America West, Not America's Best
Written: Jan 11 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Clean airplane, decent in-flight service.
Cons: Ridiculous overbooking, lousy customer service, cheap compensation.
The Bottom Line: These guys don't deserve to be in business.
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| philipchu's Full Review: America West |
Sometimes you try something new, sometimes you pay the price.
Normally, I take American out of Long Beach when I visit my folks in Oklahoma City. Long Beach Airport is small (the terminals are not much more than trailers and you have to walk outside to board), and Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City is not much bigger, so choices are limited.
But, planning for this past Christmas, after American's web site kicked me off just as I was ready to select a flight, I saw that America West was an option and checked it out. The web site, like Southwest's and Jet Blue's and unlike American's, lets you scroll back and forth to compare fares on adjacent days. The flight I selected was about fifty dollars cheaper than the American flight I initially tried to buy.
From there, it went downhill. After rushing into the airplane because of the long security checkpoint line, I sat in the airplane for two hours on the strip as the pilot waited for the fog to lift. (I guess we were lucky - one of the planes in front of us had to taxi back to the terminal for more fuel) I don't hold America West or the pilot responsible for the fog - that's just bad luck.
And the flight itself was OK. The plane seemed in good condition and clean, and the flight attendants were not particularly cheerful but seemed courteous and professional. The only complaint that I and everyone else who bumped their head on the overhead compartment and had trouble turning around in the bathroom was that the plane was really small.
Things got bad in Phoenix. Upon landing the flight attendant announced that our connection information would be available at the gate. So the contents of this flight disembark and mill around the desk until the woman at the counter starts yelling out names. When she eventually stops, there's a smaller crowd milling around, which she directs to customer service across the way. Where's customer service? "Over there!" she yells and points impatiently as we remainders wander into traffic.
I forgo lunch thinking I'd better not risk missing my connecting flight or its replacement. Two hours later, after moving five feet forward in the customer service line, I realize that was a mistake. Finally, I make it up to one of the two attendants handling this line (it started with five and seems to have dwindled - maybe they too my lunch idea), and I'm informed that I've been rescheduled for the same connecting flight, but tomorrow. "Are you going to pay for a hotel?" "No - it was a weather delay, which is not our responsibility, but here's a number you can call for a discount on a hotel stay."
The attendant also put me on standby for a later flight that day, and took it manfully when I asked "Is there any reason that I couldn't have received this information at the gate instead of waiting for two hours?" "Sir, you're right, they could have looked it up then." Fortunately, I had the rest of the day in the airport to simmer down and notice that while I'd been waiting in line for two hours, there were plenty of other customer service reps at other stations just sitting around. I also checked Southwest, where the much perkier and helpful agent told me they had plenty of seats available on their next flight and allowed me to get a ticket on hold without purchase just in case I needed it. Alas, an America West agent informed me they don't have an arrangement with Southwest.
I did make the standby flight - as in a really bad game show, I was the last one selected among the group of us standby contestants. In a bid for good karma, I volunteered to give up my place to the couple carrying a little dog. since there were actually two seats left on the plane, but I think the attendant/game-show-host got confused by the math. I heard there were a couple of other standby's who didn't even show up and planned to hang out in the airport bar overnight (guess that hotel discount wasn't compelling).
So I went on the plane and was treated to the entertainment of a couple ignoring the flight attendant's instruction to turn off their cell phones and subsequently being led off by TSA personnel and sternly lectured at Will Rogers Airport. I thought myself lucky to arrive at my destination in one day, but wrong again. Checking into Will Rogers for my return flight, the agent typed in my flight info and said "uh oh". Apparently, since I'd arrived on a standby flight instead of my confirmed replacement flight, America West had assumed I didn't arrive and thus cancelled my return flight. This makes perfect sense if you realize they overbooked their flights by ten passengers at a time.
Complicating this, America West has a gate-sharing agreement with Continental at Will Rogers. So I waited while the Continental agent called America West and was put on hold much like I would have been. After maybe twenty minutes I got on a standby flight again, only this time I lost the game and waited three hours while the gate attendants processed everyone who didn't make it.
Now, Continental used to be my least favorite airline, but at this time I felt some sympathy while they tried to clean up someone else's problem. They managed to find an American flight for me (some irony there) going to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, necessitating a taxi ride or Super Shuttle to pick up my car in Long Beach. Adding insult to injury, the American agent who processed my ticket the next day decided by whatever mysterious criteria they use to stamp SSSS on my boarding pass, so I was given the bonus frisking experience my second consecutive day passing through the same security checkpoint.
Since weather couldn't be blamed on this last one day delay, and perhaps since I wasn't dealing with America West personnel, I came away with vouchers for one day's worth of hotel and meals - if you stay at cheap hotels and don't eat much. Sixty dollars for a hotel and twenty for meals (five for breakfast, five for lunch and ten for dinner). I blew the meal money on six bottled drinks at the airport. Also, one three hundred dollar voucher for another America West flight. Now, besides why would I ever want to fly on that airline again, this begs the question - was overbooking my $350 flight really worth it to America West? What kind of business model is that?
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
philipchu
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Member: Phil Chu
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
Reviews written: 60
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
writer of software and prose
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