Re: your worst airline experience? (with a poll)
"Anonymouse" <nobody@nowhere.org> wrote in message
news:G_KdnbJbvYSipH3anZ2dnUVZ_vqpnZ2d@comcast,com ...
> Brian K wrote:
>> Anonymouse wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I've been flying internationally now for 48 years... and service has
>>> been getting worse... but this last trip to Jamaica was the pits.
>>>
>>> The trip down on Northwest Airlines was uneventful, no food of any sort
>>> included (not even a bag of peanuts) but softdrinks.
>>>
>>> Arrival in the new and improved Sangster International was quick and
>>> efficient. The Couples crew at the airport was great, the trip to the
>>> resort quick (improved roads) and the stay at Couples Negril was
>>> wonderful.
>>>
>>> The trip home took a sharp turn toward HELL at Northwest Airlines's
>>> Minneapolis hub.
>>>
>>> We were supposed to be met by a wheelchair rep.... nope... we got our
>>> own wheelchair... then the NWA rep showed up.... my new wife got our
>>> bags... through passport control, customs with a full bag search, and
>>> this is when the NWA agent told us to put our duty free in our bags
>>> rather than just check the shipping boxes they'd been safely traveling
>>> in (apparently to much theft by NWA baggage handlers)....
>>>
>>> the re-screening by the TSA is just a horrible joke since we've already
>>> been checked from head to toe including a background check.
>>>
>>> then we arrive in Memphis... also a Northwest Airlines hub.
>>>
>>> no luggage
>>>
>>> at all
>>>
>>> they take a report at the lost luggage desk but don't bother to give me
>>> a copy of the report or the case # but tell me (that is to say "contract
>>> with me") to deliver my intact bags in the morning.
>>>
>>> the next day morning comes and goes
>>>
>>> finally.... 22 hours after landing a courier service delivers the
>>> remnants of my luggage... 1 bag... is totally trashed. riveted on handle
>>> ripped off, the contents smashed, stained, and littered with shards of
>>> glass. All the contents, including our wedding clothes stained/ruined.
>>>
>>> NWA/Northwest hasn't bothered to get an agent on site to inventory the
>>> damages... if they don't want to come here, inventory the remnants (they
>>> should bring a tarp so they can do it outside... with all the glass
>>> shards it'd be dangerous inside) attempt to dry clean them (and get all
>>> the shards of glass out of them), replace the items that couldn't be
>>> cleaned, replace the items destroyed, etc.... then I'm figuring they
>>> want to settle for the 3000$/passenger their contract of carriage calls
>>> for for this domestic MSP/MEM flight.
>>>
>>> Northwest Airlines doesn't really like to make good on it's "mistakes"
>>> (aka gross negligence) they seldom return calls, don't check their
>>> answering machines.
>>>
>>> so I've set up a poll at http :// hackamoretravel.blogspot,com /
>>>
>>> what airline sold you your WORST travel experience?
>>>
>>> so far NWA is winning (loosing) hands down... the worst ANY other
>>> airline has done to me in 48 years of flying is delay 1 bag of 2 a day
>>> going into Paris.
>>>
>>>
>>> so again... visit the poll and let's see what airline is giving it's
>>> customers their WORST experiences.
>>>
>>> http :// hackamoretravel.blogspot,com /
>> I regularly fly NorthWest and Continental. My only inconvenience was
>> events outside the control of either airlines. A NWA trip to Minneapolis
>> was delayed at Newark Liberty International Airport. Construction crews
>> had accidentally severed communication lines to the control tower. It
>> was chaos with a majority of flights being instructed not to move an inch
>> on the tarmac. Arriving flights were diverted to Kennedy and La Guardia.
>> Departing flights were moving at a snails place. Our NWA flight sat on
>> the tarmac for 9 hours. Once we had to return to the gate area to refuel.
>> The really bad part for me is that I take meds that cause me to need to
>> urinate frequently. When I could not contain myself any longer after 7
>> hours, I unbuckled and made a dash for the bathroom. I was accosted by
>> an older female flight attendant in my face telling me that I was in
>> violation of some federal law. As I pushed past her, I said arrest me...I
>> gotta pee. Would you prefer that I unzip and do it on you? I did my
>> business and was back in my seat before you could whistle "Dueling
>> Banjos".
>>
>> The Co-Pilot came back to see what all the fuss was about. I told him
>> about my medical condition. I also told him that it was the holidays and
>> the plane was full of senior citizens many with weak bladders. If they
>> didn't give us some kind of official bathroom break it would be one soggy
>> flight. Apparently if the engines aren't on you can go to the bathroom.
>> Seeing how we weren't taking off anytime soon -- we got our bathroom
>> break.
>>
>> With Continental it was an act of God. We were hunkered down in Ft.
>> Lauderdale's airport for 7 hours because a major storm had parked itself
>> between FLL and Newark. The airline bent over backwards and had pizza and
>> ribs brought in from some of the better places near the airport.
>>
>> Airlines flights from Hell are the exception rather then the rule in my
>> opinion.
>>
>
> so you're saying NWA kept you on the ground for 9 hours, ordered you into
> your seat without legal justification, harrassed and abused you.
>
> let me guess... they didn't give you food or drink either?
>
> sounds typical for NWA these days.
>
> I book travel for other people.
>
> I no longer book travel on NWA.... it's just not worth the grief to me or
> my clients.
>
> but I'm still asking for readers to participate in the poll on
> http :// hackamoretravel.blogspot,com
>
> so far NWA is leading the loosing race at about 6 to 1.
>
I'm not surprised that "NWA is leading the loosing [sic] race. . . ." Your
survey is flawed. You only list a few airlines, one of which (Southwestern)
does not exist. A survey that only includes Northwest, KLM, Air France, and
"Southwestern" is fatally flawed. You might compare apples and apples with
flights of similar length (a 4 hour flight on Northwest with a 4 hour flight
on another North American carrier, for example). I suspect you probably are
one of those that expects first class service at LCC prices.