Arrived in Phx with grandson from DC. He was going home to Colo Spgs. We walked him to that gate. At check in DC that AM could not give us his boarding pass for Colo Spgs but sent his bags on.
Gate help says we have no reservation for him. I have confirmation letter in my hand. Still no reservation. I even have seat assignment. Told next available seat would be on Wed. This is Saturday. Thank God we took him to the gate.
Sent to customer service. Still cannot find our reservation. Explained we had just come from DC. It was my fault I was told because I did not book all his flights together. What??? A paid for reservation is a paid for reservation where is it? Was given a stand by ticket... I did not want it... Was told to go sit down (very rudely) and wait to see if we could get on. If he did not get on, I was to go back to him.
Waiting in that gate area was an experience. Snow in CO on Thursday had fouled up the works. People that had given up seats on Friday were there today rescheduled on this flight. On gentleman told us his story.
His boarding pass for this flight for seat 3A (my grandson's assigned seat made in Jan. And this is March now) had been torn up. Customer Svc had given it to him that AM and he tried getting on an earlier flight. When he showed his boarding pass the gate person tore it up and said it was no good!
My husband was ready to raise the roof, but I was afraid they would have him arrested if he raised his voice. My 15 yr old grandson a 4. Student at Cheyenne Mtn HS (a tough one) was near tears. He could not afford to miss three days of school and keep up his grades. We were actually thinking about driving him home... What we did not want to do and was why we had the this rd trip ticket to prevent.
When the flight was ready people were asked to give up seats for compensation of free round trip tickets and motel rooms and food vouchers. Of course, my grandson did not get on.
I had called his mother and asked her to drive to Colo Spgs airport and see if US Airways customer service there was more helpful. She did. The first response to her question of where is my son's reservation was " he checked in late for his flight". She explained... No he checked in at 6am phx time for a 3:30pm flight and his bags are on the flight. So, the lady started looking.
Guess what? He had a flight on a later flight that day. No one at Phx could tell us that and two people had looked.
I go to the gate personnel amongst people that are crying (adults mind you) that once again are left on the ground. I tell the lady what we had found out. She actually snarled at me and said I doubt it. I asked would she please look it up. She found it and was quite surprsied.
Did they think I was lying when I showed the email confirmation... Did they think I was lying when I said Colo Spgs Customer Svc said he had a seat? Gee whiz.
So, we get his boarding pass. We think about going back to Customer Svc but think about the man whose boarding pass had been torn up. We decide we will deal with fair compensation once the grandson is safely home. We are brave people, but I tell you it was like being held hostage.
While we sit and wait and wait and wait my cell phone rings. It was US Airways baggage claim at Phx. She wanted to know if there was a problem because we had not picked up our bags!!!
So let me make sure you understand. They could not call and tell us they changed the reservation But they could call about bags. Means to me bags are more important than people.
In following up on this via phone I got no where. I had to write a letter to customer service. I have had three contacts with these people and three different people have responded with the exact same language.
I am being offered a $125. Oo voucher for the next ticket I buy for this grandson. Are they kidding? No they feel that is fair.
The day after this experience I contacted American Express because I had charged the flight on that card. They took the dispute. I felt that pulling the money would get someone in customer service at US Airways to make proper amends.
AmerX dropped it because I had gotten both ends of the flight... I assume this was after talking to the airlines.
I have emailed the CEO of US Airways. He sent my email back to customer no service and I kid you not I got an email with the same wording as the letters sent by the other customer service reps.
My issue is this: they will not tell me how the reservation got changed... Will not even acknowledge it was... And I have the proof. They will not compensate with a free rd trip ticket. The least that we should get since the seat was not voluntarily given up.
However, after reading about how US Airways does not honor those vouchers I do not think that is much better than what I was offered.
Had we figured a 15 yr old was old enough to get to that gate himself and gone on to get our shuttle and headed off to Yuma what would have happened. Those people scared me. How would a child feel. Thankfully, we had made the arrangements we did so someone made sure he got on his flights at both ends. We avoided flying to Denver and having him fly to Denver and then get a flight to DC because too many things could go wrong.
How could I have figured in an airline changing a reservation and never notifying me.
Is this what we can expect from the companies in this country? Did we not bail out this airlines a few years ago? Is this what we get back?
If anyone knows how I can get this airline to tell me what happened to this reservation, I would appreciate it.
This was a sad ending to a wonderful week in DC with this grandson. It was a reward for him keeping up his grades and sports while his dad is in Iraq once again. Nice way to treat people.
US Airways has left a nasty taste in my mouth. The personnel at Phoenix were out and out rude. The main office personnel in customer service are not performing customer service. The CEO could care less.
I will drive before I will fly again. And you can bet it will not be with those unscrupulous people. They need to be put out of business.
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