ATA Airlines
Mistreatment and ripoff

ATA airlines was a horrible adventure that I will never do business with again. I have told my friends not to do business with them unless it is a dire situation. Our problems with ATA begun before we even got in the air.

It took 5 starters to start the plane. We flew from Los Angeles to Chicago for a family member's wedding. I was supposed to be in the Milwaukee area for a rehearal about 7PM. We had a connecting flight from Midway/Chicago to Milwaukee which was scheduled to leave at about 2:30pm CST. And we were schedule to be at Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee at about 3:45 PM CST. We arrived at Chicago/Midway Airport at 1:45pm CST. We rushed to the other side of the airport, Midway is a long airport. When we got to the counter for the flight to Milwaukee, they changed the time to 3pm for departure. At about 2:45PM, we got news that the flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems.

We try to get a flight at about 4:45pm, and we were bumped from that flight because of problems and other people had prior reservations. The next flight to Milwaukee was at 6:30PM. ATA did give us a $8 voucher for dinner. We had reserved a car rental and a hotel room in the Milwaukee area as well at stake. The airline did not depart until about 7:45PM. Before we board the plane, we watched so many people come and go onto their flights. After 5 hours of delays, we got to Milwaukee about about 8:30PM. Our car reservation was messed up and we told our story of adversity to receive a SUV we wanted and as of a result, we lost it. I miss my rehearsal and as of a result, I messed up at the actual wedding due to lost time. We barely got a hotel room for the night.

On the way back from Milwaukee, a couple days later we got on an earlier flight and we were fortunate enough to get on a stand-up flight to LA from Chicago. We got on a 6:30 PM CST to LA flight and the mishaps continued. I was called to get on a stand-by flight and I went to get into my seat. There was someone sitting there and the person would not get up out of the seat. I look for an open seat, and the flight attendant told me not to sit there. Another passenger told me prior to me searching for a seat to find anything available. I went to the head flight attendant to tell them that I was displaced and I had no seat to sit it. After standing up and humilated for about 10 minutes, the flight attendant told me to take the seat that I found which was open.

The worst thing occurred at the end of the flight with the luggage. One of the members I was travelling with did not receive their luggage back. I was a victim too because I left an expensive suit and unreplaceable pictures in the suitcase. We went through the proper procedures to find the lost bag. The person told my travelling party member to come back to see if the luggage was placed on our original flight. He returned only to find no luggage. He placed a lost luggage claim report. The airline has UPC codes for the luggage to locate them. At Los Angeles Airport, there are no person to check if the customers got their right claims and bags. At Southwest at LAX, there was a person to check if the baggage checks match. We lost a lot of sleep and went through anxiety about our lost items.

After corporate called, we were asked to get receipts for the items lost which were over $100 in value. It was hard work finding old receipts, and at the end the stuff lost was assessed at about $3,500. A report was written about the lost inventory and cost. A few weeks later, a check came for about 900 dollars. The airline told my travelling party to claim the rest of the losses with home insurance. It was a major insult. I will never fly ATA again! They insult your intelligence and time. As of a result, I have lost chances for higher income due to the fact my best suit which cost about 400 dollars is lost and other things were gone too.

I used that suit to go on interviews and since I have a very limited income, I won't be able to get another suit like the one that was lost. I advise anyone who flys with ATA to be ready for many setbacks. ATA can ruin your property, dignity, and goals. We plan to fly in the near future but ATA will not even be considered.in fact, we rather spend more money to avoid ATA. We learned the hard way about ATA and I hope this experience does not happen to any one else.

Company: ATA Airlines
Country: USA
State: Indiana
City: Indianapolis
Address: 7337 West Washington Street Indianapolis, IN 46231 USA

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