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The complete text of the letter I have just mailed to Ms. Deborah Thompson, Manging Director, Corporate and Consumer Affairs, US Airways:
I have just had the most miserable and frustrating travel experience with your airline, and wanted to inform you of just how poorly your airline and your front line personnel have performed.
On Sunday, June 26th I was booked on an 8:40am flight from Seattle to Orlando along with my mother. The originally scheduled itinerary had us flying in three legs from Seattle to Chicago to Charlotte and finally to Orlando. Upon arriving at the Seattle airport on Sunday morning, and after standing in line for nearly an hour, we were finally informed that the 8:40am flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems on the airplane. As we were waiting in line, the people in front of us told us that they had originally been booked on the Saturday flight, but that it had been cancelled as well due to mechanical problems. The first leg of our flight was operated by United, but because I had booked entirely with a US Airways code your employees were able to re-book me instead of making me wait through the lengthy line at United.
Your employees were not able to book us on another flight out of Seattle on Sunday, so we were forced to stay another night in Seattle and were told we had been booked on the Monday morning flight, #0782 to Philadelphia connecting to flight #0197 to Orlando.
On Monday morning we arrived at the airport to check in, and discovered that the person who had re-booked us the day before had booked us on a Tuesday flight instead of a Monday flight. Fortunately that employee was there and remembered me, and she admitted that she had in fact said that we would be on the Monday flight, and that she had entered the wrong code when re-booking us. After a lengthy wait, she finally booked us on the Monday flight, and was even kind enough to upgrade us to first class for the first leg of our trip. Had that been the end of our problems I would have been very satisfied with US Airways. Unfortunately, our experience with flight #0197 from Philadelphia to Orlando completely destroyed whatever goodwill your airline had earned.
The flight was scheduled to board at 4:30, and it was not until 4:45 before any announcement was made that there was a delay. We were told that there was a minor mechanical problem with the airplane, that maintenance was fixing it, and that there would be a thirty minute delay. Five minutes later they announced that the problem was fixed, and they proceeded with having us board the airplane. Shortly after everyone was on board and seated, the captain made a brief announcement that there had been a minor problem with the door, that it was fixed, and they were just waiting for maintenance to sign off on it. Nearly thirty minutes later, the captain again announced that they were still waiting, and that it shouldn’t be much longer. After more than an hour of sitting on the plane at the gate, the captain announced that we would all have to get off and that another plane would be there for us at 6:45 (at that point it was around 6:15). Once we were all back in the gate waiting area, the gate crew disappeared. 6:45 came and went with no announcement, and the apparently broken airplane continued to sit at the gate. The posted new departure time of 7:10 was not updated, even as 7:00 came and went. When some gate employees finally appeared, they would not tell us anything about what was happening, and would not even admit that the departure time was not going to be 7:10 despite the fact that it was then 7:05 and the old plane was still sitting at the gate. Nobody was speaking to us, giving us any kind of update.
I would point you to your online customer commitment statement, where you affirm:
“We commit to provide you with the most current information available to us regarding delays, cancellations or diversions regularly via announcements in the gate area and/or flight information displays in the airport or via announcements onboard the aircraft. “
This did not happen in any way, shape or form. There were no public announcements whatsoever during the first hour and twenty minutes that we waited at the gate, despite an earlier commitment that a replacement plane would be there much sooner than that.
Ultimately a replacement plane finally arrived, and we boarded the airplane at about ten minutes to 8, more than three hours late. Because of your poor maintenance I incurred the cost of an additional night’s stay in Seattle and I also missed a full day of work in Orlando. At no point was I offered anything besides insincere apologies and outright lies. The captain of the airplane made an announcement in which he asserted that maintenance problems like this were rare, and yet I had encountered three broken and un-flyable airplanes during the course of my return trip. I encountered employees who were blatantly dishonest about the status of the flight, and who took to hiding completely rather than being available to answer questions and give updates. I travel on business 5-6 times per year, and this was easily the worst experience I have had with a flight in years.
I have just had the most miserable and frustrating travel experience with your airline, and wanted to inform you of just how poorly your airline and your front line personnel have performed.
On Sunday, June 26th I was booked on an 8:40am flight from Seattle to Orlando along with my mother. The originally scheduled itinerary had us flying in three legs from Seattle to Chicago to Charlotte and finally to Orlando. Upon arriving at the Seattle airport on Sunday morning, and after standing in line for nearly an hour, we were finally informed that the 8:40am flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems on the airplane. As we were waiting in line, the people in front of us told us that they had originally been booked on the Saturday flight, but that it had been cancelled as well due to mechanical problems. The first leg of our flight was operated by United, but because I had booked entirely with a US Airways code your employees were able to re-book me instead of making me wait through the lengthy line at United.
Your employees were not able to book us on another flight out of Seattle on Sunday, so we were forced to stay another night in Seattle and were told we had been booked on the Monday morning flight, #0782 to Philadelphia connecting to flight #0197 to Orlando.
On Monday morning we arrived at the airport to check in, and discovered that the person who had re-booked us the day before had booked us on a Tuesday flight instead of a Monday flight. Fortunately that employee was there and remembered me, and she admitted that she had in fact said that we would be on the Monday flight, and that she had entered the wrong code when re-booking us. After a lengthy wait, she finally booked us on the Monday flight, and was even kind enough to upgrade us to first class for the first leg of our trip. Had that been the end of our problems I would have been very satisfied with US Airways. Unfortunately, our experience with flight #0197 from Philadelphia to Orlando completely destroyed whatever goodwill your airline had earned.
The flight was scheduled to board at 4:30, and it was not until 4:45 before any announcement was made that there was a delay. We were told that there was a minor mechanical problem with the airplane, that maintenance was fixing it, and that there would be a thirty minute delay. Five minutes later they announced that the problem was fixed, and they proceeded with having us board the airplane. Shortly after everyone was on board and seated, the captain made a brief announcement that there had been a minor problem with the door, that it was fixed, and they were just waiting for maintenance to sign off on it. Nearly thirty minutes later, the captain again announced that they were still waiting, and that it shouldn’t be much longer. After more than an hour of sitting on the plane at the gate, the captain announced that we would all have to get off and that another plane would be there for us at 6:45 (at that point it was around 6:15). Once we were all back in the gate waiting area, the gate crew disappeared. 6:45 came and went with no announcement, and the apparently broken airplane continued to sit at the gate. The posted new departure time of 7:10 was not updated, even as 7:00 came and went. When some gate employees finally appeared, they would not tell us anything about what was happening, and would not even admit that the departure time was not going to be 7:10 despite the fact that it was then 7:05 and the old plane was still sitting at the gate. Nobody was speaking to us, giving us any kind of update.
I would point you to your online customer commitment statement, where you affirm:
“We commit to provide you with the most current information available to us regarding delays, cancellations or diversions regularly via announcements in the gate area and/or flight information displays in the airport or via announcements onboard the aircraft. “
This did not happen in any way, shape or form. There were no public announcements whatsoever during the first hour and twenty minutes that we waited at the gate, despite an earlier commitment that a replacement plane would be there much sooner than that.
Ultimately a replacement plane finally arrived, and we boarded the airplane at about ten minutes to 8, more than three hours late. Because of your poor maintenance I incurred the cost of an additional night’s stay in Seattle and I also missed a full day of work in Orlando. At no point was I offered anything besides insincere apologies and outright lies. The captain of the airplane made an announcement in which he asserted that maintenance problems like this were rare, and yet I had encountered three broken and un-flyable airplanes during the course of my return trip. I encountered employees who were blatantly dishonest about the status of the flight, and who took to hiding completely rather than being available to answer questions and give updates. I travel on business 5-6 times per year, and this was easily the worst experience I have had with a flight in years.
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I can only imagine the level of frustration you experienced.
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