US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - And they wonder why US is losing money...

Anyone living in the DC metro area can attest to the severe thunderstorms that moved through between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. on 4/19. I was set to fly to FRA through PHL, however, that was not meant to be. My flight to PHL wasn't really canceled, rather US Airways had decided that it wouldn't stop in PHL and would now fly non-stop to Portland, Maine.

Ok, weather happens and airline operations departments often do things that are unfathomable to the average individual. However, when I got home and attempted to reschedule my flights, I am told that 4/20 has zero availability. Fine, since my return was scheduled for 4/21, I obviously can't take the trip. At that point I was informed that MUST travel to FRA within 7 days or suffer a $150 penalty. A refund is not a possibility because of "weather" even though I can't get to my destination due to US's failure to deliver me before my return date.

After much discussion regarding the absurdity of this premise, i.e. US can avail itself to force majeure protection and the customer is told to shut up and enjoy the ride, I asked to speak with a supervisor. The agent went away, and came back with the "right" answer. I would be eligible for an involuntary refund. Duh.

However, this is where is gets really goofy. My fare was valid for travel until 6/14. My companion (another CP) and I would be able to take the trip on 5/17, and the farecode (H) is available on that date. Now can I get US Airways to keep the revenue and reschedule the flight? NOPE. It is a refund or nothing even though my fare was valid until 6/14, there is availability and US is hemorrhaging cash like a stuck pig. KEEP MY MONEY, PLEASE! The funny thing is that the agent actually advised me to call back tomorrow to see if the supervisor would provide a different answer.

I have been re-routed due to weather many times on other airlines. The options have always been either an involuntary refund or travel at my convenience. Why is it so hard for US Airways to get this one right? Am I missing something? Can US Airways afford to not to keep cash that it already has instead of givig it back to the passenger? Seems strange to me.

CWPFLY

There clearly is no management at the present time. In addition, apparently the Sabre software somehow keeps track of how long these company agents are on a call, and calculates that as a percentage of what they actually sell. With the draconian closings of res facilities, many seem worried about their jobs, which might explain why nobody wants to spend time on the absurdity you described. This clever bit of motivational practice is vaguely reminiscent of the old, "the firings will continue until morale improves", maxim.

they pull some of the same stuff on the lga-phl route. i would attempt to use that flight to connect to european-bound flights. but the three times i booked it, it was cancelled. the worst part was that they wouldn't pick up transportation costs for a car down to phl. they told me to go get amtrak. if you're at lga at 5 and have an 8pm flight out of phl, you're pushing your luck trying to get back to manhattan to catch amtrak, and then cab or train it for an int'l flight. i demanded that they reroute me on other carriers, and after some hemming and hawing, they finally did. if they want to keep the money, fly the plane. it's quite simple.

now the latest departure to phl is 2PM. why fly six hours early to connect to an 8pm flight? if i choose us, i now do just take amtrak and the a cab from penn station. at least i don't have to leave ny until 430P!!!

Ha! Yeah, the LGA-PHL flight is terrible for connecting to European flights. As an alternative you could try ISP if you really want to fly.

Last year the same thing happened to my sister who was supposed to fly LGA-PHL-LGW. Typical LGA flight was cancelled and they didn't want to reroute her. She called me and I said don't move from the counter till they got you a flight that night from JFK as well as car service from LGA to JFK.

It's almost as if US is CHOOSING not to even compete in the NY-Europe market which seems strange to me.

While US can't compete for the passengers who want a non-stop, I think backtracking just a little bit through PHL is a much better alternative than backtracking through DTW, ORD, ATL, IAD etc.

I want to fly US from AMS-NY later this summer, but the connections are so terrible that it just isn't worth it for me.

Hi, been awhile since I had a post...

Thanks for verifying the weather problems experienced in your area. There were plenty
of skeptics flying that day located away from your area that were just too jaded to believe that weather might be keeping flights from going normally. Keep in mind on the irregular ops, decisions have to be made to get aircraft to certain places even when an overfly is necessary to divert from a storm area...Philly was also having some of the same bad weather at about the same time. Same weather system just moving on up the Atlantic coast possibly. So the flight takes off but the Philly landing is too risky, so flight is sent out over the Atlantic Ocean to get it to Maine.

Your situation is referred to as a "trip in
vain". Under that category, you are entitled to a refund. As far as using the ticket for another trip instead of the refund, speak to someone in person at USairways. Bring something regarding the weather as a reference for the workers in your airport city to help them remember how difficult it was to travel that day. The reason flights were heavy was because of the family travel occurring that week due to Spring Vacation in the Northeast between 13April and 21April. Flights connecting from Florida thru DCA, PHL, PIT, LGA, etc. were especially full/oversold back to the Northeast due to the varied returns of the vacationers.

I think there is still a good possibility of making your case with USAIR in person.
Best Wishes http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif


[This message has been edited by Way2honest (edited 04-26-2002).]

It appears they are just 'following the rules'. According to Rules of the Air, at: www.onetravel.com (http://www.onetravel.com)

<quote>
Any conditions beyond US Airways' control, including weather, acts of God, riots, civil commotion, wars, hostilities, strikes, labor-related disputes, government regulation, shortage of labor or fuel, or other facts not foreseen by US Airways.

If your flight is delayed, cancelled, or you miss a connection to a US Airways flight due to a Force Majeure Event (and this includes weather), US Airways' only obligation is to refund your ticket. US Airways will probably try to reroute you to an alternate flight, but according to Rule 240, they are not required to do this.
<end quote>

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Nevada1K:
It appears they are just 'following the rules'. </font>

That is the problem. In the instance above, we gave US Airways an opportunity to keep revenue, and the company chose to return that money to us. When a company is bleeding red ink, priority should be given to conserving dollars.

We were offered on three separate occasions routing on alternate airlines (UA, AA, LH). We could have accepted any of those reroutes but if we did, it would cost US Airways at least the face value of the ticket (if not more depending on the rerouting method) and sent that revenue to a competitor. Our proffered alternative would have allowed them to keep all the revenue simply by moving our reservation: a) to a date that was valid per the original fare; and b) to a date with availability for that fare code. US Airways chose to give us our money back instead.

I am not upset that I was "made whole" in the transaction. Rather, I am perplexed that US Airways could not see its way clear to do something that was not only in the passenger's interest but more importantly in its financial interest as well. Oh well, until management ceases the use of fear tactics with its res folks, things will continue by the book, even if it means that it is costing US Airways both money and goodwill.

CWPFLY