Comments on: St. Lucia spat: passenger wins case against US Airways

By: Summer_s06

Summer_s06 — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 22:20:00 +0000

I got insulted and threatened in a US Airways flight by a fight attendant who listened to the conversation I had with my neighbor. at one point, I said “It’s dumb” (talking about a process that I thought was obviously not quite smart) and she overheard me. She thought I was talking to my neighbor about her and that I said to my neighbor ”She’s dumb”. She lost control, starting yelling at me in front of everyone, telling to zip it and yelled that I was going to be arrested in Barcelona and how smart I would be!. She repeated several time “you zip” when I was trying to explain that I was not talking about her but about a process and that I had say IT’s dumb and not she’s dumb to my neighbor. As she was yelling, I told her that she had no right to talk to me the way she was doing it and that I had the right to have an opinion on anything anyways and she shouldn’t interfere with customers conversations but she continued yelling so I stopped talking.
I asked a refund for that leg of the trip (not even the full $1565 I paid to go to Barcelona) and they refused. Response from my complaints? It’s not a way to treat customers and they will do an internal investigation., Since it’s an HR issue I will NOT be notified of the outcome and they will use my experience in their training to help flight attendants better manage a situation. !! Seriously! If anyone wants to help me press charges, please contact me at summer_s06@yahoo.com

By: Jeremy Condamine

Jeremy Condamine — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:19:02 +0000

Hello, here is my story.
I flew from Los Angeles to New York on US Airways at 6 in the morning. It was a one way flight to do a photo job. I checked my luggage and had my carry on with me. My carry on was my photo equipment and laptop. I got into the plane , it was packed. Everyone was taking two carry on luggage, most of them. The overhead compartment was completely full.I did not have any where to put my valuable stuff. The hostess saw me go in with my expensive luggage and she told me that they had to check in your bag as I was passing inside the plane. I said no and I went to my seat.I put the bag in the middle of the aisle because there was no space and it did not fit under the chair. The hostess saw me and after looking for a space, told me to check in the bag. She took it and I followed her and pleaded not to take it. I followed her to the cockpit and pleaded again if we could put the bag anywhere. She was very rude and impatient and gave me an ultimatum to either leave or have the bag checked in. Finally, I let her take the bag and she gave me a tag. It was a stressful flight, worried about the valuable luggage I had. I got to New York, went to the baggage claim to pick up my bag. I got the bag but it was light. Then I knew that theft had occurred and I saw my two cameras were missing and two lenses were missing. I went to US airways and had really bad service not courteous, they did not even apologize and just gave me a standard form to claim what had just happened. I Went through all the paperwork by fax, because they have no phone number. I got an answer 40 days later, telling me that they would not replace the cameras and the lenses and not give me a monetary check. One of the cameras was a friend’s. The total monetary damages was $6000. Plus the job that I was supposed to do in New York, was nightmare trying to find a camera. I have also lost multiple jobs not only in new york but also in florida. If all my valuables such as personal belongings of valuable nature, how can you protect your belongings when they force you to take your stuff.

By: Eric White

Eric White — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:53:05 +0000

Small claims did it for me. After being a refugee standed at the US Airways terminal in Philadelphia en route to Europe for 2 days. I got tired of listening to their platitudes and insults. Small claims awarded me $1700+ for my hardship.

By: orlando

orlando — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:36:19 +0000

For Payment:

Have small claims court issue an order to the sheriff to escort you to claim airline property as compensation.

Go to airport and take a check-in “pedestal” machine just as a flight is being called for boarding. Or maybe two of the machines.

By: Howard H

Howard H — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 18:34:26 +0000

Now that the court affirmed her claim she has to collect from US Air.

I think that might be a lot harder that getting to their ticket counter to check in for a flight. How can you force a large corp like US Air to pay?

By: Michael F. Hollander

Michael F. Hollander — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:51:32 +0000

For the record, a friend of mine once sued an insurance company in small claims court. He won. They laughed at him when he attempted to collect. He visited the sheriff and, on a Monday morning, had their headquarters building padlocked until payment was received – in CASH. The sheriff is very good at enforcing judgements.

By: MrBadExample

MrBadExample — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:59:45 +0000

If you can get the account number of one of US Airways Bank accounts getting the money is relatively simple in PA.

As Ivan A pointed out, this is why ANY issue you have with an airline or other travel carrier should be brought to the light of day via any kind of media attention you can generate. ONE court that deep pockets actually hurts you is the court of public opinion. Which is where this case should ultimately be decided.

By: Ivan A

Ivan A — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:46:49 +0000

It’s nice to see justice done, but now is the hard part: getting them to actually pay. I heard some horror stories about people who win in small court, yet never see the money when the defendant stalls, appeals, etc… They have the deep pockets and the in-house lawyers. If they feel like it, they can stall almost forever. Please keep us informed on whether you are able to make them pay (and how).

By: Jasper

Jasper — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:39:16 +0000

That whole reply from US just oozes with contempt.

“Thank you for your recent correspondence to the Executive Office of Customer Relations at US Airways.”

=Thank you for contacting this “office” that is in no way related to the one you are a customer of.

“We apologize our original attempt to resolve this issue was not to your satisfaction.”

This is the most sincere apology ever. Because they’re not apologizing at all.

“Please understand we are not trying to diminish the incident you brought to our attention.”

=Again, we have nothing to do with US airlines that you (tried to) flew with. We find it amusing though that you contact us about their poor customer service. Hihi.

I love that they call delivering their product an “incident”.

“We are very concerned about any breakdown in service that disrupts or detracts from the enjoyable travel experience our customers have a right to expect.”

Those darned customers! They have expectations! Yuk.

“This incident was reviewed and after careful evaluation, we were unable to honor your request of a full refund of the American Airlines tickets.”

Again, insincerity at its best. They are perfectly able to honor the request. They just chose not to honor it.

“However, the offer of two $400.00 Transportation Vouchers is still on the table for your decision. Please advise if you would like the vouchers to be sent.”

=”advise”, because we’re not sure yet if we’re gonna honor your advise. We might change our mind and just have fun with you. We like hiding carrots. Hihi.

By: MrBadExample

MrBadExample — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:04:05 +0000

Don’t forget the Attorney General’s Consumer Fraud Complaint process in the state of your choice