- Report: #1069133
Complaint Review: U.S. Airways - Internet Nationwide
Reported By:
CorporationsRunningAmuck -
Washington, Dist of Columbia,
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
U.S. Airways
Internet, Nationwide, USA
Web:
http://www.usairways.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
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U.S. Airways US Airways When is a Refund not a Refund? national Nationwide
We are writing to express the profound anger, frustration, and disappointment that my husband and I experienced on our recent trip flying US Airways--and in our subsequent efforts to have our concerns addressed. I have never had such a bad experience with an airline, and it came when when my wife was pregnant with our first child has made it that much worse. I had assumed that we would be frequently flying US Airways in the near future to visit family with our son, but after this experience, I'm not sure that I will ever fly US Airways again.
We've recounted below the full details of our terrible experience with US Airways and its customer service, but the bottom line is that after part of our return flight home from Quebec City to Washington, D.C. was cancelled, we were promised a full refund of our return tickets from Quebec City to Washington, D.C. if we would cancel our leg from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. and make our own arrangements to get home. We assumed that the airline had made a determination that it should encourage people to make other arrangements, if possible, to avoid the cascade of bumping & re-bookings that would be necessary if the airline had to rebook everyone on all of their flights that were being cancelled that evening. For our part, we needed to get that home evening as we had planned, so as long as we would not be out of pocket additional expenses (which based on the promised refund we would not be), it made sense for us to cancel and make our arrangements.
We were thus completely shocked when our "refund" was not the roughly $460 we were promised, but roughly $90 -- not even enough to cover the alternate arrangements we had made (i.e., cabbing to the Philadelphia train station and taking Amtrak to DC). That was utterly ridiculous -- and was the added injury to insult of the treatment we received from US Airways at the airport. As we detail below, as soon as our flight was cancelled, US Airways closed our departure gate and instructed the ticket agents there not to help us, even though (as I noted) My wife was more than 6 months pregnant and experiencing severe nausea at the time. Indeed, they would not even provide us directions to where we needed to go. They forced us to seek out directions to another gate all the way across the terminal (roughly 15 minutes) where we found a line of roughly 50 people that was not moving at all. I would have found this treatment reprehensible under any circumstances, and that it occurred when my wife was pregnant and ill is simply shocking to me.
We believe we are entitled to what we were promised -- a refund of roughly $460. That amount does not even begin to compensate us for the additional amount of aggravation and time we have had to put into pursuing this complaint with US Airways at what is (as you might imagine) a busy time in our lives. At minimum, we should not be out of pocket for the money it took us to get home Sunday night, and we believe we are due flight vouchers to compensate for the fact that US Airways did not make good on its promise to us -- either to get us from Quebec City to DC or to provide us the promised refund.
Here, in sequence, are my husband and my terrible adventures with US Airways.
- On May 1st we spent $931.18 USD in order to fly back and forth to Canada.
- On Sunday, July 7th we were set to fly from Quebec City to Washington, DC, connecting through Philadelphia. When we landed at Philadelphia, the flight was listed as on time in the main terminal; by the time we got through Customs and made our way through Security again (which was deeply unpleasant because, as noted, I am pregnant and did not want to be exposed to needless radiation and so was required to undergo a full pat down), the nearest monitor had no information on the flight.
- My husband I went through security and saw the US Airways gate sign saying the flight was on time as my husband was receiving emails that the flight was delayed--then cancelled. He went up to the gate to ask what was going on; the gate agents refused to convey any information other than to instruct us to go across the terminal to F32. They would not even provide directions to F32; we had to get those from airport security.
- At F32, there were 3 or 4 overwhelmed US Airways staffers for well more than 50 people whose flight had just been cancelled. We called the 1-800 # while waiting on line. At that time, we were told quite clearly that either we could be rebooked to a flight that was likely to be cancelled (it was an 8:30 p.m. flight that was already delayed until 11:30) or wait on line to arrange a flight for the next day. Alternatively, we could get a "full refund" if we could figure out a way to get home on our own.
- We then took a $35 cab from the airport to the train station and paid $148 for two one-way tickets to DC Union Station, requiring a $17 cab ride to get home.
- I was then shocked to see a refund of only $90 on my credit card. US Airways had not flown me back from Quebec City to Washington DC, a flight for which my husband and I had paid at least half of the $931.18 USD. Of course, as you well know, one could never purchase a one-way ticket from Philadelphia to DC for $45; such tickets cost over $300 each per your webpage.
- When we called the 1-800 number we were provided with the cancellation info, we were forced to spend roughly an hour on the phone (first with one representative and then her supervisor) before being told that we _could_ receive additional compensation, but they could not provide it, and we would have to use the US Airways webpage. Given that, that conversation was a complete waste of time, and if your representatives are not able to provide full support on the phone, they should tell customers that at the outset of any call.
