US Airways

I had been trying for weeks now to get some feedback from US Airways re: a change that they made to my itinerary for a future flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Maui. Amazingly today (after sending emails this morning to the names that you’d listed to contact at US Airways), I received a very apologetic call back and they told me that they would do everything that they could to resolve the issue.

Thank you for your help…I’m a believer!

FYI, contacting US Airwarys via (866) 523-5333 and pressing 3 or 4 (aka the customer relations department) is only open from 5am to 6pm Mountain Standard Time Monday through Friday!

Good morning,

I’m glad to see that others have had such a positive experience after contacting Ms. Dawes. After hearing back from her within 1 1/2 hours via email, she promised that she would get back to me in 2 days (due to her being out of the office the following day).

That was on a Wednesday evening, I was to hear from her on Friday. Well Friday came and went, as did Saturday and Sunday.

Monday I emailed her and stated the following:

“Good morning Ms. Dawes,

I just wanted to touch base with you in hopes that no personal emergencies have arisen.

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. “”

Yesterday (Tuesday) upon returning home from work, still nothing from Ms. Dawes. However, an EMAIL from the Dividend Miles Service Center stating the following:

“”
Dear Mrs. W-

Thank you for contacting the executive offices of US Airways regarding the Dividend Miles program. Senior Management asks that we respond on their behalf.

We would like to begin by apologizing for the difficulties you’ve encountered. The experience you’ve described is certainly not characteristic of the superior standard of service we are striving to provide. The importance of professionalism and efficiency is continually stressed to our employees, as we realize the inconvenience any mishandling can create for our customers.

We have updated your account to reflect a start date for the “Trial Preferred Program” of 11/8/07 and an expiration date of 2/6/08. Any miles earned towards your status that had not posted will be manually adjusted. “”"”"”

However the “Trial Preferred Program” was NOT the only issue. Other issues included their representatives lack of training, Customer Service Representatives total RUDENESS to me the customer, ETC.

I took the time to write Mr. Christ a 2 1/2 PAGE letter on November 15, I faxed it as well as sent the letter through the dividend miles account comments. Which started the “automated” responses…

I have been a loyal customer with US Airways for several years now, to include flying as well as having their US Airways Mastercard… to say that I am TOTALLY DISGUSTED with the company they have become… is a true understatement!

I could go on and on… but I think you got my point!

Have a great day and happy holidays.

Thank you. After some major difficulties experienced, I emailed the executive office address 1 day after our flight and had a response 3 business days later. The customer service address also replied “we will get to your case in 6~8 weeks.”

The executive office handled the situation very well and professionally, unlike the service staff we had to deal with.

However, I am not sure about using the travel vouchers given because that would mean having to fly with them again.

Thank you Ms. Harbodin

Question… doesn’t it make you wonder why US Airways employs people at the Dividend Miles Service Center level.. to HELP customers with the various issues.. yet they are unable to resolve or address ANYTHING?

If customers have to constantly go to the EXECUTIVE Office for resolution.. then why is US Airways paying that middle level of incompetent employees?

I hate to see people lose their jobs.. but come on.. DO YOUR JOB!

Thank you for providing a place to contact airlines about problems we may have.
I was so appreciative as to the way US Airways Customer Service handled my problem in a very timely and fair way.

I must say that my feelings for US Airways are mixed. My 6 year old son flies from Long Beach California to Phoenix Arizona two weekends a month to visit his mom. As an unaccompanied minor, there is additional paperwork and a $100 fee for this short 60 minute flight. Generally, the staff at the Long Beach airport are pleasant, and we have even become friendly with a few. However, far too regularly, flights are late, cancelled or overbooked and what should be a routine trip turns into a nightmare. The phone and email based customer service is a complete waste of time, and one of these days I may actually make a road-trip to US Airways headquarters in Phoenix. Thankfully, this web-site provided a means for me to contact senior management and have my problems solved. As a government employee I often here about how poorly our government is run on a daily basis, and if it was run like a business it would be more efficient. I feel it is safe to say that the only major industry that operates worse than our government is the Airline Industry. If we ran our country the way airlines were run we would all be speaking German or Japanese!

These addreses were so incredibly helpful! I’m been arguing with “customer relations” for almost a month now over a hotel bill they needed to reimburse me for. After a couple of “Nope, but Sorry” emails and a $50 airline credit (woooo…), I copied the Executive Office and the Director of Customer Relations…later that afternoon I got a very apologetic phone call from the Executive office…they were extremely nice and prompt. Thanks for the contact info!

I want to thank you as well. I have spent the better part of 8 weeks trying to get answers from customer service on a bag lost from Maui to Detroit. The responses I had been receiving were uncaring and inaccurate. After finally speaking to someone in the executive department I have reached a financial settlement. It took all of 5 minutes.

I found this web-site purely by accident. What a godsend.

My daughter and her husband moved to Richmond 13 years ago. Two to three times a year I visit via usairways basically because it is the closest route from Nashville. However I do have to layover in Charlotte. On my way back Nov.10, I was in Charlotte waiting to depart. As always, I got to the gate 30 minutes in advance only to see the plane backing away from the terminal. This is not the first time I and others have been left in Charlotte when I was at the gate @ the required time. However,” It WILL BE THE LAST TIME ” they leave me stranded. I was not alone.The last time there were 3 of us.My son in law has been left by US as well. After some intense negotiations with anyone who even appeared to care or look at me directly and then accuse me of being late, I got a voucher to a hotel nearby that did not accept “BLUE” vouchers, only “WHITE” ones. FIVE hours @ the local Holiday Inn, $92.00. NEVER EVER flying USAirways again, PRICELESS ! Oh and by the way, if you guys find the handle to my vintage leather suitcase, I’d really like to be able to carry it on another airline via Omaha. C. Martin Nashville, TN.

I am a long-term flyer with Us Airways with an Elite Gold member status. My company that I co-own (here in Phoenix) also spends about 1/2 million bucks a year flying this airline. I have watched this company go from one of the best (when they were America West) to the bottom of the barrel (after their merger with US Airways). What a shame. Read my story below and see what you think.

I booked a ticket for my mother from Phoenix to Charlotte through my US Airways account online (using my Dividend Preferred miles) and asked her to go to the ticket counter and ask for assistance. My mom has very severe osteoporosis, if she falls she could (and has) landed in the hospital for months. I trusted my frail mother with Us Airways, and made sure that I set her flight up through my account and requested a wheelchair and assistance for her.

When my mother got to the Phoenix ticket counter to check her bag in, the counter representative took her ticket, ripped it up and informed her that she was not a Gold member (her ticket was printed online from my Gold account), told her she had to pay the baggage fee of $15.00 and was quite rude. She issued her a new non-Gold ticket WITHOUT the wheel chair assist and sent her on her way. My mom was so flabbergasted that she didn’t ask for the wheelchair. She walked to the gate.

As she left Charlotte on her return flight, she again checked in with the counter representative for assistance, they issued her a Gold ticket at the desk – even after my mom explained to them of what happened in Phoenix. The Charlotte US Airways folks told her that she WAS entitled to the Gold status and DID NOT charge for her bags. They took great care of her there (thank you Charlotte).

When my mother gets back to Phoenix, she tells me the story. I call the Elite Gold member customer representative and told her what had transpired with my mother. The phone representative tells me the Phoenix counter representative was wrong (verifying the info given from the Charlotte folks). The Elite Gold member phone representative tells me to contact Customer Relations. She believed they would take good care of me. She tried to connect me, but I was directed to send an email via US Airways webs site.

As directed, I sent a very polite and honest email about what my mother had gone through. My points were as follows: a) your own reps don’t seem to know what your rules are when family members travel under an Elite Member’s account (charge for bags or not), gets Gold treatment or not; b) the representative was very rude and was more concerned about getting that $15.00 charge than treating my mother with service; c) they did not reissue the ticket for wheelchair assist and did not take the appropriate care as I requested when I booked the flight.

I received a polite response email, apologizing for the rude treatment, and they gave me some discount for future purchases (most of the email was the rules on how to use the discount) but they didn’t address the points that I made: there is not consistency with the counter reps as to the rules and the Phoenix counter representative didn’t assist my mother with a wheelchair as I had originally requested.

I sent yet another very polite email and asked for a more senior person to respond with a personal call. I did get a call from an “executive” representative who apologized to me, but didn’t seem interested in apologizing to my mother. She was very nice which I appreciated. But, in the end I never got my points addressed.

Okay, I am NOT done. Here is where I was truly disappointed. I got two letters from US Airways a few days later. I was thinking (hmm…. they sent an apology)…. NOPE, they sent a letter saying my Gold status account was audited… they reduced my earned miles by 30,000+, reduced my Gold status and accused me of trying to avoid baggage fees by having my mother and my wife occasionally fly under my account!

Well, I never received an “audited” statement of how they could have taken that many miles off of my account or reduce my status, but I do believe that this was plain and simple revenge for complaining. AND, I think it is corporate policy to find any way that they can to rip folks off. Charges for water or coffee on board, finding excuses to reduce your earned miles, charging baggage fees, etc., etc.

So, when you think about complaining to the “customer relations” department for bad service…. remember my story. Better yet, don’t fly US Airways. I won’t anymore.

In the end, there were consequences for me in trying to get through to them on how they need to improve their customer service. I lost mileage and preferred status. I am starting over with another airline. But when my company employees fly, US Airways will be the last resort. They just don’t get it.

Thank you for reading my post.

Steve

I just have to respond to Steven Addair’s comments above. It’s interesting that he criticizes the airline as having gone from top (when America West) to bottom (as a merged US Airways)… but his experiences would have all involved problems with former America West people.

The new airline is being run almost entirely by AWest people, including the CEO. PHX is staffed entirely with West crews. CLT is staffed entirely with East crews. None of us from the East Coast believe US Airways is perfect, but many of us feel that the airline has been severely damaged by the cheap, anti-customer mentality coming from Tempe. There’s no doubt that what he experienced in PHX and is seeing now with his DM account is a result of Tempe’s approach. It’s a shame.

I am looking for any US Airways customers that got stuck in the Reagan Airport (DCA) Jan 21st or 22nd due to the lack of staff at the check-in counter. I am looking to pool resources (documentation, pictures, video, witnesses) to pursue legal action against US Airways for reimbursement. Please email me at dmchagnon-usairwaysproblem@yahoo.com

I arrived at 7:50am for my 10:40am flight, stood in line for check-in until 11:40am (1 hour after my flight took off) and never even got close to the counter. Through this I called Customer Service 3 times and was told each time I would have to pay $150 to change my flight and the difference in price for the new flight. I ended up walking over to another airline (none of which had any lines) and got right onto a flight and then breezed through security.

Their lack of staff and preparation literally made it impossible for me to get onto my US Airways flight. This wasn’t due to weather (sunny skies). This wasn’t due to overbooking (according to an airport official flights were leaving that morning virtually empty). This wasn’t because people were arriving late (I arrived nearly 3 hours before my flight). This was simply because they did know how to deal with the volume of people that would have to utilize the check-in counter due to luggage and lack of internet access.

I called the girl that was behind me in line that day and she stood there until 2:30pm before getting to the check-in counter – Nearly 7 hours after she got in line! She was forced to fly standby and did not get out of DC until 8pm Thursday night.

Thank you for this very important information on contacting the execs at U.S. Airways! Just this past week I had my first run-in with this company’s customer service “issues”. Here’s a new one for you.

I was flying on, what they call, an “Employee Guest Pass” from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Las Vegas via through my uncle that works with U.S. Airways. It’s a stand-by reservation so you get what you get if seating is available and if there are no “high-priority” stand-by travelers.

I was unable to the first flight because it was sold out and all full paying customers showed up, no cancellations. The next possible flight was the next morning and I spent the night at the terminal.

Next morning’s flight wasn’t full but I didn’t get seated supposedly due to higher priority stand-by ticket holders. This is where it gets interesting. What’s supposed to happen is one or both gate employees are supposed to stay and print out new boarding passes for the next available flight for those that don’t get on. The first passed us off to the second and the second passed us off the the front ticket counter, outside of security.

When I got there I stated that I was on an Employee Guest Pass and needed the pass changed to the next available flight. The employee refused because all of the later flights were sold out. After stating that my one suitcase was already in Las Vegas, that I’d been at the terminal for 16+ hours and pleading for her to change it to something later and her refusing each time, I asked for a refund and canceled the trip.

I had to go through customer service via telephone to get the refund and luckily my uncle works in luggage at McCarrin Airport and made sure by bag was set aside and returned. While on the phone the representative stated that my reservation had “automatically been changed to the next flight.” Which I knew and I told her I knew that but since I was directed to go back out through security I needed to have a updated pass with the new flight info to get back through it. I asked why I was denied an updated pass with the new flight information seeing I was flying on an “Employee Guest Pass”?

I got no answer and I got a generic response about the “Employee Guest Pass Policy” with a web link to it which I already knew and read about. Which does not mention reasons for denying updated passes for its “guest” flyers.

So, with much thanks to you, I able to get my complaint to the correct people that need to know the ordeal I went through as one of their “guests”.