6:50pm and I arrived after 9:15pm that night. What a joke. There are no mechanicals or weather issues yet they cannot depart on time to save their life nor can they even account for missing crew. Then on the return from FLL back to Columbus the flight connecting in Charlotte, NC only after landing at Charlotte, the connection was delayed because of a missing flight attendant unaccounted for. At the last minute she’s a “No show” and crew planning is looking to schedule another Flight attendant for the flight which was delayed over 90 minutes. I’ve experienced better service at a Greyhound bus station or McDonalds or Wal-Mart then I have with US AirWays. They simply do not have their act together and it is total chaos! I will never fly US Airways ever and wil be sure to tell everyone to do the same.
Frank
I will never fly this airlines again… spent 3 1/2 hours standing in line in the Cancun Airport. Then they tell us that all the flights are delayed so we waited for another two hours. When we finally got on board the plane it was a pig pen and our seats were all the way in the back of the plane where we had to listen to the flight attendents complain about how tired they were. One of the attendants actually fell asleep! All I can say is, been there done that. Never again!
This airline is out of control.
They lost my baggage twice in less than a week.
When you call to get a status on the baggage no answer.
A recorded voice says try to get an answer on line.
An e-mail comes back saying you will get an answer in 48 hours.
And they make their apologies.
DON’T APOLOGIEZE JUST FIX YOUR STUPID AIRLINE.
US Air sucks they implmented a new policy to steal your miles if you haven’t used them in six months…..
They stole all my miles….. I’ve been flying USAIR since 1997. Now I’m maried and have three kids. My family and I will never fly with these jerks again.
I’m going to post this message on the web and tell everyone I know about these thieves.
US Airways was the worst airline I have ever had any experience with. First my flight was delayed 3 hours and they had to rebook me for the next morning because there was no way I could catch my connecting flight. So thye told me I was booked for a 6 am flight the next day and then I stayed the night in a crappy hotel. At 4 am, I tried to check in and they told me that I didn’t a reservation. I was never given any paper copies of anything because I was booked right at the gate. So it took them 45 min to relocate the reservation I had made the night before. So I finally got on the plane and then I had the same seat as someone else. Had to move to the very back at this point! When I arrive and get to the baggage claim, I find out that my luggage was lost. Another hour of trying to find someone to help me and get my things. The are the absolute worst and I would pay the extra bucks to go with anyone else.
SADLY, EVERYONE WHO CHOSE TO EXPRESS THEIR DISCONTENT TOWARD US AIRWAYS AND US AIRWAYS FLIGHTS OPERATED BY AMERICA WEST ARE SPEAKING THE TRUTH. I being an employee of eight years can’t offer you any kind of apology but an explanation of how screwed up both these merged carriers are and a little advise. Not too long ago, US Airways were the highest paid employees in the industry and America West was always the lowest paid. In fact, most of America West’s employees made below poverty level wages if they chose to work a normal work week. Now we have a marriage of two crappy airlines with crappy wages and anti employee, bottom of the barrel management. Unfortunately, the flying public is paying for terrible service as a result.
For my advise: fly another carrier. I work and witness everything described above. I only work for the flight benefits, and I avoid flying US Airways if at all possible- even though it is free for me. I pay a small fee to fly another carrier and avoid the hell of US Airways service. If you can pay a little more to fly another airline…do it.
Lastly, if you don’t get the answer you want from one person, go to another. There are a few employee like myself who will gladly help you, but I feel no obligation to apologize for the misfortunes created by continuing mad management.
I could kick myself for not finding this blog BEFORE I stupidly booked my latest flight on USAirways…Buffalo-Charlotte-Tampa and return.
Every flight was at least an hour late with no explanation of course. (Why does USAir even bother publishing a timetable????? they never pay attention to it anyway). We missed our connection on the way home and were told by a surly “customer service” agent I should have factored an extra day into my trip to allow for delays!! Gee, I’ll pass that on to my boss….maybe the company will start giving us our vacation entitlement plus a couple of extra “travel delay days”.
On the flight from CLT-TPA two flight attendants got into an argument in the middle of the cabin because one accused the other of taking ice from her drink cart without asking. Nice show for the passengers who couldn’t believe what was happening. Guess that explains it….if the crew hate each other, no wonder they treat paying customers like crap.
I really, really pity anyone who has to fly regularly on business and is held hostage by USAirways’ dismal service. Too bad that airline didn’t just die a natural death when it was in bankruptcy. Sure, lots of people would have been unemployed but seeing as most of them couldn’t care less about their jobs anyway I doubt many passengers would have cared.
My husband and I flew U.S Airways on March 9th to Las Vegas from Boston. We Checked 3 bags, when we arrived in Las Vegas at 10:30 am our bags were not there. They assured us that they would come in on the 3pm flight from Boston and be delivered right to the Hotel. At 8pm that night we had to go purchase clothing and other items to get through the night, we had a show to go to that night. The next day 2 pieces of our luggage was delivered to us at 8am. My husbands clothes and a small bag that I had thrown just a few items in to have room to bring thing home in. My luggage with all my clothes and nessessary items in it still missing , and no one had any answers. We flew home on March 13th still without that bag. Nothing like finally getting the chance to get away with my husband for 5 days without kids and having to go through hell looking for my own property. The one time that I took the time to shop for a vacation they loose a bag full of brand new clothes with the tags on them. I call everyday with the same answers from everyone I talked to, we don’t no where your bag is but as soon as we find it we will return it to you. In the mean time you should fill out the lost property report. I don’t want to fill out a report I just want my stuff back. Never again I will pay double to fly some other airline if I have to.