Kudos to CO
 

One more reason CO is the only airline I fly (unless business dictates otherwise..!)...

I recently flew CO from PIT to SLC, connecting at IAH. All went well on the way to SLC. However, things weren't that pleasant during the return...I got an upgrade from SLC to IAH, and then from IAH to PIT - this wasn't an el cheapo fare, so I wasn't surprised when I got the upgrade.

We boarded the plane at SLC. The flight attendant served us coffee and we settled in for the flight. A few minutes later, the captain announced that there was a problem with the hydraulic line, and they were looking for a replacement part. The captain estimated a one hour wait in SLC, and requested us not to deplane. Ten minutes later, the captain announced that they couldn't locate the part in SLC (they would have to fly it in from IAH) and we were told to get off the plane. The gate attendants told all passengers connecting in IAH to go down to ticketing (out of security) to get rebooked. Since we had no choice, we had to go down and wait in a horrendously long line (one benefit of being elite, even a lowly Silver, is that I've never stood in line...!). About a half hour later (I'm still standing in line here), the agents announce that the plane has been fixed, and that we could go back to the gate and board the plane. We finally took off from SLC at 11ish, almost three hours later than scheduled.

Needless to say, I missed my connecting flight at IAH. The next available flight was at 7pm, a five hour wait. CO was nice enough to rebook me on a US Airways flight that left two hours earlier. There was no upgrade to First, but, after being on the road for two weeks straight, and knowing that Pittsburgh was hit hard by Ivan, and not knowing what damage had been done to my apartment, I took whatever they had. I got a great seat however, and got home at about 10pm to find no damage to my apartment, but power failure had turned my refrigerator into a cesspool - no big deal, considering what others in Pittsburgh are going through even now...

Two days later, I got a letter from CO apologizing for the problems on my way back to Pittsburgh, thanking me for my patience, yada yada. The letter was indeed a nice touch. While I've had these kinds of issues earlier (before I switched from US Air to CO), I've never got a letter apologizing for what happened. I've never been reaccommodated on another flight with a different airline. And I've never received full miles (including EQM) for my missed flight (it took me one phone call to get that resolved).

Kudos to CO for going out of the way to make my day better.
-Sid

P.S. I'd like to write a letter to someone in CO to compliment them on their thoughtfulness. Any suggestions on whom to write to? And mailing address? (The mods could probably sticky a CO contact information, with all relevant addresses and phone numbers, to this board...)

P.P.S. I also want to mention the some humongous differences between CO and US Air in terms of QoS. I was sitting in 4D, the bulkhead, right behing First Class. Firstlly, unlike CO, US Air does not have a curtain between FC and the cabin. Secondly (remember, this was a long flight - IAH to PIT, almost 3 hours), FC passengers were served with a hot sandwich only - this for a 5 pm flight. No salad, no hot towels before dinner, no nuts, no nothing whatsoever. In fact, passengers in coach who bought dinner (yes, dinner costs $10) got a far better dinner, catered by Hard Rock Cafe. One thiing though - the flight attendants were really nice, seemed to go out of the way to help, but you could tell their morale was low - US Air mandated a 25% pay cut for all employees the very next day...

A couple of years ago flying NW PHX-MSP-RDU on a cheapo $189 fare I was informed on check-in that my MSP-RDU segment had been cancelled. I was rebooked on US airways MSP-PIT-RDU arriving about an hour after my original schedule.

I was surprised to find that the US flights were in F (I had been upgraded on the NW flights) in spite of the low fare paid. :)

[QUOTE=PIT_Flyer].... I've never been reaccommodated on another flight with a different airline.

Although it is great that everything worked out in the end, being accommodated on another airline is something you should expect when a delay is caused by a problem within the airline's control (exceptions are weather and ATC).

Rule 240 provides a list of rights you have as a customer. Always know your Rule 240 rights and be prepared to argue them with an uncooperative agent - depending on the length of delay forecast at SLC and its effect on your scheduled arrival time at PIT, you could have demanded a re-route to an alternate carrier on the spot rather than accept the flight to IAH and the misconnect/rebook there.

The type of reaccommodation you can expect is typically set by the length of the delay and how late you will arrive at your final destination (and how effective you are at demanding your rights). You can even be booked in F on another carrier if that is all that's available to take you to your destination and your arrival delay is beyond 2 hours.

I've found that when I was EUAed to 1st on NWA and then reaccomodated on another airline, it will be in 1st. But EUAed to 1st on CO and then reaccomodated on another airline, it will be in coach.

I haven't been reaccommodated in several years, but on the last occasion, CO protected me on AA in FC, despite being booked on a T fare. That was before Bethune's name became a curse, however.

While you're comparing, why don't compare the type of metal used by the two carrier IAH-PIT...

US - 3x 733

CO - 1x 735 2x ERJ


How are the nuts, towels, and food on the ERJ?



K