US AIRWAYS-- Confusion and Lies

[Pujo21]

Recently my wife made an on-line purchase of a round trip ticket from New York to Syracuse.
A couple of days before the flight, she became ill and was unable to go. The day before she cancelled on-line and was instructed that she would be contacted within four hours by them by E-Mail.

Hence there was no reply from them by E-Mail which prompted her to call them on the phone.

One US Air representative on the phone said that she should go back to their web and submit the cancellation and change to new reservations and that there would be no penalty because she was ill.
Still no luck in the cancellation on-line. Which prompted another telephone call to US AIR.
A supervisor from US AIR tells her that her original ticket was non-refundable and that she could change it for a $ 100 service fee.

So thusly a non-refundable ticket becomes good as long as you cough up an extra $100.

This is how US AIR does business !

My wife became very ill..and they could care less.

Up-Theres from now on :thefinger

Bottom line folks , read the fine print before purchasing a plane ticket.

Adios US AIR GAFFERS.. moon1 :thefinger

 

[Nole]

All U.S. carriers charge $100.00 to change a domestic ticket no matter what. On top of that, if the new ticket cost more than the original ticket, you must pay the difference plus the $100.00. Some leniency may be shown if there was a death in the immediate family or a major injury but the airlines certainly won't work with you if you're sick. They are gutless scumbags.

Just a little more info, in the past, if you couldn't make a flight, your ticket could be used for future travel for up to one year(some instances 2 years). Recently that has been changed where you now have to book another flight before your original outbound date and still pay the $100.00 fee to change(and possibly a difference in price) or lose the price of the 1st ticket all together. Totally non refundable. Only full coach, business and 1st class fares are refundable/changeable at no charge.

I hope your wife gets to feeling better.

nole

 

[StevieD]

And how many Billions did we taxpayers pay up to secure their bonus's..err i mean bail them out.

 

[acehistr8]

Its certainly a reach to accuse them of lying to you. The ticket is good as long as you make a new reservation. Every airline has this policy, its certainly nothing new at all, most especially for low fare/short haul tickets. Im not saying I agree with them at all, quite the contrary, but their policy is clear and not hidden from consumers. As you said, dont forget to read the fine print, its right there on the USAirways site before you buy the ticket.

Dont know what the government bailout has to do with it. The government subsidizes Amtrak with a billion dollars a year, but they have similar penalities and dont give away train tickets. When the government bailed out Chrylser, they didnt give everyone free cars.

 

[StevieD]

Ace, nobody is asking for a free flight. And when the government bailed out Chrysler, Chrysler didn't pay bonus's to the top execs until they paid the money back.

 

[acehistr8]

Oh please, not another airline execs bonuses thread. Please dont change the subject.

Every airlines policy is clearly stated before you buy the ticket. Pujo feels that this is deceiving and amounts to them lying to him. I dont. Right there on the site, before you buy a ticket, before you confirm it CLEARLY STATES:

"Note: This fare is non-refundable and cannot be changed after ticketed departure date."

I mean, that sounds pretty clear to me. Obviously his wife got sick and something bad happened so she couldnt travel. But to me it doesnt seem that whoever bought the ticket could do so without reading their policy very clearly.

And no, I dont get how because the government bailed out the airlines, that means they cant have policies or charge fees anymore?

 

[StevieD]

How much can it cost to go from NY to Syracuse? The $100 fee is too much. And because of their policy they lost a customer. Doesn't sound like good business to me in a time when they should be battling for customers. But they got their $100. For a short flight like that they should of waived the fee and secured a customer. Just my opinion.

 

[acehistr8]

Like I said, the fees are high, I totally agree with you. But Stevie, do you think they lied to him? The policy is right there, clearly stated. If you buy the ticket, you agree it is non-refundable, and repugnant though it may be, you agree to their fee schedule if you need to change it. So once you buy the ticket, you have completed a contract with them. Right?

Ive spent a long time in customer service type positions and if I gave a refund for everytime someone called with a reason why they needed a refund, the company wouldnt have been in business. There are hundreds of travel web sites out there that tell you how to get good deals on this and that. If USAirways were out there and people knew they could just call and say their wife was sick they needed to cancel their ticket, that would be bad. Sad to say, its just not good business to give in on fees like that.

 

[Pujo21]

Well thanks for the response ! The feed back was good !

Ya know my point being, yes i understand that they have policies !

But when one US AIR representative tells us that there would be no fee cahrge and that all we had to do was re-schedule and then the second US AIR representative says no the policy is to be enforced, then we were misled, maybe by mistake on the first representative but never the less we were.

Furthermore, they never responded to us by E-Mail within the four hours that they said they would on their web-site.

I'm not going to say that US AIR is a terrible airline because i've used them before ! But not any more ! Not after doubletalk from them and an inadequate response from their customer service web-site !
US AIR This Buds for you

:toast: :thefinger --
ahhhhhhhhh... I feel better already !
now onto acehighs page.... Good Luck all !

 

[AR182]

pujo21,
when did your wife book the flight? we recently rescheduled a flight to montreal & northwest did not charge us.i was led to believe that airlines were not charging any fees during the iraqi war. maybe the airline would accept a note from your wife's doctor stating that she could not take a flight because of ill health.

 

[acehistr8]

I believe all major airlines were waving change fees in the past month or so for travel to Canada because of SARS.

 

[Pujo21]

US Scare Aways

US Scare Aways

ARI..

She booked the flight in the beginning of May. The War was over by then.

U n S crupulous Airlines..LOL can kiss my patookie !
They should proudly wear my Avatar ! LOL

UN Fairways :thefinger :moon: scummers that they are !