Sir, This Is A $65 Ticket - You Couldn't Drive For That. You're Being Unreasonable.
A snotty US Airways rep told reader Lewis that he didn't have a right to complain about his flight's cancellation because he only paid $65 for it.
Never mind that Lewis only paid the price they charged him, or that Lewis is a "preferred" customer, clocking in over 25,000 miles per year on US Airways, often on full price first-class seats. At least he used to. After his disappointing experience, detailed inside, he plans on using Amtrak...
(Photo: dykstranet)
Unfortunately, as I've mentioned in the Comments before, piss-poor airline customer service is pretty much "Dog Bites Man" these days - no great surprise when the legacy carriers sometimes treat their customers like crap. But what happened to me yesterday at the hand of US Airways was so egregious, I just have to share it with you.While enjoying a quick weekend getaway, I received an automated phone call from USAirways letting me know that my 8:00pm flight back to NY from DC was cancelled, and that I should call to reschedule. This was at 3:00pm and we were in the middle of an event. As the weather in the northeast was spectacular yesterday, the cancellation was due to an "equipment" problem at US Airways. I immediately called the phone number provided, only to reach an uncooperative CSR who told me my only options were the 5 or 6pm. I explained that I was in the middle of an event and that I booked the 8pm for a reason - I asked to be re accommodated in first class (to which I was previously upgraded on account of my "preferred" status) on the 7pm flight, and was turned down for lack of availability. Frustratingly, their website had seats available for sale at that moment, so I pressed on and asked to speak to a supervisor. After holding for 15 minutes, I was connected back with a regular CSR and asked to repeat my story, to no avail.
I remembered that as a "Dividend Preferred" member I have access to the "elite" CS line. When I called and explained the situation, I was immediately met with what could only be described as contemptuous indifference by the "elite" CSR, but I did not know why. She seemed to take glee in telling me "well, the flight you want is sold out." When I explained, politely and courteously, my frustration about the inconvenience the CSR told me "sir, you need to realize this is a $65 ticket - you couldn't even drive it for that. I think you're being unreasonable and you need to be more flexible."
For the first time in nearly 30 years I was speechless. I paid $65 for the one-way ticket because that was what it cost! If the ticket had cost $100, I would have spent $100. Should I have perhaps made an additional donation to US Airways to satisfy this CSR? It should further be noted that I am one of US Airways' "best customers," flying over 25,000 miles per year with them, very often on full-fare first class fares at over $2000.
Incredulous, I repeated back to the CSR what she had just said to me and by the time I finished the sentence, she hung up on me! Apparently she realized she had made a huge mistake and didn't want to stick around for me to ask for her name or operator number, which was obviously my next step.
I called back and reached someone with the first initial of H who apologized and re accommodated me on the 6. A major inconvenience causing us to leave our event and pack and leave for the airport immediately, as it was now 4pm. Unfortunately, without a name of that CSR, there was nothing he could do except apologize. He was very polite and seemed embarrassed at what had happened.
The non weather-related flight cancellation and subsequent inconvenience are par for the course; there's almost no point in even discussing those aspects of this story. But to tell a "preferred" customer - or any customer - that essentially his ticket was too cheap to qualify for good customer service and that he is "being unreasonable" - is unconscionable. I've stuck with US Airways as a "preferred" customer throughout their last few awful years - an ill-executed merger, constant systems and operational issues, and lest we forget, filthy aircraft.
If I ever spoke to a client - our largest or smallest - as I was spoken to by the US Airways "elite" line - it would have meant the end of my career. From now on, when traveling in the Northeast, All Aboard Amtrak.
Post a comment
Comments:
There's a lesson to be learned here: ask for the customer reps's name and ID at the START of the conversation.
Complainant's own fault for
a) flying US/HP
b) where Amtrak was an option
There's so much wrong with air travel nowadays that I'll be cheering for every person who switches to another method. We need more competition out there, BADLY. Viva la rail!
@iMike: So now anybody who uses a company's crappy service is at fault for the service being crappy?
Is your last name Orwell??
Crappy airline aside, flying 25k miles a year does not make you one of their "best" customers. I fly >240k a year and the airlines still treat me like dirt.
Wow, how bad does an airline have to screw up to make Amtrack seem preferable by comparison? This bad, I guess. I wonder what kind of "equipment problem" caused them to down the 8 pm flight but not any other. My guess would be they didn't sell enough seats to make the flight worthwhile for the airline.
@Mr_Human:
US/HP has notoriously bad customer service and customer-unfriendly policies. Further, eastern seaboard "commuter" routes, even on the weekends, are highly susceptible to irregular operations. Given that, I call assumption of the risk where there's a readily available, reasonably priced, reliable alternative.
@nweaver: Amtrak ain't exactly cheap these days. I checked the schedule and if the complainee wanted to grab the 8:00 PM Acela on Sunday night it would have cost him $139. For $67 he could have waited until 8:30 PM and picked up the Regional Service.
I stopped riding Amtrak a few years ago because I had a run of bad luck that involved a lot of delays. Also, I found that the Acela rarely actually worked (I think it's gotten better) and I often paid up just to save about 20 minutes when compared to the Northeast Direct.
It is interesting that the author says
"The non weather-related flight cancellation and subsequent inconvenience are par for the course;"
Then why Fly them!? It's like continually going back to a restaurant and always complaining about the food and service. If the food and service are so bad, why keep going?
Next time Fly SWA.
@B
"I wonder what kind of "equipment problem" caused them to down the 8 pm flight but not any other."
My mother works for an airline. It could have been anything from a plane getting reallocated, (this is where the plane missed a connection somewhere else in the country so it wasn't available in your town for you to fly), to an inspection that gave unacceptable standard test results.
Almost always its mechanical. As in, they were doing a routine inspection on the plane and they need to keep the plane overnight to fix it. Kinda like how you don't go on a long road trip without changing the oil and such.
Most airlines try and keep one or two extra planes at large airports to account for this inevitable result, but sometimes they are not available.
Of course this doesn't excuse the piss-poor customer service he received... that said, I don't think I would ever see Amtrack or Greyhound as preferrable options myself...
@Tophernet: "Then why fly them?!?... Next time fly SWA."
Fair question, but I assume you are not in the northeast. First, SWA is not an option between DC and New York (best you could do is Islip to Baltimore).
The only other Suttle option is Delta, which has historically been even more annoying than the US Shuttle, in that it doesn't offer assigned seating. Anyone who's lined up a half hour (or more) before boarding at LGA or BOS knows what I'm talking about.
Finally, Amtrak CAN be, but isn't always, a great option. When the Acela works out it's fantastic. But then there are the times you sit without air conditioning in the middle of summer somehwhere in PA waiting for track work or whatever. And it's often much more expensive.
Thank you for all of your comments!!
@scoobydoo: So true, I've dropped down to the silver this year due to a lack of flying on business and I've noticed a change in attitude. Silver Elite is just about worthless beyond free First Class upgrades (though First Class on US is pretty weak these days with the plastic cups).
Nice to know that in the US/HP merger, the AmericaWorst CSR's got to keep their jobs.
That's the kind of treatment I expected all the time from America West -- I'd hoped it would go away with the merger. Nope. Looks like the two companies managed to save the worst of both!
US/HP?
Who is this mysterious HP? I know it's not an electronics manufacturer, or a boy wizard.
(seriously...I don't recognize the abbreviation)
Hey, for $35 round trip, you can take the Chinatown bus and the comfort and customer service aren't that much worse, and at 4.5 hours in normal traffic, it's not that bad considering the time it takes to get to the airport and go through security.
I do have to wonder... how much further do the airlines have to go before people truly stop flying them? (to the point that it's noticable?) I'm fortunate enough to have the option to charter, and often do for domestic flights, but still use commercial airlines for international travel, business-class being the lowest I'll go down to. Cattle class is exact that. Even in business class, service isn't what I remember it being.
Puleeeeze 25K per year.... preferred u r not...... 25k barely puts you above Fred and Ethel who fly a couple times a year.... Get over yourself and find another flight.....
@ahjkgmd:
Come on! 25,000 miles a year is probably about 12 flights a year. That's a little more than your average couple of bumpkins. Yes, it's less than your average international business traveler, but it's still nothing to be sneezed at.
A CSR should never talk that way to a customer, but I'm not sure what more you wanted her to DO for you. Should she bump someone off the 7PM flight for you because the website says there is still seats available? Given you hardship cash on top of a refund? Or do you know there was nothing to be done, but you just expect them to listen politely as you bitch at them? It's hard for me to believe she would've copped that attitude if you were a model of courteousness yourself.
I think it's all a misunderstanding: you see, when they give you the phone number for the "elite" customer service line, it's the person on the other end of the phone who's elite. He/she can talk to you however they want to -- they're elite, and you're a whiny turd with your expectations set too high.
A magrail massive magrail project would derail the airline industry complete.
Basically you would have a cross-continetal mag rail, then just by tunnelling underneath alask to russia, now you have and intercontinental mag rail. So basically with a $40 ticket you can travel to europe at a the same speed as an airplane.
Yeah, 25k a year is nothing!
If anything you throwing around the "I'm a bigshot 25k a year flyer" did more damage than good.
No you can't have a magrail project under the ocean. The magnetic waves would give the whales headaches and confuse the Martians.
@shdwsclan: I'm not sure how serious you are, but that's not going to happen in our lifetime. Western Europe and Japan have spent decades trying to develop passenger magrail service, but haven't found it to be worth their while, save for a few subway lines.
Rail gets to be terribly inefficient for cross-continental travel, unless you're riding the Orient Express and you're riding the rails for the sake of it.
Rail is great for intra-regional travel, though. I kinda wish Amtrak would abandon long-distance routes and focus on getting high speed routes between cities that are 1-2 hours by air, i.e. Chicago-St. Louis or Seattle-Portland-SF-LA (a station in San Francisco proper would be a good start).
25,000 miles a year is a lot if all you're doing is puddle jumper trips of 300 miles or so. (Yes, I fly about 20K a year, but I go coast to coast.)
typetive: exactly.
If he's paying first class fare for constant flights to events within the Continental US then he could still be a very preferred customer. Size isn't everything even if we wish it was. It's what you do with it. At least that what she says.
So let me get this right... You paid $65 for a plane ticket on an airline whose service we all know ranges from mediocre to acceptable on a good day. The airline had a mechanical problem (I know this may come as a surprise, but mechanical things go wrong from time to time). They actually called you 5 hours ahead of time to try and offer you an alaternative so that you wouldn't show up at 7 PM only to discover that the flight was cancelled. They actually offered you two flight options, and you demanded not only to be put on a different flight, but in first class? It's tough for me to feel a lot of sympathy for you. And I have no love for USAir or many of its more bitter employees.
It may be a tough pill to swallow, but higher priced airfares come with better perks, like more flexibility in rebooking. If I were a phone agent, I'd be a little frustrated too if someone demanded that he or she get the best possible level of service after buying the rock bottom fare. Heck, I get frustrated when my colleagues exhibit this behavior at the airport.
Maybe USAir shouldn't sell tickets that cheap, or maybe they should restrict them more clearly. On Air Canada, buying the cheapest fare means you don't get a seat assignment or checked luggage (without an extra fee).It stinks, but we can't expect Ritz Carlton service for Days Inn prices. 30 Years ago, as he implies was when he first started flying, his $65 was worth a lot more and that ticket probably cost more than that anyhow (under regulation). That's why service was great back then. Unless you're willing to pay, you're not going to get the happiest, best trained professionals.
A hint: when a CSR isn't helpful, just say thank you and call back again. I have gotten far more by doing that than by sticking with one who isn't cooperative and who just frustrates me.
@MrEleganza: Bump someone off the 7pm? From the letter itself:
Frustratingly, their website had seats available for sale at that moment
I don't see any reasonable explanation for why they wouldn't just give him one of those seats and I would be just as outraged if I were him.
@seawall:
They actually called you 5 hours ahead of time to try and offer you an alaternative so that you wouldn't show up at 7 PM only to discover that the flight was cancelled. They actually offered you two flight options, and you demanded not only to be put on a different flight, but in first class?
seawall, </highhorse> please.
If you had bothered to read the fucking article, you might be intelligent enough to notice that he was already flying first class.
Asking for this is not unreasonable, because:
• He already had first class seating on the original flight
• The flight was listed as having seats available
• He was in the middle of an event, and I assume that there would not be enough time to pack up immediately afterwards and make it to the airport.
Try to remember that he doesn't fly 25,000mi. He flies 25,000mi in first class, usually full-rate.
Considering that average fare is probably $300-400 and first-class is more in the range of $2000+, that alone totals up to far over 4x normal cost -- over 100,000mi "coach" miles.
In short, next time, read the fucking article.
If you really want to escalate this with US Air, every PNR (passenger name record) access is logged with the time and the agent's ID.
He was given a courtesy upgrade to first class. That's not the same as buying a full-fare ticket. As always, the customer service is ridiculous, but when the airline is trying to rebook a stack of people whose flight was just cancelled, it seems unreasonable to demand first class when you really only paid for a discount coach ticket. It would have made more sense IMO to fight for the next best flight and then hope you can get the gate agent to put you in an empty first class seat.
@xKeeper:
"I explained that I was in the middle of an event and that I booked the 8pm for a reason - I asked to be re accommodated in first class (to which I was previously upgraded on account of my "preferred" status) on the 7pm flight, and was turned down for lack of availability."
I read the article. He paid a bargain basement fare for a COACH seat and was lucky that there weren't enough idiots who paid for first class on that short flight or enough true preferred members (Gold/Platinum/Chairmans) to take the limited number of wide seats away from him. Why was he so entitled to the first class seat he didn't pay for?
He's not clear on whether or not they had availability in first or coach. But anyhow... Perhaps USAir had already filled all the seats on the & PM with other people whom they had already called and the seatmap on orbitz or wherever he went was not up to date. Or maybe their utterly effed up computer system was showing him wrong information. After dealing with their broken kiosks on my last several trips and ordeals with rebooking, I wouldn't be surprised.
and then...
"I remembered that as a "Dividend Preferred" member I have access to the "elite" CS line. When "
He remembered he had a special phone number? What in the world? I don't know a single preferred person who would ever put up with the regular line if they have a better # to call.
Thanks for dropping the f-bomb on me. I liked that. Classy.
Yeah, enjoy your pit of Amtrak hell. I spent 2 hours not moving ANYWHERE on the train 2 weeks ago. Plus $65 for a flight is CHEAPER than Amtrak. Why anyone would pay more for less service is beyond me.
basically all the modes of transportation have their disadvantages. But Amtrak has a monopoly in its field, and deserves to die a federally unfunded death.
Hmmm.....DC to NY....FLY JETBLUE. jetBlue's got direct flights between Dulles and JFK...and considering how SJC to JFK is $154 right now, he could have easily found a flight for $70.
Considering the overhead of going to the airport in terms of time and transit, I think the Accela from NY to DC is faster anyway.