This is the complaint letter I wrote to US Airways today. Like they even give a damn.
To whom it may concern:
My husband and I were booked to fly US Airways on our way home from our honeymoon this past weekend, and I now have the unfortunate responsibility of reporting our absolutely terrible experience and the extremely off-putting ‘customer service’ we received on our latest flight. I will not be naming names as I understand that these things happen and are sometimes out of one’s own control, but this situation needs to be addressed by your company.
We were scheduled to fly from Lihue to Phoenix on US Airways Flight Number 47, at 10 p.m. on Sunday September 4
th. We double-checked the flight status that afternoon and got to the check-in counter at the airport 7 p.m.
after checking out of our resort and returning our rental car - only to find out from the desk agent that our flight that night had been cancelled. We had not been notified and had been standing in line for at least twenty minutes without any notification at the airport or by a US Airways agent. We therefore had absolutely no time to make alternative plans. We were offered another flight on Tuesday night, 48 hours later than our original return date. That would not do.
The counter attendants were unapologetic, as was the agent I immediately called on the phone, and entirely unenthusiastic, showing no initiative in helping us to find other arrangements. The desk agent told us we had to phone the customer service line, the customer service agent on the phone told us we had to get help from someone at the desk. Finally after much persuading, and confiding to the agent that I would probably lose my job if I did not get a flight that would get me back to the mainland by Tuesday, she found a Hawaiian Air flight out of Lihue at 9 p.m. Unfortunately, it took her until 8:45 (
almost two hours on the phone with her) to find that flight and it had closed by that time. This was actually a blessing in disguise because we would have found ourselves stranded again - she had booked us on a return to Vancouver, when our final destination was supposed to be Calgary. We then had to call back and talk to another agent.
We were informed there was nothing that could be done. Apparently, according to the US agent, no airline had any flights out of Lihue, or Honolulu, or any of the other islands we could transfer to or from for at least 24 hours. As you can imagine I found this quite hard to believe. However, it was late and we were tired. We booked Flight # 47 for the following evening and were told we would be put up by the Marriot for the night and handed $5 meal vouchers.
I am not sure where the good folks at US Airways eat their meals, but five dollars will not get you a bottle of water in Kauai. Especially not at the Marriot. When I explained that we were newlyweds and did not have the money it would cost to stay for another 24 hours, at least, on the island and that five dollars is a coffee not a meal, again they shook their heads unapologetically and said that there was nothing they could do to help us out.
On the flight the following night, we were a bunch of haggard travelers sandwiched on to an old jalopy of a flight, I think this airplane was around before I was. We were all jammed on to a trans-oceanic flight without even room for our luggage much less our knees. We were still charged for baggage. The desk agent was belligerent and asked if we had paid for our baggage yesterday before our flight was cancelled. Of course we said no and were informed in a tone that we were still expected to pay the extra fees. We received beverage service once in six hours and garbage pick-up only at the end of the trip and there was no in-flight entertainment. The flight attendants were rude and snappy. Upon our exiting the plane she said and I quote, "Have a nice day… Or not..." Completely unacceptable. However, at this point I just wanted off the plane.
We stopped at the US Airways customer service desk in the terminal between transfers, bedraggled and weary, to ask for a band-aid. We could over-hear the agent there was obviously having a personal phone conversation and did not even put the phone down to answer us. She simply said no and continued on with her conversation.
At each turn, your staff showed no initiative, no accountability, no desire to provide adequate or even acceptable customer service, and no attempt to make it right. Myself, my husband, and our families are frequent travelers and we often choose US Airways. I hope that my concerns are taken into consideration and we are able to find some resolution to these issues. In these hard times one would think that a company would understand the value of retaining loyal customers.
Sincerely,
*Lethal Lizzie*
P.S. Out of your list of options on your complaint form (ex. desk agents, phone agents, amenities, baggage, canceled flight, flight attendants, international travel) I had to select "Other/ Miscellaneous" since you did not have an "All of the Above" option.
