America West made my life hell
Written: Jul 06 '00 (Updated Aug 17 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Crappy experience helped me make new friends at the terminal.
Cons: My flight was canceled! No meal service on a 5-hour flight! Serious communication problems.
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| blackmonolith's Full Review: America West |
It would soon be the Fourth of July weekend of 2000. I was very excited to see my girlfriend, and spend time in New York during this holiday. After having moved to L.A. last year, I am always excited to return to New York. New York has real pizza, White Castle hamburgers, Yankee Stadium, my sweet girlfriend, and real pizza. Don’t you worry about my priorities.
Since I am a dumbass, I was late in booking my flight. Thirteen days ahead (just one day shy of the much safer 14-day prior booking mark), I didn’t have much of a choice. Being a very busy holiday weekend, availability was very slim, and America West’s fares were hundreds of dollars more affordable. You know how wacky fares can be; the fare for one flight can be $550 while the fare for another similar one can equal a second mortgage. My girlfriend, who ran into serious problems with American Airlines, concurred that America West might be a good choice. And who could blame her? She went through all sorts of hell with American, and America West gave her no problems and a smooth flight experience.
Lucky her. Here was my flight plan:
Friday 6/30/00, American West Flight 2247 from LAX at 9:45pm to Las Vegas at 10:46pm. From there, there was another flight from Vegas to JFK in NY. I can’t recall those exact flight numbers and times, but it doesn’t matter, because my initial Vegas flight was canceled!
Canceled flights are fun!
This became one of those times when people come together to stand strong and face adversity with the knowledge that we are not alone in our fight. So, we waited in line. And we waited for a long time. Initially, when I saw the massive length of the America West check-in line, I knew something was wrong. I could have sworn I heard someone utter that very ugly word, “canceled.” So, after asking the person in front of me to briefly watch my bag, I walked over to the monitors. Sure enough, Flight 2247 was canceled. How did I find out? Word of mouth and my own initiative. Was it via a PA announcement? Nope.
Sure, they started with the PA a little while later, but not soon enough. Only at one point did an America West representative walk along the line confirming the cancellation. He did not have the time nor the inclination to offer much more information. There were two lines, and the huge one, apparently, was only for victims of 2247 who wanted to rebook. This man managed to tell me that there were no more available flights that evening, nor did any other airlines have room for us; this huge line is for people wanting to rebook for an earlier flight the next day. His vague answer to the “Why was the flight canceled?” question was, “mechanical issues.” But I still had many questions: “In case you didn’t know, my ultimate destination is New York, not Las Vegas. Did you check on direct flights to New York, or check out connections via cities other than Las Vegas? Did you really check other airlines? Is there a chance that some available way to get to New York is just slipping away because I’m on a line that isn’t moving?“
Truly, this line moved 15 feet over the first 2-hour period. Why so slow? In my short experience with America West, I had found them to be grossly understaffed at check-in terminals. There were 3 people dealing with a full plane’s worth of unhappy people. It literally took between 20 minutes to half and hour to deal with each person’s rebooking needs. This was mostly due to the understaffing, but also because of their disorganization. The reps were running around like chickens without heads. I was p i s s e d about my situation, but I also felt sorry for them. Among the rumors and the mumblings through the PA, I found out that most people were getting rebooked for a flight on United the following day. And it wasn’t for an early flight, either.
Throughout all of this, as mentioned above, people near each other became temporary friends, crutches and luggage watchers. I found an ally in a woman who’s intended destination was my own: New York. She was a real go-getter, and she repeatedly tried to get answers when we were in the dark. Every time, though, she walked back without news. She watched my bag for me when I smoked 3 cigarettes at once, when I peed, and when I went to the pay phone.
If you want something done right...
I called American Airlines. Funny, but I almost had a heart attack when it took 6 full minutes for 800 Directory Assistance to get me the number. Ever heard of that? Anyway, I got American on the phone and told them my sad story. They were happy to inform me that they have flights direct from LAX to JFK on the hour, the next one being the following morning at 7am. Contrary to America West’s blanket statement of zero availability of flights on other airlines, a seat was available on the 7am flight. “I’ll take it!!!” I vowed to make damned sure that America West would fully transfer my fare to American Airlines. So, the long and short of it was that, by my own hand, I was able to get a flight that would arrive in NY only eight hours later than I had originally planned. If I had left it up to the flawed and unorganized methods of America West, I would have landed in NY that Saturday night at around 10pm, instead of my actual 3:25pm arrival.
Armed with my American Airlines flight reservation, I stepped up to what had become a free-for-all with the huge line and several shorter lines. From the shorter line, which was really just some makeshift way of cutting the big line since it had no real other purpose, I had the transfer completed.
Before getting on a real flight (where the plane actually takes you from one city to another)...
America West was quite happy to give us free hotel and meal vouchers in order to compensate for our inconveniences. They were sacrificing themselves to appease the angry Customer Gods. They put me up and the Embassy Suites (nice) near LAX. When I asked the very courteous AmWest guy about the possibility of a warm meal, he handed me these meal vouchers saying that Embassy Suites had an all-night restaurant, and that they’d take care of me.
Liar!! The Suites were very nice, but their restaurant closed at midnight, along with room service. What? Anyway, my dinner at 2am was Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies and shrimp-flavored Ramen Noodles (wow, a vending machine that dispenses Ramen!). But I was quite angry that the misinformation continued. If the Embassy Suites doesn’t have a 24-hour restaurant, America West shouldn’t tell us otherwise. They should be better informed so as not to lie to us. I felt betrayed. The Embassy Suites were nice, but I was only there from 2:30am to 5:30am. Luckily, at 6am, I was able to use one of my meal vouchers to get two sausage-egg-and-cheese Crossanwiches at the Burger King, back at LAX.
A breath of fresh air
In the 6am hour, immediately upon entering the check-in line at American Airlines, I was approached by an American employee who told me that I didn’t even have to wait to check in there. Because I only had carry-on luggage, I could check in quicker at the gate. She looked at my transfer doo-hickey and reaffirmed that it could be done. God bless that woman.
And so, I had a wonderful 5 days with my sweetie. We did lots of fun stuff, some of which are illegal in eleven states. In fact, we had some much fun that we were late in getting back to JFK to catch my return flight--again, America West. This time, of course, the flight left on time.
Here we go again?
Initially understaffed again at the JFK terminal, I waited on line a while before reaching the check-in counter. There, I was told that I could get on standby for the next flight to Las Vegas. At least, I think that’s what the rep said. I was a little hard to tell considering her impenetrable Croatian accent. Anyway, details spared, it felt like I was doing her job for her. Providing that I could get on this next standby flight, I might be able to get an earlier flight for the second leg from Vegas to L.A. (my initial booking would have had me waiting for 4 hours between flights in Vegas). I had to pull teeth to get a boarding pass for that flight, not because of availability problems, but because of communication problems between myself and the heavily-accented, less-than-extremely-knowledgeable rep.
So, I went to the gate check-in and requested a standby seat. The guy with the blond highlights took my information and assured me that he’d call my name. Between tearful kisses between me and my sweetie, I monitored the situation. People were boarding and my name had not been called. Almost all people boarded, and my name had not been called. Finally, there were the last two people boarding, and no one was left at the gate. My name had not been called. I approached the guy with the blond highlights and he looked at me as if this was our first meeting. Didn’t he remember? I had to spell it out: “I’m waiting for standby.”
“Oh, you’re on standby?” He quickly printed a boarding pass, tore off the stub and handed it to me. “Here you are.” Sure, I was relieved, but I’m sure that if I didn’t approach him, he would’ve forgotten me. Again, I was having communication problems with America West.
Well, I got on the plane and was headed to Las Vegas. It would be a five-hour flight. T+15 min.: I watched the preview for Mission to Mars. T+25 min.: I got my Bloody Marys. T+40 min.: The movie started. What? Don’t they usually serve food before the movie? T+60 min.: I asked a flight attendant if there was meal service. I’ve never had to ask this question before. I’ve either been on 1-hour flights where I knew there’d only be a drink and a snack, or 5- to 8-hour flights, where asking that question never entered my mind. But here, I had to ask it, ‘cause I was getting hungry.
“No.”
“What? Are you fucking kidding me? No meal service on a 5-hour flight? What the fuck is wrong with your airline?” These were thoughts, not uttered out loud for the nice flight attendant to ponder. I had given up trying to communicate with them. It would be just me and my thoughts now. They no longer deserved my questions, my interest, my time, or my business. I thought, “Fuck America West!”
Knowing not to trust the gate information on the boarding pass for my next flight, as soon as I landed in Vegas, I checked with AmWest information. They confirmed that even though it clearly says “Gate 24”, it’s really Gate D-4. But, I guess I should have known that 24 and D-4 were the same, right? Glad I checked. I had just enough time to pee, have half of a cigarette (God bless LAS’s smoking lounge; all airports should have them), get two Whopper Jr.’s (no tomato, no pickle), a muffin and a Dr. Pepper from Burger King, and get my ass on the last damned America West flight I would ever take in my life. The flight attendant offered me a drink on the short LAS to LAX flight. “No thanks, I’m covered.”
The bottom line
America West is understaffed at airport terminals. America West has horrible communication practices when dealing with both adverse situations and normal booking procedures. America West did not have meal service on my 5-hour flight. I will not fly America West again.
Afterthought--not a retraction:
I bet that anyone can have a bad experience with any airline. America West didn’t do well for me, but it may do fine for others who might not run into the same problems. In this story, American Airlines and Burger King were my saviors. In other stories, they could be the enemy. For a different perspective, and an entertaining story, please check out:
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-29FD-910F6F1-391C04FD-prod4
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
blackmonolith
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Member: Sky
Location: Burbank, CA
Reviews written: 40
Trusted by: 57 members
About Me:
"We smoke as we shoot the bird."
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