SaveDelta

So here is my tale.

On Tuesday, I was flying ATL-PHL-LAX. In ATL, we left the gate on time, but after being on the runway for a while, the pilot moved to a remote part of the taxi-way and the captain told us that PHL had a ground delay and we would be another hour before we took off. I pulled out the phone and called the Chairmans line, and she confirmed us on the next flight from PHL to LAX since we would miss our original connection if the flight was indeed delayed an hour.

About 2 minutes later, the captain said fasten seatbelts and we were leaving right then. Away we went. Got to PHL on time and made the original flight. I went to the gate agent in PHL, and let her know we were there and let her know the situation. She said we were good to go and she would take care of it.

So, this morning when I went to print the boarding passes for LAX to PHL red-eye tonight and it wouldn't let me print and I noticed my seat assignments were gone. So, another call to the Chairmans line. I guess the gate agent didn't cancel us on the back-up flight last night so it showed us as a no-show and somehow put us back on the original flight, but gave away our seats in F.

So, I hate coach on transcon flights. The agent rebooked us for tomorrow confirmed through in F using LAX-PHX-ATL. She did this at not cost to me.

My issue is, I lose a day. Yet I remind myself we could have flown in coach tonight and gotten home, and we were indeed on coach fare. So, it seems they remedied the situation the best they could. I don't feel it would have been right to boot the people that were in our original upgraded seats.

I am happy that the Chairmans line did the best they could, but annoyed that the gate agent caused the issue. I am spending $$ on the hotel for tonight.

Normally I would just roll with it, but in this case, the gate agent in PHL is the culprit that caused the issue. Yet, they could have kept me on the original flight in Y.

I don't know...I am annoyed, yet realize US was going to be able to fullfill my original ticket without the upgrades.

I am just driving myself nuts for no reason?

flight62

Well let me get it out of the way before someone jumps to it. Write the DOT!
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Sparrow_Hawk

To the OP,

This is another shining example of how US Airways terminal cheapness ruins the customer experience.

First you have the "Cheaper" SHARES solution for reservations and the way it works is, if the G/A doesn't go in and "Fix" the reservation what you described will happen EVERYTIME!

Second, I can almost guarantee the G/A in PHL was relatively new and likely did not know how to perform the task at hand. Trust me I've seen it happen. $8.72/hr only buys but so much talent. If it was an older agent they likely just forgot due to the pressure from Management to push on time.

Couple that with minimal training, SHARES and it's well documented flaws and the way staff is managed in the hubs and it's no wonder they have problems.

What you have to remember at the new US Airways the Customer Experience comes LAST!

me4yankees

Exactly right.

And there will be more experiences like these as long as this culture of "customers last" continues.

uva185

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9630/4.7.1.40 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

To be fair at least the CP Desk seems to have a customer first mind set. Getting downgraded for whatever reason sucks but it seems they remedied the situation the best they could.

I had a PHL related delay 2 weeks ago that caused me to misconnect to the last flight of the night. The customer service had no problem rebooking me exactly as I asked including all segments confirmed in F and a date change so I wouldn't lose any vacation time. I was quite pleased. ^

kudzu

She forgot. Plain and simple. As someone getting on in years, I completely understand

As in life, I check again when someone says, "I'll do it" - if it's important enough and there's a possibility of error/omission. Here, with the CP Desk open 24/7, I probably would have called again after making the original flight to make sure all was well...but that's just me.

MikeLaw

You have a distinctive writing style.

I don't think this can be blamed on SHARES. I had the same experience years ago in SABRE. When you hold multiple reservations during irrops, it is easy for an agent to miss cleaning up all your segments and have you appear as a no-show and drop your reservation. Sometimes they think they have cleaned it up only to discover that they didn't get it all.

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I think they did relatively well from a customer service perspective here. Obviously they should not have let the return drop, but stuff happens. Their remedial actions seem perfectly appropriate. They can't well eject someone from their valid first class seat assignment, so the choice is coach on the scheduled flight or first class the next day. That seems like a reasonable solution to me.

I suppose you could write and complain and get a voucher or miles as a good will gesture, but I personally wouldn't bother. I'd save my letter for a time when the corrective action was inadequate. Maybe that is why I still fly US, I'm more tolerant than most of y'all.

techsman

The part that bothers me is in the very beginning of the story. More than likely, they new there would be a ground delay, but they still pull away from the gate to keep their statistics up. When that happens, it reduces your chances to react to possibly missing a connection.

SaveDelta

Let me clarify, I am thrilled with how the CP desk handled the situation. I don't fault them for any of it.

My annoyance comes from the gate agent (who was relatively young - so age/memory doesn't count ) not handling it right then since there was no other customers at the desk. I am also annoyed that they system didn't recognize I was on the original flight.

So...it was handled well after the fact....but in my estimation it could have all been prevented.

It doesn't sway me, I will keep flying US and be happy about it.

Every airline has bad days and mistakes, and overall US Airways a great job of keeping me happy!!

formeraa

+1000!

I was going to say that it has nothing to do with SHARES (it's happened to me in SABRE as well), it has nothing to do with some corporate policy, it has nothing to do with agent pay. It has everything to do with an agent who made an ACCIDENTAL mistake.

It sounds to me like the Chairman's desk did the right thing and did their best to fix the error. It is also a WARNING to FT'ers: when IRREG ops happens, definitely call the airline and make sure that the reservation is intact.

The last time I had an irreg ops situation, a similar thing happened. However, I realized that something was wrong. Since I had a 2.5 hour connection, I went to the customer service counter. Sure enough, the return reservation had been accidentally cancelled. After a long wait, the agent was able to reinstate it for me.

USPhilly

Welcome to FT techsman.

This is one of those things with airline travel that always causes some pretty heated complaints and occasionally the horror stories that are seen CNN. However, IMO, this is one of those no-win situations. If the pilot keeps the plane at the gate, everyone is guaranteed to be arriving at least an hour late and possibly misconnect. However, if the pilot pushes back and waits, hoping a spot opens open like happened in this case, and it doesn't open, then the pilot should have stayed at the gate.

SaveDelta

Well, I decided to send an email to the CP desk this morning. I wasn't vindictive or even angry in the email. I just requested that the original routing mileage be credited. I will let you all know what I get back from them.

SaveDelta

I got the below response on mileage credit:


"Mr. SaveDelta,

Thank you for contacting US Airways.

We have posted mileage for your flight from LAX-PHL-ATL, as a one time exception. Your bonus miles will be posted within 24 hours.

We appreciate your continued patronage of US Airways.

US Airways

kudzu

One time exception or not, you got what you asked for ^

Thanks for the update.