I will never fly U.S. Airways again, if I have a choice. A competing airline’s ticket is going to have to be substantially more expensive for me to even consider U.S. Airways as an alternative.
This all started with a trip to Ithaca two months ago. There was a substantial weather system that move through the eastern seaboard area that screwed up traffic for a number of carriers. From my vantage point on the ground — watching the FAA’s National Airspace System Status Summary as well as various flight tracking services — everything seemed to be on time for a flight from Syracuse through Washington-Regan to Columbus. Washington-Regan was spared the brunt of the storm and was not having to de-ice aircraft, as I recall. Other major airports had closed various runways and were reducing traffic with ground-stop programs, but as the afternoon wore on the system was improving. The only abnormality was an odd message on the National Airspace System Status Summary was a message that the Philadelphia airport was closed to U.S. Airways traffic at the request of the airline due to “lack of ramp space.” The U.S. Airways website continued to show an on-time departure, so I figured the aircraft for my flight from Syracuse to Washington-Regan was coming from Washington-Regan or somewhere else that was not affected by the Philadelphia airline-requested ground stop. I headed to the Syracuse airport…
…where I found all hell had broken loose. In the 75 minutes it took me to drive from Ithaca to Syracuse, U.S. Airways canceled what looked to be all of their operations in the northeast. Based on past travel experience, I’ve found that it is often better to call the airline’s central toll-free number rather than wait in a customer service line at the airport. Wrong choice. U.S. Airways’ phone system had basically melted down. It took 23 dialing attempts just to get in the queue of people “waiting for the next available agent” and after 90 minutes on hold I hung up and got in line. The guy that got in line behind me said he held on the phone for five hours at his house before hanging up and driving to the airport, thinking that the service had to be better than that at the airport. Right?
Wrong. An hour and a half later plus two television reporters on a remote for the evening news talking about the long lines of customers in front of the U.S. Airways ticket counter at the Syracuse Airport, I finally got to the head of the line. The best the agent could offer was a flight 49 hours later. I asked about compensation based on the problems in Philadelphia. She said the problem was the FAA closing airports due to the weather. I told her about the message from the FAA’s status page about the problem only affecting U.S. Airways flights in Philadelphia. She told me she knew nothing about it, but that if I wasn’t on the flight 49 hours later that I could apply for a refund for the unused portion of the ticket.
So I rented a car and booked a hotel room for the night (neither of which U.S. Airways would pay for). After a good nights sleep I drove home and picked up my car from the airport parking lot 27 hours before any possibility that U.S. Airways could get me there.
In the middle of the following week, I submitted my request for a refund via some automated automated telephone system that no longer exists (800-363-2542 — it now gets routed to the “customer relations system” at 866-523-5333, but more on that in a minute). A week later I called a separate number (480-693-6735, as documented on the U.S. Airways Ticket Refund website) and keyed my ticket number into the automated system; it wasn’t found. So I faxed a copy of everything to the number suggested (800-892-3447). A week later I checked the automated system; nothing. So I sent a copy in the mail to the 4000 East Sky Harbor, Pheonix, AZ address. I just checked the automated system again; nothing.
So I’ve had it with the automated systems and I try to get someone on the line. I call the “Customer Relations” number (866-523-5333); option #2 is for ticket refunds and such. The recorded message tells me that to serve me better I should hang up and dial a 480-693-6735. Yes, if you’re keeping track, we’ve seen that number before. It is the automated check-the-status-of-your-request number. The voice prompts don’t give you a way to talk to a human, but after hitting enough garbage into the system you get routed to what the system claims to be is the queue of people waiting for the next available agent. I only spend 25 minutes on hold here before giving up — it’s my dime paying for the call, after all. Next I call the central number for U.S. Airways where an agent gives me all of the phone numbers I’ve already tried and says that is all she can do for me.
Here’s the real kicker — U.S. Airways is acting like it doesn’t care what you think. As a last resort, I call the “Customer Relations” number once more and pick option #3 — for a “complement or concern” — and after a few rings I am offered an apology for not being “personally available to take your call now…” (no queue of people on this option). Boy, it is a good thing I didn’t have a complement for the airline, right?
Now, I never expected it to be easy to get a refund for my ticket (it is, after all, money that they would want to keep for not doing any real work), but I do expect it to be possible. So, U.S. Airways, as your pilots say when we land, I do have an option in air carriers when I fly, and from now on I won’t be choosing U.S. Airways.
Update (20070601T0956): The New York Times has an article about the overbooking practice by airlines, focusing on U.S. Airways. A part: “Overbooking is one of many airline practices that are complicated by crowded planes. Airlines are running closer to capacity than at any point during the jet age — an expected 85 percent or so full this summer, which means all the seats on popular routes will be taken.”
(This post was updated on 01-Jun-2007.)
17 Comments
This exact same thing happened to me this past weekend. Well, sort of. It was a cancelled flight and even though my future husband and I had a confirmation #, ticket #, and seat #’s we were surprised that we were flying STANDBY for our entire trip. I ended up not taking any of my original flights and missing a day of work because USAIRWAYS are OVERBOOKING AND OVERSELLING their flights.
Plus, like you I have been given every number under the sun for USAir.
Here’s what I have:
866-523-5333 (message tells you to call Phoenix, because of the merger)
480-693-6735 (which tells you to call the 866#)
800-428-4322
800-363-2542
800-235-9292
800-428-4322
800-327-7810
I too will think very carefully before ever flying with this airline again.
My sympathies, J. Overselling and overbooking flights is par for the course in the airline industry. I can’t really fault them — they have huge simulations and vast amounts of data that they mine in an attempt to fill each and every seat on a flight. That does mean overbooking flights, but it is their choice and they should step up immediately to do the responsible thing when their computer programs guess wrong.
I have a similar story…going greece from america. They held the plane 20 min for 1 man at my originating location…put me and my group of 23 late for our next flight we arrived as the plane was departing (we were told it was being held for us). 4 hours later after every person that worked for usair had turned their badges around so we couldn’t see their names we had a plan to get over seas. this was going to get us in 20 hours later than we had planned & 4 hours before our cruise ship was going to leave. We missed tours, hotel accomidations and dinner that was already paid for. note that 15 minutes after seeing our flight was gone we had another route that could accomidate all 23 of us and we would get in 2 hours later than the original schedule…but that would mean usair had to give up our tickets to luftsana which they didn’t want to do. so we traveled 18 unnessesary hours. any so we board our over seas flight in pittsburg but it was delayed 4 hours b/c of rain. so we sat on the airplane and watched our luggage get soaked outside. why a usair person couldn’t put it in the plane I am not sure. so 3 days after we arrived in greece our clothes dried out. it was just one thing after another. then the customer service is worthless!! I give up on flying usair.
Sorry to hear of your story, Jonna. The more stories I hear, the luckier I feel that I was a simple rental car trip away from home.
I had a similar hell-scenario happen today. Here’s the rundown:
-Arrived at San Francisco International at 5:30am for a 7am flight to Philadelphia, which was to connect to Paris.
-Was told that our flight had been canceled –> no reason given (some people said mechanical, some said weather)
-I checked the weather for Philadelphia on my internet phone…it said it was “partly cloudy” in Philadelphia
-Waited in a line from 5:45am until 2pm. Only ONCE did a US Airways worker walk past the line, and all they said was “We’re sorry for the delay…we’re working on it”…No explanation as to why this was happening or what the solution was.
-Called the 1-800 number, got dropped about 5 times before getting through. I was told that the earliest flight would be 3 days later.
-FINALLY got to the counter and luckily the lady was actually able to get us on a flight the next day.
-I did hear horror stories about people who missed their flight one day, rescheduled, and then came to the airport the next day only to find that their names really weren’t on the list.
In short…I’M NEVER FLYING U.S. AIRWAYS AGAIN after this flight.
Same thing; cancelled flight; called for refund; same run around.
I booked a flight for my friend who came to visit from Africa. Keep in mind he’s only been in the country for 5days. It was pretty short timing so I got him on a US-Airways flight from Baltimore to PHL, then from there to CHicago. He was supposed to get here on friday night so we could attend a paid event on saturday. Well his flight from Philadelpia got cancelled because of some weather system in Boston … He was supposed to take off at 8:30pm friday night … we didn’t find out the flight was cancelled till 2:30amEST saturday morning. Then the whole standby run around. It’s 9:30 saturday morning and he’s already missed the first flight out (overbooked)…. so now we wait. Looks like money wasted to me … It gets very frustrating trying to get a definite answer from those rude customer service folks at US Airways… Please no matter where you’re going if US Airways becomes an option seriously think about driving .. I hate to say this but now I believe the greyhound bus will probably even get you there on time!!!
It happened to me too, but I have good news. My flight got canceled due to a storm, and immediately asked for a refund, but customer service was retarded. I called the number for refund, no person. I emailed, got a response saying that it would take up to 60 to 90 days for a refund. Before 90 days were up, I sent them a second email saying that I will contact the Better Business Bureau if they do not reply by the 90 days is up, they reply saying they would contact me within 30 days. I was like, screw that, they’re just playing with me. So a few days after the 90 days were up, I went online to the BBB and filed a complaint. (In a class, my professor read us an article how BBB can actually be useful to you, and how the author of the article got her money back through the BBB, so I had some hope)
About a week and a half later (today) I got a response from the BBB, saying that US Airways have responded. A woman from the corporate office responded saying that my money will be refunded in 7 to 10 days. In addition for compensation, I will get a $400 electronic travel voucher(!!!) I really didn’t see that coming, as I only asked for a refund of my ticket. While I am still skeptical about US Airways, I now can travel for free for Thanksgiving…which is really awesome for me since my boyfriend and I were not sure if we could travel for thanksgiving or not…we’re poor college kids.
Well my point is, try BBB to solve your miseries, it actually works and really it’s not a whole lot of work. It’s pretty easy.
It is uncanny how the experiences in this article and the bits and pieces of comments above recall to fine detail what my hisband and I just experienced on a flight from Ireland to DC (via Philly). Needless to say, we never flew our return leg from Philly to DC–we rented a car and the rest of the story is given above in the experiences already described by others — the numerous phone number/roundtrip dialing runaround, literally hours on hold, and clueless, demoralized US Airways staff, etc. One stewardess had the nerve to snap at a customer on our 3 hour delayed flight from Ireland (only the beginning as US Air never actually got us home) that she “was in the same boat.” It is clear that this company’s operating policy is to overbook significantly (by 20% according to the words of same stewardess, said freely on the plane for all passengers to hear); to cancel liberally; and to fail to refund the vast majority of customers for cancelled flights never taken. Better Business Bureau here I come…
my name is karen welles and i am a reporter at wpxi tv in pittsburgh, pa–i am looking for anyone who has called us airways only to be given a number to call that is actually a sex line. i can be reached at kwelles@wpxi.com
thanks!
US Airways is just awful. On August 9 I was supposed to be flying from O’hare to Philadelphia, all the flights for the evening were canceled, supposedly due to weather in the NE (though both my colleagues were able to get to NY laguardia just fine). So I waited in line for nearly two hours, only to have a US Airways rep announce that all those in line would not be able to fly out until Saturday (2 days away) on US Airways or any other airline.
Which was, of course, total BS. I left the line and found a flight the next day on United. Right this minute I’m trying to get a refund for the canceled US Airways flight, I’ve been transferred once and have now been on hold for about 30 minutes.
I can’t wait for US Airways to finally close shop, and allow another airline to take over their space in the Philadelphia airport. I could tell you other stories (for example, a ticket agent in Philadelphia dropped my husband’s drivers license behind the ticket counter, and told him that he could not reach it. When my husband understandably got upset, the supervisor told him that they couldn’t possibly have maintenance take apart that section of the counter, just for his driver’s license. But no worries, because they would make sure he would be able to get on his outgoing flight (how he would rent a car or fly home was out of their hands).
US Airways sucks. And I’m still on hold.
I bet you could get a great deal on a conestoga wagon and a team of
mules.What a generation of whine bags that you are!OMG!Quit
crying,dry your tears and be thankful that you have a microwave
that works or you’d face certain starvation.I don’t enjoy having my
life disrupted any more than you do,but save the boo,hoo cries for
things that really matter.
Wow, Ray — that was such a thoughtful and coherent response that I hardly know where to begin. Let’s start with the fact that I paid US Airways a reasonable sum of money to transport me and my belongings from point a to point b with care and speed. That’s their job. Failing that, reasonable accommodations should be offered with grace and humility. That’s good customer service. Failing that, refund that reasonable sum of money along with compensation for failing to meet their end of the transaction (a night’s hotel and a one-way car rental, in my case). That’s what a company that cares about its customers and its bottom line would do.
In the end, I did get a piece of the last of the three — a refund for the unused portion of the ticket. It took a great deal of persistence and patience though…more than I think is appropriate for the circumstances. As echoed here and elsewhere, many are in the same boat.
I think that Ray may have certain point about getting too used to
technology. There may be another blog for that conversation. I also
think that my ancestors got just as mad at ripoff artists along the
Conestoga trails. There historically are good and bad people and
organizations in the world. I think USAir may be inherently bad,
but more so, they are inherently inept and need to rethink their
entire approach to business. How can Southwest do so well,as USAir
flounders? I think that a lot of it has to do with applying humor
and candid truth to the operation. USAir lacks that, read my letter
to them: Dear ****, I hope you took my advice as friendly
information. Keep that resume polished up. I really think that
USAir is going down. Look, we don’t need lawyers to settle this. I
just want my money’s worth. So far all you have done for me is get
my son to his college orientation 18 hours late. No, this isn’t the
end of the world, but I had a payment for a $*** session for him
that he was very late for. So, you really owe me more. You need to
call me and clarify this offer, or I will be working with
MASTERCARD to reverse these charges before the day ends. Are you
saying that I have to pay you $100 because you cancelled a flight
with 5 minutes to go before boarding? There was never a plane
there. This is a scam. You know that the system cannot book the
number of passengers you have and you keep the proceeds. So, give
me a call at ***-***-****. We actually DO have connections with
U.S. Congressman on the Aviation Subcommittee of the House
Committee on Transportation. They actually were impacted by this
too and we are comparing notes on how you handle these
reimbursements. Look, there are real people on this end affected by
your airlines ineptitude. You cannot get away with this for long.
While the stock market has soared, USAir’s stock has dropped from
over $60 a share in Jan. ‘07 to less than $30 today. Perhaps if you
acted in a more responsible fashion to your customers this would
not be happening. You might even get a raise if you start calling,
what must be hundreds of, all the disgruntled customers that you
have out there and actually explain what went wrong and why. Then
you might get a customer base that begins to understand the limits
and complexities of your service and is able to plan around them.
For instance, if I had know that my son would likely not make his
appointment on Sept. 1, I may have had him fly the day before. That
way we all would be happy. Look, I think you have a moral
responsibility here….at least you PERSONALLY do. You will feel
better if you call me and clarify exactly how I can get my money
back or be sastified. I think you are Phoenix, so I will extend my
deadline to Friday morning before I called my Master Platinum
Service Center and get my money back. Thank you for you keen
attention to this email, me (I don’t really expect a
response….but I feel better)
US AIRWAYS is no bueno. Good luck getting a hold of anyone at their
“customer relations” number 1-866-523-5333. I called for 3 hours
and kept getting disconnected as they are personally unavailable to
answer your call and suggest you try your call again later. After
googling for a while I found a number ( on someones blog) where a
live person should be able to help you. I believe it is US Airways
corporate number- ( not toll free) 1-480-693-2341 they were able to
assist me there although I did not get the desired voucher amount
that we deserved for our troubles. I will not ever fly with US
Airways again. I value companies that value their customers- this
company could care less about helping people with the problems they
encountered while flying with them.
I got refunded. Here’s how: Call 480-693-6735, if your # isn’t
recognized, stay on the line. DON’T HANG UP. Press 0 to speak with
a representative. Give them your confirmation code and ticket
number. Explain your situation… They helped me out. They will
probably help you.
Glad to hear it worked out for you, Rachel. It has been most of a year since I had my bad run-in with U.S. Airways. With lots of choices out there, I’m still not inclined to buy transportation from them, but perhaps they have cleaned up their customer service area. I’ll keep your tip in mind should I ever need it…
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