Complaint Review: US Airways - Winston-Salem North Carolina

I am writing to express my extreme frustration and disappointment with the manner in which I was treated during a recent trip from Washington National to Indianapolis on your airline. As a frequent domestic and international traveller for both business and pleasure, I have often experienced flight delays, but rarely have I witnessed such incompetent, rude, and generally inexcusable behavior from airline staff as I saw among your staff at Washington National Airport.

I arrived at National early on Friday evening, 9 May 2003, for flight 2152 to Pittsburgh, where I was to catch a connecting flight for Indianapolis. Although no other airlines seemed to have lines of more than 20 people at their check-in counters, the US Airways counters were surrounded by a swarm of well over 100 people in lines so tangled that it was impossible to tell where one should line up to wait. Having an e-ticket and no bags to check, I stood in the general vicinity of the self-service computers to check in and waited for an opening to use one; there was no sign of any orderly line or system for getting people through, and at least three of the computers were out of service. When I finally managed to push my way through to one actually working, it would not print a boarding pass because the flight to Pittsburgh was already so delayed as to make it impossible to make the Indianapolis connection.

With a crowd of other impatient would-be passengers, I waited for about 45 minutes to push my way forward-- I am not an aggressive person, but again, there was no organized system and at no time did any airline employee attempt to impose order on the increasingly restless crowd-- to approach one of only a handful of customer service representatives. The representative I dealt with was perhaps the most non-communicative, slow, and inept airline employee I have ever seen. At no time did she look up from her computer to address me, to acknowledge other passengers crowded around, or to gauge the situation. She took at least half an hour, without ever telling me what was happening, to determine that I was indeed going to miss my connection and that there were no other options available that night. She then had to call another agent to figure out how to reserve a seat for me on the first flight the following morning. Finally, nearly two hours after I arrived at the airport, I emerged with a ticket for a flight that would put me at my destination 13 hours after the originally scheduled time. I had to take the shuttle back to economy parking, where I had parked my car in anticipation of being away for the entire weekend.

Alas, the misadventure was not yet over. I arrived again at National and re-parked my car at about 7:00 Saturday morning. The departure screens in the terminal said the flight was on time, but when I checked in at the gate I was informed, without the slightest hint of apology, that the flight, scheduled to leave at 8:45, was delayed about 45 minutes. Later the monitor was changed to show a departure time of 10:00, then 10:40, but no announcement of any kind was ever made. Finally, at about 11:00, it was announced that the gate had been changed and we would be boarding shortly.

As a final insult before leaving National, I was pulled out of line while boarding to have my baggage inspected. I understand and respect the need for security, but let's be realistic-- I am a 20-something white female from Indiana, and I work for the federal government. I am hard-pressed to imagine anyone who is LESS of a security risk than I am.

Once we did board, the captain finally deigned to tell us why the flight was delayed for three hours, apparently because weather problems in Washington had prevented the plane from leaving Indianapolis earlier that morning. I never did find out why the flight to Pittsburgh the previous night had been delayed; I heard a representative at the check-in counter say it was listed as mechanical difficulties. There were certainly no weather issues that hampered any other airlines from leaving Washington or arriving in Indianapolis that evening.

I finally arrived in Indianapolis a little after 1:00 CST-- fully 16 hours after my original scheduled time of arrival, and more than three hours after the rescheduled time. As I said, I am an experienced traveller quite familiar with the hassles of unexpected flight delays, and I realize that none of the people with whom I dealt at the airport were responsible for the delay. It seems to me, however, that it ought at least to be the responsibility of your employees to keep passengers informed with regular updates, to recognize the inconvenience that has been caused, and to address the needs of the customers in an orderly and efficient way. Your staff did none of these in even a minimally acceptable manner. I paid $220 for a round trip that I could easily have made by car in the amount of time that I waited for a flight, and I did not even receive the courtesy of an apology.

In contrast, on my return flight on a different airline, I was again delayed due to weather, missed a connection, and got in several hours late to my destination. While the delay was aggravating, I have no complaint with that airline, because its employees kept customers regularly updated, explained what was going on, and made new arrangements for those of us who missed connections in an efficient, friendly way.

I and my family and friends have often used US Airways because of its convenient service between National and Indianapolis, as well as other routes. We have enough other options, however, that unless some redress is made for this experience I will be unlikely ever to use your airline again, and I will certainly discourage others from doing so. In all honesty, I would much prefer to pay more or take less convenient flights than to ever again be treated with such blatant disregard as during this trip.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Renee

Washington, District of Columbia
U.S.A.