Our story of our 3.5 month old daughter's first trip on a plane on board US Air from IAH to BUF via PHL roundtrip from Aug 1 - Aug 3, 08 (conf #: BTEJCT, BTCL1Q)
As new parents our 1st trip with our 1st baby had been planned meticulously down to the most minute details to ensure everything would go smoothly. I had personally booked the tickets & the seat assignments 1 month prior to the flight on the US Air site. The first flight went as planned, we checked in 1 bag (80% baby stuff) & paid the $15 fee. We preboarded & as expected (her sleeping time) our daughter slept through both flights.
The return trip back conf#BTCL1Q on August 3rd from BUF to PHL to IAH though was nothing short of a nightmare & EXACTLY opposite to the first flight in experience. We arrived at the BUF airport about 2.5 hours in advance & when we checked in the seats from BUF to PHL where what I had booked (Row 20) . But the seats from PHL - IAH where random & we had no 2 seats together (4 of us + a baby). I asked the agent why are seats where not together & she said it was because I didn't book seats. I showed her my receipt print out from US Air clearly showing row 20 had been booked. She then told me that those are just requests & the computer just assigned our actual seats. I was confused. I don't fly Southwest Airlines because there are no assigned seats & when I fly with others I want to sit with them especially when I book early & choose the seats, after all we are taking the trip together not separately. I understand if I book late & there aren't any seats together. I explained to her that with a 3 month child it was hard to manage the baby with one person & get food & stuff when she is hungry. She told me there was nothing she could do about that but in PHL we could try to change seats.
The flight from BUF to PHL though delayed arrived without incident. After landing in PHL we talked to the agents about our seats & they said we would have to just wait & ask paxs to switch seats. I asked again why this happenned & they said they weren't sure. About 20 minutes before boarding they announced the plane was oversold & that they needed 2 volunteers who would receive confirmed tickets on the next flight & free roundtrip passes. 2 guys immediately accepted the offer. When they called for preboarding, we came up. The agent said she was sorry but we where listed as standby. I showed her that we had boarding passes with seat assignments & she said the computer showed standby & we would have to wait till everyone boarded. I was both confused & perplexed. I told her we had a 3 month old with us, my wife was a doctor with patients scheduled at 8:00am Monday & we had to get on this flight. She said they couldn't do anything but not to worry we should be able to get on. We waited patiently though honestly I was upset & frustrated as getting seats together would be nearly impossible now. After a while, I approached the agent & asked if we could board. She checked the computer then in a hushed tone said something to the other agent. They spoke for a while, then the agent said she had to call to get a manager down there to get us on the plane. About 5 min later another agent Fathi K. showed up & asked what was going on. The agents at the gate said, that they needed a manager & he wouldn't be able to help but he insisted. They told him the story & he said, well, the flight is oversold so US Air has the right to deny boarding & that's just standard practice.
I was frustrated, I told him about my wife & my daughter. He said there was nothing he could do except offer us free roundtrip vouchers for our inconvenience. I asked him if there was anyway we could get to IAH tonight. He replied, yes, but said he coudln't do it, we would have to go to the customer service counter. I asked him if there was a manager coming & he said no, the flight was oversold & there was nothing anyone could do. I asked why us, he said that it was because we probably bought tickets late or missed the 10 minute rule, he seemed annoyed that I was asking questions. The other 2 agents said no they where here early & I added that we bought our tickets 1 month ago & paid over $1200.00 for them. Fathi, a little rudely, said the flight’s oversold & that's all there is to it, there was nothing he could do, I would have to speak to customer service. I left my family there & went down to customer service. The line had 5 people in front of me. After 10 minutes I was still 5th in line. The guy in front of me told me he had been waiting for over 20 minutes & it hadn't moved. I got scared that the flight would leave with my baby's luggage which contained her formula (we had enough left for only about 8 hrs). I decided to run back to the gate & get our bag since technically we where not flying on the flight anyway, so our bag shouldn't go either. I got back to the gate & the plane was there, the doors open, paxs still in the jetway. I spoke to Fathi & asked him where do we go to collect our checked in bag. He very rudely replied that the bag was on the plane. I got extremely worried & upset. I told him that it’s one thing we coudln't get on a flight we fully paid for, but another to not give us the bag containing our 3 month old baby’s food. I pleaded with him to please call someone to get it off the plane. He said he couldn't (he didn't even try - that really made me mad) & told me that I could buy food at an airport shop. I was really mad now, he wasn't listening at all, I told him I needed FORMULA & they don't sell formula in airport shops. He said we should take a taxi or rent a car to get it. I was apalled at the lack of care & concern. I asked him why didn't they just ask for more volunteers? Why only 2? He didn’t respond to that, and instead said there was nothing he could do, we could not get us on the plane & he could not get our bag off because they don't' have enough personnel to do that.
Granted I know it would take a guy going into the bulkhead to get our luggage. The plane was already delayed for an hour, what would an extra 10 min hurt to get food that a little helpless 3 month old baby needed from paxs that you denied boarding from? I've never felt so helpless. I felt like I was being robbed in public, they where stealing my babies food. I'm a first time father, I was scared to death. If I don't eat, I don't care, but my baby?? That's a whole different story.
I went to customer service with my family. After 25 minutes in line, I was talking to a customer service agent. We explained our situation & asked when we could get to IAH. The agent told us she could fly us for free on US airways but not till tomorrow and we would have to pay to fly another airline which may or may not have flights left. She told us that she could give us "discounted" hotel and meal vouchers & confirm us on flights tomorrow but only for 2 in the morning at 7:35am & the other 2 at 7:35 pm. I asked her to please try and fly us all together at 7:35am. She told me only a manager could do that & so would call one & asked us to wait in the waiting till she arrived. 20 minutes later, the agent said the manager was in a meeting and would be here soon. It was now around 9:30pm. Another 20 minutes later the manager, Sue W., finally shows up. We tell her our story & she calmly points to the US airways carrier rights on a big poster which says, "If there are not enough volunteers, the airline will deny boarding to other persons in accordance with its particular boarding priority. With few exceptions, including failure to comply with the carrier’s check-in deadline, which are available upon request from the air carrier’s airport ticket counters & boarding locations, persons denied boarding involuntarily are entitled to compensation." I told her they only asked for 2 volunteers & they got 2. She said there was nothing she could do about that & would find out more later, I'm sure she will do nothing about it. We also told her about Fathi K. & his behaviour. She recognized his name & she was definitely more sympathetic to our situation having kids of her own. She, however, did not apologize for his insensitivty or anything which I found amazing as a supervisor. Very poor customer service, kind of undermines the US Airways Customer First declarations, "The safety & satisfaction of our customers is a top priority for our airline.".
Sue also told us that solving all our problems was not her job, but recommend we take a taxi to get formula if need be. Amazing. The problems where caused by US Airways not us, so is it their responsibility to solve the problems? I think so. We told Sue that they had only two seats for us in the morning & 2 in the evening & we really needed to go all together. We all (Sue & us) stepped up to counter agent we had before & the she pulled up the flight & said, she was sorry but now there was only 1 seat in the morning, 2 in the evening, & one person would have to go 2 days later. We where amazed! They had asked us to wait to talk to a supervisor & meanwhile gave away one of the seats. Sue then talked privately to the agent. After some time Sue came back to us & said the agent will take care of us but next time we should split our party & go when seats are available. I said we booked together, why should we travel apart? She then said, when we can get you on you should go, as if US airways was doing me a favor letting us on a later flight after denying 5 of us boarding on our "paid" flight. Sue then left. A few minutes later the agent said she had 4 seats for us on the 7:35am flight the next day, had 2 free hotel vouchers for tonight’s stay, & gave us $10 in meal coupons per adult, 4 adults ($40 total). By now it was almost 10:20pm, my daughter was crying & my family had been in the airport for 3 hours.
We left & waited for a Ramada hotel shuttle. We only get on the 2nd shuttle because the first was too crowded with other US Air paxs who had overbooked flights . We enjoyed a crowded 10 minute shuttle van ride (4 + baby in one van seat) to the hotel only to stand in line there for about 15 minutes. Since the diner closed at 11 I ordered so we would at least have food before they closed. My wife continued to stand in line & finally got the 2 rooms (10:55pm). Since we didn't have enough formula & the hotel people didn't know where we could get more at that time of night we decided to mix a lot of cereal with our daughters formula to try & reduce the number of feedings (it worked). The next day we arrived at the airport at 5:30am and finally got to IAH by 11am.
My final thoughts: Why overbook by so many? Is chasing the dollar really more important than the customer experience? If you knew already that we where wait listed why not reroute us from BUF itself to get us to our proper destination? Why only ask for 2 volunteers? Why not try & pacify (remove our daughters formula from the plane) for paxs that have been denied boarding, you already kicked them off the plane. Why not offer a class upgrade as well? Why only $10 per person for food. We had to get dinner and breakfast for four? Where are the free "vouchers" for future flights? They mentioned them just didn't give me anything?
The cost of US Air overbooking my family & our baby was:
1. Extra stress, anxiety, & frustration, centered around our baby having no food
2. 5 hrs of wasted time in the airport, 6 hrs in a hotel in PHL
3. 5 of my wife's patients unable to see her
6. 4 hrs of my lost contract pay at $75/hr -- 300.00 dollars.
7. Breakfast in the morning cost me $25 & the extra day of parking cost $15
8. Dissapointment in the treatment that I received as a pax
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