Today United Airlines canceled almost 60 flights at airports around the country, bringing the airline’s total cancellations since December 23rd over 1,100 flights—far more than any of its rivals. United’s official excuse is weather, but according to the Reuters, pilots are saying United’s decision to scale back staffing has lead to the scheduling disaster.
cancellations
Skybus Repairs Its Planes, Resumes Flying
By 12.27.07
The airline was offering refunds for flights that were canceled and was making efforts to rebook travelers on later Skybus flights. But Skybus was unable to transfer passengers to flights on other airlines because it does not have agreements with other carriers, Tenenbaum said.
Why I Canceled Comcast
By 10.22.07
Reader “Mr. Pants” writes us with the story of why he canceled Comcast. It’s all the reasons that everyone cancels Comcast wrapped up into one spiffy complaint letter.
What To Do When Your Flight Is Cancelled
By 10.1.07
Itenarant IT consultant James Brockman was sitting outside gate 44 at Reagan airport, and after seeing a gaggle of travelers flip out over their canceled flight, decided to put together a flight cancellation primer based on his eight years of heavy air travel experience. One piece of advice, after getting in line for the gate ticket agent with a pen and paper in hand…
How To Cancel Sprint Without Termination Fee Over New Text Message Rate Change
By 8.16.07
If anyone is looking for a cheap way to escape their Sprint cellphone contract, you can use their raising of the pay-as-you-go text message rates from 15 cents to 20 cents as an excuse. Here’s the step by step procedure to follow…
US Airways Cancels 530 Flights, Lets Passengers Sit On Tarmac 6 Hours With Overflowing Toilets, No Water
By 8.10.07
Burt Cole spent six hours on a plane on the tarmac to find out hours after that his flight was canceled. “On the runway for six hours, with only one engine going, so the air conditioner was only half working,” said Burt. “The toilet started overflowing. They were out of drinks on the airplane. This was U.S. Air. I hope they’re watching.”
Northwest Promises To Fix Cancellation Problem
By 8.1.07
On Tuesday, Steenland outlined the steps being taken to address the cancellation problem, and said he hopes those steps will prevent a recurrence of the cancellation problem in late August.
Travel Tip: Avoid Northwest Airlines at End of Month
By 7.30.07
Northwest Airlines canceled hundreds of flights — about 10% of its schedule — this past weekend because of a pilot shortage. This isn’t a new problem: It’s been happening consistently at the end of the month, like clockwork.
Northwest Airlines Loves Canceling Flights
By 7.24.07
Northwest Airlines is experiencing some serious problems with canceled flights. What is the reason? Is it the weather? Martians? Roving gangs of flying zebras? Nope. They have a pilot shortage. This could probably be solved by hiring more pilots, but well, who are we to judge?
SunRocket Postmortem: Virtual Everything Means No One Really Gives A Damn
By 7.17.07
Start-ups like SunRocket and Vonage, the largest and best known of the group, tend to offer only phone service, and they do not have the ability of the larger companies to ensure quality of service because they do not operate their own telecommunications lines, said Richard Greenfield, a media analyst at Pali Research in New York. “They only have one product and they can’t control quality,” Mr. Greenfield said, adding that the business is “extremely challenging.”
So they leased their lines, outsourced their call center, and except for an office in Vienna, VA, were for all intents and purposes, a virtual operation.
Woman Sues Spirit Airlines In Small Claims Court And Wins
By 7.17.07
Jane Waun sued Spirit Airlines in the small claims division of 54B District Court in East Lansing, Mich., as a last resort this spring after trying unsuccessfully to resolve her beef with the airline directly.
Not Canceling The Account Costs AOL $3 Million
By 7.12.07
AOL has avoided what was certain to be an entertaining court battle by settling with 48 states and the District of Colombia over allegations that it made it, uh, difficult to cancel for the many customers who were fleeing to broadband.
Sprint Customers Terminated For Complaining Too Much Were Scamming Sprint For Free Service
By 7.11.07
Sprint announced Monday it was canceling the accounts of around 1,000 people who called customer service too much. At first blush, it might sound like a pretty jerk thing to do, have bad service and then punish people who complain, but we spoke with one of our most reliable Sprint insiders, who had a different side to the story: the terminated customers were scamming Sprint, calling in again and again, just to get free service credits.
Sprint Cancels Army Unit's Cellphones For Roaming Too Much
By 7.10.07
Sprint canceled the service of 200 Army men and women who had just come back from Iraq. For roaming too much. Because Sprint hadn’t installed a tower close enough to their base. A little ol’ backwoods place called West Point.
Sprint Drops You Because You Call Customer Service Too Much
By 7.5.07
“Our records indicate that over the past year, we have received frequent calls from you regarding your billing or other general account information. While we have worked to resolve your issues and questions to the best of our ability, the number of inquiries you have made to us during this time has led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs…”
Michael says:
I have called them alot over the past year, but those calls were to have them fix their errors. I’ve always been polite to their employees (whether it be over the phone or in a Sprint store). I’ve never missed a payment and have always paid my bill early. I’ve never asked them for discounts or freebies.
Recording Of Tmobile Trying To Prevent Matt Haughey From Cancelling For An iPhone
By 7.2.07
Listen to the valiant attempt a T-mobile retention rep makes to keep Matt Haughey, Metafilter creator, from canceling and switching to an iPhone.
Vonage's Endless Chanting Hold Message Drives You Insane
By 7.2.07
Andrew is trying to cancel Vonage, but the hold message is driving him insane. After the 6th minute on hold, the smooth jazz went away and now Andrew is being forced to listen to the same chanting “call volume” message over and over again. He’s awash in a sea of his own rage—which will no doubt be directed at whatever CSR finally picks up.
How Not To Submit To iPhone Envy
By 6.29.07
We could be standing on line outside an Apple Store waiting to get our grubby little hands on an iPhone. We are not, and we’re ok with that. You too can resist the little charmer’s curves and siren song ringtone by remembering the iPhone’s imperfections:
