I had to fly to Charleston, S.C., for a meeting this weekend. It should have been no big deal, it's a short hour-long flight from Reagan. Unfortunately, US Airways majorly mucked up everything so an hour flight turned into a 9 hour ordeal.
Friday, June 8
2:30 p.m. - Check US Airways.com, my 5:05 flight to Charleston is on time.
3:30 p.m. - Check in at counter and print boarding pass, flight still listed on time
4:30 p.m. - At gate 36, they make an announcement that the incoming flight from Portland, Maine, is late
6:00 p.m. - Board flight 3377
6:15 p.m. - Deplane flight 3377 due to mechanical issues
6:30 p.m. - We're told by the flight crew that a new plane has been called and to stay tuned
7:00 p.m. - Ramps closed due to lightening, but we're told to hang tight, the plane on the jetway is ours
7:15 p.m. - Good news, ramps open again, bad news, flight on the jetway is a flight coming in from Providence, turns out US Air has its jetways backed up and not enough gates, next plane is ours - promise
8:00 p.m. - New plane comes in, turns out it's for West Palm Beach
9:00 p.m. - Good news, we have a new plane, bad news, it's in another concourse so we have to leave and go through security again, half to get boarding passes reprinted
9:30 p.m. - Finally board the plane
9:35 p.m. - Bad news, US Airways is really busy, they can't find anyone to load the bags or fuel the plane
10:30 p.m. - Finally get the plane loaded and fuel complete
11:00 p.m. - Taxi out to runway just in time for a lightening show across the Potomac
11:30 p.m. - Flight finally cancelled due to weather
12:00 a.m. - Passengers try to get gate agents to pay for hotels since delays were all based on mechanical problems, not weather; Angry gate agents yell, "Don't yell at me! I'm not even supposed to be here!" With persistence, half the passengers get vouchers, the other half doesn't
12:00 a.m. - Darling husband rebooks me via US Airways call center for 8:55 a.m. the following morning. I am only one of five people from the original 88 to get on the earlier flight
12:15 a.m. - Despite being told to wait for my bag, we learn that US Airways hasn't even taken any of the bags off the flight so I leave
As you can see, it was a really long, painful experience. The staff at US Airways was rude, inconsistent and not apologetic for delays. Other flights leaving for Charleston scheduled for later in the evening went ahead as planned, but not ours. It's clear that they forgot about us, refused to make fueling and loading bags a priority to get beleaguered passengers out.
It's official - US Airways is dead to me.
What happened certainly wasn't right. But if you fly regularly or read a newspaper or a magazine or watch the evening news you know this is all part of the deal anymore. Pretty much any carrier.
ReplyDeleteI think the airport must be THE most thankless job there is.
I can't imagine standing on my feet for eight-ten hours a day dealing with people who can't show up on time or decide when/where they want to travel...
Then as soon as your shift ends your boss walks up to mention you are required to stay for several more hours because a plane is broken.
Now there's mob of people putting their fingers in your face telling you everything is your fault, and you owe them this and that.
Finally you get everyone recheduled and/or put up at a hotel for the night; and suddenly they have time to demand to know how you're going to compensate them...
Meanwhile your 9 year old daughter, who you told you'd pick up from school, is ontop of a jungle gym at bookoo elementary trying to finish her homework before she runs out of sunlight...
You don't have to be happy with your situation, b/c you got screwed. I just hope you'll keep in mind that airlines minimalize as much as they possibly can. And if you are being put out, you can know that whoever is there trying to solve your new problem is being put out as well.
Except she's probably making a heck of a lot less $ than you or I.
Ifly2
IFLY2 is a moron.
ReplyDeleteHating the situation caused by the airline's failures is not the same as hating the employee in front of you.
USAir is a failure waiting to die, and it is a shame that they have not gone away to clear the gates for better managed airlines.
It's hard to be sympathetic with the airline employees when they were beyond being compassionate with us. They declared immediately that they were not at fault and would not help people with hotels or other accommodations. They never once apologized for the delay.
ReplyDeleteWith bad service, a bad on time record, and moderately high prices, it's just a matter of time before the airline folds. And when it does, it will be their fault.
"They never once apologized for the delay."
ReplyDeleteSome of it did sound like it was out of the airline's control, but yes they could have done a better job.
All I can say is thank God USAir wasn't able to take over Delta and ruin them as well!!!
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteThis is Morgan Durrant from US Airways corporate communications. I'm deeply disturbed by the unpleasant experience you had on our airline. I'd like to have a customer relations representative reach out to you. Can you send me a note at morgan.durrant@usairways.com?
Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Morgan
Yep - I had my first cancelled flight ever with US Airways about 2 weeks ago -- trying to get back to DCA from Detroit. The gate agents and ticket agents have a rough job, sure, but that is never an excuse for, I don't know... yelling at a little old lady ahead of me in line! She cried. It was horrible. Jerks. I've never experienced such awful customer service.
ReplyDeleteI won't be flying them again, either.
I've consistently had bad flight experiences with US Air - way more than other airlines. I go out of my way not to book with them even though sometimes their fares are cheaper. But all the time I've had poor service and constant delays.
ReplyDeleteMy sister's boyfriend flew out of Charleston to Honolulu and when he got to the airport (which is really small, you know) there were only two counters open and none of the self serve kiosks were open, so he had to wait in a really slow line and ended up at the gate with the door closing in front of him. He was with a few other random passengers, also made late by the line situation. People were still waiting in the walkway to the airplane, but the lady at the gate wouldn't let them in - can you believe it?! The guy behind him started getting irate, needing to make his flight, etc. My sister's man went back to the front counter, waited in line AGAIN and finally decided to kill them with kindness - they found him a flight on another airline, and bumped him to first class for being so polite. They told him 'we have a lot of options in our hands, it's up to use to decide to use them or not depending on how we are treated - you'd be surprised at what a little kindness can do.'
Wow, that was impressive, but that's about the nicest thing I've heard about US Air. And why on earth wouldn't that gate door lady let them in when people are still in line 3 feet behind the door not moving!? Doesn't make sense.
MappyB
mappyb.blogs.com
i flew USAir to the west coast recently and was stuck on the tarmac for an hour while there was some cockup with getting in line behind other planes for the runway. the stressed out flight was really doing his best but he ran out of fresh water (!) to serve to hot thirsty passengers within the first 30 min.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine was flying to LA about two weeks ago on US Airways and had a similar experience where apparently the pilot did not show up. She was stuck on her plane for about seven hours before they were able to find another pilot. Apparently they did not let folks exit the plane throughout this process.
ReplyDeleteI've also had consistently bad experiences with US Airways as have other friends--from lost luggage, to wrong terminals indicated, to horrible flight delays. Sure, this happens on all airlines but US Airways always tends to pose a more horrifying experience than others.
I try to avoid flying with them whenever possible.
I don't think USAir is any better or worse than any other airline in terms of getting people where they're going on time, but whatever computer system they're using is way too complicated, and the gate agents aren't trained on them nearly well enough.
ReplyDeleteOne time, I paid $100 at the gate for a first class upgrade, and it took literally 15 minutes of typing and hitting enter and staring at the screen before she asked for my credit card. Then she charged it and for some reason couldn't print out a new boarding pass. So she called over her supervisor, who took my original boarding pass, crossed out the original seat assignment, and wrote "First Class" on it.
Another time I wanted to get on standby for an earlier flight. The first gate agent I talked to said that was impossible; that USAir didn't allow that. I knew that was BS cuz I had done it before, so I went over to another gate agent and managed to get on that flight, but again only after standing there way too long while she stared at her computer screen and asked her friends what to do.
The agents are no nicer or meaner than anyone else, but they're not the brightest crayons in the box and the computer system (which looks DOS-based) is way too convoluted and detracts horribly from their productivity.
About 5 years ago I was flying USAirways from DC to Paris via New York, leaving out of Reagan. Although I'd arrived 2 hours early, the check in line was ridiculous... but only for economy passengers. As I approached the front of the line, I noticed that there were 3 people at the 1st class counter (with NO line) and 1 person at the Economy counter for a line of 75 people. After about 45 minutes of this another passenger and I asked a Rep why there was only 1 attendant at the Economy desk, he replied:
ReplyDelete"Well over there are the $10,000 ticket holders, here are the $1,000 ticket holders"
And no, I'm not joking. I have NEVER flown USAirways since.
We can bitch and moan about US Airways and then tomorrow have the same experience on Delta or American or any one of the other airlines.
ReplyDeleteI am curious what happened when you contacted the customer service agent who left the comment.
Just think of the MILLIONS of people that travel each and everyday with all of the airlines. If you could actually wrap your mind around every single thing that goes into making each and every plane fly all of you passengers safety to your destination then maybe everyone wouldn't be so caught up in the minor unfortunate delays, cancellations and others. All Airlines are going to have mechanical issues (don't your vehicles) and mother nature is going strike so you need to keep that always in mind while traveling and remember that it is unexpected. In every place you go you are going to run into people who are not friendly but you have to put yourself in their shoes too. I am sure that when irregular operations take place that the agents aren't just jumping for joy to get yelled at for the next hour. Dealing with the public is a very hard job and people seem to loose their minds a little the second they walk through the airport doors. And can you imagine how many times a day that they hear "I am never going to fly this airline again" .... I am sure they are saying "blah blah blah" in their heads. You know that more than half of those people will always fly that airline again and it's not like the agents own the airline. Let them do their job and get on with the next passenger in line. To the person who was commenting that the employees are not bright and take too long to do a function on the computer...well do you know that computer program? Don't try to pretend that you are so much smarter than someone especially since you have no idea what you are talking about..that is unless you have worked that particular job before. Just remember the next time you are bitching out a customer service agent and especially at a high stress environment as a airport, that if every single person was yelling at you because of the weather in Chicago it might be a little hard to smile and be the most friendliest person. Its all about walking in someone else's shoe.
ReplyDelete