US Airways...dodgy b'stards

Sconsey

Hi,

Wasn't sure if this thread or Travel forum is the best location for this post...

Here's my story of being messed around by US Airways, all commnets welcome

Myself and three friends booked and paid for flights to Las Vegas, route was Dublin - Philedelphia - Las vegas. Happy days, booked and paid months ago. We arrived at Dublin last week and we all checked in, they checked us in for the Philedelphia flight and the connection to Vegas. All four checked in together (all flights were with US Airways). When we were waiting around in Dublin after US customs the check-in girl arrived and asked to see my itenary again, I gave it to her and she disappeared for a while and came back saying everything was ok, I asked her to explain the reason she waneted my itenary and she said she just needed to confirm names...no bother. We boarded the flight and during the flight to Philly I happened to check my boarding pass for the connection to Vegas...it was not for the flight I booked, but for a flight a couple of hours later from Philly to Vegas. I checked the other guys cards and two of us had cards for the flight we booked and two had cards for a much later flight.
So I was pi$$ed, when we arrived in Philly I went to the US Airways desk to explain the mix up and the lady behind the counter said our flight was overbooked and just shrugged her shoulders. She said we could go on standby if we wanted, I asked why the hell we should go on standby for a flight we had booked and paid for moths ago. she just shrugged her shoulders and basically did not give a damn. So two of our group got the flight they booked while two of us waited for the later flight.
Come boarding time on the later flight my friend was stopped at the gate and told the flight was overbooked and he was not allowed on! I was raging at this stage, I told the air hostess that if he did not get on then I wanted to get off (not leaving him on his own in Philly), she said 'yeah grand, get off so'. I then told her that they would need to get my bags, and my friends bags, out of the hold. She suddenly changed her tune and my friend was rushed onto the plane, they found a seat! Obvoiusly they did not want to delay the plane pulling luggage out of the hold, but if we hadn't checked bags I seriously doubt he would have got on the plane, there were others waiting round on standby too.

So my biggest gripe is with that girl in Dublin airport who checed us onto a different flight without even informing us, we had to find out ourselves later. And she then went on to tell us nothing was wrong when she obviously knew she had moved us to another flight, and to top it off we were not even confirmed for the other flight, it was deception on her part as far as I am concerned.

Bottom line, we made it to Vegas after a lot of hassle and lost a full day with friends there because they arrived on their own and we could not find them when we arrived.

Any comments on how I shoudl complain to US Airways, I am not after compensation, but I would like to warn all potential customers of their shady practices and advise all to check your boarding passes at the desk because who knows what they are doing without telling you.

G'luck (Vegas was great by the way, no thanks to US Airways).

Manic Moran

What can I say, I've flown US Airways often enough, no exceptional incidents. As ever, your mileage may vary.

NTM

mayflyatr

Went to post a reply and the website tells me I have to log in again! Lost all my hard work!!!! :mad: So here is a short reply......

Send a letter to US airways, I would send a copy to their HQ in the US and to their branch here in Ireland. Found this address for you:

US Airways
Office 41 Level 4 Main Terminal bldg Dublin Airport Co. Dublin

Give them full details on what went on and how it inconvenienced you and curtailed your holiday. You may get a satisfactory outcome or just an apology.

Sounds like the lady made a balls of it at check in. Maybe it was beyond her control but the least she could have done was be professional and honest about the situation advising you so you could have opted to go for the later flight all together.

Hope this helps, raging I lost my initial reply!!!!!

91011

Unfortunately that's air travel in the USA for you.

They overbook, bump you off and unless you kick off they do nothing for you.

Most US airlines are similar as they don't have the same stringent rules as europe. - Though on the positive side, its a hell of a lot easier to get a flight changed if you're running late.

will1977

The lady in Dublin was in all likelyhood working for the handling agent and not US directly and as such didnt want the hassle. She should have been honest with you and advised that the flight was overbooked. You are entitled to compo and how much depends on how long the flight was delayed.

Deffo write to them

jor el

Airlines do overbook, it happens all the time. They should have told you this at Dublin though, and informed you of the change. You should also have checked all your boarding passes before departing Dublin, especially seeing as how someone came to look at your itinerary again. This should have made you suspicious.

Normally when you're delayed because of over-booking, you get some sort of cash compensation, but you should have been made aware of it at Dublin. You could also be due compensation through your travel insurance, depending on the insurance policy and the type of delay suffered.

mayflyatr

Have a read of this, looks like you should be entitled to compensation.

http://cfr.vlex.com/vid/250-written-explanation-boarding-19564984

tricky D

91011 wrote: »

Unfortunately that's air travel in the USA for you.

They overbook, bump you off and unless you kick off they do nothing for you.

Most US airlines are similar as they don't have the same stringent rules as europe. - Though on the positive side, its a hell of a lot easier to get a flight changed if you're running late.

They also just pull flights. I had a flight from Reagan/National to JFK pulled due to lack of demand and ended up getting a flight to La Guardia and limo transfer to JFK from an hispanic driver with almost zero english, which was fun. I could and should have stayed for an overnighter in NY at their expense but just managed to make my delayed flight.

Sconsey

Thanks for the replies folks, I'll be sending them a complaint anyway.

murphym7

It seems odd that they were messing with your onward flight in Dublin - normally the poeple who get bumped off an overbooked flight are the ones that check in the latest. If you were checking in in Dublin for the onward flight to Vegas you should have been OK - 5+ hours before the Vegas flight. Maybe the other passengers on the Vegas flight checked in on line.

Either way what the girl did in Dublin was sneaky.

Slunk

We were one of the first to check in coming home from new York. No seats assigned. Thought it was weird. Then was told we were on standby. Over booked. I explained i was first to check in and was at the gate even before our flight came up. They offered me a seat but my gf would have to wait. Wtf. Then two American lads heard us and said we could have their seats. They would wait For the next flight but check in lady wouldn't accept this. Finally they got up seats on the plane. Not together. I was going mad. My gf is a really bad flyer so i had to be beside her. After another while they finally sorted it out but it was an awful experience.

chappy

tbh I have spent 3 summers travelling around America and never had any trouble with US airways...in fact I found their staff extremely helpful

jack presley

I flew with Continental to Vegas via Newark a few years back and the same issue with overbooking arose and a rep came over and asked to see our boarding passes.

But she was open and upfront with us about the overbooking and offered us a $500 voucher (can't remember if it was $500 each or between us) if we agreed to take a flight two hours later that was to stop in Shannon.

The funny thing was her selling point was that she was insisting that we'd still make our original connection to Vegas if we took the later flight. As we had only 2 hours to kill in Newark, there was no way this was true so we declined and she went off and tried it with another couple.