US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - I met TED... he misconnected me to US!

On Friday 7/23, I did a MR from PIT to SFO using mostly US metal on a UA ticket (those cheap $104 fares that were out a couple of weeks back). What happened on the return probably won't surprise some of you, but the opposite in service between those involved was a shock to me.

I had a flight on UA (actually on TED) from SFO-LAS at 10:15 that was to connect to the 1AM redeye on US back to PIT. Since this is the US forum, I'll leave out the UA screwups and post a link to that thread when I create it. To make short, we left an hour late from SFO due to a lack of crew. UA/TED didn't tell US I was coming in and on my way to connect last night. When I got to the gate to the total surprise of the two gate agents, I had missed the flight by less than 5 minutes. If UA had called over to say I was coming in, they would have held the flight, as it actually left the gate 10 minutes early. UA had made prearrangements to get me a room in LAS if I misconnected, but the gate people disappeared on arrival, so I was out of luck, even after talking to someone through the liason of the airport operator.

However, our US white knights came through! These two guys first got me rebooked on the 7:30 flight to PIT this morning. Then they tried to get me a room for the night... any reasonable room. But this was Friday night in Vegas, there are no reasonable rooms available, and $200 was not worth it for a 4 hour stay. So, what did they do?? They showed me a super quiet part of Concourse D called the Kids Play Area. It had nice clean carpeted floors, out of the way from the noise going on. It had some benches that you could either sit on, or rest your back on while sitting on the floor. Then to make it better, the one gate agent, Chas, came down with a couple of pillows and blankets once the last flight from CLT had some in.

They could have just said the heck with me, let me rest on the hard chairs in the noisy (even though no flights, it was still noisy) terminal... but they went out of their way to show me where to go, and made it very comfortable nonetheless.

With all the negative talk about our airline's employee, isn't it good to have a good one to tell?

I'm planning on writing two letters here BTW, a b*tch letter to UA and a positive letter to US (and may just hand deliver it to Ms. Thompson at Roachfest).

To add a little preview of the UA post (I'm not going to do it tonight... it's been a long run since I left for PIT from Canton OH at 4 AM Fri), I did track down a UA supervisor at LAS early this morning. Can you say I started her morning off right? ;) At first she was convinced I was a pathelogical liar about getting put up by UA, until she finally read it in my PNR. I was then told I should have gotten a room even at $200 and they would have reimbursed me. Yeah right. How many of us here on FT would do that? Told them what the US guys did, and she became apologetic fast after I saw the egg on her face. She gave me a $200 voucher on the spot plus paid for breakfast.

And to make it a perfect morning... I got pulled from the exit row on the plane and told to "Please take 2F, Mr. Jimcfsus".

On Friday 7/23, I did a MR from PIT to SFO using mostly US metal on a UA ticket (those cheap $104 fares that were out a couple of weeks back). What happened on the return probably won't surprise some of you, but the opposite in service between those involved was a shock to me.


I'm planning on writing two letters here BTW, a b*tch letter to UA and a positive letter to US (and may just hand deliver it to Ms. Thompson at Roachfest). .........

.... Told them what the US guys did, and she became apologetic fast after I saw the egg on her face. She gave me a $200 voucher on the spot plus paid for breakfast.

And to make it a perfect morning... I got pulled from the exit row on the plane and told to "Please take 2F, Mr. Jimcfsus".

Glad to see that the US people did what they could. Interesting that the UAL supv was allowed to give out a voucher for for USD 200.00. Under the "new and improved" customer relations program at UAIR, the most its airport staff are allowed to issue is a voucher for USD 100.00.

However, our US white knights came through! These two guys first got me rebooked on the 7:30 flight to PIT this morning. Then they tried to get me a room for the night... any reasonable room. But this was Friday night in Vegas, there are no reasonable rooms available, and $200 was not worth it for a 4 hour stay. So, what did they do?? They showed me a super quiet part of Concourse D called the Kids Play Area. It had nice clean carpeted floors, out of the way from the noise going on. It had some benches that you could either sit on, or rest your back on while sitting on the floor. Then to make it better, the one gate agent, Chas, came down with a couple of pillows and blankets once the last flight from CLT had some in.


With all the negative talk about our airline's employee, isn't it good to have a good one to tell?



I have always believed the frontline folks are the best in the business. They are the reason I and others continue to fly US.

I continue to question the ability of those in CCY. I get a sense that the folks in the crystal palace are trying to implement something long the lines of SGB at Delta. I keep hearing little tid-bits that CCY is beiginning to shut the door on many of the tools the employees could use to make a customer happy.

Kudo's to those who still care on the frontline. You are the best

Here's a link to my post in the UA forum, actually an edited copy of the letter I emailed to UA tonight. Read here (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=341021)

I wonder what kind of reply UA will give?

And once again, the US people once again are so great!!! :)

So, what did they do?? They showed me a super quiet part of Concourse D called the Kids Play Area. It had nice clean carpeted floors, out of the way from the noise going on. It had some benches that you could either sit on, or rest your back on while sitting on the floor. Then to make it better, the one gate agent, Chas, came down with a couple of pillows and blankets once the last flight from CLT had some in.

I've been in there, and someone I was traveling with got bumped (as a non-rev) so he stayed in there for the night and got an available flight the next morning. I have to say that's about the only good thing about concourse D -- I liked the A concourse much better for it's convenience and not having to take the tram.

Despite the hype, the US/UA codeshare is NOT seamless. In general I try to avoid changing airlines during a day of flight expressly for this reason.
I had a similar misconnect with a poor outcome, and the UA folks were outright negligent (although they seem to smile an awful lot when they tell you there is nothing they can do for you).

I sent letters to both UA and US and received compensation from both.

I don't think you did too bad getting a $200 UA voucher plus breakfast. And it sounds like someone at UA tried to get you set up for a hotel anyway. One slight worry I would have if you complain is that maybe the UA supervisor would get in trouble for giving you the $200 voucher. There is probably no "rule" that customers in your case get a $200 voucher, and still I would say they compensated you quite nicely.

Also sounds like a good idea to give Ms. Thompson a letter about the hospitality that the LAS agents provided to you.

One bad point though about US lately is they seem to jip people in the compensation department. I have had a few situations with them in the last six months that warranted some compensation and they have either not offered any, or in one case provided $20 in a situation involving moderate inconvenience. Part of the reason I may fly UA more is I have an unconfirmed sense that they are not afraid to provide compensation if there is a problem.

I had one great situation at US about a year ago where a station supe did provide compensation, and actually asked me if I thought the resolution of the matter was "fair" etc. I think this is the only time that any airline supervisor asked me if I thought their handling of something was "fair." Partially due to the interaction with that supervisor I subsequently bought thousands of dollars of US tickets, but I think the mentality of that one supervisor is a dying breed in favor of the "new" approach of either providing no compensation or like $25. I won't name the station or person here, because for all I know, this is not the service management wants to be provided and maybe the person would even get reprimanded.

Thanks for the post though, an interesting story to read.

Well we are on the topic of compensation and US vs UA, I find US' delayed baggage policy much more generous than UAs.

# In the event US Airways is unable to return delayed baggage within 24 hours, a discount voucher in the amount of $25 for a future ticket purchase on US Airways will accompany the delivery.
# US Airways will authorize reimbursement of reasonable purchases for necessities directly related to the purpose of your trip when you are away from home.
# Upon presentation of receipts to the local US Airways representative, you will be reimbursed up to $50 for the first day and $25 for each day thereafter to a maximum of $150. Under extenuating circumstances, US Airways will work with you to meet your needs.

vs.

If you are still traveling away from home United may consider up to 50% reimbursement of the necessities purchased, taking into account your ability to use the new items in the future.

and no voucher with UA.

That is interesting about the rule discrepancy between US and UA, but, probably with either airline there is some negotiation between the pax and the rep. Just because UA documents on its books 50% reimbursement doesn't mean that in your "special" case, they could not do more. Probably they would not do more unless you politely asked. But I agree US's policy on paper is more generous. In these situations, I would imagine that either baggage service office hates to part with cash, so you could probably individually negotiate some kind of voucher that would be more than the $ value of your expenses, and they would be happy to not part with precious cash. Once I had a damaged item on US that cost $20. Initially US offered a $20 check, but I negotiated with them, and they gladly provided a CS0007 upgrade voucher instead of the $20 check, and we both were probably happier :). The most important thing is what you negotiate, not arcain published rules. That being said, I have no experience with any lost baggage in the last 3 years so I cannot offer any first hand stories on how it was handled.

That being said, I have no experience with any lost baggage in the last 3 years so I cannot offer any first hand stories on how it was handled.

I take it you don't fly through PHL :D :D

FWIW, the only recent delayed baggage experience was on a tight connection from express to international at PHL. I barely made the flight, my bag didn't. US did their best to get the bag to me in MAD ASAP - they put it on an LH flight and it arrived in MAD the same day, according to the reroute tags. Too bad the Iberia ......s that do US' handling didn't see fit to deliver them until the following afternoon. I submitted a few receipts to US when I got back and got a check for the full amount of my expenses, about $7 over the published limit (after the currency conversion), no questions asked within about a week. I then called the baggage office and got the $25 voucher sent out as well as it didn't get delivered with my bag (highly doubt that Iberia knows anything about it anyway).

So basically to tie things together, another story where US staff went above and beyond what they had to do, and staff of other airlines did not.