Independence Air iClub - **WARNING** Check Your Flights...

FYI-

My flight from West Palm Beach, FL to Las Vegas, NV leaving on July 8th and returning on July 12th has been CANCELED! After spending over an hour on the phone with a CSR based out of Washington tonight, I have discovered the following:

Many flights have changed after May

On my three previous calls to the call center (non-Washington), I was told nothing but lies. I was assured that my flights still existed, and the reason for them not showing are:
1) The flight has sold out
2) The server is experiencing some problems

The most disturbing part of all:

Independence Air WAS AWARE that my flights no longer existed on APRIL 6th, and I had been placed on queue for a "calling list" to be notified.

If I had not took it upon myself to search on FlyI's website using my flight criteria only to discover that no outbound flights existed on July 8th, I would still have no knowledge that my flights were canceled.

Did I mention that FlyI had already changed my itinerary once...And I booked on April 1st!!

This was my first attempt to fly with Independence Air, and I can assure you that I will NeverFlyI again...And for my troubles, I was offered a full refund of my airfare.

Just a heads up, you may want to go to www.FlyI.com and search for your flight to make sure it still exists.

All carriers have schedule changes. I had a series of 4 schedule changes with Delta in less then a month on an itinerary. I always check my flights about 1 week and 1 day out.

They would have called you sooner or later. All carriers do this. If you are not going to fly a carrier because of this then odds are that you will not be flying anyone eventually.

Kind Regards,

ACVITALE

FYI-

My flight from West Palm Beach, FL to Las Vegas, NV leaving on July 8th and returning on July 12th has been CANCELED! After spending over an hour on the phone with a CSR based out of Washington tonight, I have discovered the following:

Many flights have changed after May

On my three previous calls to the call center (non-Washington), I was told nothing but lies. I was assured that my flights still existed, and the reason for them not showing are:
1) The flight has sold out
2) The server is experiencing some problems

The most disturbing part of all:

Independence Air WAS AWARE that my flights no longer existed on APRIL 6th, and I had been placed on queue for a "calling list" to be notified.

If I had not took it upon myself to search on FlyI's website using my flight criteria only to discover that no outbound flights existed on July 8th, I would still have no knowledge that my flights were canceled.

Did I mention that FlyI had already changed my itinerary once...And I booked on April 1st!!

This was my first attempt to fly with Independence Air, and I can assure you that I will NeverFlyI again...And for my troubles, I was offered a full refund of my airfare.

Just a heads up, you may want to go to www.FlyI.com and search for your flight to make sure it still exists.

I think you're overracting on this one.

July 8 is still more than 2 months away, I'm sure they prioritize their list of who to call by date of departure. I received an Email AND a voice mail for a miniscule change, I thought that was a bit too much. I don't know the extent of your change but they are not required to offer a refund if the flight times are off less than 4 hours from the original itinerary. Looks like they are doing a good job.

Take it for what you will...

If the customer service representatives could not verify the information which they gave me (flight is sold out, server issues), they should have directed me to someone who could, rather than assuring me that the flight was as scheduled (doesn't reflect well on the company).

And yes, I have received changes to my itinerary from other carriers, all of which were handled in a much more professional and timely manner than this.

The amount of capital invested in Independence Air has dropped significantly in the past year, and they have reported quite a big net loss in the past few quarters. With fuel prices surely rising this summer, one can only speculate on this company operating as a going concern.

There are many others in the same situation as myself, with no knowledge of any changes. I do, however, believe that a CANCELED flight both departing and returning, rather than a changed itenerary, does deserve to be brought to the attention of the customer in a timely manner, especially when I was informed of a minor change within a day or so...

Interestingly when they cancelled my IAD-PBI flight weeks in advance, they promptly emailed me with a suggested reaccommodation, and asked me to approve/reject the selection. The new flight leaves 45 minutes earlier than the original which is no big imposition. I was quite impressed with their methods. Yet on Delta, my itinerary changed 6 times in 3 months, and I never heard word from them. I happened upon the news when checking my itineraries online.

Yet on Delta, my itinerary changed 6 times in 3 months, and I never heard word from them. I happened upon the news when checking my itineraries online.

...Same situation here.

I am hoping that someone who works for Independence Air can chime in on the extreme delay of notification for canceled flights...My flight time was not changed, it was canceled. I was notified of a change +/- one hour within a day...so they do have the resources necessary to notify customers of changes on a timely basis, proven by past performance.

Could they be trying to hold money as long as possible to payoff current debt obligations?

Granted it's pure speculation, but why else would they notify customers within a day of an immaterial intenerary change, yet fail to notify the customer for weeks of a cancled flight. Something is not adding up here...

Oh Brother, your flight is more than THREE months from now and you are complaining about FLYI not being timely??? You obviously don't travel much. Take my advice, don't sweat the small stuff. Ask most people who have flown Independence Air and you will quickly realise you're wrong about FLYI. Their customer service is among the best in the industry. I am sure they would have gotten to you with the changes and suggestions before your flight in July. You do realise that between now and July there will be about 2 million passengers that Independence Air will be serving. It sounds like you got a hold of information before the reservation agents' computers were updated. Nobody lied, as far as they knew it was true. Keep your cool!

Let's all have a beer,

BBB

I am hoping that someone who works for Independence Air can chime in on the extreme delay of notification for canceled flights...My flight time was not changed, it was canceled. I was notified of a change +/- one hour within a day...so they do have the resources necessary to notify customers of changes on a timely basis, proven by past performance.

Could they be trying to hold money as long as possible to payoff current debt obligations?

Granted it's pure speculation, but why else would they notify customers within a day of an immaterial intenerary change, yet fail to notify the customer for weeks of a cancled flight. Something is not adding up here...

I know that changes in the schedule can be very stressful and un-nerving for some people... but with all due respect, I really think you are reading WAY too much into this.
Since DH sells most of its tickets about a month prior to the day of departure, there were probably just a handful of people displaced for this flight in July, and those seats were probably sold at the lowest fare. The monetary value of holding probably 20 or 30 people's money a few more days or weeks would be practically nothing in the big picture of things... (not to mention the fact that the majority of displaced passengers will rebook on another flight, so the money will stay with DH anyway).
As far as the call center not telling you the truth... they probably told you as much information as they had at their disposal at that time. I don't know the inter-workings of how flights get loaded and cancelled ahead of time, but I would imagine that schedule planning could pull a flight from the reservation system before an official announcement was made to reservations and the passengers... so that no more tickets were sold. You probably called while this was going on, and for all reservations knew there was a glitch in the computer system, or the flight was sold out.
I can understand that you are frustrated, but I believe that FLYI deserves another chance at your business... as other people have mentioned, despite your bad experience FLYI is among the best at customer service in the industry... if you try it I am sure you will like it.

Let's all have a beer,

BBB

I second that thought! ^

From my personal experience:
out of all my flights with FLYi, all of my friends flights, all of my families flights, all of my coworkers flights; we have experienced a grand total of 1 cancelation of an Independence Air flight.
That 1 flight cancelation was due to a bug washing maching that bumped into the aircraft during the night and tore the little rubber seal on the door.
That 1 cancelation cost me a 1 hour wait until the next flight was ready to go (and they made up time in the air).

Now that being said either everyone that I know that flies DH are really darn lucky at getting flights that don't get cancelled or delayed (we are talking about 100s of flights here), or they have a really good system going on and you just happened to catch an annomaly.

You decide what is best for you but at least make your decision knowing that you are walking away from what I think is one of the best airlines in the world, certainly the bes for your money.

-- my 2 cents.

DID you book through a travel agency? Just asking... most airlines only inform the passengers that booked directly through them (1800 number, website, etc). for passengers that are booked through a travel agency they sometimes (to the best of my knowledge) inform the travel agency and the agency then contacts the customer. that's why the agencies get a portion of the price of the ticket and a portion of the responsibility. Not an excuse but just a possible explaination.

and airlines do have schedule changes from every month to every 3 months. sometimes more, sometimes less.

also, about the money that flyi is trying not to give back to the customer to pay next day's bills.

most people pay for airline tickets with credit cards. do you agree?

the airline does not recieve money from that credit cards until the flight has departed. it is held in a hold account until the flight is closed out at the end of the night. if a flight was july, the airline would not get the $$$ until july. i'm not an expert at revenue accounting but i've been in the industry a while and that's how it was explained to me :)

i'll look into those flights and do a little investigating and see what i can come up with. you've got a friend in the biz

I think that there are a number of factors contributed to the problem. The most disturbing one being the issue of customer service rep lying to customers. I know that it happens in all airlines, and I sometimes wonder whether they use brains anymore in rebooking flights during schedule change, but denying a change of schedule is something else. The whole change itself might not make the OP so stressed, but the attitude of and lies from that customer service reps are big problems.

I always think that those who do not want to be disturbed, or cannot tolerate to be disturbed should not be in the service industry. In this industry, customers are probably the most important sector. No airlines will survive without customers, and yet some customer reps think that they are on top of the world.

Well, I understand that why the OP is being disturbed, but even the best origanization is going to have some ignorant people. I, myself, would give Flyi one more chance at least, to see whether they will do other things right.

For the records, I did book directly through FlyI's website.

As far as the accounting aspect, the following journal entry would take place on FlyI's books when the flight is booked:

Cash or A/R xx
Unearned Revenue xx

Once the service has been rendered the adjusting journal entry would be:

Unearned Revenue xx
Operating Revenue xx

So yes, they would report the cash or A/R on their books (both current assets).

On a final note, when I canceled my flight I asked to be transferred to the Washington headquarters. The customer service rep was extremely rude and exclaimed it would be a 25-30 minute wait...I said that I was willing to wait. Within two minutes I had a rep on the phone. Just another prime example of FlyI's consideration for their customers.

Not all is bad at FlyI...I must say that every rep I spoke with out of the Washington headquarters was extremely professional in dealing with the entire situation.

Still not enough to ever make me or the others on the original flight willing to try Independence Air for any future flights.

I can't complain if you got your money back in full. There are people in ORF that have had a problem with that since service to that airport is being ended.

Things go wrong with the airline schedule periodically. I had a US/UA combination that got screwed up by US and rebooked onto a much worse flight. I was on a US schedule that changed 3 times in 2 weeks and happened to be in a travel agent's office and ran into someone else flying the same routing. I warned them about the changes and they pulled up their flight to learn it had changed. Yes, things change and get screwed up, and the plans we've put into place get screwed up, but the more you fly the more you end up expecting it and make the adjustments when it happens.

Don't be the people on Airline (http://www.aetv.com/tv/shows/airline/).

Three of us had reservations to fly from IAD to Orlando. We showed up early and they asked if we would like to take an earlier flight. Of course we said yes because who wants to wait in the airport when you can get on a plane?
After a week's cruise we arrived at Orlando airport, checked in and we were again asked if we wanted to take an earlier plane. HECK YES.
It was time to go home. Everyone was extremely nice and we had no problems whatsoever except that the money we saved allowed us to shop more. :D

I have called and gotten the off shore call center, and have had to be transferred back to the IAD one.

I don't like the idea of the off shore call center.

Maybe DH hadn't called you before you caught the change because they were waiting to see what th options were going to be to re-accommodate you.

My flight time was not changed, it was canceled. I was notified of a change +/- one hour within a day...so they do have the resources necessary to notify customers of changes on a timely basis, proven by past performance.

Could they be trying to hold money as long as possible to payoff current debt obligations?

Granted it's pure speculation, but why else would they notify customers within a day of an immaterial intenerary change, yet fail to notify the customer for weeks of a cancled flight. Something is not adding up here...

The carrier I work for (HP) will call on a schedule change (that's what this is) no more than 45 days out. I agree with everyone else, this is not that big of a deal...FlyI will (should?) either rebook you on another DH flight or refund your money. They should not put you on another carrier on a schedule change!