[Tunes]

First off, let me say that I am a frquent air traveler. I have been loyal to US Airways for many years. For the most part, I am patient, and understanding of the inconveniences that go along with air travel today. In all the years I have been traveling, I have had every inconvenience thrown my way... I have been bumped, delayed, and I even had a plane make an emergency landing in Charlotte about twenty minutes after takeoff. (emergency vehicles on the runway and all). In all my flight experiences, I have NEVER complained one time. Never asked for as much as a second bag of peanuts, let alone a free ticket.

Recently, I experienced a problem that I felt the need to at least discuss with a customer service representative, and felt I deserved some small compensatory measure. As indicated prior, I had never needed to use this service before. As others have indicated herein, US Airways has managed to isolate themselves from the customer completely. They have a complaint email outlet setup on their website, but the responses are "cookie cutter" text book responses. There is no human element whatsoever. Any attempt to write directly to the executive management, kicks you right back to the same verbatum responses via email. US Airways has a "Vice President of Customer Experience". Her name is Kerry Hester. I cannot imagine what this woman is paid, but neither her, or her staff, ever handled my complaint in spite of multiple attempts to write to her pleading for some personalized service as a valued customer.

Here is my story:

I booked four tickets for my family vacation in Europe. The trip consists of four segments... PIT to PHL to Rome, Italy and back the same way.

I decided to use my frequent flyer miles for this travel. We booked well enough in advance to pick the seats we wanted and received confirmation numbers for this reservation and seat assignments.

As any flyer knows, schedule changes occur after booking. When this happens, your seat may change to a new location, especially if the plane is downsized in the schedule change. If you book as a family, the airline makes an effort to keep your seats together during these changes. What I did not realize, is if you use frequent flyer miles, US Airways reservations computer system assigns each person a separate reservation number, even if you are in the same party. I did not think about the consequences of this, but when a schedule change happened to my flight home from PHL to PIT, my family was scattered throughout the plane with our new seat assignments because their system had no way of identifying us as a family traveling together. Worse yet, the plane was full, so there is no way to place us all back together. My two sons are 4 and 8. The 8 year old will enjoy sitting by himself on the plane, but my 4 year old is still a "mama's boy". Not sure how that's going to play out when he is set in a seat next to a stranger, and mom and dad walk away to another part of the plane. In addition, my one son is in row one, which has no under seat stowing capabilities. That seat is great for a person traveling only from PHL to PIT, but not for a family of four coming back from a two week trip in Europe. We will have much more carry on luggage than the average passenger on this plane. I know that the airline does not guarantee seat assignments (contract of carriage). But, the only reason we were split up is due to a difficiency in their system to link frequent flyers together as a family. Should it matter that I paid in this manner? Obviously, if I have enough frequent flyer miles to take my family of four to Europe, I am a pretty loyal customer.

Bottom line is, I asked to speak to a customer service representative. I would have settled for a person calling me back and talking to me with some respect... Mabie a free upgrade or complimentary day pass to the club ($29.00 value)... I wasn't looking for much. Actually, my original intent was to see if they could waive the transfer fee and move us to the PHL TO PIT that was leaving an hour later with many open seats... They offerend NOTHING. I couldn't even get them to discuss if they could somehow link us as a family on one reservation number to prevent the same thing from occurring again prior to our departure date, which is still months away. The more they failed me with some basic customer service, the more frustrated I became. You cannot respond to their emails either. All you can do is log another ticket with your updated response based on their last email to you. I wound up logging over thirty complaints for the same issue. Their last email back to me was the same verbatum text as the first, but had a one-line entry at the end stating that they would no longer respond, and if I continued to send correspondence for the same complaint, they would refer me to corporate seciruty. It is unbelievable how such a small and petty issue could turn into the level of anger that I feel. US Airways lost a customer, not because of the schedule change, or the deficiency in their reservations system, but because of the lack of any customer service whatsoever. I suppose these issues happen at every airline, but customer service can probably rectify many of them with little to no cost to them. US Airways either is ignorant to this fact, or simply don't care. I feel better now that I have vented somewhere. THANKS.

[jimworcs]

Making a four year old and an 8 year old sit with a complete stranger is a child protection issue. Just accept the assignment and as you are boarding, hand the children to the purser, state that you have been forcibly separated by the airline from your children and that you are now handing them into their care. Tell them that they must accept full responsiblity for those children, including their safety and well being and ensure that they are protected from any abuse or inappropriate behaviour by any adult passengers they have been seated with. You will be seated together with your children before you have had a chance to even sit down.