Travel Tip re: US Airways

Our opinion is that US Airways is one of the worst when it comes to treating their passengers fairly or properly. It so happens that they have good connections through their Phoenix hub to Guadalajara and other airports in Mexico.

Kathy experienced a situation returning to Albuquerque yesterday that provides a good lesson on how to deal with this company. The US Airways flight from Guadalajara experienced a weather delay due to ground fog. Before they even left Guadalajara, she received a phone message that her connecting flight had been cancelled due to mechanical issues. At any rate, the flight was about two and a half hours late taking off from GDL. Upon arrival in Phoenix, the US Air customer service counter outside of Immigration and Customs told her that all of their remaining flights for the day were either overbooked or weight restricted. So she headed for the main counter where they started off by offering to wait list her on their last flight of the day leaving almost 12 hours later. That wasn't acceptable to her and they indicated they were not responsible because her flight was weather delayed. She called BS to that story since they had made a mechanical cancellation. Next they tried to book her on American to Dallas and then back to Albuquerque arriving late last night. She refused that option and told them to book her on Southwest, who still had six direct flights to Albuquerque. "OH, they couldn't do that because Southwest isn't a member of IATA and wouldn't accept their vouchers!"

Now here is the kicker: we had solid information directly from Southwest that US Airways is Southwest's single largest customer due to all their cancellations. Kathy demanded to talk to supervisors or managers and was loud enough for people in line to hear what was going on. To shut her up - they finally produced a check made out to Southwest in the amount of the full fare and sent an agent down to Southwest with Kathy to purchase the ticket.

Moral of the Story: Don't believe their lies or deceptions designed to screw you and keep climbing the ladder in a loud enough manner that they want you to simply go away!

That approach works with almost every cash/customer business!!

Exactly the opposite with Bureaucrats... who enjoy a morning with a frantic exasperated client... it amuses them and is a pleasant distraction from an otherwise boring day...
With Bureaucrats, U phone them every single morning... being as pleasant as possible... try getting their names for familiarity and be sure they remember your name...
whatever you are trying to accomplish... they'll do it.... just to get rid of U

Hocks:

That may work well in Canada, where Bureaucrats are known to be friendly, courteous and concerned about their citizens but from personal experience with Social Security and from friends dealing with the VA - it doesn't work down here! I have been pleading, begging and arguing about six months worth of back SS payments for over a year and keep returning to square one. You would think it was money out of their pockets.

Don't be disillusioned, Canada Pension Disability can compete quite well with the US's Social Security!

Ohhh Jeebus, I had better apply now for my Canadian pensions. Only 2 years to zero hour.

All of that being said, US Airways is the only airline that can get you out of Vancouver, B.C. at a reasonable morning hour and into Guad, via Phoenix by 5 pm., and , picking your dates - at a reasonable price, you'll be Lakeside, beverage in hand by 7 pm. Downside - you're travelling Air Greyhound. Upside - you're not looking at snow on the ground here. Yes folks, It's a freakin winter wonderland and it sucks. Big Time.

As far as travel time and connections (if they make them) go, they are also the best out of Albuquerque too. But when an airline lies or uses deception in an attempt to dodge their responsibilities, we will look elsewhere.

As far as treatment goes, I am currently quite high on Southwest and their alliance with Volaris. To give an example, on my last trip, I thought I would be able to check my bags on Southwest all the way through to GDL. The customer service gal at Southwest wasn't sure and called to find their help line to find out. There was some delay in getting an answer and we chatted while she was on hold. Turned out that it couldn't be done because of the way I had booked the tickets - no big deal to me. Along with her apologies for not being able to do so, she handed me a voucher for $50 to be used for future travel. Made an impression with me! While Volaris is considered to be a low cost Mexican carrier, you wouldn't know it from the appearances of their flight attendants, the service level in flight or the free drinks that they provide.

I usually take Alaskan from Vancouver because I get discounted fares from their Mastercard program and I like arriving in Guad at 5:00am or 6:00am. That way if there are any lengthy delays you aren't travelling from the airport late at night..........

When was the last time, you were attended to by flight attendants dressed this well?
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Last night.....!!!