Stranded

November 03, 2007 @ 5:19 pm- from Maui, Hawaii

Ugh... it's 4am now and I just got home from the airport. I was on my way to Vegas for DevConnections when my flight was cancelled due to plane troubles. Now these things happen and although I'm not particularily happy about this I prefer technical difficulties on the ground than in the air. It's a long swim either way in case of trouble <g>.

But man am I tired of the way the airlines are treating customers these days. This episode might have been taken out of a Laurel and Hardy script. The plane was supposed to take off at 11pm, and we were actually on the runway to take off when the call came of a hydraulic problem. So after sitting on the runway for 20 minutes the plane scuttled back to the gate. Another 50 minutes later they finally made us get off the plane. By now it's past midnight and there's all sorts of hemming by the airline representitive about what's going on exactly. Long story short they strung us along until about 3am and then cancelled the flight.

Now, this being Maui Airport at night, there are no alternative flights. In fact, even rebooking is a major undertaking these days because planes out of Maui typically leave full or overbooked to begin with so accommodating 270 or so passengers in the next day is quite a task. That's somewhat understandable. However the way customer service responded to this was abysmal.

So it's 3am at this point and for hours the folks at US Airways had talked about having made arrangements for accommodations to a local hotel. But - so conveniently - transportation to the local hotel couldn't be found. Uh huh, right. This sort of thing never happens and god forbid that a bus might be needed to shuttle people to a place to crash? These fuckers basically did NOTHING other than getting the drink cart out of the plane and passing out peanuts and water and soft drinks.

The worst part though is that nobody took charge and explained (or even after questioning could explain) the exact procedure to move forward. No offers to automatically rebook, no on-site rebooking - instead they handed out phone numbers to call and do our own rebooking. Which is Ok by me, but when I actually called I was on hold for a half an hour followed by 3 (count 'em) completely incompetent customer service representatives. To give you an idea of the quality of the conversation:

Me: My flight from Maui to Vegas has been canceled I have to rebook

Them: What's your flight number

Me: It's X - here's my confirmation code

Them: What was that?

me: My confirmation code is: ...

Them: Is that a B as in Boy or V as in Victor

Me: B as in Bullshit

Them: No need to be profane

Me: Whatever

Them: Doesn't work. What's the code again?

Me: it's X

Them: Oh you mean B as in Bullshit!

Them: Ok I got your flight

Them: Hmmm... your flight doesn't show as cancelled

Me: Well, I'm still on Maui and it's 3am. I love chatting with you and all, but I'd probably be were I was going by now if the flight wasn't cancelled.

Them: Checking... 5 minutes go by

Me: Still there?

Them: Checking... another 5

Them: It shows here that the flight has not left yet.

Me: No kidding

Them: No, it hasn't left yet and it wasn't supposed to.

Me: Huh?

Them: It's supposed to leave tonight at 10:59pm

Me: You dumbass motherfucker. The flight left last night! (Ok I didn't say this, but man do i wish I had!)

Them: Oh.

Me: Oh?

Them: Sir, we can't rebook your flight. It has to be done on the premises at the Airport.

Me: Why? What's the difference.

Them: That's the way it works. Sorry - can't help you. Thank you for calling US Airways. Click

So about 15 minutes later the gate agents hand out numbers to call back those *same exact* people that I was on the phone with to rebook my flight with. I ended up on a shitty cell phone connection for about a half an hour of holds only to get my flight rebooked for tonight - so I basically lost a day and half here in travel.

But I had it much better than most in that I could actually go home from the airport. After I showed my local ID and prodding the gate agents I got them to at least give me a taxi voucher to get home for the night. That is if I could get a taxi to come to the airport <s>, which I luckily managed. I finally got home around 4:30am. Without my luggage, which was not released from the plane either. When I asked about the luggage and how that worked I got 3 people to give me 3 different answers. One person suggested I HAVE TO pick up the luggage when it goes on the claim roller (which meant I'd have to be there at 6 or 7am), another said it would go to Vegas, and yet another said it would be held in the storage locker - maybe.

Such incompetence is really disturbing. It's almost like you are talking to 5 year olds who are unable to make any sort of decisions on their own without checking someone higher up who's maybe 6 years old. When I talked to the rebooking agent for example, I mentioned that I knew off the top of my head that Hawaiian Air has a direct flight to Vegas in the middle of the day which would have gotten me there late today. After 5 minutes of checking the agent came back on the line telling me that she couldn't find a schedule for Hawaiian. Uhm - are you sitting in front of a computer? I can get a list of flights from Hawaiian in 2 minutes flat - it wasn't she couldn't book the flight because of incompatibilities but she just didn't know how to find the information. But not only that in those 5 minutes not even a suggestion for what OTHER flights might be available was proffered.

So much for our 'information society'. The people who really need to have the information at their finger tips apparently don't have access to it - not if it's not in their best interest (as rebooking a flight on another airline certainly isn't).

We can only hope the incompetence doesn't extend to the technical staff that maintains the airplanes... scary thought, that.

Incompetence is one thing but then there is the sheer callousness of it all. Here's a plane full of people strung along to the point where they basically had no options left except to spend the night at the airport with the airline making no serious effort to accomodate these people in anyway. When I was leaving the gate agents making a big deal out of giving out meal vouchers for $5 a piece... right. No travel vouchers either.

The way we travel is a luxury we shouldn't take for granted. And all things considered the cost of doing so is pretty low - it's hard to complain too hard about the state affairs when you compare travelling by plane to any other mode of transportation. We'll see how long we can actually sustain this air travel fantasy with rising fuel prices. I suppose the cutting's gotta be made somewhere and I suspect the personnel is where this is happening now. US Airways isn't the only airline with this problem - I've had similar experiences with United although not quite as severe and at least United tended to be accomodating in most cases.

It's not that these people are bad or bothersome, but most seem so inadequately under qualified for the work they are doing that it really makes you wonder that anything gets done. There must be some big rule book with every step of the way outlined from top to bottom or else NOTHiNG would get done at all. No initiative, no independent thinking. Just a bunch of people with their thumb up their collective ass.

Even so I felt sorry for some of the gate attendants too. Those guys looked even more tired than the customers having faced a good share of adjutated travellers. When I left at 4am everybody's bleary eyed look only seemed to have one wish: Let me lay down and get some sleep. At least I was lucky enough to get that wish - even if somewhat belated.

But hey - I get to do it all over again tonight. I missed a workshop today and a Sushi dinner, so now that I'm more awake - Yeah I'm pissed! <g>

Posted in Personal

Feedback for this Weblog Entry

re: Stranded
by Steve from Pleasant Hill November 03, 2007 @ 6:18 pm

Wow. I missed a flight in Milan this year, and was unable to decipher the phone card (which I purchased at the airport) system to use with payphones. No one was of any help, and I asked half a dozen people employed at the airport. So I checked into a hotel primarily to use the phone!

My flight was USAir! I called my son in SF to work the booking from his end, since calling the number for Int'l flights from Milan was a real pain. When I tried to book flights to go to Europe in the first place, I was routed to a call desk some-fricking-place in the world and put on hold for 45 minutes at a time. Overall spent about 4 hours on the phone (I couldn't use the web because I was using an old ticket as credit).

Don't think I will use USAir again... at least you're a local there.

re: Stranded
by Rob Conery November 03, 2007 @ 8:06 pm

Yeeeikes! But come on man - US Air :) - waddya expect. I fly from Honolulu always - for this reason :). There's always another flight somewhere :).

I've been flying Hawaiian exclusively and they've been great. In fact they just gave me a free pass to their "Pualani Gold" club - so I can sit in the "swank room" while waiting for my flight.

Whatever - all it takes is one time. I'll buy you an extra 3 shots of Maker's Mark when I see you on Monday nite!

re: Stranded
by Rick Strahl November 03, 2007 @ 8:36 pm

I guess I've missed the rag on US Air club before <g>. I think this is the first time I've actually flown out here with US Air. But this will seriously make me try to avoid US Air at all costs in the future.

@Rob - I usually try to fly Hawaiian as well, but this flight was booked for me by the conference travel staff and I didn't get much say in it. I suggested HAL as first choice but you know how that goes usually. Problem is most travel agents don't even look at HAL because it doesn't show up on their systems - as evidenced by the US Air rep trying to rebook my flight.

I don't travel enough anymore to qualify for the Fat Cat Club either, which I take as a sign I'm doing something *right* (or wrong depending on which perspective you take on travel) <g>...

re: Stranded
by Joe November 03, 2007 @ 10:04 pm

Count yourself lucky -- at least they didnt keep you in the plane for 7-12 hours and in the dark about what was going on.

re: Stranded
by Steve Clements November 04, 2007 @ 2:24 pm

Nice post, I almost thought it was me with the problem but there seems to be a growing level of incompetence in pretty much all service companies at least large service companies that have a call center or lots of people doing the same job - I'm not sure its down to incompetent staff but a lack of resposibility and ownership of issues...more of a "get onto the next call" type of attitude. Seems to be the same round the world not just here in the UK.
You can read here of the recent (and not yet over) shit I have had with BT. http://geekswithblogs.net/steveclements/archive/2007/08/30/115065.aspx

re: Stranded
by E.R. Gilmore November 05, 2007 @ 9:46 am

Have you seen the movie "Idiocracy" yet? It's from the people who made "Office Space" and it's about our country 500 years in the future with the gene pool completely shallowed out. It's hilarious and scary at the same time.

Good luck at DevConnections. I'm still wating to get our electricity back, two weeks after the fire. I have a new found appreciation for my Honda generator.

re: Stranded
by Rick Strahl November 05, 2007 @ 10:29 am

Guys, please let's keep this civil.

Seriously this has nothing to do with nationality. As a matter of fact I was dealing with several people of various nationalities (including one which was nearly impossible to make out over a weak cell connection). But the reality is that here in the US we do live in a business culture that puts profit ueber alles which means that employee education and satisfaction as well as customer satisfaction are a distant consideration over the bottom line. It's not surprising in a way that we see the kind of customer service we have. We as customers have lost all chance to do anything about it by way of acceptance of this unfortunate status quo as there are few choices left that don't follow that same rule.

re: Stranded
by Kevin Davis November 05, 2007 @ 3:23 pm

Man I feel your pain. I hope to meet you at Dev Connections. I am from Honolulu and was fortunate not to have those issues., when I left Honolulu on Sunday. Recently, I had to work in Indonesia and believe me, even though you had some real shitty customer service, in that country, they would have flown that plane and hopefully, you would have landed safely. I know a couple of developers who have had crash landing experiences with aircraft in Indo. Mine experience not death defying but caused me to say what the fuck a record amount of times. Geruda Airlines did not fill up their flights from Jakarta to Bali, so they decided to cancel all flights and book everyone on one single 747 at 4:00 (I had arrived for my initial flight at 8 am). I was stuck at the airport all day, and missed all my scheduled meetings in Bali. The best part was that I got to Body Surf at Dreamland the next day!

Aloha,

Kevin

re: Stranded
by yaip November 05, 2007 @ 5:50 pm

This is very frustrating. But I know exactly what you are going thru. A few years ago I had to go to India. And I had Indian passport then. Though I had my GreenCard. So I went to catch my flight at LAX. I was flying Virgin Atlantic. Someone highly recommended it to me because of more leg room. And it being a very long flight, this was a major plus.

So here is the conversation at LAX check-in counter:

them: Where is your visa?
me: i don't need a visa to go to India as I am an Indian citizen.
them: No, no. Where is your visa to UK?
me: But I am not going to UK.
them: But the plane is landing in UK for a stopover. So you need a visa.
me: Nobody told me this. And my wife flew with you yesterday (she went one day ahead) and you didn't ask her for a visa. You let her go. She is in India now.
them: It was a mistake to let her go. Sorry. The only way we can let you go is to keep your passport with us and give it to you when you re-board the plane from UK.
me: WHAT?
them: Sorry.

So I flew all the way to London without my passport. All the time sweating "what if they forgot my passport in LAX?"

bastards

re: Stranded
by RVBoy November 07, 2007 @ 8:32 pm

Rick, I've started arriving at least 24 hours early whenever I absolutely need to be somewhere. Helps with jetlag and takes the sting out of the inevitable delays. But they can still get you: last year they managed to leave an exhibition stand in LAX until after a conference in Denver was over, meaning we'd flown all the way from New Zealand to staff an empty booth. What fun.

What I Hate About Flying
by The RobLog November 12, 2007 @ 5:42 pm

What I Hate About Flying

re: Stranded
by John November 23, 2007 @ 12:16 pm

I had a similar situation in Ohio coming back from my "second job" playing in a band when I am not coding. Someone "breached" security and they proceeded to move all 9,000 people in the airport out to go through security......AGAIN! Needless to say I missed my flight.

BUT - to add salt in the wounds they actually said they had a standby spot for me and they actually got me (and 2 other bandmates) on another plane. However 10 minutes later after getting my seat they came back over to me and told me that there was some confusion and I had to get off - foiled again!
Apparently they bumped some other guy to get me on who legitimately had a ticket and then later realized it.

After the vocalist and guitarist called me from the plane (from the air) I explained to them I got bumped off. I ended up sleeping in the airport like a vagrant and caught another flight the next morning. When I complained to Delta I got a weak lame response - some garbage about if it wasn't weather related they cannot do anything about it. Someone needs to smack these airplanes around a bit.

Anyway - I feel (felt) your pain!