[NCFL]

PineyBob, on Dec 24 2008, 10:20 AM, said:

Sadly yet another DOCUMENTED example of why The Sandcastle has no crediblity with Frequent Flyers.

It is also now been documented by the Federal Government that The Sandcastle can not be trusted.

Yet another example of their attitude and approach towards Frequent Flyers, Employees and Customers in general.

Piney, et al: Don't faint, but I'm coming to the defense of Tempe on this one. This isn't an issue about which The Sandcastle is terminally unique, or something they're necessarily doing wrong, even though there's always room for improvement.

With respect to handling oversales, the lack of written disclosure, proper solicitation of volunteers and timely or accurate compensation payment issues were long-standing problems in the East as well.

[JetguyCLT]

Deceptive? Is that even the right word? Was working an oversold Denver the other day, had to deny about 7 people. Do you think they where given a choice of a cash payment or a TFC? Nope! Supervisor said only give them 2 TFC's! WTF???? I know its a pain in the ass to calculate the cash payment but Hello??? It's what is
printed in the Take Flight Booklet! They have a choice and it really ticks me off when I am intructed not to follow policy and procedure.

[YVINTERN]

Just 2 TFCs for 7 people or 2 TFCs each?

[NCFL]

JetguyCLT, on Dec 26 2008, 09:24 AM, said:

Deceptive? Is that even the right word? Was working an oversold Denver the other day, had to deny about 7 people. Do you think they where given a choice of a cash payment or a TFC? Nope! Supervisor said only give them 2 TFC's! WTF???? I know its a pain in the ass to calculate the cash payment but Hello??? It's what is
printed in the Take Flight Booklet! They have a choice and it really ticks me off when I am intructed not to follow policy and procedure.

I hope you report that to your manager, especially in light of the subject of this thread, if not to correct the non-compliant supervisor, at least to cover your keester if and when one of these mishandled customers figures it out and goes to CR or the DOT. Without that, sadly, if anyone is counseled for not following procedure, I suspect it will be you, not the supervisor.

A good friend, and non-airline person, called me a day or so ago from CLT to ask me what to do. He was in the midst of being involuntarily DB'ed. He, too, wasn't offered any explanation or choice of compensation. Just a TFC and "unacceptably nasty" (his words, not mine) instructions to wait five hours for the next flight. I told him that the employees hadn't followed federal regulations or US procedures and that, as a result, he should:

1. Ask for a supervisor locally to rectify the problem. If unsuccessful,
2. File a written complaint through www.dot.gov, directly to Doug Parker and Customer Relations - all simultaneously,
3. In either case, insist that his TFC be converted to cash since he wasn't given that more attractive option originally. Based on his fare, he would easily quality for the max invol cash payment which is much better than a TFC.

Why is it, 16 months after leaving US, I STILL felt the need to apologize to him, to try to help him, to defend the rude actions of a fellow employee, and to morph back into my old Consumer Affairs persona to try to save an angry customer from leaving the company in disgust?

Hmm. Maybe that question should be posed under the "US Haters" thread?

[JetguyCLT]

I didn't say anything to a manger, honestly it wouldn't have done any good and because I would have ratted on the supervisor, I would have been given evil looks. So, I kept my mouth shut. It will come back to haunt them.

[NCFL]

JetguyCLT, on Dec 27 2008, 08:41 AM, said:

I didn't say anything to a manger, honestly it wouldn't have done any good and because I would have ratted on the supervisor, I would have been given evil looks. So, I kept my mouth shut. It will come back to haunt them.

No offense or personal attack is intended by this, JetguyCLT, because this isn't a new problem.

This is a good example of why things stay screwed up at this company. In a healthy work environment, it would be perfect acceptable - if not expected - to point out the inconsistency with the procedure for the sake of regulatory compliance, customer service and the employees' sanity. Instead, there's concern with butt-covering, as in my suggestion, and apprehension over being a stool pigeon or with getting potential retaliation from the boss.

[JetguyCLT]

NCFL, on Dec 27 2008, 11:46 AM, said:

No offense or personal attack is intended by this, JetguyCLT, because this isn't a new problem.

This is a good example of why things stay screwed up at this company. In a healthy work environment, it would be perfect acceptable - if not expected - to point out the inconsistency with the procedure for the sake of regulatory compliance, customer service and the employees' sanity. Instead, there's concern with butt-covering, as in my suggestion, and apprehension over being a stool pigeon or with getting potential retaliation from the boss.

No offense taken.

[Art at ISP]

This topic raises a couple of interesting points, however, let me ask a question. Is there anything in the DOT rules which dictates that a customer must be given a choice between cash or a TFC?


US (Tempe) has a history of throwing coupons at every problem, and not addressing the base issue. They would rather have the customer shut up and go away than fix the problem, and I think perhaps this is an outgrowth of that mindset.

When I was a highly valued and loyal customer of US, whenever I had to interact with Consumer Affairs, it was for good reason (I knew what was important and what was not). Not getting a drink or not having my coat hung up was just one of those things--however, being denied boarding on a short connection while an aircraft was still at the gate with the door open was something to call about...especially when the gate agent was being rude and unhelpful.

I will also add that when NCFL was there, the CA group at INT really went out of their way to try to make things right if they thought US was wrong. I had many dealings with NCFL and his team, and became friendly with him and Ms. Thompson in the process. I eventually became part of a "Consumer Advisory Board" where they would reach out to customers and actually do market research.

Unfortunately, the current management does not value its customers and values its employees even less. This attitude is pervasive and shows in both the product and level of customer service.

So while other airlines may have some similar issues with invols and overbooking, at US they stand out as a glaring example of what's wrong with this company.

The lack of true leadership at the top is absolutely mind boggling.

I truly miss my friends at US, and I do wish you all well (front line), but I cannot in good conscience give one dollar of my money to a management team which goes out of its way to show me how little they care about my business...

My BEST to you all...