Yes, loathe.

I bought a roundtrip U.S. Airways ticket from Seattle to Phoenix over the Independence Day weekend. My roundtrip ticket was $235, and I was ecstatic to see my friend Connie who lives there.

Sadly, I missed my SEA to PHX flight, but before I did I called U.S. Airways to reschedule my flight. I told the lady at U.S. Airways that I needed to schedule a later flight to PHX, and she said for a $100 rescheduling fee I could go later in the day. I was fine with that, it was my own fault I was rescheduling, no problem. She said the next flight would be 13 hours later. I did some quick math - that would be 1/6th of my precious time with Connie. Time I could not waste. I told the lady on the phone that I would book a one way flight with another airline down to PHX, because I wanted to get down there that morning. She was understanding, and quite pleasant, and all in all it was a fine phone call. But, the U.S. Airways attendant at this point failed to mention some important policies.

So, I booked a one way down to Phoenix, flew in only an hour and a half later than originally planned, and had a wonderful weekend with my friend. Then came the trouble.

At the end of my weekend in Phoenix, I called U.S. Airways again on my way to the airport. I tried to confirm my flight on the phone, and lo and behold - this lady from U.S. Airways informs me I no longer have a ticket to Seattle. They canceled my ticket home. Without letting me know, without contacting me, they took what I had paid for and left me stranded in the desert. I asked her why they canceled the ticket I had paid for without notice. She said, well, I should have called to let them know I was taking a one way on another airline to Phoenix. I said, I did. I called on Friday morning before my original flight out, and the U.S. Airlines representative I talked to didn’t said it was fine when I ran the one-way ticket idea by her.

This lady had no sympathy however (she made that obvious). My ticket was canceled, I was stuck in Phoenix. She told me it would be $150 to reschedule PLUS $147 additional because the ticket cost had gone up. I clarified with her that it would cost me another $297 dollars to get on the seat I had already bought, the seat which was originally one half of my $235 roundtrip ticket, the seat which I had not canceled and in fact had called the airline about before I even started my trip. Yes, she insisted, it would be $297.

In my mind, I quickly realized that 1.) U.S. Airways had failed me as a customer, 2.) I could fly one-way home to Seattle for cheaper than $297. So I said to her, “No thank you, I think I’d prefer to just find a flight home with another airline.” And then the coup de grâce: instead of saying “Thanks for donating $235 to U.S. Airways, I’m sorry I could not help you but have a nice day,” this lady hung up on me! She hung up on me! I have never been so rudely treated by any customer service representative in my life. I was not yelling at her, I accepted the policy though I was frustrated, I simply told her I didn’t want to give them another three hundred dollars and she hung up on me.

Now, I manage a tech support team - which is basically geeky customer service. I know customer service, and I know you never hang up on a customer. I saw neither end of my flight, and the lady hung up on me. Way to pour salt in my wound, U.S. Airways.

Luckily, a friend at Alaska Airlines saved my life and put me on a delightful flight home to sunny Seattle. I’m sharing this rant because I wanted to warn my friends about this policy, this airline’s lack of care for their customers, and because I’ve sent them a note regarding the debacle and used my blog to stage my rough draft.

UPDATE: U.S. Airways called me back, months later and after I complained again, and explained to me I still have a credit with them that expires 6/20/08. Credits, especially those that expire, are no good, I explained, unless you tell the person they have them.

I had an amazing weekend in Arizona with Connie, and she sums it up nicely at her new blog, which we worked on whilst I was down there (I have that effect on people).  We crammed so much into the weekend: we went to tour her work at the copper mine in the Superstition Mountains, hit up an Independence Day pool party, saw WALL·E, and went camping and hiking at the Grand Canyon. We also stopped at Montezuma’s Well and Montezuma’s Castle, two amazing national monuments that showcase ancient cliff dwellings.  There’s also a lot of driving/chatting/swimming/eating/dealing with airlines that happened in betwixt everything.

I’m still trying to process all the photographs taken that weekend, but I’ll toss them online shortly. I learned a few things this weekend: 1.) US Airways is in cohorts with Beelzebub (this is foreshadowing to a long, ranty post of its own), 2.) this country is even more massive and beautiful than I tend to usually appreciate, and 3.) Connie is a really important part of my life.  I hate missing people that you just click with, that type of person who you could just hang out with for days on end.  Connie’s always been like that for me, and even as we change I find we’re always encouraging of who we actually are - it’s easy to be myself around her.  I’m lucky to have such good friends.