abeflyer

They only want to think that they care in Tempe to get your money.

That is the main difference that I have seen since the merger. The old US wanted your dollars and realized that they were not a AA or UA, but had employees with a “we try harder” approach. You had a problem and you wrote to CCY or Winston-Salem. You got a personalized response in a day. If you were not in, there was an 800 number to call. Something was wrong, they tried to correct it. As a customer you thought “they cared”. The end result is that many of us drastically increased our flying during the lean times on US.

Now contrast that with Tempe’s approach. Emails go unanswered or take weeks for a response that is not responsive. If they call and you are not in, Tempe thinks PHX is a local call from the east coast—get real! I don’t know of any large or medium sized company that doesn’t have 800 complaint numbers for their customers. The CP Desk seems empowered to do nothing. They can’t get their website to work. They change cabin configuration without ever looking at the consequences. Oh, and don’t forget fail to even meet with their customer group FFOCUS (free customer research that many companies pay for—that should be up Tempe’s alley, something for nothing--oh, but Tempe knows better.

I look at myself as an example. It took me to late June last year after two phone calls to get my CP Card. During that time I flew Z and had my miles charged elsewhere, but it would have been nice to know I could have gone to a *Gold Lounge, instead of the only the carrier I was on. The CP Desk couldn’t get me the card quicker then four weeks.

They have a website that gives you double connections at double the price rather than a single connection that they fly and is more convenient that are found on all other travel sites. It’s forced me to Orbitz, where price comparisons are right there for all to see-- not a smart move to force your customers to see others pricing when you are not the lowest.

Should I talk about email? Orbitz can send me emails and telephone me with delays. The US CP Desk after four attempts still can’t get IT to add my email address to my profile, so if US does that I don’t get it.

Cut, cut, cut is great for the bottom line for the short term, but not for the long term as those customers that fly in good times and bad are driven away. A disgruntled customers that is lost, is lost forever. They tell ten others and you lose them too.

Let’s face it Tempe may monitor this board, but doesn’t care.

LAX1K to AmWest

You know, I can relate to the frustration in your post. It is quite disappointing to see customers who tried over and over to give Tempe a chance and they keep dropping the ball and not caring.
Another example is the US Chairman's desk.. the original concept was personal contact in US Airways! I always thought it was a neat concept... I wish it held true... it is more like you get a crap shoot... and takes some time to see if they really can help...

I think US can see (and should) that some customers are really at their wits end... sad .. very sad.

coachrowsey

I think I read on the justplanenews site (if it's still there) that they are trying to hire customer relations people in Tempe. There are far to many new people that have no clue & I'm including management here.
www.justplanenews.com

It's still there move down to customer relations job fair.

aztimm

Tempe is a college town, of course ASU students are trying to make a buck.

Art234

Abeflyer,

Thank you for a heartfelt post. I happen to agree with you in principle. The only thing I would add is that I have met with members of the management team in Tempe, and they have admitted to some errors and problems, but I am still waiting for a path forward.

They have been receptive to my comments and critiques, but many of the issues I speak of have yet to be resolved. I am waiting to hear when my next scheduled meeting will be, and I hope we will begin to work together to make US a great airline.

I will give them some credit--they have reached out to us, and have accepted constructive criticism, unlike the prior management who slammed the door in our face if we said something they didn't like.

There will be updates posted periodically on the FFOCUS web site.

If you have any other questions or comments you'd like them to hear feel free to PM/Email me.

Thanks as always,

Art
FFOCUS co-chair

TPA us ff

My wife's new TravelPro luggage was torn apart after a trip in F to California. The audio and seat were broken too. A nice letter to Doug with pictures was sent. A month later someone calls, leaves a call back number. After messages were left, still no call back or resolution of the damaged luggage.

You think they're slow? That was September '06 and no response.

KevAZ

I experienced the same, and I don't have a tag after my name other than US Airways Gold customer.

CHOwahoo

The 800-number issue doesn't bother me at all - everything might as well be a local call these days. But what does irritate me to no end is the absolutely DISMAL website. In addition to all of the issues that are brought up day in and day out here, the lack of real-time information on gate/flight status is a joke.
I can understand issues about systems conversion, but airline websites were doing a better job at displaying flight status 10 years ago than US's site today. I had a recent itinerary booked through Orbitz and I was blown away that I had gate info and delay info updated several times on my Blackberry while no such information was available through the US site. And good luck using the PDA site. It seems half the time they're using schedules from some date and time in the distant past. I was almost expecting to see a Fokker 100 doing the PHL-SYR segment I was on based on the misinformation I was getting.
It's just a shoddy job in every possible way. Too bad the CEO is too busy trying to buy DL and living it up at the Birds' Nest to notice.