I took US Airways from STL to NY last August. My flight was delayed twice in STL and twice in Philly. When the plane finally arrived in Philly the captain came off the plane and told the lady at the gate that they needed to reduce the amount of people on the flight by 15 people.
I look around and only see 28 trying to board the plane. Soooo they wanted more than half the people to NOT board the plane.
The gate lady said "really? Do you have a lot of cargo?"
he replied "no...(inaudible)...panel malfunction"
I went straight up to the gate lady and said I'd get off the plane and take the next available flight. She gave me $300 voucher (which I gave away) to take a flight that was 40mins later.
She continued to ask the remaining 27 people if they would take another flight but no one budged.
They boarded the flight anyway!! After the captain just said they couldn't and that some shit was broken!!!
The people who boarded that plane are idiots and so are the people that work at USAirways. For not only did I get the $300 voucher but she must have given me two by mistake becuase there was $600 in vouchers when I went to give the tickets away.
I've seen cab companies that are run better than US Airways.
Your 100% right when you say you've made them lose thousands of dollars in revenue sam. I for one will not be flying US Airways, I was even looking at them for a gig I have down in Atlanta next month. Guess not.
I do agree that you should sent this link their corporate headquarters. It will show them what their poor customer service is getting them.
Sam i dont know how much you want to fight this but i've had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with those *sses...not for busted gear but they made my buy (2) tickets at market price ~$3000 even after i bought the insurance and the lackey at the desk gave me the same crappy service you got.
man just reading you story makes we think how mad i was....you never know what you will get with those regional jets..So I typed up a few nice emails, set my fax machine on auto resend, made a few calls and left some VM. I did this *every day* After a week or 2 they got the msg that i was *ucking pissed off and was taking it to the next level. A manager called me back and they gave me back all my money. The monkey that ran the depart that gave me all the trouble was removed that same week (i called back to tell them what i thought of them). These are the places i contacted:
US Airways
Attention: Customer Relations
Fax: 480-693-2300
Contact Investor Relations
Phone: 480-693-1227 <-- this really got things going!
Contact Corporate Communications
# Main line: 480-693-5729
# 24-hour on call pager: 480-693-5909
# Fax: 480-693-5546
I hate using US carriers (jet blue is ok), please contact them or they will think the crappy service they give is ok.
I want to say first that I am very sorry to hear this story. I have been totally lucky over the years traveling with camera gear and nothing ever happened, but now that I am in the business of photography I do take things way more seriously in regard to protecting my stuff. I am taking note about the airline, but also have put a higher priority on picking up the perfect protection for my gear moving it to the top of my list. I was already in contemplation of what to buy and I want to thank Asim for the link. Those bags are perfect even for local gigs too. I hope you are able to get everything back to normal ASAP Sam. We all feel your pain.
Sam Hassas wrote:
Thank you everyone for your sympathies and well wishes. I will go through and answer the questions I've seen in the last 5 pages a little later.
NO, I didn't take pictures. Batteries for the bodies were packed in another suitcase that was checked-in earlier. iPhone images were sooooo bad. Yuo couldn't hardly make out that it was camera gear let alone wet camera gear.
Murphy's Law owened me Friday. I am 31, full grown, manly, eat nails, kick @$4, take names AND I was at the point of tears. I wish this on no one. Be safe and smart.
I AM happy to the fact that, though, I will be out at most $1,000, (hopefully) U.S. Airways is out FAR more then that. Several thousands I surmise from the awareness brought on by this thread.
Unfortunately, this is typical of today's huge corporations. They know that they are impervious to just about anything. They buy and sell politicians who have thrown out just about any consumer protection that once existed. They know they are all powerful, and deep down, most don't give a hoot about their "customers" who stand in long lines to buy their services and products. Its all too common today.
I ran into the same problem flying US Airways -Phil to WPB in June-. I got on the plane with my carryon bag (contained a D700,lenses and flash's) and because the overhead storage bins were full they forced me to check it for storage in the baggage area. I can tell you I was really sweating it the entire flight. Fortunately I had no damage or loss. I feel for you , Man...thomas
My camera bag stays with me. even if I have to bear hug it the whole way there.
Train or plane. Rain or Sunshine, I even refuse to leave it in my locked alarmed car.
morganb4 wrote:
Whilst Im not wishing to censure anyone and I know Sam is a big boy, but dude, sometimes people just want to be listened to. Considering how pissed off Sam is, I find this post kinda bad spirited.
sorry to hear of your issues when flying. It is this reason I will continue to load my minivan to the hilt and drive, no matter how far the job. flying sucks ass.
I'm seeing periodic posts of "U.S. Airways lost a potential customer". Really? Like you guys truly consider flying US Airways and then read a post and turn up your noses?
**Note, I am not, nor ever have been an affiliate nor do I have anything tied to US Airways whatsoever.
I'm just laughing at the posts here. "After reading this, I'm never flying (U.S. Airways)." Because no other airline will EVER mess up my equipment and not cover me." Riiigghhht.
charld wrote:
Sam i dont know how much you want to fight this but i've had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with those *sses...not for busted gear but they made my buy (2) tickets at market price ~$3000 even after i bought the insurance and the lackey at the desk gave me the same crappy service you got.
man just reading you story makes we think how mad i was....you never know what you will get with those regional jets..So I typed up a few nice emails, set my fax machine on auto resend, made a few calls and left some VM. I did this *every day* After a week or 2 they got the msg that i was *ucking pissed off and was taking it to the next level. A manager called me back and they gave me back all my money. The monkey that ran the depart that gave me all the trouble was removed that same week (i called back to tell them what i thought of them). These are the places i contacted:
US Airways
Attention: Customer Relations
Fax: 480-693-2300
Contact Investor Relations
Phone: 480-693-1227 <-- this really got things going!
Contact Corporate Communications
# Main line: 480-693-5729
# 24-hour on call pager: 480-693-5909
# Fax: 480-693-5546
I hate using US carriers (jet blue is ok), please contact them or they will think the crappy service they give is ok....Show more →
Can you expand a little? How did someone make you pay $3K for tickets? And what were the locations?
