To whom it may concern:
On the morning of September 30th, my wife and I had a flight from Phoenix to Milan connecting through Philadelphia. When we arrived at the airport, we were checked in without a problem. As it was getting close to the time for our flight to depart, the gate crew informed all passengers that the flight would be delayed from 7:35 am until 11:00 am. All passengers connecting internationally were told they needed to get in line so they could be rebooked.
We proceeded to get into line, where there were 3 gate agents trying to rebook at least 60 international travelers. After waiting in line for half an hour, we were told that because we were continuing on to Milan that there was nothing they could do for us at the gate unless we wouldn't mind arriving in Italy a day late. We were also told we should go back down to the main ticket counter as they might be able to get us there on the 1st as originally intended.
While we were waiting in line, I had relatives check flight availability for alternatives. They discovered that if we were rebooked on the US Air flight to Atlanta at 9:12 we could make a connection with Delta. They also mentioned that there was a flight through Chicago that might also work.
Because of the tight schedule involved we had to run back to the main ticket counter. The personnel there didn't realize that the gate was sending down so many people so they quickly became swamped. Also, they kept telling people that the the gate crew was responsible for rebooking them and they should go back up through security to the gate. A few members of the main counter were very rude and dismissive, not paying attention to what we were trying to tell them. When we finally were able to talk to a ticketing agent, she was very helpful and rebooked us on an alternate flight to Philadelphia and setup an alternative for us to go from Phily through Frankfurt to Milan, while leaving us booked on the Phily to Milan flight in case we made it to Phily in time. She had mentioned that the alternate flight to Philadelphia had our name on a list with the other international travelers, and were expecting all of us. She did not give us a seat assignment, explaining that they would take care of that at the gate.
At this point we had to run back up to a different gate, going through security again. When we arrived at the gate (along with 7 other passengers), we were greeted by the gate monitor stating the doors to the plane closed 10 minutes prior, and three surprised gate attendants who had no idea what we were doing there. They informed us that this flight had a weight restriction and we would not be allowed to board. They also informed us that because the merger was not complete between US Air and America West, they could not look up anything for us or help us in any way, since they did not have access to the US Air computers. They instructed us to go back to our original gate and flight and told us that it would depart at 9:30 am.
Yet again we had to run back down terminal A, up the concourse to terminal B, then all the way to end of terminal B so that we could be setup to go on that flight. When we arrived back at that gate, the gate agents checked us back in. Because of our rerouting, we had lost our original seats on the flight, and were given worse seats than what we had confirmed originally. They also confirmed us through from Phily to Frankfurt. We were told that when we arrived in Frankfurt we would need to check-in with Lufthansa, as they were the Star Alliance partner that would be taking us from Frankfurt to Milan. They let us know that they could not give us seat assignments for the Lufthansa flight, and we would need to get them at the gate there. We were also told that when we landed in Philly we should enquire with the gate agents about the status of our checked luggage, since our route had changed a couple of times. Upon another delayed arrival in Philadelphia, we inquired about our luggage. The attendant waved us off and told us there were no worries - on international flights, luggage had to travel with the passenger for security reasons, and reassured us that our bags were on our flights with us, despite our skepticism.
Unfortunately, the adventure didn't end there. When we arrived in Frankfurt (again delayed by an hour), none of the flight status displays showed the US Air flight number we were booked on. Being unable to find anyone able to look up what gate the flight would depart from, we had to guess which of the 2 flights to Milan would be flying on. After getting to the gate, we finally saw that US Air flight 5714 was co-listed with Lufthansa flight 3886 (information that would have been useful ahead of time). We met up with two other travelers from Phoenix who were given the same itinerary to Milan; unlike our ticket agent, who was "unable" to book seats on the flight, their ticket agent by some miracle could give them a seat assignment for the same flight. Unlucky for us, waiting until we could get us to the gate provided us with undesirable seats on the Lufthansa flight.
When we arrived in Milan (delayed yet again), we got to wait for about 45 minutes for the luggage claim carrousel to empty out. Given everything else that had happened we (and 3 other couples originating on US Air flights connecting through Lufthansa) pretty much expected this. When we went to the luggage claim counter, they checked with the US Air luggage claim to see if somehow our luggage had beaten us here, but unfortunately it had not. Instead, it had missed either part or all of the trip. We filled out our lost luggage report and asked that it be delivered to our hotel in Milan if it arrived later on the 1st or early on the 2nd, or to our hotel in Florence if it was after noon on the 2nd.
While I understand that there are mechanical problems at times that can cause delays and cancellations, being forced to run all over the Phoenix airport is not the right answer. This could have been completely avoided if US Air had finished the integration of the US Air and America West booking systems, or at least setup each gate to have a terminal for both systems. Instead, we were placed in a rather high stress situation that no customer should ever have to deal with.
The customer service at Sky Harbor only compounded the situation. My wife and I are very polite to customer service crews, since we have been there and understand that most of the time, the situation they have to deal with is not their fault directly. In exchange for our patience and empathy, we expect good service on things they are responsible for. The Sky Harbor crew had no desire to resolve the situation in the best interest of the customer, and it was obvious they wanted to pawn us and the other travelers on other employees so they would not have to deal with the situation. When we would ask questions, they would snap and answer back and ignore anything else we had told them. They were so busy with other things, they wouldn't even make eye contact with us, and instead of listening to the information we were giving them, they would interrupt us to talk to another employee or move another customer along. It was very frustrating, and we had the impression that the employees just wanted to get the passengers out of there, rather than attempt to make the situation right.
At each gate during the trip we inquired about our luggage and were told EVERY time that the law requires the bags to go with the customer so we had nothing to worry about. Somehow UPS and FedEx can tell you where your package is at EVERY step of the trip, and deliver over 99.99% of their packages on time, yet an airline (which should be able to follow the same procedures for baggage/freight as UPS or FedEx) cannot. I also do not understand how our bags could not make the flights we were assigned to, since the time between each departure was at least two hours due to delays.
These issues are completely unacceptable, and because of them I don't know if I would feel comfortable flying with US Air in the future. I do know that I definitely would have issues about recommending your company to friends and family. This has been a very disappointing experience, as we have had acceptable service with both US Air and America West in the past. I only hope our return trip on the 12th is less of a nightmare than the first leg, although my expectations are very low at this point.
(Faxed)