America West Airline

America West Airline -- No Customer Service!!!

The following is a letter detailing my experience. This is the same letter I've sent to AW. I've deleted any personal or private information.

Jason T. Morrison

America West Airlines

Customer Care Department

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Jason Morrison (FlightFund Number: XXXX). I was recently a passenger on your December 22nd flight from LAS to SEA. I don't at this time recall the flight number and your website doesn't seem to be working properly for me to find it. My confirmation number is UZNM3N. I understand that things occur that create delays and I'm okay with that. What I don't appreciate and don't understand is the lack of information and respect we received as your paying passengers. When I'm trying to get to my family before Christmas and I hear we are going to have a delay, I'd like to be able to tell my family why I am going to be late. In this case, excessively late. We were scheduled to arrive at 11:20 PM on December 22 and did not arrive until 4:45 AM the next day. Allow me to describe to you the details of my experience with America West and your apparently inept and, in some of their cases, completely unprofessional gate agents.

I arrived to LAS for my 8:45 flight at 6:45 to allow myself plenty of time for security, etc. Fortunately, there was no line at the check point and I breezed through. My experience started out pretty well, but then things turned south. I arrived at the gate and waited until about 45 minutes before the flight and notice that the plane has yet to arrive from San Diego. I speak with the gate agent at the time and she tells me that the plane has not left San Diego and that we are expecting a slight delay. I'm fine with this. It's the holiday season and things at the airport are notoriously slow during this time of year. I sit back down and wait. During this time, we have a gate change. So I grab my bags and trek down to the new gate. An hour later, I approach the counter and speak with the gate agent requesting an update for my flight. She was incredibly short with me and told me that she had no new information, all she knew was the plane was in the air and that I should "sit down and wait patiently." The time is now approximately 9:30. So I sit down and wait. Patiently of course. I call my family in Seattle and let them know that we are running a bit late and that I will let them know as soon as I hear something. Keep in mind that the family I am visiting have a 2 year old and a 7 month old, so timing is key in arranging transportation. While waiting patiently at our new gate, we hear an announcement that our gate has again changed. I follow the masses to our new gate and again, as advised before, wait patiently. 10:30 comes around and I inquire again, this time with a Red Jacket (I believe this was the Customer Service agent airlines send out when things have the potential to get hostile. You might want to consider changing the color from red to something more soothing. Colors have an effect on how people react to things. Red isn't a great color for stressful situations). He was very nice and very polite however he had no idea what was happening. Our plane from San Diego had yet to arrive, despite the fact that we were told the plane had left San Diego about 2 hours or more before. This encounter was the last bit of information we received before our plane arrived around midnight or so. Once the plane arrived they announced that we would be boarding as soon as they were able to deplane and clean the aircraft. Finally, we're going to be departing. Or were we? They announced to us that there is a problem with the aircraft and maintenance is looking into it. They told us there will be approximately another hour delay. At this point, I go to speak to the gate agent to get information about what is going on. They tell me that that are working on the problem and as soon as it is fixed we will be heading out. I asked them what would happen if the issue is not resolved. I was informed that they would get a plane they had in reserve and use that to fly to SEA. As this was the last flight of the day and no other AW flights would be leaving LAS that evening, I inquired why we had to wait to get the reserve plane if no other planes were leaving LAS. They shrugged off the question and said that I should just wait and see what happens. I was surprised by this. They were very very very short with me and I don't appreciate the lack of understanding, the lack of care, the lack of respect and the lack of customer service I received from your team. I'm a paying customer and deserve to be treated with at least a modicum of respect. I treat everyone that I meet with the same respect I would expect from them. These people were being paid to be there and they treated their customers like dirt. This is completely unacceptable. I didn't pay you to be treated like crap. If I wanted that I would have stayed home and saved myself $300. The communication between your gate agents and your customers was amazingly lacking. Around 1:45 AM (keep in mind we were supposed to leave at 8:45 PM the previous day) they announce yet another gate change and that we would be departing on a different aircraft. They prefaced this announcement with, "You're going to hate me..." We finally board our new aircraft around 2 AM and sit there...no announcements as to when we would be pushing back or anything. Simply a lack-luster apology for the "delay" and that we would be leaving soon. Apparently "soon" is a relative term to the time spent waiting to actually board the plane. About 15 minutes after we board the plane, a gate agent or flight attendant comes on the intercom and asks if there are any volunteers to give up their seat. After 8 hours of delay, your company has the audacity to ask for volunteers to give up their seats? They were offering a very pathetic compensation package in relation to what your company had put us through: A flight the next evening at 8:45 PM, hotel accommodations for the evening, meal vouchers, and $400 for FTA (future travel arrangements). This incredibly insulting offer made me laugh in disgust. Finally, around 2:45 (8 hours after our scheduled departure) we push back and begin our 2.5 hour flight to Seattle. It is my understanding that after 5 hours delay, your company is supposed to begin some process of compensation for the inconvenience. This was beyond inconvenience.

This is the absolute worst experience I have had with any airline and I am incredibly displeased with how your personnel handled the situation. The delay isn't what bugs me the most. Crap happens and I understand that. It was the fact that your staff was completely unprofessional, lack any customer service skills, and clearly have been either under-trained or just have no respect for America West or their customers. For your sake, I hope they have just been under-trained as that's relatively easy to fix. I'm not one to write letters or emails regarding bad customer service, however in this case I've made an exception. The airline industry is a floundering one and it needs good people as its representatives that the airport. I met none during my trip. There was the one customer service agent who was very nice, however inept. My experience was not up to par or anywhere near living up to your Customer Service Plan. It states we would be updated via the communication system every 15 minutes. This did not happen. Nothing was done to properly inform us as to the situation. We were told to sit and wait. I would appreciate a response to this letter to let me know that my concerns have not fallen on deaf ears. I can be contacted via mail at my address above or through the phone number provided. I can also be reached via email at XXXXXXX.

Thank you,

~Jason T. Morrison~