I have a $646.19 credit for a flight. I want to use my $646.19 credit towards a new flight that only cost $300. I was told that I would be stuck with a $150 change fee but my credit was large enough to cover that. US Airways now wants me to pay an additional $150 on a credit card and forfiet the remaining balance. How does that make sense? A $300 flight is now going to cost $800.

Now I know why I prefer to fly Southwest.

Now that Southwest has implemented the new boarding procedure, I find them a fantastic way to fly–boarding is now orderly (and rewards people who are OCD and check in exactly 24 hours before boarding), you get free drinks, free checked baggage, large overhead bins (unlike on the US Airways Embraer “jets”), and plenty of legroom.

I was Gold on American, and haven’t flown them in a year because I was treated poorly in Miami. If it weren’t for the lower upfront fares, I would never fly US Airways again.

Last Friday, I was scheduled for an early AM out and back the next day trip. Due to a mechanical, they canceled the flight after they boarded up and collected Boarding passes. Rather than wait until they got around to reaccomodating everyone, I called the airline Premium flier service center and canceled my trip – basically since I would have missed my meeting and traveled to a city for no reason.

USAir was timely and professional and took my info and told me that they had canceled my trip and refunded my money. I then received an email telling me my cancellation request had been denied. When I called them I was told that because I used a portion of my ticket, the entire ticket was non-refundable. The portion that I ‘used’ was the canceled flight.

This of course required another phone call – and this time I was sent to the ‘refunds desk’ where they tried to convince me that I flew on a flight that they canceled. I asked the woman to check the flight history. She did. She said it was canceled. I asked her how I could have used a flight coupon for a canceled flight. She told me to standby. Yet another person came on who needed to needed the story explained to them – and they tried to tell me that ‘the system indicated that I had used one of my flight coupons.’ I again sai: “on a canceled flight? How is that possible?”

“Please stand by sir.’ she comes back and transfers me to the director of revenue accounting for that office. We again go through the dance and she finally says, ‘Sir, you must have flown that day, the computer says so.’ I said ‘ma’am, does that make any sense? USAir canceled by originating flight to one of your hubs – how could I only travel there after misconnecting with my other 2 flights = plus there is no return. Commons sense tells you what happened here.”

“Please wait sir.”
‘
She transfers me to ‘Special Refunds’ who looks at the record and tells me “no problem, I have refunded your fare. Only this department has the authority to refund when a boarding passes have been collected and entered since we can verifiy that the flight never leeft the ground.”

I did not even ask any other questions except to get her first name, employee number and direct dial.

Like Chris says, they have lots of ways to take your money, but only one way to give it back and its never easy.

It’s highway robbery for someone to have to pay $2 for water

With fuel prices at a reasonable level now, why are we not seeing these measures being reversed ?

I, too, have been upgraded over 90% of my flights this year as Platinum. But it is NOT just about the upgrades. And as Anita mentioned above, the only difference these days between coach and first class is a larger seat, a snack basket, and free drinks. I am a short-haul flier and the loss of the 500-mile minimum and Preferred bonus miles HURT. Furthermore, the product and service remain inconsistent.

They should offer elite benefits to their partner airline elites, or they will lose even more of us. My husband swore off USAir more than a year ago. I refuse to reward them for treating me badly.

I recently saw an airline survey that asked if I would pay extra to get my bag in the first cart off the plane, to select a seat, or to reserve space in the bin for a carry-on bag, among other things. NO NO NO. I expect service, not new fees. USAir doesn’t understand this.

Their cuts to the miles earned was too much, I can put up with the staff, the planes, but changing it from a free flight every 5 weeks to a free flight every 12 based on my travel level – that was more than enough to stop me.

The best this year was Sheraton – a $75 “early departure fee” when I had a death in the family, there goes 200 room nights from me alone at their La Jolla location.