The sad news is that we bade farewell to my mother on Tuesday, April 2nd. The good news is that I made it home to say good-bye to her before she left us only a few hours later. It is generally agreed that many, many people will wait for loved ones to gather at their sides before finally letting go and that is exactly what Mother did. To the end, she was thinking of her two daughters and managed her death with her unfailing good grace.
So, along with everything else one deals with in the following few days, I had not one, but two airline reservations to change. I flew American from San Francisco to New York and then, US Air from New York to Louisville.
My first call to US Air was what one can expect from this airline. Completely fruitless. No condolences. No effort to help, other than to offer to sell me another ticket for my return to New York at full price or change my existing reservation and pay a hefty fee. In the end, it was cheaper and easier to buy a new one-way ticket on Delta.
As a footnote, my niece’s husband is a senior pilot with US Air. They also refused his request to change his schedule to allow him to attend the funeral.
Is this the way companies owned by Warren Buffet are run? I mean, this airline has had a reputation for decades for having rude service on all fronts, but they’re reaching new heights. One problem with their phone customer service is that it’s out-sourced and all you get is the script provided to that person on the other side of the world.
I will never, ever spend another dime with US Air. Neither will anyone else in my family, including the niece whose husband flies for US Air.
Next, I had to call American Airlines since there didn’t seem to be an online option for making changes. Customer service was an incredibly solicitous woman with a Midwestern accent who worked with me to change my return reservation and checked with her supervisor to waive any fees other than a nominal $30. As she explained, no airlines offer bereavement fares anymore, but since the death occurred during the trip they have leeway to minimize additional charges. She offered her sympathy and shared some personal experience.
American has won me as a dedicated customer for life.
Huge difference! I wonder if US Air has the same policy as American? Maybe I’ll find out when and if corporate responds to the letter I’ll be sending.
This is a story about customer service, good communication, interacting with people as if we are all a part of the human race and connected to each other, sharing the human experience, responding to each other in a very real and sometimes, (when appropriate) on a very personal level.
Meanwhile, I will be connecting in Cincinnati to return to New York on Delta versus a non-stop flight on US Air.
Yep, that’s how much I will go out of my way not to spend money with a company that doesn’t care about its customers.
