Complaint Review: America West Airlines - Phoenix Arizona

The following is exactly what I wrote to America West Airlnes via email on 4/2/00.

On Friday March 31 we arrived at San Jose Airport for a 9:30 PM flight to Kansas City via Las Vegas. Myself, daughter and 6 month old granddaughter were returning from the funeral of my grandmother. We arrived at the ticket counter at 8 PM for our flight at 9:30. When we checked in we were notified that our flight from Las Vegas to Kansas City had been canceled (he stated due to weather). Therefore leaving us with no way to get to Kansas City that night. The gentleman at the counter (who was very kind) suggested we stay overnight and take a 9:30 AM flight to Phoenix where we could try to go standby for a a flight to Kansas City, be booked on a Southwest Flight at 4 PM, or take our new ticketed flight which was the only one he could confirm for us (due to overbooking) at 9:30 PM.

We did that and arrived in Phoenix at about 12:30 PM. We had to collect our luggage which we were told could be on either carousel 1, 2, or 3 and went to the ticket counter. Denise who helped us at the counter said she would try to put us on the Southwest Flight--when she checked with the supervisor she was told she could not because the flight had been canceled due to weather.

Now, we knew there had been delays because of weather to and from Phoenix, but we could not get a confirmation on the weather problem for Las Vegas-Kansas City. I personally, called the reservation line and was told by a reservation person that there was a weather/equipment balance reason for our flight cancellation. I went to the Passenger Assistance counter and talked with a person who was very rude. She gave us the same song and dance about the weather related problems. Although she did concede they should have put us on the Southwest flight. We went to our gate and the supervisor of the customer service department talked with us. We gave him our story and asked for some sort of compensation since we had been in route to Kansas City now for 24 hours. Can you imagine with a 6 month old? He listened but basically said there was nothing he could do.

On each occasion we talked to a person we insisted on the fact that the real reason was not weather and that using that excuse was dishonest. We also inquired about compensation. Each time it was as if we were talking to a wall. If your slogan is to put the "Customer First" you are doing a very poor job of it. Once we got to Phoenix we were treated like we were invisible. There was no excuse.

The bad part of this is that it is not the first time this has happened with your airline. We sent my mom home on a flight to Phoenix from Kansas City last month. Her plane never showed up in Phoenix when it was to arrive. My sister in Phoenix and myself were trying to find out where she was and no one could tell us. Her flight was over 1 1/2 hours late. My sister was at the airport and I was on the phone with your airline and NO ONE could tell us exactly where she was and when she would be there. How can this be? This lead us to believe there must have been a crash or something. She did finally arrive.

When we came through security on Saturday the six month old baby was asleep in her carseat and we were told we would have to take her out to go through security. We had been at two other airports during this trip and had not been asked to do this. They simply used the wand. They said it was America West policy. The America West desk said it was a policy at all airports. So what is the answer? Anyway, she had to be woken up and taken out of the carseat. This is at the end of 24 hours of traveling from place to place.

I am very saddened by the facts I have just written to you. We feel that we were not heard and treated fairly.