Delta forces family into worst seats on the plane

Date: 9 April 2012
Airline: Delta Airlines, flight 3482
Location: Atlanta, GA

My family of four flew Delta to Savana, GA for Easter vacation this year. On our return flight, our seats were changed at the boarding gate from rows fourteen and fifteen to row nine without explaination. Upon boarding the plane, our orginal seats and new seats were occupied. My family and I were forced to sit in the last row of the plane, row twenty. The flight attendents made no attempt to resolve the problem.

Overhead storage and leg room were occupied in two of our seats by "flight crew" baggage, no window seat, the last row was next to the engines and restroom where every passenger slammed the door and we were last to receive in-flight services. I contacted both Delta's president Ed Bastian and CEO Richard Anderson who arrogantly and insultingly sent me flight vouchers for future flights on their pathetic airline when I requested a refund of the flight.

-Jim

Note from AirSafe.com Unfortunately, in the US airlines are allowed to make these kinds of last minute changes without penalty, and are not required to provide passengers with any compensation. However, any reasonable person would agree with the passenger that this treatment was unacceptable.

While offering free flight vouchers was a good gesture, it would have been much more effective if the airline had also included a full refund as well as some some kind of apology or acknowledgement of the airline's role in ruining that family's flight.

Schedule changes causes shorter holiday

Date: 18 June 2012
Airline: Spirit Airlines, flight 244
Location: Guatemala

I am requesting partial refund of my airfare. My return trip was changed just prior to my flight. As a result I had to alter my vacation plans and was forced to shorten my stay in Guatemala. I am only requesting partial compensation.

I called the customer service line on this matter prior to my flight and was told I had to make the request at the airport. I then spoke to the agent at the airport prior to my flight and was told I had to call the customer service line.

-Preston

Note from AirSafe.com: Typically, airlines are not required to compensate passengers for costs not directly related to the trip. While the schedule change may have affected their holiday plans, that is not covered by most airlines.

If a passenger is concerned about delays affecting other parts of the trip, consider options such as purchasing insurance.

United not honoring Continental refunds

Date: 4 February 2012
Airline: Continental, flight 839
Location: United Customer Service

I spoke with my case manager Lida [redacted] who had authorised my refund from LA to Melbourne Australia for flight 839 on the 4th of February 2012, eticket [redacted] Confirmation Number [redacted] plus a further 30,000 points as a gesture of goodwill onto my Mileage Plus card.

Final confirmation was early April 2012 and I was advised all had been approved and the follow up for the refund would now be passed onto a different dept and that if I had any problems I could get back to Lida at her email address.

I had not heard anything further about my refund and attempted to email Lida but the email came back as this email address no longer accepts inbound messages due to technical changes to Continental Airlines changeover. I have tried to contact Lida on numerous emails address but all come back undeliverable.

I have filled in refund forms online numerous times but still no one contacts me. I have filed complaints on United website and I have yet to have any reply back. I filled out the status form online to check the status of my refund and it advised me to ring 1-800-WECARE2 and I wait on hold from Australia and when I finally get through the representative can't assist me or puts me on hold and I wait again and often times the calls drops out.

I am at my wits end trying to get a response from a United refund representative as this has been going on for months but just can't get through to anyone who can assist me. That is why I am now putting in a complaint with your organisation hoping you may be able to advise me where do I go from here or who i should be contacting.

- Marita

United almost causes missed overseas connection

Date: 12 May 2012
Airline: United, flight 4148
Location: Atlanta, GA/Newark, NJ

We arrived at the airport three hours prior to our departure as instructed. We were booked on UA 4148 departing at 12:20 pm, arriving in Newark at 2:43 p.m. with connection with UA 0106 departing at 5:35 pm.

Our Atlanta flight had a mechanical problem and they had to fly a part in to repair it. I ask that they re-book us with another airline to make our connection; the gate agent told me we had a “bulk price” ticket and no one else would accept it, and that all they could do is leaves us on the flight that was scheduled to depart now at 5:45. I spoke with a supervisor and she said she would re-book us on another flight out of Newark.

When we arrived in Newark I went to United customer service, because I saw no United flight departing for Munich. The service representative told me they had no record of us having a flight. I ask where my luggage was and he had no idea. He said the only flight left was Lufthansa 1926. I should go see them because they (United) had no record of our travel even though I gave him the confirmed ticket number and reservation code.

We went down to Lufthansa and they had no record of our flight. I think the agent could see I was about to blow up and she decide to help as much as she could. It took her an hour to find the record, but she found it. United would not even look for it they just said it was non-existent. Lufthansa put us on standby. I literally begged them to please put us on the flight, and they did.

-George

Delta delays and luggage issues lead to changed wedding plans

Date: 28 April 2012
Airline: Delta, flight DL2854
Location: Richmond, VA

I was traveling with my fiance to our wedding on April 28, 2012 from Richmond to Hong Kong. The flight was delayed from Richmond which caused us to miss our connecting flight in Detroit. Delta was unable to put us on another flight that day. We were forced to take a flight the next day with an extra connection.

We specifically paid more for our original ticket for one less connection. This also caused us to miss our transportation in Hong Kong because we arrived at a later time. We had to pay more for local transportation when we arrived in Hong Kong. Furthermore, we were unable to reclaim our baggage because it was already on the delayed flight to Detroit. We were without our personal belongings on Saturday night. Because of our delayed flight, we were forced to change our wedding plans.

We would like to be compensated for our rebooked and delayed flight, the extra connection in our travels, and not having our luggage.

United and US Airways Ruins Wedding trip to Puerto Rico

Part 1 - Outbound Flights

Date: 29 December 2011
Airline: US Airways, flight 706
Location: San Francisco, CA to San, Juan, PR

Written on 2/1/2012 to the airline: On December 29th, my fiance and I were en route to our wedding in Puerto Rico via United Airlines, where he is a longstanding Premiere member. He surprised me with first class tickets and we were so excited to depart. After hours on the tarmac, they finally offloaded and cancelled the flight to to a computer glitch/ mechanical issues.

The stewards were really nice but had no information; the booking agent at the counter was very rude and pushy - she refused to walk me through multiple booking options and instead, tried to force us to take a red eye to Puerto Rico, leaving SF late at night. Finally, we were able to rebook with an agent on the phone who was helpful.

We were routed through Philadelphia, where we had to spend the night. We were given a very dingy room ar Four Points and two lame $10 meal vouchers that weren't even worth appetizers. This was not how we envisioned the beginning of our wedding trip. On top of this frustrating experience, we missed our first night in Puerto Rico at the Sheraton in Old San Juan, where we had booked with saved points for the occasion that have yet to be refunded. Overall, and despite nicely voicing our frustrations, the United agents we encountered failed to understand the unique circumstances of our trip-- which we had been planning and saving for since 2010.

We are disappointed with our United experience and hope that your customer relations personnel are able to address and respond to our concerns. As always, it is important to give both people and companies second chances, as long as we communicate our frustrations. However, this traveling experience was intolerable and without the appropriate response, I will hesitate to fly United again.

Part 2 - Return Flights

Date: 9 January 2012
Flight: US Airways, operated by United flights 700 and 975
Location: San, Juan, PR to San Francisco, CA

On January 9th, 2012, my husband and I returned from our wedding in Puerto Rico via US Airways, where he surprised me with First Class tickets. Our flight to Washington, DC was just fine, but after four hours of delays for our flight from DC to San Francisco (including hours in the terminal and on the plane and de-icing), our flight was cancelled due to mechanical issues.

A Premiere representative was able to help us re-book for a later flight the same day to San Francisco; however, the flights were not first class. She took our email addresses and old boarding passes and promised to arrange for first class vouchers for future flights. We have not heard from her since. We have tried calling and emailing through your online system. After two weeks, we still have heard no response and are feeling very frustrated. How do we resolve this issue and receive either monetary compensation or vouchers for our downgrade to the main cabin?

Our flight home was a miserable experience. After hours of traveling and exhaustion, our stewardess was horrible. She refused to give me a bottle of water, and I was at the onset of a panic attack. Luckily, an Air Force paramedic sitting next to me was able to help and my husband was able to get my medicine, but I spent a good portion of the flight in tears. The stewardess was very rude, until she realized what was going on- still, she didn't need to behave that way to begin with.

Upon arrival in SF, all of our luggage was lost. We were told it would arrive the following day on the next flight to San Francisco from DC. It did not. We got three out of four bags two days later and the fourth bag arrived 5 days later. The process for contacting US Airways about our bags was arduous, to say the least and extremely frustrating. It required hours of follow-up on our part. Overall, our experience on the second leg of our trip was horrible. We are looking forward to hearing your response to this situation.

I hope that US Airways Customer Service is able to appropriately address these multiple issues. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Delayed luggage ruins wedding experience

Date: 3 May 2012
Airline: Air Canada, flight 3630
Location: Toronto/Oklahoma City, OK

We went from Toronto to OKC for three days. We arrived Thursday May 3 at 9:30 pm to attend a wedding for Friday May 4th. However our luggage was lost. It was disastrous situation as the next day at noon we had to be at the ceremony. They had no idea where our luggage was which was quite puzzling as I though with the RFID tags they should be able to track it.

They ruined the wedding day. We had miss the ceremony to go to the only mall 40 minutes away to find a dress and shoes. My husband came to the wedding in his jeans because he couldn't get his suit to be taylored on time. Finally after the most of the day being ruined the luggage arrived at the airport in the evening and my husband changed at the airport. I found everyone extremely incompetent starting from the check in person in Toronto up to the luggage department in OKC and then afterwards the 1-800 number for lost luggage which we spend hrs on the phone with and they seemed clueless as well.

-Mina Baghaee