How do I send a letter of COMPLAINT to Pres. of NWA?!
Jun 30, 2005, 8:59 am
#1
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How do I send a letter of COMPLAINT to Pres. of NWA?!
I want to send a letter of complaint to either the president of NWA or someone who will take my letter seriously. Does NWA monitor this board? Any suggestions…? Let me tell you all what happened. My wife and I and our 10-month-old daughter are being deployed by the USAF and were packed up, yesterday, June 29th, we submitted our license plates to the NYS DMV, and gave our vehicle to charity all on the same day—we are being deployed to Japan. I purchased tickets (will be reimbursed by the USAF) to fly from LGA to FAR (temporary address for a few days prior to deployment) to depart on June 29. We arrive at LGA well in advance of our 3:15 PM flight (Flight 511) and enjoy some downtime in their variant of Continental’s President’s Club.
Although NWA had plenty of time to inform us of the gate change (10 to 7), we were not informed—no big deal. We boarded our flight on time only to sit on the runway for two hours of “weather-related” delays claimed by NWA. Fine, to problem. After two hours on the runway, we were informed that our flight, 511, had to move over so the plane BEHIND us could take off, and then, we were returned to the gate five minutes later?! We were instructed to deplane, and then told our flight was cancelled. As you can imagine, it was a free-for-all after that. No redcoats around to help. Overhead announcement informed everyone that there were NO flights out of LGA until Sunday and we were further instructed to use a bay of approximately six (6) courtesy phones (to service approximately 250 passengers) to make our own arrangements. As you can imagine, there was a mad dash for the phones. About 150 of us stayed at the gate in hopes of being helped by the three (3) gate-agents, there. Well, after five minutes, one of them disappears leaving only two agents to help the panicked travelers. When it was my turn, I approached the desk, Kim, whose nametag also read “SUPERVISOR” was very rude, disrespectful AND was providing inadequate information. She only checked departures from LGA and Hartford, CT (2 hours away from NYC) and promptly informed me that nothing left LGA for my destination until Sunday, and the best she could do for me was a flight out of Hartford on Friday, July 01, and that it would be my responsibility to get to Hartford if I selected her itinerary. She never checked JFK or EWR (surrounding airports servicing NYC) even after I requested that she do so. I was upset and told her that this revised itinerary would not do, I explained to her that I had no home, no car, NOTHING. I had given up my room at the Sheraton, and that ALL surrounding hotels were now booked thanks to all of the canceled NWA flights?! GET THIS, she looked at the line and said sorry, I have to go to lunch, and she promptly logged out of her computer and walked away leaving me and hundreds of NWA customers stranded with only one (1) sole agent to help us all?! I returned to the President’s club, and the NWA agent there, Susan, although harried, found me a flight out of EWR on Friday, July 01, and provided me with a list of hotels and car services. She, at the very least, took my plight seriously and tried her best to help my wife, our 10-month-old daughter, and me.
I am appalled at how little KIM, the SUPERVISOR, cared about the plight of any of the stranded NWA customers—after all, she was a SUPERVISOR. Holy cow, I can now understand the poor service dispensed by her colleagues if she, a supervisor, who reportedly trains the new crew, puts HER needs BEFORE those of the NWA clients whom they, NWA, have just inconvenienced. Has she forgotten that without clients, NWA couldn’t pay HER salary? This speaks volumes and very poorly of NWA and its dedication to their clients. I will most probably NEVER fly NWA, again, and will do my best to select or recommend ANY other airline except NWA. In my opinion, Kim should be fired or at the very least, demoted from supervisor to plebian. Perhaps she will then gain a better perspective for customer service?
How can I get a letter of complaint to the President of someone in charge? Any advice?
Thanks in advance for your patience in reading the above saga and my rantings. I am just barely cooling off…
A very DISSATISFIED NWA client.
Jun 30, 2005, 9:13 am
#2
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Hoovers.com is a great place to find information about companies when you want to write letters to CEO's, etc. Or, you can go to NWA.com & find the information out from there.
Jun 30, 2005, 9:20 am
#3
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Providence, RI USA
Programs: NWA Lowly Silver ; Priceline Whore
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Welcome to Flyer Talk
You probably don't want to hear this, but sadly, you were caught up in a perfect storm -- defined as a confluence of storms that all converge at the same time for disaster.
There were thunderstorms up and down the east coast yesterday that made for huge delays and some pretty dangerous flying. This is what caused your delay and/or cancellation. On top of it all, it happened prior to a very-well travelled holiday weekend. Together, this made your cancellation/rescheduling process difficult.
The airlines have long ago accepted no responsibility for when weather causes disruptions.
That all being said, your's seems to be an example of poor customer service. If you were polite to them, then you deserved a little more courtesy in return. You can try the "Contact us" link at the bottom of the nwa.com website... but a) don't focus on the weather.. because they will immediately come back with "we're not responsible for weather"... b) if you really have no intentions to fly nwa again, i wouldn't mention that... you're a lost cause to them and they are not going to waste any time to try "make good"
You probably don't want to hear this, but sadly, you were caught up in a perfect storm -- defined as a confluence of storms that all converge at the same time for disaster.
There were thunderstorms up and down the east coast yesterday that made for huge delays and some pretty dangerous flying. This is what caused your delay and/or cancellation. On top of it all, it happened prior to a very-well travelled holiday weekend. Together, this made your cancellation/rescheduling process difficult.
The airlines have long ago accepted no responsibility for when weather causes disruptions.
That all being said, your's seems to be an example of poor customer service. If you were polite to them, then you deserved a little more courtesy in return. You can try the "Contact us" link at the bottom of the nwa.com website... but a) don't focus on the weather.. because they will immediately come back with "we're not responsible for weather"... b) if you really have no intentions to fly nwa again, i wouldn't mention that... you're a lost cause to them and they are not going to waste any time to try "make good"
Jun 30, 2005, 9:49 am
#4
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I agree with the above post regarding your letter to NWA. The biggest thing under Northwest's control was customer service and its ability to help customers, and clearly, the company failed at that. I would definitely write a letter (although a little more succinct; but believe me, I know that FT is a great place to vent!) or e-mail, explain what happened and focus on the poor customer service and how you felt you were mistreated.
Please keep in mind, though, that I have written a couple of notes about LGA customer service and get the standard, "We are sorry to hear about your experience. We try to give the best possible customer service, etc... I hope the situation gets resolved, and please keep us updated on what happens.
Mike
Please keep in mind, though, that I have written a couple of notes about LGA customer service and get the standard, "We are sorry to hear about your experience. We try to give the best possible customer service, etc... I hope the situation gets resolved, and please keep us updated on what happens.
Mike
Jun 30, 2005, 9:49 am
#5
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I'm confused...was this CO or NWA?
the OP refers to the NWA agents in NWA President's Club
I also thought military traveling under orders had priority over just about everyone else
the OP refers to the NWA agents in NWA President's Club
I also thought military traveling under orders had priority over just about everyone else
Jun 30, 2005, 9:55 am
#6
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I think he meant to say World Club, since there is no President's Club in the NW/DL terminal at LGA.
Mike
Mike
Jun 30, 2005, 10:20 am
#7
Join Date: May 2004
Location: MSP
Programs: NWA Plat, Hilton Gold, NWA WorldClubs
Posts: 103
I'm very sorry to hear of the difficulty you experienced. As a longtime Platinum member and former employee with lots of "irregular operations" situations under my belt, I can certainly sympathize how an undoubtedly frustrating situation (weather-related creeping delay ultimately resulting in cancellation) would be compounded by your personal circumstances and lack of empathy on the part of NWA's staff. Sometimes with travel everything just falls into place flawlessly, while at other times all heck breaks loose. Just part of the game I guess. Hopefully your next experience (whether on NWA or another carrier) will be a better one.
From an objective standpoint, however, I just thought I'd point out a few things for better understanding of what happened:
While the weather situation may not have been apparent while sitting on the ground in LGA, I can assure you that the weather here in MSP was bad last night (severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings) and there were numerous delays and cancellations as a result. These were in addition to the weather problems along the east coast pointed out by another poster.
Customer Service Supervisors at NWA are awarded positions based on seniority, not performance, in accordance with their union contract. Therefore, the title simply means they are the most senior employee who is willing to put up the hassle of the position for a little more money per hour. I personally believe people in these positions should be the best at what they do and be selected by the Company; unfortunately, this is simply not the case at NWA. In fact, some of the best employees don't want to "put up with the crap" and therefore do not bid these positions. So although it's natural to expect a "supervisor" to provide better service, it's certainly not a given. Chock it up to another unfortunate side effect of union rules.
That said, from the sounds of it "Kim" was clearly not helpful and downright rude. Although I don't believe a letter to Doug Steenland is warranted under the circumstances (he has bigger problems to deal with right now, e.g. avoiding a bankruptcy filing), an e-mail to Customer Care via the nwa.com website may result in some additional miles and/or a voucher for future travel. Good luck and let us know how you make out.
From an objective standpoint, however, I just thought I'd point out a few things for better understanding of what happened:
Originally Posted by burdge
We boarded our flight on time only to sit on the runway for two hours of “weather-related” delays claimed by NWA.
Originally Posted by burdge
I am appalled at how little KIM, the SUPERVISOR, cared about the plight of any of the stranded NWA customers—after all, she was a SUPERVISOR. Holy cow, I can now understand the poor service dispensed by her colleagues if she, a supervisor, who reportedly trains the new crew, puts HER needs BEFORE those of the NWA clients whom they, NWA, have just inconvenienced. In my opinion, Kim should be fired or at the very least, demoted from supervisor to plebian. Perhaps she will then gain a better perspective for customer service?
How can I get a letter of complaint to the President of someone in charge? Any advice?
How can I get a letter of complaint to the President of someone in charge? Any advice?
That said, from the sounds of it "Kim" was clearly not helpful and downright rude. Although I don't believe a letter to Doug Steenland is warranted under the circumstances (he has bigger problems to deal with right now, e.g. avoiding a bankruptcy filing), an e-mail to Customer Care via the nwa.com website may result in some additional miles and/or a voucher for future travel. Good luck and let us know how you make out.
Last edited by RichMSP; Jun 30, 2005 at 10:35 am
Jun 30, 2005, 10:33 am
#8
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: RST
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I understand why you are upset but try to be a bit more precise in your arguments. Flight 511 is a A320 with 148 passengers. Still a lot of people but not quite 250 as stated. Were there any other NW flights delayed/cancelled yesterday???
Focus on one thing, your story has a lot of complaints that are really out of anyone's hands. I would say focus on the inability of the supervisor to focus on your problems and try to solve them for you.
In the future, I highly recommend that you seek help where few others will be. For example the WorldClub or if you are an elite call on them to get help.
The fact that you are leaving tomorrow (~48 hours later) suggest that there is/was a significant number of delays and a lot of upset people around. Everyone of them has unique issues like you do.
Good luck.
Focus on one thing, your story has a lot of complaints that are really out of anyone's hands. I would say focus on the inability of the supervisor to focus on your problems and try to solve them for you.
In the future, I highly recommend that you seek help where few others will be. For example the WorldClub or if you are an elite call on them to get help.
The fact that you are leaving tomorrow (~48 hours later) suggest that there is/was a significant number of delays and a lot of upset people around. Everyone of them has unique issues like you do.
Good luck.
Jun 30, 2005, 11:59 am
#9
Original Poster
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Clarifications....
I was confused, too. The flight was booked with NWA, but the stewardess announced that the flight was "in conjunction with our partner airline, Continental" so your guess is as good as mine...Regarding the President's Club, yes, I meant the NWA variant of the President's Club (I am a lifetime member of the Continental President's Club and participate in the reciprocity between partner airlines....)
Regarding military orders, I wish that were true. She didn't even bat an eye when I showed them to her.....I'm still stuck here in NJ until July 01.
Thanks for the clarifications!
ECB
Regarding military orders, I wish that were true. She didn't even bat an eye when I showed them to her.....I'm still stuck here in NJ until July 01.
Thanks for the clarifications!
ECB
Originally Posted by socrates
I'm confused...was this CO or NWA?
the OP refers to the NWA agents in NWA President's Club
I also thought military traveling under orders had priority over just about everyone else
the OP refers to the NWA agents in NWA President's Club
I also thought military traveling under orders had priority over just about everyone else
Jun 30, 2005, 12:07 pm
#10
Original Poster
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Great points and tips--thank you!
Thanks for the editorial and for providing the true head count. I am not quite familiar with aircrafts and that was the best guesstimate I came up with as I was seeing red from my frustrations.
I appreciate the tips and focus points you suggested--will do!
Regarding the Worldclub, great idea. I was caught between going there or staying in line given that there were only 10 ahead of me--I was obviosly better served in the Worldclub (it was my wife that practically dragged me to the NWA club when Kim "went to lunch") ;-)
I appreciate the tips and focus points you suggested--will do!
Regarding the Worldclub, great idea. I was caught between going there or staying in line given that there were only 10 ahead of me--I was obviosly better served in the Worldclub (it was my wife that practically dragged me to the NWA club when Kim "went to lunch") ;-)
Originally Posted by fromYXU
I understand why you are upset but try to be a bit more precise in your arguments. Flight 511 is a A320 with 148 passengers. Still a lot of people but not quite 250 as stated. Were there any other NW flights delayed/cancelled yesterday???
Focus on one thing, your story has a lot of complaints that are really out of anyone's hands. I would say focus on the inability of the supervisor to focus on your problems and try to solve them for you.
In the future, I highly recommend that you seek help where few others will be. For example the WorldClub or if you are an elite call on them to get help.
The fact that you are leaving tomorrow (~48 hours later) suggest that there is/was a significant number of delays and a lot of upset people around. Everyone of them has unique issues like you do.
Good luck.
Focus on one thing, your story has a lot of complaints that are really out of anyone's hands. I would say focus on the inability of the supervisor to focus on your problems and try to solve them for you.
In the future, I highly recommend that you seek help where few others will be. For example the WorldClub or if you are an elite call on them to get help.
The fact that you are leaving tomorrow (~48 hours later) suggest that there is/was a significant number of delays and a lot of upset people around. Everyone of them has unique issues like you do.
Good luck.
Jun 30, 2005, 12:11 pm
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Posts: 5
Hmmm, interesting tidbits of NWA echelon--thanks!
Thank you for the information of NWA staff--certainly very enlightening. I appreciate you points and your comments--thank you!
ECB
ECB
Originally Posted by RichMSP
I'm very sorry to hear of the difficulty you experienced. As a longtime Platinum member and former employee with lots of "irregular operations" situations under my belt, I can certainly sympathize how an undoubtedly frustrating situation (weather-related creeping delay ultimately resulting in cancellation) would be compounded by your personal circumstances and lack of empathy on the part of NWA's staff. Sometimes with travel everything just falls into place flawlessly, while at other times all heck breaks loose. Just part of the game I guess. Hopefully your next experience (whether on NWA or another carrier) will be a better one.
From an objective standpoint, however, I just thought I'd point out a few things for better understanding of what happened:
While the weather situation may not have been apparent while sitting on the ground in LGA, I can assure you that the weather here in MSP was bad last night (severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings) and there were numerous delays and cancellations as a result. These were in addition to the weather problems along the east coast pointed out by another poster.
Customer Service Supervisors at NWA are awarded positions based on seniority, not performance, in accordance with their union contract. Therefore, the title simply means they are the most senior employee who is willing to put up the hassle of the position for a little more money per hour. I personally believe people in these positions should be the best at what they do and be selected by the Company; unfortunately, this is simply not the case at NWA. In fact, some of the best employees don't want to "put up with the crap" and therefore do not bid these positions. So although it's natural to expect a "supervisor" to provide better service, it's certainly not a given. Chock it up to another unfortunate side effect of union rules.
That said, from the sounds of it "Kim" was clearly not helpful and downright rude. Although I don't believe a letter to Doug Steenland is warranted under the circumstances (he has bigger problems to deal with right now, e.g. avoiding a bankruptcy filing), an e-mail to Customer Care via the nwa.com website may result in some additional miles and/or a voucher for future travel. Good luck and let us know how you make out.
From an objective standpoint, however, I just thought I'd point out a few things for better understanding of what happened:
While the weather situation may not have been apparent while sitting on the ground in LGA, I can assure you that the weather here in MSP was bad last night (severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings) and there were numerous delays and cancellations as a result. These were in addition to the weather problems along the east coast pointed out by another poster.
Customer Service Supervisors at NWA are awarded positions based on seniority, not performance, in accordance with their union contract. Therefore, the title simply means they are the most senior employee who is willing to put up the hassle of the position for a little more money per hour. I personally believe people in these positions should be the best at what they do and be selected by the Company; unfortunately, this is simply not the case at NWA. In fact, some of the best employees don't want to "put up with the crap" and therefore do not bid these positions. So although it's natural to expect a "supervisor" to provide better service, it's certainly not a given. Chock it up to another unfortunate side effect of union rules.
That said, from the sounds of it "Kim" was clearly not helpful and downright rude. Although I don't believe a letter to Doug Steenland is warranted under the circumstances (he has bigger problems to deal with right now, e.g. avoiding a bankruptcy filing), an e-mail to Customer Care via the nwa.com website may result in some additional miles and/or a voucher for future travel. Good luck and let us know how you make out.
Jun 30, 2005, 12:16 pm
#12
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: MSP (and will only fly NWA in re-routes if I HAVE to)
Programs: AA EXP (4.5MM), hotel programs as needed
Posts: 5,800
Better HURRY .. Bankruptcy looming
The attached article is most interesting.
Wonder if the execs go out of NY after the ShareHolders meetings .. or were stuck in the same problems the original poster was.
NW 'mulling' Bankruptcy
Since upper management is threatening to throw in the towel .. can you imagine what the employees feel like .. this news probably just hit them about the time of the storms and the cancellations. Certainly motivation to 'go to lunch' .. but certainly no frigging excuse!
Well, at least the article gives you the name of the current man to write to!
Wonder if the execs go out of NY after the ShareHolders meetings .. or were stuck in the same problems the original poster was.
NW 'mulling' Bankruptcy
Since upper management is threatening to throw in the towel .. can you imagine what the employees feel like .. this news probably just hit them about the time of the storms and the cancellations. Certainly motivation to 'go to lunch' .. but certainly no frigging excuse!
Well, at least the article gives you the name of the current man to write to!
Jun 30, 2005, 12:35 pm
#13
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Join Date: Dec 2004
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Gate assignments -- never assume that they are current. The first thing I always do when I arrive at an airport is find the flight on the monitors. If there appears to be a mismatch between monitors & gate, ask!
Two hours on the runway -- when air traffic is congested, planes are allocated "slots" in which they can land. If the weather is bad, the slots can be spaced farther apart, which causes flights to be delayed or cancelled. The fact the plane after you could take off indicates it wasn't local conditions but conditions at your destination that were causing the delay. If your flight had taken off, it might have had a high probability of being diverted (100% if no slot is available!). You won't stay at the gate in that situation because the gates are needed to allow incoming pax on other flights to disembark. nwa.com shows your flight as "Cancelled due to air traffic constraints." MSP received .25" of rain yesterday, not our worst day recently but certainly not our best.
On the other hand, had a diversion happened, it might have worked to your advantage since FAR is often where MSP flights are diverted, depending on whether or not they are able to let pax & luggage off at FAR.
I'd be incredulous if I were told they couldn't get me from LGA to MSP for 4 days. Delta (a NW/Skyteam partner) has 7 flights a day from LGA to ATL (plus some other possible routings), and there are many NW & DL flights daily from ATL to MSP. Many DL flights are also NW codeshares. Continental (another NW/Skyteam partner) appears to have 7 daily itineraries for LGA-MSP. If you're still stuck in LGA, you might see if DL or CO will honor the LGA-MSP portion sooner and then push NW to sign it over if NW won't arrange it directly.
Good luck!
Two hours on the runway -- when air traffic is congested, planes are allocated "slots" in which they can land. If the weather is bad, the slots can be spaced farther apart, which causes flights to be delayed or cancelled. The fact the plane after you could take off indicates it wasn't local conditions but conditions at your destination that were causing the delay. If your flight had taken off, it might have had a high probability of being diverted (100% if no slot is available!). You won't stay at the gate in that situation because the gates are needed to allow incoming pax on other flights to disembark. nwa.com shows your flight as "Cancelled due to air traffic constraints." MSP received .25" of rain yesterday, not our worst day recently but certainly not our best.
On the other hand, had a diversion happened, it might have worked to your advantage since FAR is often where MSP flights are diverted, depending on whether or not they are able to let pax & luggage off at FAR.
I'd be incredulous if I were told they couldn't get me from LGA to MSP for 4 days. Delta (a NW/Skyteam partner) has 7 flights a day from LGA to ATL (plus some other possible routings), and there are many NW & DL flights daily from ATL to MSP. Many DL flights are also NW codeshares. Continental (another NW/Skyteam partner) appears to have 7 daily itineraries for LGA-MSP. If you're still stuck in LGA, you might see if DL or CO will honor the LGA-MSP portion sooner and then push NW to sign it over if NW won't arrange it directly.
Good luck!
Jun 30, 2005, 3:25 pm
#14
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: CLT
Programs: NW, Marriott, Starwood
Posts: 237
Flying DTW to LGA for the past 8 weeks or so, I feel your pain waiting to take off out of there. Two weeks in a row, I was hit with 2+ hours in the plane waiting for the rain to come in and the rain to go away - both times there were 20-30 planes ahead of us in line and scattered all around. Luckily, one time we didn't have to wait for the planes ahead of us to take off - we got to go to the front of the line because our route was away from the storms - so you never really know about all of the in-route stuff that.
I'm always glad for a pilot who tells us the truth and sounds sympathic about it - even if it is bad news that we are waiting "indefinitly" (I usually suspect since the engines have been shut down).
Like others have said, I would send it via the talk to us feature on nwa.com - they have always responded pretty quickly to me when I've used it. Just make sure to focus on the customer service parts which is really all that they can control.
I hope you and your family get to FAR safely and the weather stays away (I'm flying out of there Jul 1 as well).
I'm always glad for a pilot who tells us the truth and sounds sympathic about it - even if it is bad news that we are waiting "indefinitly" (I usually suspect since the engines have been shut down).
Like others have said, I would send it via the talk to us feature on nwa.com - they have always responded pretty quickly to me when I've used it. Just make sure to focus on the customer service parts which is really all that they can control.
I hope you and your family get to FAR safely and the weather stays away (I'm flying out of there Jul 1 as well).
Jul 11, 2005, 2:07 pm
#15
Original Poster
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Follow-up!
HI there--
Thanks to all that prided me with advice and criticism. I emailed the NWA customer support team, and received an emailed apology from their support staff. They agreed to follow-up on my experience at LGA and have forwarded my complaints to the LGA customer service manager. In a show of good faith, they credited my FF account 2000 miles as well as another 2,000 miles to my wife's account. Chump change for them, to be sure, but nevertheless an offer to make it right by my family.
All for now,
~Eric
Thanks to all that prided me with advice and criticism. I emailed the NWA customer support team, and received an emailed apology from their support staff. They agreed to follow-up on my experience at LGA and have forwarded my complaints to the LGA customer service manager. In a show of good faith, they credited my FF account 2000 miles as well as another 2,000 miles to my wife's account. Chump change for them, to be sure, but nevertheless an offer to make it right by my family.
All for now,
~Eric
