That’s a whole lot of bag-tagging. Read the whole story at…
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2456usg
(That’s a tinyurl that will redirect you to the longer USA Today link, but note that you’ll be able to preview where it’s taking you before you redirect.)
The whole airline industry thing amazes me. I was in California on Friday when my wife had to be taken into surgery (her gall bladder had gone South). So I called the airline upon which I was holding tickets (American Airlines) and asked if they’d consider moving up my flights 3 days due to the medical circumstance. The lady was just a bit snippety as she responded, “Mr. Lucas, we no longer make medical exceptions — ever.” She wanted $600 for a seat on a flight that left in an hour. What I don’t get is that I hung up, then purchased a fare on Southwest that covered exactly the same ground for just $189. Who decides these insane rules and why wouldn’t an airline take $189 if it had an empty seat to sell? No wonder they’re going belly-up. Do you think I’m going to go out of my way to buy on AA again any time soon? What’s more, the Southwest folks didn’t charge for my bags and, of all things, they were *nice* to me! :-) (It was like they really did love to fly! :-) ) Go figure. (Thanks, Lissa [from Uganda], for the tip on the original article that started this rant. :-) )
Doug, I copied your post and the URL and logged into my AA.com site and forwarded it to AA as a customer complaint. Maybe you will hear from them.
Southwest seems to have great customer relations. They consistently rank at the top of the industry for customer satisfaction- http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_10/b4024001.htm
I was flying Atlanta to Louisville a couple months ago after 2 connecting flights and an overseas flight. My last leg was on Southwest- and it was by far the best. They served us starbucks coffee, which is enough to win my soul, but also offered several choices of nuts. Beats that crude oil coffee and kibbles n bits everyone else serves!
Paul K, I won’t hold my breath. But it was still an extremely nice gesture on your part. Like I say though — Southwest ended up cashing in on it. Not only did they show great customer service, but also – the lady actually asked about my wife several times and wished me well getting home to her that same day. The American Airlines gal just gave me a price, but wouldn’t come out and say that there was even space on the flight. When I asked her again (twice, very humbly and gently), “Miss, are you saying then that there’s an empty seat on that flight,” she repeated, ever so rigidly, “The price is $600,” as if she was trying to make a point. She finally said, “I wouldn’t quote you a price if there wasn’t an empty seat.” I calmly responded, “Miss, perhaps a more sophisticated flyer would have known that. Before I drove to the airport to plop down $600, I just wanted to hear you say, ‘yes, there are seats open on that flight Mr. Lucas.’ At that point, she didn’t even speak. She just did that thing where you “phhhhh’ some air out of your mouth, like she was completely disgusted with my ignorance. I thanked her for her time, then immediately contacted Southwest. Learned my lesson for sure.
But thanks again for the time you took to try to help, Paul.