Everything is a Fight These Days
Apr 9, 2007, 12:26 pm
#17
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 1
Another Bad Experience, too many "mechanical problems"
Flt 128 @ 3:40p out of Sacramento to Phoenix on April 02, 2007 AND Flt 369 @ 4:59p out of Phoenix to Sacramento on April 05, 2007
Traveling alone: meeting a friend, arriving from Newark New Jersey for a reunion vacation in Sedona. Ms Kuhn was traveling on Continental and due to arrive in Phoenix at 6:05p. We planned to pick up a rental car and drive 2 hrs to Sedona where we had reservations that evening at the Sedona Real Inn (non cancelable).
My experience with US Airway was nothing short of a nightmare:
I boarded Flt 128 on time after checking my bag. We pulled away from the gate and began taxiing on the runway. The plane reached a considerable ground speed, then slowed and aborted the take off. We returned to the gate and were told we had mechanical problems with the airspeed indicator. We waited over one hour, was told everything was in order and started our take off again. This attempt was also aborted for the same reason and we again returned to the gate. We were told to debark and make arraignments to transfer to another flight. I stood in line at the counter as directed and as I was about to be helped, was told all passengers not transferring in Phoenix must get out of line. I did, and then 20 minutes later was told return to the SAME line. I was now one hour back in this exact line. After one hour I was again one person from the counter and was told to run over to the plane about to depart for Phoenix and they would worry about checking us in later. This was now a 7:30p flt. I arrived in Phoenix and tried to find my bag. No one knew where it was. A very helpful women in the Phoenix baggage claim named Bunni finally located my luggage (along with all the other displaced passengers from this flt) and we were told it was on the 9:00pm Southwest Airline flt due to arrive at 11:45p. I waited for the bag as were now unable to drive to Sedona, had booked a hotel at our expense in Phoenix for this night and needed to get to Sedona before 11am the next day, Tuesday April 03, as we had a tour booked and paid for. We could not get a refund for our Sedona hotel for Monday night and the cost of $202 was a loss. We paid $110 for the hotel we used in Phoenix.
Returning on flt 369 on Thursday April 05 I did not check my bag. I boarded on time and then waited 45 minutes at the gate for MECHANICAL problems. I could not believe this was again happening. The pilot described it as a minor fuel line issue and a missing ashtray! We were finally cleared to taxi and the #3 engine began to make a horrendous noise. We were once again told by the pilot we had a problem with the air intake valve and needed to wait at the gate for repairs. Again, I had a 2 hour drive awaiting me in Sacramento to reach my home in Chico, Ca (85 mile away). I was originally due to land at 6:53p allowing plenty of time to drive home rested.
I approached the flight attendants and told them my dilemma and asked about getting on another flight. An extremely rude and disdainful ticket agent named Tracci told me I could get off the plane, but not back on, didn't know if I could get the next flight at 7:33p (which was actually delayed and didn't leave until 8:33pm) and US Airway did not have an agreement with Southwest (not true) and I could not check into their flights. They then told the entire plane to debark and they would let us know when and IF we would take off. I then learned there were 10 open seats on the next flight out and decided not to take a chance the 369 flight would be repaired. By this time I had lost complete confidence in the soundness of the airplane and the organization. I did book the flight and finally left Phoenix at 8:33pm. I arrived in Sacramento after 10pm and began a long and tired drive getting me home after 12:30am. What should have take 1 hr and 48minutes each way turned into hours and hours and I actually ended up taking longer to get to my destinations than did my friend traveling from Newark New Jersey both ways on Continental.
I have never flown this airline before and had recently booked tickets for my family to Maui Hawaii out of San Francisco in July with them. I am dreading the flight and will most likely avoid this airline at all cost in the future. I believe it is the unsettlingly high number of mechanical problems and the poor customer service shown by almost every US Air ticket agent involved in my dilemma and those I observed after hours of sitting and waiting in the airports that convinced me they have a serious corporate problem.
Traveling alone: meeting a friend, arriving from Newark New Jersey for a reunion vacation in Sedona. Ms Kuhn was traveling on Continental and due to arrive in Phoenix at 6:05p. We planned to pick up a rental car and drive 2 hrs to Sedona where we had reservations that evening at the Sedona Real Inn (non cancelable).
My experience with US Airway was nothing short of a nightmare:
I boarded Flt 128 on time after checking my bag. We pulled away from the gate and began taxiing on the runway. The plane reached a considerable ground speed, then slowed and aborted the take off. We returned to the gate and were told we had mechanical problems with the airspeed indicator. We waited over one hour, was told everything was in order and started our take off again. This attempt was also aborted for the same reason and we again returned to the gate. We were told to debark and make arraignments to transfer to another flight. I stood in line at the counter as directed and as I was about to be helped, was told all passengers not transferring in Phoenix must get out of line. I did, and then 20 minutes later was told return to the SAME line. I was now one hour back in this exact line. After one hour I was again one person from the counter and was told to run over to the plane about to depart for Phoenix and they would worry about checking us in later. This was now a 7:30p flt. I arrived in Phoenix and tried to find my bag. No one knew where it was. A very helpful women in the Phoenix baggage claim named Bunni finally located my luggage (along with all the other displaced passengers from this flt) and we were told it was on the 9:00pm Southwest Airline flt due to arrive at 11:45p. I waited for the bag as were now unable to drive to Sedona, had booked a hotel at our expense in Phoenix for this night and needed to get to Sedona before 11am the next day, Tuesday April 03, as we had a tour booked and paid for. We could not get a refund for our Sedona hotel for Monday night and the cost of $202 was a loss. We paid $110 for the hotel we used in Phoenix.
Returning on flt 369 on Thursday April 05 I did not check my bag. I boarded on time and then waited 45 minutes at the gate for MECHANICAL problems. I could not believe this was again happening. The pilot described it as a minor fuel line issue and a missing ashtray! We were finally cleared to taxi and the #3 engine began to make a horrendous noise. We were once again told by the pilot we had a problem with the air intake valve and needed to wait at the gate for repairs. Again, I had a 2 hour drive awaiting me in Sacramento to reach my home in Chico, Ca (85 mile away). I was originally due to land at 6:53p allowing plenty of time to drive home rested.
I approached the flight attendants and told them my dilemma and asked about getting on another flight. An extremely rude and disdainful ticket agent named Tracci told me I could get off the plane, but not back on, didn't know if I could get the next flight at 7:33p (which was actually delayed and didn't leave until 8:33pm) and US Airway did not have an agreement with Southwest (not true) and I could not check into their flights. They then told the entire plane to debark and they would let us know when and IF we would take off. I then learned there were 10 open seats on the next flight out and decided not to take a chance the 369 flight would be repaired. By this time I had lost complete confidence in the soundness of the airplane and the organization. I did book the flight and finally left Phoenix at 8:33pm. I arrived in Sacramento after 10pm and began a long and tired drive getting me home after 12:30am. What should have take 1 hr and 48minutes each way turned into hours and hours and I actually ended up taking longer to get to my destinations than did my friend traveling from Newark New Jersey both ways on Continental.
I have never flown this airline before and had recently booked tickets for my family to Maui Hawaii out of San Francisco in July with them. I am dreading the flight and will most likely avoid this airline at all cost in the future. I believe it is the unsettlingly high number of mechanical problems and the poor customer service shown by almost every US Air ticket agent involved in my dilemma and those I observed after hours of sitting and waiting in the airports that convinced me they have a serious corporate problem.
Apr 9, 2007, 3:46 pm
#18
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: High Point, NC
Programs: None
Posts: 9,171
Michelle,
While mechanical problems do unfortunately occur, it sounds like you experienced more than your fair share. You can attempt to email customer relations, either through the form available on the website or directly at [email protected]. That may get you only a canned response and possibly a relatively small travel voucher, though - the US contract of carriage explicitly denies liability for accommodations at the points of origin and destination.
If you'd like to go higher up the chain of command, you could email [email protected]. To insure that your email gets the attention it deserves, you could indicate that a copy is going to the DOT consumer protection division - their email address is [email protected] and the web page that lists the information they'd like is here.
If you do choose to send your complaint to US, I'd make two suggestions:
- US operates no airplanes with more than 2 engines, so you might correct (or omit) that part about "the #3 engine began to make a horrendous noise".
- To the best of my knowledge, US has no interline agreement with Southwest, so the agent wouldn't have been able to rebook you on one of their flights without actually purchasing you a ticket.
At any rate, I'm sorry your experience wasn't more pleasant. Believe it or not, US usually does offer better service than you received (although many who have flown the eastern 2/3 of the US system over the last month with the reservation system consolidation and winter storms might disagree).
Here's hoping that your Hawaiian trip is less "eventful".
Jim
While mechanical problems do unfortunately occur, it sounds like you experienced more than your fair share. You can attempt to email customer relations, either through the form available on the website or directly at [email protected]. That may get you only a canned response and possibly a relatively small travel voucher, though - the US contract of carriage explicitly denies liability for accommodations at the points of origin and destination.
If you'd like to go higher up the chain of command, you could email [email protected]. To insure that your email gets the attention it deserves, you could indicate that a copy is going to the DOT consumer protection division - their email address is [email protected] and the web page that lists the information they'd like is here.
If you do choose to send your complaint to US, I'd make two suggestions:
- US operates no airplanes with more than 2 engines, so you might correct (or omit) that part about "the #3 engine began to make a horrendous noise".
- To the best of my knowledge, US has no interline agreement with Southwest, so the agent wouldn't have been able to rebook you on one of their flights without actually purchasing you a ticket.
At any rate, I'm sorry your experience wasn't more pleasant. Believe it or not, US usually does offer better service than you received (although many who have flown the eastern 2/3 of the US system over the last month with the reservation system consolidation and winter storms might disagree).
Here's hoping that your Hawaiian trip is less "eventful".
Jim
Apr 9, 2007, 4:27 pm
#19
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Pittsburgh
Programs: Whoever Has the Best Bonus
Posts: 5,183
Wow. Sounds like my experience with the Dividend Miles Service Center. Positively confrontational when asked to speak to a supervisor, and in my case they would not allow me to speak to one -- period. Faxed over to Customer Relations two weeks ago and no response (which is not too bad, but I did follow up to at least see if they got the fax). Tried to call the refund desk three times and each time was on hold for over an hour (on a long distance #) before I gave up.
I'm still fighting my good fight too, so best luck my comrade-in-arms
I'm still fighting my good fight too, so best luck my comrade-in-arms
Apr 9, 2007, 4:56 pm
#20
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: From: PWM
Programs: United GS, Fairmont Platinum,SPG LTPlat, Hilton Diamond, MarriottGold..like the rest of the world
Posts: 4,401
I'm curious why you state that. It sounds as if you heard from some source later (or decided on your own) that US does have interline arrangements with WN. Just wondering why you state as boldly as you do that is not the case.
At any rate, in a strong general sense, US does not have any interlining agreements with WN. I am familiar with precious few instances where US has purchased a WN ticket, but they are exceptionally few and far between. I know of pax here in Maine who've been interlined over to B6 (JetBlue) in extreme cases, as well, and -- to the best of my knowledge -- there are no interline agreements there either. (Although, I wouldn't lay my life on the line for that statement.)
Sorry you had such a rough go of things. BoeingBoy offers exceptional advice above. You really should take the time to carefully document your experiences and get them into the right hands at US. This is what, we hope, will eventually begin to cause real change to occur here.
Apr 9, 2007, 7:26 pm
#21
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: 42mi from AMS
Programs: UA 1K 1MM, Marriott LT Au, Hilton C, IHG PtA
Posts: 576
I'm hearing some FF's talking about also selecting flights based on the known behaviour in the face of mishaps with flights...