Grupo TACA, worst airline ever flown!
Mar 22 '00  Write an essay on this topic.
On March 10, 2000 I flew Grupo Taca, a Central America airline company, flight #570 from El Salvador to NYC. I experienced the worst flying trip I have ever been on. I am appalled at the lack of quality and care of this company. I Feel that GRUPO TACA flight attendants are racist against their own people and GRUPO TACA takes advantage of the humble Latin Americans and Hispanics who will not complain, because they don't know how to. Thankfully I DO know better and in America, companies cannot continue to act like GRUPO TACA there are laws against it. Booking in San Salvador began smoothly. The problems began on the flight. Once I was on the plane I observed the male flight attendant watch as an elderly handicapped customer struggled to put her bag into the overhead compartment. The male flight attendant stood next to the lady and offered no assistance, until I told him to help her. Unbelievable!!! As a representative of Grupo Taca, this flight attendant was the worst example of customer service you could have. He was incredibly rude. At one point he actually rammed the food cart several times at another lady because she did not get out of the way when he asked her. And by the way, this is how he asked her: "Lady, go to your seat!" I don't think the lady heard him, or maybe she did not like the way he directed himself towards her. Whatever the case, he kept ramming the cart at her but could not get through the isle because the lady was too big. The first time he hit the lady, she tried her best to get out of the way but could not. He just continued to ram the cart and hit her with it. I was flabbergasted. Finally they moved the cart so she could move to her seat. They gave us headphones but the arm rest controls on my isle were not working throughout most of the flight. We could not hear music or anything so we asked them to fix it. The male flight attendant told us that the system was turned on and that everyone else had music so there was nothing else he could do. Later on before the movie started, one of the LADY flight attendants went to the control console adjusted a button and before you knew it we could hear the headphones. I was situated on the last row, and those seats don't recline. As I was trying to sleep I began feeling a little back pain. I did not complain about it because I knew that the airplane was full of people and there was nothing they could do. An old lady across the isle from me began to complain of neck stiffness and asked to be moved. She also told the flight attendant that she had specifically told them at the check-in desk not to put her in the last row because she suffered neck and back problems due to a previous accident. The flight attendant said, "there is nothing we can do the plane is full." In my opinion she could have been moved to first class. There were only three or four people in first class. The movie was put on too late. It had to be turned off for landing. Of course throughout the flight myself and other passengers continued to be hit by passing carts not once did I ever hear the common courtesy of "excuse me" from the flight attendants. When we arrive at the airport we had to take a special vehicle to the terminal, because the airplane did not dock on the terminal. Other passengers stated that these inadequacies are a common occurrence on GRUPO TACA. But I as a frequent flyer on other airlines, cannot and will not accept this. We landed safely however problems with GRUPO TACA continued into the baggage handling area. Where we were forced to watch baggage that belonged to the previous day's flight come down for an hour and a half. A few people from our flight received some of their bags but not all. I did not get ANY of my bags. However three apparent Americans that were not in first class got their bags immediately, another apparent discriminatory blow to Grupo Taca's most frequent flyer, the Latin American. They Know that Americans will not stand for this, and will say something about it. So it was no miracle that they received their bags right away. At 9:30pm an announcement was made that no more bags would be unloaded that night. Tired and disgusted I had to wait 45 minutes to get forms to fill out so I could get my own property back. As I waited I spoke to several passengers who told me about several more horror stories with GRUPO TACA. This makes it quite clear that GRUPO TACA takes advantage of those frequent passengers that apparently don't know that they can complain or don't know who to complain to. In the process of filling out paperwork for my luggage I observed GRUPO TACA employees blatantly destroy the luggage from previous flights using bolt cutters and other tools unnecessary to open what look like expensive luggage. Another passenger questioned the damage they were causing. They claimed they needed to open the luggage for customs. I told them that's understandable but why destroy the luggage in the process. I was ignored. I left Kennedy airport several hours after landing, without luggage, or my jacket, which was in one of my bags. At this point I had a headache and a determination to inform as many people as possible of Grupo Taca's inadequacies. It has been twelve days now and I am still waiting for my luggage. I have called the person in charge of luggage, and he promises my luggage will be delivered but I am still waiting. I will not be satisfied with this situation until my bags arrive intact and with nothing missing. My grandmother, who is a frequent flyer, had flown Grupo Taca a few days before me as a first class passenger as she often does, and is also appalled at Grupo Taca's service. Hopefully this will enlighten other travelers about Grupo Taca airlines. Meanwhile I hope that Grupo Taca can look into its problems and remember that most of their frequent flyers are Latin Americans. I have written this letter of complaint to The airline several times and and have not received any feedback from them. they just don't care. Meanwhile there are other airlines that fly to El Salvador and other Latin American countries. I would urge travelers to check them out before even considering Grupo Taca. I would love to have something positive to say but frankly there isn't any.
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