Why I Hate Airlines: the continuing saga

[tahnan]

An exchange between me and US Airways Customer Service Relations:

Hi there,

I just spoke to a customer service agent on the phone about using a credit for a ticket, and she advised me that the ticket had expired after one year. I found this somewhat frustrating, because when the credit was issued, I wasn't given any information about how to use it—in fact, if I had, I would have used it immediately.

The circumstances were as follows: I booked the following flight...

Name: Lance Nathan
Confirmation # [xxxxxx]
Ticket # [xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Price: $480.50

Montgomery, AL to Tucson, AZ, December 27, 2008
Tucson, AZ to Atlanta, GA, December 30th, 2008

The problem was that I was trying to return on the *29th*, and the website was incredibly unclear about the date of a ticket whose time was around midnight. So I immediately called customer service, and while they couldn't change the ticket, they gave me a credit and told me to rebook a new flight. I did rebook a new flight (and while I don't have the confirmation or ticket number, it should be easy to find, because the name, price, and itinerary are identical to the one above except for the return date), but discovered that I hadn't been given any information on how to use the credit they gave me. Again, I would have used it for the replacement ticket, if I had known how.

So I'm trying to use the credit now, only to learn that there was a one-year limitation on its use. The person I spoke to on the phone suggested that if I sent mail to you, you would be able to extend that credit so that I could use it to buy a ticket this month. I'd be really appreciative if you could. Hopefully, if you look at the circumstances of the two tickets that were purchased—one right after the other for nearly identical travel dates—it's clear that one of them was an accident and the other was a correction, and that there's no intent to abuse the system here. All I want is to use the $480 I've already given you to buy a ticket.

Thanks so much!

—Lance Nathan

Dear Mr. Nathan,

Thank you for contacting Customer Relations at US Airways about extending the validity of your non-refundable ticket. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to you.

Non-refundable tickets present the most economical fares. However, they are among the more restrictive tickets. These restrictions make it possible to continue to offer low-priced sale fares in addition to deeply discounted air fares.

When tickets are purchased on the Internet, all terms and conditions must be agreed upon prior to the purchase.

If our customers are unable to travel as originally scheduled and have contacted us prior to their day of departure, US Airways does offer the flexibility of using the ticket at a later date. Tickets will retain their monetary value for one year from the date of issue. Your ticket was issued Dec. 9, 2008. Your ticket has expired as of Dec. 9, 2009.

The Terms and Conditions assigned to the non-refundable tickets state they cannot be extended. I sincerely regret the personal circumstances preventing you from using the ticket within the one-year time frame. I regret that, we are unable to give consideration to your request in this instance.

Thank you again for expressing your concerns with us. US Airways appreciates feedback from our customers, and we hope to have the pleasure of welcoming you onboard another flight soon.

Sincerely,
[name withheld]
Representative, Customer Relations
US Airways Corporate Office

Dear [name],

Thank you for your reply about extending the validity of my non-refundable ticket. Sadly, most of it was a form letter detailing the fare restrictions I already knew about, and the remainder was dramatically unhelpful, almost dismissive.

The most telling part, I think, was the statement that "the Terms and Conditions...state they cannot be extended." The person I spoke to on the phone implied that someone in Customer Relations would be able to help me, and this seems to be simply untrue. The implication of the statement above is that no one is able to help me.

And that strikes me as particularly disappointing. I understand that there are Terms with a capital T, and Conditions with a capital C. I also thought I understood that somewhere in all of this there might be a Human element, perhaps with a capital H. But it seems that the cold, faceless corporate policy has no room for humanity.

Thank you for your expressions of sincere regret. As for me, I sincerely regret that I will not be able to purchase a ticket with the $500 you took from me, and I regret that you will not have the pleasure of welcoming me onboard for any future air travel.

Sincerely,
Lance Nathan
Customer

Comments

[lemurtanis.livejournal.com]

Had the same thing happen to me with Continental. The list of airlines I will fly grows shorter every year...

[jadelennox]

at this point, the only airline that I can fly without hating myself is Virgin Atlantic, and unfortunately they don't usually go to the places I need to go. It's gotten to the point that I will go ridiculously out of my way in order to road trip or take Amtrak if the laws of physics and geography allow it.

[lapak.livejournal.com]

All of them suck, but USAir is far and away the worst unless you have frequent flier status with them. They've stranded me for 36 hours without apology, taken me off of a broken plane only to put me on ANOTHER broken, plane, and the list of crappy customer service interactions I had finally reached the point where I will NOT fly with them anymore. Not to Memphis, where they have the most flights. Not to Philly, where they have nonstop flights. I fly through Cleveland or Detroit to get to Philadelphia these days, because USAirways is the worst. The worst, the worst, I hate them.

I'm sorry you ran into them this way.

[cazique.livejournal.com]

Call customer relations, don't email them. And the first reply is always a form letter, it wouldn't make business sense for it not to be - I'd reply with the same substance but without the snark (again, preferably by phone) and if you don't get the answer you like, thank them politely, hang up and call back. (That's the first rule of airline customer service.)

I am ashamed that I often am not as nice and solicitous with CS as I should be with any human being I talk to, but I do know that the nicer I am to them (not just the first time) the better results I get. Not that it helps me avoid being a dickhead sometimes. Not to say you were being a dickhead - you weren't, but keep heavy on the honey and light on the vinegar.

You might suggest that perhaps they could credit you part of the voucher as a compromise - perhaps $380, which is the original $480 minus something like a $100 "change fee". Can't hurt.

Oh, and should it come up again, always use a voucher ASAP.

[(Anonymous)]

I am given to understand that letter exchange was after several hours on the phone with CS.

-the wife at work

[rubrick.livejournal.com]

In customer service calls in general, I recommend asking to speak with a supervisor as soon as possible. The person who answers the phone is nearly always powerless, and hence useless.

[bookishfellow.livejournal.com]

I read somewhere on the internet (yes, that reliable source) that the single most productive question you can ask in any customer-service interaction is "what would you do if you were in my situation?" That, assuming the CS person has any inclination to help you at all, will get you the insider's perspective.

[cramerica.livejournal.com]

Like

[ztbb.livejournal.com]

Tickets on most airlines are fully refundable for the first 24 hours after you've bought them; US Airways, par for the course for them, is one of the rare exceptions.

My rule nowadays is "never accept a travel voucher" (not that you could avoid it in your case). I've had a hard time using more than a small fraction of the ones I've gotten. So I assume, for instance, that if I accept a travel voucher in exchange for being bumped, I'm actually receiving squat.