[bohica]

I have been a frequent flyer of US Air for at least 10 years, and I am sad to say that they are currently at an all time low in terms of Customer Service. I have been not only a witness to their steady decline, but a frequent victim of it - so much so that I never say US Air any more - I say I fly Useless Air! (Believe me - if my frequent flyer miles and my status weren't so vested in them, I'd switch to another airline tomorrow!!) Not too terribly long ago, they went on a lost luggage binge. They single-handedly managed to lose my luggage 17 times over a period of 3 months that included 13 trips! They lost it every single time on the outbound trip, and 4 times coming home! And when I finally got fed up enough to complain, I was told, "But ma'am, we only lose luggage 3% of the time." Since this was not a viable explanation, did not help me in the least, and did not exhibit even a note of concern or accountability, my reply was a somewhat caustic, "Yeah, and I'm it. I AM your 3%." This summer has been a disaster - not a single flight all summer has departed on time. Although the tactics of herding everyone on board, then pullng back from the gate to sit on the tarmac for an extended period may satisfy the FAA, they do not satisfy me. I don't care what they say - that is NOT an on-time departure. These delays have caused me to consistently miss connections, further caused MORE lost luggage, and occasionally caused me to be delayed in arriving to meet with clients. The latest lost luggage episode was the icing on the cake - I arrived, my luggage did not, and (of course) I was initially assured it would arrive on the next flight in 3 hours. Arrangements were made to deliver the luggage to my hotel, and I was given a number to call to confirm that my luggage had arrived and been dispatched to a delivery service. Hmmpphh! What a joke. First I was told it had arrived, then several hours later told it had not. Finally they decided it had, and that it was on the delivery truck - which took 9 hours to decide to arrive at my hotel!!! In the interim, I got every run around imagineable, was told point blank that I could not speak to a supervisor, was told there is no phone number for me to contact the corporate office, and eventually was even told, "You know, we don't HAVE to return it to you until 24 hours have passed." So, was that a thinly veiled threat? Just rudeness? Was I supposed to be apologetic because they lost my luggage and had to inconvenience them by demanding that they find and return it (post haste)? You pick -I'm still trying to figure it out.

I have made up my mind that beginning in January of 2009 - I will use a different airline. I am stuck with them for 4 more months because I will not throw away my status and I need to use up a couple hundred thousand frequent flyer miles, but come New Year's - I am officially done with good, old Useless Air.

While I am angry and frustrated with their inability to handle any issue with the courtesy and quality that I deliver to MY customers, I am also a little sad and perplexed. In this day and age where airlines are struggling to stay solvent, wouldn't it make more sense to try harder? Even if they can't afford to give anything away, they should be stiving to regain customer loyalty, and to make the customer experience a pleasant one. So why does it seem that a condition of employment at US Air is a rude, nasty attitude and a desire to alienate any and all customers? I've concluded that US Air has a secret agenda - they WANT to go out of business; nobody with a sincere desire to succeed could manage to be so obnoxious.