An open letter to Doug Parker CEO US Airways

Dear Doug,

I am the CEO of SMLXL Ltd or Small Medium Large Xtralarge. Co-Author of Communities Dominate Brands and Executive Director of Masthead.

I just wanted to let you know that I am speaking at MIT's Comparative Media Studies Program TODAY

Now as a CEO and when presenting myself to a public audience like you Doug, I like to wear a suit.

So its a real shame that US Airways lost my bags, on an internal flight from Louisville to Boston via a Philly.

Your baggage desk told me my bags would be on the next flight from Philly to Boston, and delivered at the Hotel. As yet Doug nothing has arrived?

So would you be happy as a CEO to stand up in front of your peers in a dirty shirt, jeans, underwear, unshaven?

I can answer that one for you Doug, you would not. You would be really pissed off, and would be looking to give some one a good talking to for screwing up.

In this instance Doug that person is you, that I look to to take responsibility.

I have been misinformed, and your staff, well lets say Companies are from Mars and Customers are from Venus. Venus wants something that Mars can’t give her: tangible support in leading the life she chooses. She wants to be free from the time consuming stress, rage, injustice, and personal defeat that accompany so many of her commercial exchanges.

Doug, that is just how I feel right now

I want compensation, for the aggrevation, my missed medication and my suit, which I can tell you is expensive.

Perhaps you would like to get in touch and let me know how you plan to solve this for me?

I am also staying at the Hotel@MIT Double Tree Inn. 20 Sidney Street. Cambridge. MA

Alan Moore
CEO

alanm (AT) smlxtralarge (DOT) com

Comments

[David Cushman]

Nice one Alan - have you sent him a link?

[Dimitar Vesselinov]

Alan, I see a big business opportunity: rent a suit/dress all over the world!

[Alan moore]

Thanks Vlad

That made me smile "-)

[Kirsti Thomas]

Nice letter. I was in a similar situation recently. Found out that US Airways has the worst loss-rate of any major carrier and that their Philly operation's loss rate is 4 times that of the airline's as a whole. I put up a website with my story (and info on US Air's track record) at www.usairwayslostmycostume.com

[Alan moore]

Thanks Kirsti for stopping by

I have read your story with great interest. Your research is comprehensive.

I wish I could say "I am glad I am not the only one," but the truth is that would be truly ironic.

Alan Moore

[Charlene Sperduto]

Alan,

I commend you for speaking up about this issue. USAirways expects it's customers to follow there rules and regulations to be on time, amount of luggage to carry on, limited bev/food service flights, etc.

What about our rules and regulations we ( customer ) expect the Airlines to follow?

I would love to make a civil law suit against this company and heed warning to other airlines for such bad treatment and disrespect to it's customer. Any thoughts?

My experience with USAirways was similiar to yours, however, it's been 12 days now and I still do not have my luggage since March 11, 2007. I traveled from Erie, Pa to St. Maarten on March 02, 2007 Via Philadelphia. Philly delayed our flight from landing and we missed our 9:30 a.m connection to SXM by 20 minutes. Now we had to incure a hotel fee since USAirways could not get us to our final destination until the next morning!. We had no luggage that evening also. I felt sorry for the passenger's around me the following day. Once we arrived in SXM, come to find out our luggage made it on the flight the day before without it's passengers!!! Is this a NEW standard of Home Land Security???

On the return flights from SXM to Phl, onto ERI was Horrific. USAirways systems were down and we stood in line to check in for 4 hours, then we had handwritten boarding passes and luggage tickets to make our flight to Phl. This Aircraft of USAirways flight 1309 had NO IDEA who it's passenger's were, nor any type of seating assignments. If there was a tragedy, No Passenger's families could have been called, nor would any of us be identified as confirmed passengers on this flight. Another Home Land Security standard???
Since the flight was 2 hours late, and trying to get through Customs in PHL was USAirways Encore!
No Luggage was sent from SXM. We continued to try and make our flight to Erie. We had 20 minutes to connect, and USAirways systems were down and could not print a boarding pass. They told us to try to just go through customs without one!!!! And continued to explain USAirways doesn't care about its customer's and neither did she!! ( Usairways employee ). I was flabbergasted.. Once we tried to get through customs, that wasn't going to happen without a boarding pass. Customs sent us to an EXIT door outside of PHL terminal without checking our carry on luggage to boot??? ( That Home Land Sec. thing again!!) to catch an employee bus to our F Terminal to catch our plane. Once we got to our F terminal the USAirways counter still couldn't print us a boarding pass and said we had to stay another night in PHL and fly to Erie the Next Day!!! Miss one day vacation on 03/02/07, then miss a day of work on 03/12/07..NO WAY. They were of no help for vouchers, ground transportation, or a cup of Java!! I requested a flight to Buffalo, NY to get within 1 hour of my residence, and asked for them to pay a one way rental for me to get me home by 2:30 a.m. They wrote up a ground transportaion voucher, but did not include any denomination amount and the rental car agency would not accept this!! How convenient for USAirways AGAIN! We incured another fee that night to get home.

Now it's been 12 days and no luggage. Numerous calls to the Central Baggage Claim area, and Online tracking daily. I am still faxing my request for vouchers, baggage, and compensation daily, but no responses!! Not even a email to confirm they received my email or fax.

I just got a call from a Freight Co. in Montreal, Canada and said they have no idea why they have my luggage in CARGO?? Asked for assistance from me, and have a USAirways rep. to give the ok to mail my luggage to me!. My local Airport has done this for me, only to tell me the luggage had to go through Phl again to be routed to ERIE. I went last night to claim my baggage. GUESS What??? STILL no luggage!

I'm Livid. I would love to call USAIRWAYS on this one legally. I just don't know if it's worth it.

Maybe more people will read this and make it known that it's unacceptable to be taken advantage of by the Airlines.

When I pay for my ticket I expect the flight to be safe, within a respectable time, and my luggage to stay in Passenger Baggage area. If I wanted to pay for CARGO I would...

Thanks for letting me vent, and maybe something good will come of this??? Probably traveling on another airline!!

Charlene Sperduto
Erie PA.

[Tomi T Ahonen]

Hi Charlene and Kirsti

First, what a horrible experience for you Charlene. Secondly, thank you for posting on it, we need to hear this, US Airways needs to hear this. And Kirsti, a very good initiative to track the bad news. You are in reality offering a service not only to travellers but also to US Airways itself.

Onto specifically Charlene your long comment. My immediate feelings are utter shock and disbelief; how is it possible that today - in America of all places, the birthplace of marketing - can a major national airline be so anti-customer.

I think there is perhaps even bigger lessons here. I think some companies are simply not suited for modern market competition in the 21st century. If this kind of behaviour is consistent, forms a pattern, then the company really does not deserve to continue to operate. They do deserve to lose customer loyalty, get bad word-of-mouth as ever more occasions like these are discussed online, and then to go out of business.

I have not yet gone to Kirsti's site (am today in Slovenia and only briefly online now at the hotel before our evening happening, where I am of course one of the honoured guests ha-ha) but my gut feeling is that this is a really bad apple that somehow has managed to survive a bit too long. If that is the attitude of the "customer service" at US Airways, then really things are systematically bad.

Yes, something needs to be done. But the first step in fixing any problem, is acknowledging that there is a problem. And perhaps more noise needs to be made about US Airways.

Charlene and Kirsti - I'll write to both of you also offline. Thank you for posting.

PS Alan - I'm with you of course on this, and I feel for you. Its not all sunshine and martinis in the globetrotting author-consultant biz, right? We need to enjoy the good trips, to then have the mental strength to get through the occasional bad trips...

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[Kirsti Thomas]

On the seredipitous side of things, I'm an academic librarian at an institution with a business school (although what US university doesn't have one, eh?). I was intrigued by the premise of your book, and will let our business librarian know about it. Here's to engaging with your community. Cheers!

[Alan moore]

Dear Kirsti,

All purchases welcome! Maybe we could drop by and sign it for you?

[Edward L Torchia]

Details from two very unhappy travelers and Flight # US 1838
March 20th, 2007

I am writing this because I am so angry that I would not be able to talk to a person in your company without becoming emotionally frustrated and I am afraid that I would not be able to explain how screwed up your entire Orlando based organization handled our problems that were created by your team in Orlando. Before I begin, let me make myself perfectly clear, we did not have a weather related problem on March 17th, 2007.
Our story, which I would gladly send to the newspapers, begins when we entered the U.S. Airways baggage line at 2:00 PM to catch Flight # US 1838, set to fly at 5:45 PM. These tickets were purchased at 10:10 AM on 12/20/06 Confirmation # FMA0RU.
What follows is the chronological order of events to demonstrate several points of failure within your organization:

1. On March 17th we attempted to call your customer service line at 10:00 AM to confirm our flight scheduled to leave that evening, we were unable to confirm since your customer service option on your 800 line would turn to busy, this happened not less than six times, I have the record of these attempts on my cell phone.
2. Celeste Boehm, one of the two unhappy travelers, went into the Orlando airport at 1:00 and asked a U. S Airways representative if our flight was going to take off since we had heard about the problems that your company was experiencing. She was advised that the plane was on schedule.
3. We dropped of the rental vehicle and preceded to join the outside baggage line, at that point was well over 500 people, still not a problem since we arrived in enough time for our flight.
4. When we finally got to the baggage claim person, we were advised that flight # US 1838 had been cancelled some time ago? And that U.S. Airways no longer had that flight, he advised us he would go into the terminal and let us know what to do. The next thing that happened was that he came out with instructions to call your #800 customer service line to get advice to what our next steps should be, we advised him this was totally unacceptable and he told us we may have to wait until Wednesday the 21st of March to fly back to Pittsburgh.
5. We then went into the terminal to discuss this matter with someone in a supervisory capacity to help us, one of your agents directed us to talk with “Audrea” we were told that she may be able to help us. After a lengthy discussion (over 1 hour) and several different options were discussed, it was determined that no alternative plan of action could be taken, even when we asked if other airlines were available that traveled to Pittsburgh from Orlando (We were lied to and told no other option existed) I am categorizing this as the FIRST LIE.
6. Audrea advised us that U.S. Airways & Air Tran were the only Airlines that flew directly to Pittsburgh. She said that U.S. Airways would be willing to give us a check for $200.00 to rent a car and drive back to Pittsburgh. She further stated that she knew it would only cost us $185.00 to rent the car. I am categorizing this as the SECOND LIE. I checked on the pricing with National Car Rental , they priced it out as $251.00 plus taxes and insurance.
7. After a long walk from Terminal A back to Terminal B, I confronted Audrea and asked to speak with her manager, she referenced me to Julie Gordon, who told me that she is the highest ranked Manager at U.S. Airways in Orlando, I am not sure if this is another lie, I will tell you if this is an example of your best and brightest, you have got more problems than I care to think about! She would not let me finish a sentence without interrupting me she would not listen to the problems I had encountered since I got there, nor would she offer any resolutions.
8. After attempting several times to at least get her name, I decided that I would be better served by walking away, my associate, Celeste Boehm decided to try and see if she could do any better, was able to get her to agree with giving us 2 rooms for the evening at the Clarion (Flea Bitten Hotel) near the Terminal and also she gave us a U.S. Airways voucher for $10.00 a piece to eat at a restaurant of our choice as long as it was within the Orlando Airport. I do not know how $10.00 was arrived at but I dare anyone to find a dinner that would only cost you $10.00 WITHIN THE AIRPORT, another sad case of a CEO who has never walked a mile in a traveler’s footsteps!!!!
9. At 11:30 PM that night at the Clarion I telephoned your wonderful customer service phone # and was told by an automated voice that I may experience a 20 minute wait time, which turned out to be a 7 hour, 37 minute, 46 second wait time. I finally hung up around 8:00 AM. ANOTHER LIE, 3rd by my count!!!
10. After making arrangements to fly back to Pittsburgh, through the wonderful SOUTWEST AIRLINES for Monday the 19th, we had to go back to your miserable counter and get another Hotel Voucher and food vouchers, I will say if you had one bright spot in this entire mess it was an associate named “Brandi Edmunds”, she was a big help, however, I must tell you that Steve Glim, another supervisor who I had the pleasure of meeting that day is about the rudest individual I have seen for some time, when he was addressing a young guy who was also experiencing some of that wonderful, “CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT PHILOSOPHY” at U.S. Airways, he advised him that at least he got moved to the front of the line to which the young person advised him that “YOU CREATED THE LINE”. How terrible that your company would have someone in a Managerial Situation deal with real live in person customers. You really need some customer sensitive training in Orlando, not my problem, YOURS!!!!

Anyway, let me get to my point, I need refunded for Flight # 1838 from Orlando to Pittsburgh on March 17th, I have two tickets that are $195.80 a piece, I had to charge $202.00 a piece to get a flight back on Monday the 19th via Southwest Airlines. So I am looking for Credit on my credit card for $391.60.
I want you to know that I am an Executive Vice President and COO of Denovus Corporation and when I bill my clients, we bill $440.00 an hour, so you can imagine how upset I was that two of the top ranking individuals in this company had a possibility of not getting back to work until possibly Wednesday the 21st.
In closing, let me tell you that I will be glad to forward this on to any publication I can think of along with that I can e-mail this document to at a minimum, Fox News, CNN, CBS, NBC or any other news station that would probably love to hear a horror story about the way people (other human beings) are treated when a company such as yours chooses to treat YOUR CUSTOMERS!!! Check my mileage account, I know I am not one of your biggest customers, you were however, the only one that I was choosing to do my traveling, until now!!!
Yours truly,
Edward L Torchia
PS. I have never been so angry that I would actually take the time to write something like this, but, now that I have I would be more than happy to forward this document to ANYONE!!!!!

[Alan moore]

Dear Edward. You add to the sad litany of how a business is failing in the modern world. Thanks for posting

[Nancy Mangione]

Confirmation EEVLWR date issued 12/11/2006 for travel March 22, 2007 and returning March 26, 2007
I booked this flight to Bermuda for my family
NancyL Mangione
GaryL Dennis
GaryJRL Dennis
EmilyM Dennis
ShelbyL Dennis
to attend my sisters wedding in Bermuda, we arrived at Reagan Airport in Washington DC at 5:45 a.m. for the 7:40 departure, I did the web check in and had no problems we boarded and the problems began we had to wait on the Tarmac for 2 hours, we were scheduled to land in Philadelphia at 8:31 our connecting flight out of Philadelphia flight 1131 was scheduled to depart at 9:40. While waiting on the Tarmac at Reagan airport we were informed by the steward or captain over the PA that there was an ice storm in Philadelphia that was the reason for the delay, no other information forthcoming. We arrived in Philadelphia, where we were told by the US Airways rep that they were holding the connecting flight 1131 to Bermuda we proceeded to run from the C terminal to the A terminal to find that the flight had left 10 minutes prior and the US Airways counter representative told us he could not help us he was closing and "he had somewhere else to be" and we would have to go all the way back to the A terminal ticket counter to reticket us. We arrived at the main ticketing counter in Terminal A where there was 1 US Air ticket representative working and approximately 35 people in front of us, When 2 other representatives finally opened their desks to assist they were very rude to the passengers in front of us, if 2 people were traveling together they would only let 1 go to the counter. When we were finally assisted around 1:30-2:00 p.m. we were told there was not another flight until Friday March 23, 2007 morning at 9:40. No apologies and 2 $5.00 meal tickets for 5 people, because they could not provide us lodging at the Marriott we could not even use those. So not only did I have $750.00 in charges for the resort in Bermuda, that we were unable to use on Thursday night, there is a non refundable deposit for cancellations within 21 days of arrival, I had to pay an additional 139.00 for a room at the Philadelphia Marriott plus taxes and extra cost associated with feeding my kids, husband and myself in addition we were told by the shuttle driver to the Marriott that there had been no storm at all it was sunny and 55-60 degrees. THIS WAS UNACCEPTABLE. My children and I could not understand why we were lied to by the captain/steward on the flight about the ice and then lied to by the rep that the connecting plane was waiting for us. On Friday March 23, 2007 we arrived at the Philadelphia airport for our 9:40 flight to Bermuda we boarded, an lo and behold we were delayed again on the Tarmac, this time it had to do something with the weight distribution of the luggage in the plane this delay was over 2 Hours, so now we have lost at least a day and a half of our long weekend in Bermuda, due to US Airways. As I was sitting on the Tarmac and waiting to take off for Bermuda I read the March 2007 US Airways magazine. There was a article written by Doug Parker Chairman and CEO of US Airways on page 12 the next to the last paragraph in that article stated that we might have noticed improvements with Philadelphia, I again looked at the date March 2007 and I was sitting in Philadelphia on both Mrch 22 and 23 and did not notice any improvements with service, customer service or increase in people to assist you.
As I stated at the beginning this weekend was to spend with my sister and to witness her wedding all in all from everyone attending her wedding there were 14 of us on this flight my group contained 5. My mother on Sunday was bumped off the flight returning from Bermuda and she was treated much better in Bermuda she was upgraded to first class, given a night stay at Grotta Bay and 2 free round trip tickets for herself to anywhere in North or Latin America to use at anytime. I had a family of 5 and was offered nothing in Philadelphia. I think if I was Mr. Doug Parker I would retract his article about the service in Philadelphia. Clearly he has not traveled through Philadelphia lately.
It will be nice to hear if US Airways is truly committed to customer service and satisfaction for my family's loss of time and considerable amount of money on what was to be a true family extended weekend in paradise that was cut short by a 1/3 because of the lack of service and honesty provided by US Airways representatives flight personnel and customer service agents in Philadelphia. I also sent this email to US Airways complaints on March 27th I will update if I ever get a response at 9:54 a.m here is the confirmation from that:

"Thank you for contacting Customer Relations
This will acknowledge receipt of your correspondence to the Customer Relations Department. Please be assured your comments and concerns are very important to us, and we are working diligently to provide a personal and professional response to every email we receive. However, our current response time is higher than we would like. We would ask for your patience and understanding. Please know that we will respond as quickly as possible.
Again, if your question or comment is about an upcoming trip, an unused ticket, or your Dividend Miles account, please call our Reservations Department at 1-800-428-4322. If your correspondence is regarding delayed, lost or damaged baggage, please select the link to our Central Baggage Resolution Office for information on how to contact that department directly.
Thank you. We appreciate your business."

[a us airways worker]

Bitch bitch bitch , do you think the guy stadning at the counter behind taco bell cares when you bitch at him? well neither do we , and in some cases the guy at taco bell is making MORE money than we are , because we are so low paid we dont have time for your prbblems , we have our own , like how are we going to pay our rent etc ...

[Art from FFOCUS]

All,

I am the co chair of FFOCUS (Frequent Fliers Organized and Committed to US Airways Success), a customer advocacy group organized to communicate with US Airways on behalf of its high level frequent fliers. We have recently expanded our member base by 30% or more, based on the incidents similar to those described here.

I was in Tempe, AZ this week, meeting with senior US management, and relayed other stories similar to those here. While they were apologetic and provided meager explanations for what has happened over the past few weeks, I know this unto itself won't fix the problem.

With your permission I would like to share this link with my contact in the executive office of US--if nothing else it might increase awareness of an already ugly problem.

Feel free to email me at the address indicated herein if you have questions or more comments.

We are a customer advocacy group--there is power in numbers--

Thanks
Art

[P. Silveira]

March 30, 2007

Attempted fraudlent charges by US Air?
You decide. Passenger purchased round ticket (SFO - MAD). Return date was rescheduled. US Air quoted a charge of $712.00 for this change. I agreed to paying the $712.00. The charges were described as $200.00 penalty and $512.00 fare increase). My daughter checks in, her boarding pass is printed. The agent made a handwritten change on the seating assignment from E to A. She boards the plane, confusion in seating as another passenger also has the same seat assignment. Then an agent tells her she needs to get off the plane as she has not paid for her ticket. She informs him yes, indeed she has.....he tells her she owes $500.00, she is escorted off plane. In process her $400.00 IPOD disappears. They inform her only the penalty fee was charged and she needs to pay the $500.00. (Of course she is hysterically crying as I am on cell phone trying to direct her actions) They request credit card from her. Transacation was not approved, so they allow her to verbally give them my card information. Upon further research, my daughters card company informed her US AIR tried to charge $1600.00 plus. I called my card company and US Air has placed two requests on my card, the first for $200.00, the second for $663.00. Is this true grounds for IIED or not? After 45 minuites of being on hold, the very frustrated agent in customer service ask me what I wanted them to do. My response was reparation for their actions, and a public apology for the public humiliation that was inflicted upon my daughter. Just a little side note, upon her checking in she was offered $400 Euros to reschedule her flight. Any direction from customer base would be greatly appreciated.

P. Silveira
California

[Phill Hirst]

This is a copy of an email I sent to US Airways, Still no reply or luck,
They have practicaly broken all their own rules as stated in customers come first (that is untill they have your money)
Sorry for it being a little long winded but I did not even cover all the details.

Reff File # 1738912A
Just to give you a recap.

This happened on our trip to Hawaii for a wedding.
My family and myself (2 adults & one 10 year old) were delayed over 26 hours due to poorly maintained air craft failing.

Our initial flight from Phoenix Direct to Maui was on time but several hours in to the flight out over the Ocen we were informed that there was a falour in the hydraulics. We were turned around and flown back to Phoenix. (This was a shabby old plane that still had ashtrays in the seat arms).
We enquired if we could land closer, the pilot said he could not land at a closer airport by the coast because the aircraft was old and did not have the ability to dump fuel for the emergency landing, so we had to stay airborne for 6.5 hrs. When we landed on the field surrounded by fire engines & emergency vehicles. It was not a smooth landing. This was not a safe situation, the hydraulics controlled the steering (no nose wheel control) so when the plane touched down "when the nose wheel touched" we veered off the runway and then had to be towed back to the hanger.
When we finally got of the plane we were given a $5 voucher (that gets you far in the airport!)
At that time we were told that there was another plane coming in from Mexico and that we would leave on in1 1/2 hours, and we would definitely not be flying on the same plane (which everyone was worried about).

The next info we received was 5 hours later, we were told that we would be leaving from another concourse for a 7:15 pm take off, so we moved and again waited.

At 8 pm we were informed of the delay and we would board at 8:30pm.

At 9 pm we were told that we wold be leaving from another concourse and boarding at 9:30pm so we all rush and hurry back to the original concourse.

We were also not kept informed on 15 minute intervals as recommended,or offered any other food or drink during our airport delay.

At 10pm we boarded and were on our way again.

Everyone was happy to finally be going. That is when we discovered that we were back on the original aircraft (which had not been cleaned, still had my newspaper behind the seat with my 1/2 done crossword).
Several people left the plane as soon as they realised that they had been lied to and that they were back on the original plane.

We "although very concerned & upset" decided to stay because of the wedding the following day.

Plane powered up & 1/2 way down the run way we aborted, this time due to another failure and this time with the electrics, we were told top wait in the plane while it was fixed, several people got off and we wish in hind sight that we had to.

After it was fixed we were told OK we can now go but they were checking on pilot time, so we would have to wait, that was enough and we asked if we could get off, we were told NO, doors were closed and we were waiting.

We then had to wait again until the pilots had been told that they were out of time and that no other pilots were available.

Now we were let of the plane and had to go back to the help desk to reschedule flights, yet another hour wait.
The only flights available (there should have been another plane put on just to take care of this flight) was no longer direct, it changed in Vegas & then again on another Island, prior to arriving in Maui.



The accommodation that you supplied was sub standard, we had to wait 1/2 hr for a bus, "not even supplied a taxi" bath tub was blocked, food poisoning from under cooked breakfast patties etc.

Arrived at hotel room at 1pm and we had to get up at 6am for flights.

We Finlay arrived in Maui, exhausted, ill, and depleted of all energy 26 hours later, we had missed the wedding and due to our fiscal condition missed the next 2 days of planned events (loosing deposits etc.)

For all out troubles, distress, being lied to, held against our will, not kept informed pushed aside and punished for no reason at all, you have offered $350 per person.
We did not even get an apology, I even had to take the initiative to call and get a case file going (this was after we were told at the airport that you would be contacting us and you did not).
Even when we contacted the customer care department, your own Customer care help apologised as $350 was the maximum compensation that she was qualified to offer and suggested that I contact a supervisor as $350 compensation was simply not enough for this issue. We were told that a supervisor would call back the following working day that did not happen until I had called a further 3 times.

I do not believe that this is a fair settlement, our holiday was ruined.

If my wife and I had decided to work that extra day rather than waste a day in the airport we would have earned $3,500 between us.
We originally booked a direct flight and paid for that service, we did not receive that direct flight (additional $600 cost)
Airport costs, food & entertainment etc (additional $150)
Missed pre-booked events (additional $ 400)
Time & effort attempting to resolve issue (20 hr at $150 = $3000)
Missed Wedding (Priceless)

This would total a minimum cost of $7650.

Please read the attached link of how I believe that these issues should be handled (this company has set a precedence that you should set as your minimum standard when dealing with these issues. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/News/25CompaniesWhereCustomersComeFirst.aspx
This is how South West Handles simple delays.

I suggest that you reconsider your offer of $350 compensation per person.

Disappointed

P. Hirst & Family

If anyone would like to do a class action suite or just publicly humiliate I AM ON BOARD.

[alan estes]

ditto.

i thought i'd just scroll down a few posts and give my 2 cents worth. wow. clearly, i am not singled out by us airways, as i've always thought. i'm keeping track...on 75% of my us airways trips, my bags do not arrive, i do not arrive, or both.

all airlines use the same planes, use the same gas, use the same airports, use the same employees. how come us airways can't get it right? cuz doug parker likes to spend more time at the bar rather than solving customer service problems? it's not that hard.

i have more to say regarding the solution on the matter...please feel free to leave an email, and i'll espouse.

[Derek Woolard]

We experienced many of the same issues detailed above but the part thet blew us away was the level of rudeness and hostility shown to us the customer and the lack of professionalism of practically every US Airways employee we had contact with in the Philladelphia airport. The people in the ticketing area were the rudest and least professional we have ever encountered. While trying to read the nametag of one of the employees she turned her back to me and removed her name badge. Mr. Parker needs to be fired and then forced to fly his own airline home.

[Alan moore]

Derek,

Thanks for your comments, I hope US Airways are listening? Or would care to comment?

[LaVetta Henry]

No broken or lost luggage just a ticket I couldn't use! I had a voucher for a free ticket. The problem... I had to go to the airport to make the reservation. Nothing could be handled over the phone or by the internet. So I go to the airport... NO TICKET AGENTS! They had gone home for the day. So I go again on a Saturday. I get there before noon. NO TICKET AGENTS! Again, gone home for the day. So for the person responding from US Air as worrying about their rent, maybe if you worked an 8 hour day 5 days a week you could pay your rent.

[Marc Orchant]

I am so happy that I live in a city where Southwest Airlines is the principal carrier. I think US Airways has one gate here that they share with another airline. Forewarned is forearmed. There is NO WAY I would ever consider flying this airline based on what I have read here. The CEO should be fired and charged back for the obscene salary and bonuses he has accepted while destroying the morale of his employees and the confidence and trust of his customers! Then he should either be sued or arrested. Or both.

[Alan moore]

Marc,

Thanks for your observations. I believe you are not the only one to have that point of view. I just wonder how US Airways is truly responding to this situation? Remember Communities Can Dominate Brands

Thanks for posting

Alan Moore

[FORMER AWA employee]

bitch, bitch, bitch, that is all you people do...I LOVE IT!! I also LOVE Dougies $5.7 million last year!! I FEEL REALLY bad for Tempe AZ and their support of the "hometown" airline, cause US Airways is going the way AWA did in 2000. Bankruptcy filings (SELL your stock, NOW), layoffs, ect. HEY better yet, maybe we get lucky and Delta buys them out---Hdqrters gets moved to Atlanta..good riddens!! It will save me some state tax $$, as my AZ tax $$ pays US Airways employee training...oh you didn't know that!! You actually thought that US Airways pays employee training (90 days)...you got to be kidding!! Dougie wouldn't be making nearly so much $$$$$ if he actually had to PAY to train employees. THAT is why the goal of US Airways is to have rez employees only last THREE MONTHS...FREE EMPLOYEES for 90 days!! Get rid of those idiots and bring in another bunch of idiots for another 90 days, NEVER having to pay any of them a salary. THATS THE WAY IT WORKS...so just keep your bitchin...nothing is going to change unless the LAWS are changed, requiring US Airways to pay their own employees instead of using tax dollars. ALSO, if you don't want your bags lost, don't check them in...use carryon bags only, or gate check your bags (I NEVER put bags in cargo!!) It will drive the employees crazy but passengers have rights TOO!! ALSO, want to make sure your flight departs on time, take the first flight of the day. Don't want your flight canceled, ask the agent how old the plane is that you are booking seats on...just a smart question to irritate the agent (DO ask this question about a ship when booking a cruise though). DON'T use online booking, instead call and have the reservation held... it is worth the extra $5, if you get an English speaking knowledgable agent (they work primarily from 2-6am). LASTLY...don't ever stop your bitchin.. the employees are so used to it that if you ever stop they won't know what to do..they might actually have time to go pee!!

[Talley M.]

Hmmm, I guess I'm not alone. Here is the letter I sent to them today...
sorry it's REALLY long!!! And I was trying to be tasteful...ha!

My husband, and I were on a flight from Las Vegas, NV to Charlotte, NC that departed at 730AM on April 9th, 2007. I apologize I do not have the flight numbers. We would like to share our situation with you because we feel change does not come if we stay quiet. First off, let me say that my husband has Cerebral Palsy and is pretty much confined to a wheelchair. He is able to walk a bit but not more then the equivalent of 3 rows on an airplane. Also he can not walk without assistance and relies on me to balance and hold him up if he needs to walk, say to the bathroom. Pretty much he just doesn’t ambulate anymore.

Let me give you a little back round. When I called several months ago to buy the tickets for us to fly to Las Vegas, I decided to go directly through the airline because of the need for special seating for my husband. I spoke with several people in reservations and also at the number for those who need “special assistance”. I attempted to have our seats moved a head of time, so that we would not cause any difficulty and also to make sure we had what my husband needed. I was informed that seats are not handed out over the reservations number but that the airline held several rows near restrooms and in the front of the plane specifically for disabled customers and all I had to do was mark “manual wheelchair” on the ticket purchase and to proceed to the gate counter to have our seats changed upon arrival to the airport. I was told this several times by multiple reservation people. I kept calling back to make sure because I hate not being prepared on day of travel, it’s too difficult as it is. When we arrived to fly to Las Vegas, we were informed that the plane was booked and they moved us to the VERY LAST row of the plane, but luckily it was near the restroom, so it was OK. We lucked out with our tickets on the connecting flight were already near a restroom. But the problem was actually on the flight home. And that is what I’m writing you about today.

We arrived at Las Vegas Airport early so that we could have our seats changed. I’d rather sit and wait, then get there last minute and not have the opportunity to change. Unfortunately I do not know the names of the man and woman at the counter, so I do not have that to give you. I first went to the woman and informed her of our needs and that we needed to be closer to a bathroom. I believe our seats were row 19 and the closest bathroom was between row 6 and 7 or 7 and 8. Too many rows for my husband to ambulate. 3 is about the max he can do without collapsing from exhaustion or just plain falling. The lady stated she didn’t normally work the counter and wasn’t sure how to change, so we were going to wait on the gentleman that works with US Air. The man arrived and told us he would try and switch the seats to somewhere closer to a restroom and also told us he would pre-board us about 5 min to 7am. He was calling people up to ask them to switch their seats and I guess not having any luck. After 7am he came over to us and told us that no one would switch seats and we just had to deal with being in row 19. My husband was of course getting frustrated, as was I, and I told him that wouldn’t work because he can not walk and will have to use the restroom at some point. He then told us that he tried to move us but nobody would change seats, that he could not move them without permission and that we need to either “get over it or go on a different flight”. He then turned around, ignoring that we were trying to talk to him and come up with another suggestion. Needless to say we were very upset. And we did start raising our voices because he continued to ignore us. Every time we tried to speak he “shooshed” us and said he couldn’t do anything, just get over it. I’m sure my husband would LOVE to “get over” being disabled, but it doesn’t work that way. We were trying to figure out a solution, trying to ask him to let US talk to a customer, maybe convince them to let us change seats with them, or even having just my husbands seat changed and I’d sit in the back and help him as needed, but we were ignored and he would turn his back on us and walk away. I began to cry and was very upset by the treatment we were receiving, especially because we were under the impression that there were seats saved that we could change too. Luckily these two WONDERFUL women saw how upset we were and switched their seats. We were put in row 6 I believe which was PERFECT. The ladies told me that the counter guy had asked them to switch seats because of a cargo issue, and they were not informed that it was for a disabled passenger. They said they would have gladly switched seats with us had they known the full information. That also upset me because he was not being honest with the passengers, and it would have saved us a lot of heartache. I’m very grateful for those two women!

When we got on the plane, my husband was EXTREMLEY agitated and I was still in tears. The wonderful Flight Attendants just grabbed me into a hug. They were totally confused by what was going on because the man had been telling them a different story. I asked for his name but they were unable to get it for me, so I could tell you specifically who had bothered us. During flight I did speak with Donna, who I believe was the head attendant. Let me just say she is a SWEET HEART and just very compassionate to our feelings and needs. She shared with us that she has a family member in a wheelchair, so she has some understanding of our situation. She also then informed me that there are NOT pre-saved seats for disabled customers and that we are basically on our own and what I was told by the customer service was false. She did also inform us though, that if necessary the pilot will change passengers’ seats to make sure the disabled customers are taken care of. But the problem I was having is with the fact I was told information that isn’t true, and then to go through the torment and embarrassment of this situation. I do not normally cry in public, but we were humiliated, insulted, and down right angry at how we were treated. In this world, my husband and I are treated with disrespect and ignorance on a daily basis. It is something we have just learned to ignore or try to change. It comes with the territory. I do not like having to PAY for this kind of treatment. Neither my husband nor I expected “special treatment” over and beyond his basic needs being met, just like any other passenger would expect or need. But he does deserve respect and the simple ability to use a bathroom on a flight. We would simply have liked respect, kindness, and decent courtesy from one human being to another. And to be told to “get over it” is just simply unacceptable to us. As to any other human being I’m sure.

Per your own website, it states: “US Airways is dedicated to providing safe, convenient and reliable travel to all individuals. All US Airways employees are trained to comply with the Air Carrier Access Act (14 CFR Part 382). In accordance with the Air Carrier Access Act, US Airways will not discriminate against any disabled individual. Employees who interact with disabled passengers will exhibit kindness, awareness and respect.”

Unfortunately, I can’t say that we received that kind of customer service. The last sentence is really all we wanted from your staff, but unfortunately not what we received. I do think that had your attendants not been so wonderful, I might have cried the whole trip home to Florida. And that should not even be the case. Please tell them that we are grateful to them because the saved us on this trip.

Thank you for your time in reading about our situation. I hope that my husband and I opening up and sharing our difficult situation will help US Airways in the future. Without honesty and openness, change will not occur. And it seems, by our experience, the time for change has come.

[Talley]

PS Please do not use my information, i just wanted to share my story with you. Thank you! TM