US Airways Consumer Reviews - Page 6

I've been flying a long time and airline travel has been going downhill since deregulation. An avid traveler for work and pleasure, flying is regularly the worst part of any trip -- something to be endured rather than enjoyed. Yesterday, 7 of us were travelling back from Providenciales where we enjoyed several days in the sun and the wedding of a great couple. We were scheduled to fly out of Provo at 3:15 pm, and connect in Charlotte for a 7:25 pm flight to Minneapolis -- a comfortable 1.5 hour layover to clear customs).

Our Provo outbound flight was delayed because of mechanical problems with the inbound aircraft. When they got to Provo they found out that the island had no fuel so they didn't have enough fuel to get the 757 back to Charlotte (who flies to a destination island expecting to refuel without verifying the availability?).

We finally board and the pilot tells us we need to go to Ft. Lauderdale to refuel before continuing on to Charlotte. The pilot spoke as though it was information that we clearly should have gotten from the ground crew, which of course we hadn't. This will add 30 minutes to our flight time, seriously jeopardizing our connection time as well the connection time of everyone else on the airplane. The flight attendants then get on the PA system to tell all of us that it simply is not possible for them to have any information on connections.

Adding to the confidence in this entire flight crew, the pilot then comes on the PA to tell us we're about to leave a location other than "Providenciales". The murmuring among the passengers that the pilot doesn't even "know where the hell he is" was audible.

The flight to Ft. Lauderdale is uneventful. The refueling goes well but takes about 15 minutes longer than had been promised. Leaving Ft. Lauderdale it is still "not possible to have any information on the status of connections".

As we approach Charlotte there's essentially no chance that our connection will be made, but hope comes when the pilot tells us that other planes have been circling because of some rain that occurred earlier, but we're cleared to proceed to land. Those of us sitting by the window had no difficulty identifying that we circled 6 times before landing an hour later. Who do they think they're kidding?

Baggage and immigrations performed brilliantly in Charlotte. We cleared both of them in less than 30 minutes. The same can't be said for US Airways staff in Charlotte. They're probably good people, inadequately trained who know that their company has hung them out to dry. What a thankless job. Luckily, because we cleared baggage and immigration quickly, we were one of the first to get to the ticket counter to figure out how we were going to get home.

A totally clueless ticketing agent was what we got. It's now about 9:15 pm. We're in Charlotte. We pretty much know we're not getting home this night. When this has happened to me on other airlines, the rebooking has been done by the time I got off the plane. The gate agent has been able to tell me what's happening. With US Airways in Charlotte, the fact that we had missed our connection from their own flight was a surprise to them.

For the next 2 hours, the groom who was trying to do a quick round trip (and get back to his honeymoon) to ensure his kids got home safely, spent coaching the ticket agent, her supervisor, and his supervisor how to do their jobs.

Their first plan was to book the party of 7 onto 5 different US Airways return flights (with further connections) the next day despite the fact that there were 3 minor travelers and one more than 85. When the groom suggested they check for availability on other airlines, the reaction was that they couldn't because all the other ticket counters were closed. He then suggested they call the 800 numbers for the other airlines which are open 24 hrs. The response was that they didn't know those numbers. So he spent the next 10 minutes calling 411 from his cell phone to get numbers for several other airlines with service from Charlotte to Minneapolis.

After messing up the itineraries in the computer so badly that they had to resort to paper coupons, we ended up being booked onto American Airlines leaving Charlotte at 7:45 the next morning. And the rest of the trip on American went flawlessly.

The groom's return flight to Provo on US Airways to continue his honeymoon was originally scheduled out of Minneapolis for the next morning. Since US Airways knew that wasn't going to happen they brilliantly rescheduled it for 2 days later.

He's booked a flight on another airline for this evening at an additional cost to him of $1500. He'll only lose an additional half day of his honeymoon. We're all praying for he and his bride that they'll be able to get back to Minneapolis in a week on the US Airways flight they booked months ago. He is desperately trying to rebook the return from the honeymoon on a different airline.

This complaint isn't about circumstances that happen. They happen. It's all about doing the right thing for your customer. None of this was about money. US Airways is a lousy airline. They have lousy procedures. They have lousy training. Charlotte is a hub where you'd expect to have the best trained employees.

I can't even blame it on the merger with America West. AW was a decent airline. They make the citizens of Charlotte look BAD. And this is all in comparison to a number of other airlines including Northwest (the primary airline of this gold elite status reviewer) which doesn't always get great reviews. The best thing we can do is put US Airways out of our misery. There are at least 7 of us (and anyone we can get the message to) that will NEVER fly them again. Join us! Thanks.

CLEVELAND, OHIO -- I would like to share my recent experience with your airline. On February 14, 2007 two of us were to fly from Cleveland to Phoenix. As luck would have it a major snowstorm hit the East Coast the night before our flight. US Air called us Feb. 13 about 7 PM to inform us all flights were cancelled the next day and the soonest they were able to arrange for a flight out would be Saturday Feb. 17, 2007. While I was happy they had promptly called us to let us know our flight was cancelled, (saving us an early morning trip to the airport) the news that no flights/seats were available till Saturday was a major disappointment. After all we are talking about 3 days later.

I promptly went to the airport the next morning and proceeded to spend the next 2 hrs trying to arrange a flight out sooner than Saturday. It was at that time I was told no seats were available on any upcoming flights. Nor was there a chance we could go standby because all flights to Phoenix were overbooked. There was no option of going to another carrier. The representative at the desk told we “We don't do that”. We stood there only to hear other airline passengers being booked on US Air. At one point, the rep told another rep that we could do no more favors for anyone.

I decided to check it out myself. I called the US Air telephone reservations number, gave them my old confirmation and was told there was no available seats. I then called back and proceeded to proceed to put 2 seats on a temporary hold for 24 hrs for the next day. I asked for my confirmation numbers and the total fare with my same return day Feb. 18. I was quoted a price of $1017.00 each person. For the record the price of my cancelled flight was $301.60. I then took my confirmation numbers to the airport. Spent the next 2 1/2 hours pleading my case.

I was told it was not possible to put us on that flight because it was over sold. Over sold to whom??? Those were my seats and they were now being sold to anyone willing to pay $1017.00. But to me whose flight was cancelled due to weather...I was told no seats were available. I know they were hoping I would go away. After 2 1/2 exhausting hour at the reservation desk, a supervisor came out and knew what had happened was wrong and proceeded to make several calls to get us on the presumably oversold flight the next morning. It was too late to make the flight that day.

Shame on you US Air. The bottom line is...you either have seats or you don't. You should cater to the passengers whose flights have been cancelled. The weather was no longer the issue. Money was! I intend on writing to the BBB as well as my local paper and every website that is willing to publish my story. While I understand weather is out of your control, canceling our flight that day and telling your passengers there were no seats available till Saturday was an obvious lie. You were trying to make money on your cancelled passengers' misfortune.

NAHVILLE, TENNESSEE -- My wife and I were trying to get to Ohio to visit my grandfather before he died. He was quickly going downhill and so we busted our butts to get flights. We hadn't seen him in a long time so the idea was to get there before he died. We booked our flights out of Nashville, TN (we live in Chattanooga) because they are so much cheaper. We made the drive (3 hours) and were supposed to fly out at 6 am the next day. We got up at 4:00 am to make the flight and of course it was cancelled.

After 2 hours in line they had no other flights out of Nashville supposedly and they refused to re-book us or transfer us to another airport all they would do was refund us. We looked online and found flights out of Chattanooga, so we hauled butt back. We rebooked a flight and they cost us over $300 a piece more than the original tickets. By the time we got to Ohio my grandfather had passed away just a couple hours earlier.

The funeral was set for 2:00 pm on Sunday, our original flight left at 9:40 am on Sunday. We called to change our flight because I wanted to go to the funeral, we got some non-English speaking person that told us we could switch our flight but it would cost an extra $200. When we questioned as to why they hung up on us. Upon calling back we got another non-English person and they told us the same thing even after verifying all the hell they put us through.

We didn't have the money so we asked family to help which they did luckily. So up to this point we've paid $1300 for these tickets when the original price was supposed to be less than $500. We got to the airport Sunday night and upon arriving we were almost forced into giving up our seats because they were overbooked. We refused and then they said they couldn't guarantee our connecting flight either.

We ended up getting home OK, and after all that I've called US Airways and they've completely refused to do anything other than give us $100 travel vouchers to fly their crappy airline. In dealing with the Customer Service I've gotten some of the worst attitudes I've ever witnessed. The last phone call I made the woman told me "It sounds like your trip wasn't really that bad, you're just upset that you didn't see your grandfather die and you're taking it out on us."

That was probably the most upsetting thing anyone has ever said to me. Yes I am upset about that, but what's worse is that the whole time we were trying to deal with this company after they had delayed us, bumped us, gouged us on ticket prices, they just kept kicking us when we were down. Is it any wonder why they've been in bankruptcy twice?? I will never use this airlines again, I'd rather walk.

HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA -- Our flight from Huntsville, Alabama to Nassau, Bahamas was booked on Feb 16, 05. With the plan of being married before we went, we booked it in the name that I was supposed to have after the marriage; well plans changed the day after.

We knew that it took Boeing Travel 24 hours to process our tickets, and upon receiving our confirmation information we called the US Airways customer service Feb 18, 05 and told the representative of the situation at hand. She said, "Don't worry this happens all the time. Just bring your license that verifies that your name is in fact Brandy ** and not Brandy **." My fiance and I were both on the phone and we asked twice if all we needed was a driver's license with the name on it and she answered yes, both times.

I called the day before just to make sure and sure enough we were told the opposite of what was originally told to us. In the representative's notes, she did not specify what license she told us to have. Obviously if we were told that we needed a marriage license we would've gotten this well in advance as we booked our tickets in February and our vacation was in April.

The supervisor at the customer service department was worse than the representative. She made comments like "how do you plan on getting married in the Bahamas without a marriage license" (F.Y.I. You cannot use a US marriage license in the Bahamas, in fact, you can only use a marriage license from the actual state that you get it in).

After this, we decided to go to the airport and talk face to face with them. The supervisor at the Huntsville ticket counter (who goes by the name of Richard) said, "ya know, what are ya going to do... Nothing... And you want to know why we do it, because we can; if you want to go somewhere you will always come back." A supervisor of all people should never say something like that to a customer; he is a direct representation of the company.

Ultimately we had to purchase another ticket with the correct name on it for $1145.15 the night before we were set to leave. When we arrive at the airport at 515am our flight was delayed by 3 hours and 5 minutes, and our itinerary was changed by a representative at the gate and instead of getting the itinerary that I paid for the night before ($1145.15) we got the itinerary that I could've purchased the same night for $547.00.

We get to Charlotte and had a 2 hr layover, which happens when you get a $547.00 itinerary. We finally fly into Ft. Lauderdale and our flight is canceled. So we had to drive 30 min to Miami for our flight and finally arrived in Nassau at 830pm. (What makes this even worse is that my sister was meeting us in Nassau and she arrived without a problem through another airline and had to sit in the Nassau airport for 8 hours.

Returning from Nassau, our flight is 40 min late in getting us to our destination, making us run to our gate and our luggage didn't make it, so now everything we have is in Charlotte. The most angering thing beyond the messed up flights is that their representative gave us the wrong information and caused us to be out money that we didn't have. We actually had to come back early because we couldn't afford the hotel.

PS. I know that the patriot act is a big part of the problem that I experienced with the name issue... but they need to look at the name of the person who purchased the ticket, and the person requesting the change. There will probably be many changes to the patriot act in the future; and rightly so, not everything is cut and dry.

We faxed a letter to the Consumer Affairs Dept. at US Airways and the corporate home office and a letter was written in response to ours. Although we appreciate this beyond what words can express... we will never travel with US Airways again; in fact, we will probably never fly again. We are taking a trip to Disney World in Florida and guess what... we are driving. I hope this story helps and I hope everyone can get the justice that they deserve. Always send certified when mailing and request a return receipt that shows the name of the person that accepted your letter.

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA -- Absolutely the worst airline experience of my life!! I could have driven faster from St. Pete to Nashville!! Really! In four days I was on 4 planes and 3 had problems. 2 were fuel-related which does not make me feel safe!! Punctuality is not in their vocabulary and they really don't care. I was bumped to another flight...4 hour later!! It's only a matter of time 'til one goes down. Never again.

This airline has the worst customer service on the planet. My husband and I booked a trip to Bridgetown, Barbados on 10/23/09. We obtained a spectacular rate, and great flight times as well. There were several other carriers to choose from at similar prices booking that far in advance, however, US Airways had the best schedule to meet our needs. On January 7th, I called to confirm our flights. I was initially told it was a good thing I called as there had been some "minor" changes in our flight times. We were flying from Columbus, OH to Philly, then to Barbados.

The customer service representative went through the first three flight changes, which were minor, then put me on hold. After quite sometime, she got back on the line to inform me that our "late night" return flight from Philly to Columbus had been discontinued. No weather issues. All US Airways. I was told that there was absolutely nothing they could do - we would have to leave our vacation a day early, offered to totally cancel our flights (tickets with other carriers now over $1200/ea) or offer a $64 refund for the Philly to Columbus portion of our ticket. Period.

There is an American Airlines flight out of Barbados that would have got us home on schedule, however, US Airways refused to book it for us. Our only option is now to pay for an overnight hotel in Philly, and fly home the next day. US Airways sucks. Even if they could not do anything we suggested 1.) Pay for our overnight in Philly 2.) Purchase the American Airlines flight home or 3.) upgrade us to First Class, their customer service was not even remotely empathetic to our situation. It was basically that's the way it is. Unfortunately, America needs better legislation dealing with air passengers rights. Sadly, the airlines pretty much own us.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- US Airways has horrible customer service and they do NOT back their promises. Last summer, I gave up my flight, the last flight of the night, while traveling with my infant son in return for a "free roundtrip ticket." What they did not tell me, nor was it printed on the ticket, was that "free round trip" really meant subject to US Airways releasing the tickets. I called to book my "free round trip ticket" from Phoenix to Louisville, KY, in February. At that time I was told that the "free ticket class may not be released" and even if it was, which no one could predict either way, that the release would not occur until five weeks before the scheduled departure date.

So, I called back in March, I was told the same thing. I called back mid-April, and the tickets were unavailable, so I plugged the number in my phone and began to call and check on the flights every other day. I called on May 17th, and the tickets that were going to be released were released or US Airways decided not to release them. I tried 3 days before and 3 days after my desired June 26 departure date. They did however, have a return flight on my desired departure date, June 28th.

My only option was to use my "free roundtrip ticket" as a credit towards the purchase of a flight. They only give $200 credits in exchange for the free roundtrip ticket. So the agent priced out my trip at $684 - so by using my "free roundtrip ticket" all I had to do was PAY $484. So, I tried to book the free return flight and purchase the incoming flight elsewhere.

I was told I could not do that either. One way free tickets were not available, that had to be round trip. So I asked if I could book a roundtrip and just use the return flight - NO! If I didn't come to the first flight, I would lose the return flight. So I asked if I could book a flight with the first flight going from Louisville to Phoenix - no free flights were available. US AIRWAYS SUCKS AND THEY ARE FRAUDULENT - THEIR FREE FLIGHTS ARE NOT FREE. I gave up my seat for nothing in return.

DO NOT FLY WITH US AIRWAYS! US Airways Flight 4427. Philadelphia to Baltimore. August 8th, 2013. Flight Cancelled. I was not late to my flight, I did not miss the date, I did everything correct. It was -your- airline that created the entire problem by overbooking all flights that came after our cancelled flight that day. The only resolution offered to us that would fly us directly to Baltimore would have been to take a flight leaving -11 HOURS- (9pm) after our originally scheduled flight (11am). That is not acceptable.

This was the answer I received from US Airways customer service employee **: “When a customer accepts accommodations to an alternate airport, the customer assumes responsibility for the additional expenses.” To note here, we did not “assume” the extra expenses. We were given no other choice if we wanted to reach Baltimore in time. We accepted a flight to DC because it was our only alternative that would get us close enough to take public transportation to Baltimore, and to meet our deadline.

I did ask if we could be provided a rental car so we could drive ourselves from Philadelphia, and that request was immediately denied. As it was, we had to spend our own money for all public transportation from DC to Baltimore so we could meet our group waiting for us in time. This is also not acceptable. It took us FOUR trains to get from DC to Baltimore in unfamiliar territory. Why should this cost be on us?

This was a second answer I received from US Airways customer service employee **: “There are no federal aviation regulations concerning what an airline must do to compensate passengers when the carrier delays or cancels a flight. This is true regardless of the reason for the delay/cancellation (e.g., weather, mechanical, crew availability, etc.).”

So basically because it is not ILLEGAL, they are not required to help their customers in any way. Beware if you are flying US Airways in the future, I would consider otherwise. I have flown on other airlines and I have always either been provided a hotel, food, direct compensation for a future flight or alternate transportation to my exact destination at no cost to myself. Keeping the money we paid for services you did not deliver upon is considered theft. Your airline is a poor excuse for a business, and we will never fly with you again.

HEADQTRS, PHOENIX AZ, ARIZONA -- First of all, after flying and being a Gold Preferred Member with this airlines for the past 20 years, I never thought I would be in such an insulting situation as I now am after almost a week of negotiations over a 12 hour grace period on a set of $2200.00 tickets reissuing process. Beware everyone, if you cancel a flight, you not only have to reissue your tickets within a year, you must complete all travel within that year as well. Which, I never had to worry about until this week. Had to cancel a trip for my daughter and me from PHL to SFO because our kids and grandkids got sick, tickets were first class and bought outright with no miles upgrades - paid entire fare.

When I went to reissue this week for us I was told that my travel had to be issued and completed within the week. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Now, only possibility was the wedding we are attending in Providence RI this weekend, June 29th 2013. So, wedding is at 5:00 pm and they are telling me that we can fly out on June 28th but have to be back on a flight to Philadelphia by midnight on June 29th.

I asked for a 12 hour grace period to get on noon flight on June 30th. NO WAY they said. Can't do it - breaking the rules. Now I ask you all, what kind of reward is this for all these years of flying business and pleasure with US Airways? By the way, you can only communicate via email and FAX. Customer Relations speaks to no one.

Are they just busting my chops or what? What is the big deal about 12 hours. We have a company outside of Philadelphia PA with 100 employees. They fly US Airways, and of course, we pay for our employees. We spent 100K, let me repeat, $100,000 with these clowns last year. What absolute idiots. Needless to say, they are not getting any more of our business. If my husband and I operated our business the way these numbskulls have operated in the past week, we would be out of business. Isn't amazing how comfortable they are with stealing our money?

COLUMBUS, OHIO -- We arrived in Charlotte, NC (3-24-2012) and found our flight delayed due to weather. The signage over the boarding area changed twice reflecting the delays with the last departure showing 8:17 pm to Columbus, OH. We waited at a nearby restaurant (only a few yards away) and periodically checked the signage board to see if there were any changes. When we arrived to board at 7:40 pm an employee stated “didn't you know the flight was cancelled?” My husband said we checked the sign and another employee stated “never trust the signs.” I received 2 voice mails reflecting the 2 delays but no voicemail stating the cancellation.

I immediately went to the service counter where I waited in line for an hour for a customer representative. One representative tried to get us on a connecting flight and we almost had a connection but due to our delay because of the failure of the signage not reflecting the actual flight status (cancelled) we missed that flight. We then were sent to the manager for “better arrangements”. The manager (after I again waited behind another couple for at least 20 minutes) then supposedly put us on a standby list for two (2) different flights and booked a flight for the following day.

We raced to the first airline where we were supposedly placed on standby to find we were not on the standby list and had to stand again at another service counter to again get on our original standby list. Time delays caused by the improper signage and the failure of the service personnel to put us in the computer for standby gave us no chance to obtain a flight until the next day.

US AIRWAYS refused to pay for overnight accommodations. We were told there is no reimbursement for weather related delays or cancellations. However the weather in this instance was only one factor compounded by US AIRWAYS employee's negligence. Received email from US Airways stating that we were not eligible for reimbursement because of the weather. Our position was the signage was incorrect and their customer service was substandard. Never fly their airlines again.

Another flight with US Airways during spring break also resulted in a negative experience. They overbooked to "insure their seats were at capacity" and I was bumped from a returning flight. Two strikes and you're out in my book.