Having done my fare share of business travel over the past 8 weeks, I believe I have had my fare share of nightmare experiences with two major air lines. This first post will be dedicated to US Air. I will author a separate post regarding Delta. For the amount of money one has to invest in air travel, I find poor service in this category absolutely unacceptable (especially when Jet Blue and Southwest are getting it right).
I will start with US Air, which in my opinion is the single worst air line in the United States. Last Sunday I had to fly to Harrisburg, PA so that I was able to attend two very important business meeting the following Monday morning.
Mistake #1: I checked my bag. Even though it was small enough to carry on with me, I did not have time to get a zip lock bag to place my liquids into so that I could comply with TFA’s stupid regulations.
When I got into Philly at 10:00pm, I was informed that my connecting flight to Harrisburg was canceled (sigh). With no early morning flights or car services available, I resorted to renting a car and making the 1 hour 45 minute drive.
When I went to go get my bag, I was told that due to the number of flight cancellations they were not giving passengers any checked luggage. ?!?!??!?!?!?! Instead, I had to drive to the Harrisburg airport at 9:30am the next day where they said my bag would be arriving on the first flight. This forced me to miss my first important business meeting on Monday morning. However, when I arrived at the Harrisburg airport the next day, my luggage was nowhere to be found. They gave me a claim check and said they would be in touch.
PANIC!!!!
Even though my first biz meeting was important, the second one scheduled for noon was even more critical. I was giving a very important presentation to a number of very senior level executives. As my attire existed of nothing more than a t-shirt, jeans, flip flops, and a baseball cap I needed to find clothes QUICKLY!
Thankfully, there was a mens clothing store (Jos. A Banks) near were my meeting was to take place. Now, I do not shop at Banks as I find their clothes a bit too conservative for my tastes. But desperate times call for desperate measures. They set me up with undergarments, socks, shoes, pants, shirt, and a belt. Their seamstress even ironed my new outfit. I was able to make it to my meeting with 15 minutes to spare. This store saved my ass!
US Air ended up not delivering my luggage until 8am Tuesday morning. Thanks for nothing! I had to spend $300 on a car and $500 on an outfit because you simply refused to give me my luggage after canceling my flight. I truly do despise your brand.
Links to past US Air Issues:
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