Winging It

As a frequent flyer I have given up on US Airways and their incompetent management.I have had so many miserable experiences that I will only fly US Airways as a last resort. I know from speaking to many other people in the Phila area that they share my sentiment. Additionally, US Airways has a long history of only being competitive on price where they have to.

I read your column this morning with great interest. I could certainly identify with the comment about the alarming increase in reports of stolen items from checked bags. I have been a recent victim. On Friday, July 27th I departed from PHL to O’Hare for a trade show in Chicago. Because I was transporting chocolate in my carry on luggage to protect it from the heat (I’m in the food business and I needed the chocolate for my trade show), I placed my laptop and some other electronic items in my checked bag. Bad move. When my bag arrived at O’Hare, my bags arrived sans my laptop, an external cd-rom drive, my electric razor (!), a cheap mp3 player and all electric power cords in my bag. I was very angry at myself for having the audacity to trust the USAir bag handlers but luckily all my data was backed up and the pc was password protected any way so I didn’t have any data compromised – but still it was aggravating.

I drew two conclusions from this experience on how to possibly avoid this situation in the future – if I find myself again in the position that I have to pack something of value in my checked bag (since we’re not allowed to lock the bags any longer):

1. My bag had a shoulder strap that I had not stowed in a side pocket of the bag. Since these shoulder straps can occasionally get caught in the conveyors, I know that they should be stowed (but I erred in not stowing it this time). When my bag arrived at O’Hare, I noted that the should strap had been tied up in a knot so it would not dangle near the belts. I would bet that this dangling shoulder belt was the excuse used to take my bag off the belt and that created the opportunity for the bad guy to rifle through my bag in the first place.
2. As a frequent flyer, I was upgraded to Business Class and the bag was adorned with the “priority” tag. This identified the bag as someone flying business class thereby, in my mind, increasing its value as a potential target to the bad guys. Since I find there is no correlation between having the priority tag and the time my bag arrives on the carousel at my arrival airport, I will no longer let the carrier put a priority tag on my luggage in those instances when I am flying Business Class.

I have filed a claim with USAir. They quickly pointed out to me that their luggage policy states that they do not accept liability for lost/stolen items such as electronics and about a million other things (it’s all listed on the boarding pass sleeve); however, they did indicate that they would review my claim and advise. As a frequent flyer and as one who has never before filed a claim against the carrier, I am hopeful that they do the right thing and reimburse me for my lost items.

Nonetheless, it has been a disappointing incident. I am normally a USAir booster since I end up flying them regularly to Europe and their growing number of flights from Philadelphia has really been a help for me.

I read your article yesterday regarding airport complaints and I can identify with your comments. My husband took a flight on July 27th to Chicago and put an iphone (that he had just purchased for me as a birthday present) in his carryon bag. When he arrived in Chicago the iphone was gone. We reported it to Usairways but they claimed that they had no liability for electronics. My husband is a Chairman's Preferred First Class traveler but that did not seem to matter to Usairways.

After that incident, we made sure that we did not put our valuables into our luggage...but again on August 8th on our first class Usairways trip to Las Vegas my suitcase was opened and my jewelry case (not expensive jewelry) was opened and the necklaces were ripped to shreds. I didn't even bother to file another report with Usairways since they didn't seem to want to process our first claim. I guess our only recorse is to fly another airline and post our information to blogs so that maybe some action can occur through these posts.

I find it especially disheartening that Usairways seems to be targeting the frequent flyer and first class passengers since our tickets subsidize many of their discounted fares.

I hope that others will respond to you with their complaints and maybe Usairways will realize that they had a substantive problem.

In response to your article "Weeding out airport complaints", I would like to recount what happened to my daughter last week. She flew to Boston from philadelphia on USAir to celebrate a friend's 21st birthday. She bought 4 bottles of liquor as a gift, two cheap, gag, bottles, and two expensive bottles. They were all wrapped up. Obviously she checked them, since you can't take liquids on board. When she got to Boston, the two expensive bottles were gone, but the thiefs didn't bother with the cheap stuff. All the wrapping was still in the suitcase. A number of points about this:

1. It's good to know that the criminals that USAir hires are discriminating, I would lose respect for them if they stole cheap liquor.

2. How can you steal two bottles of liquor if there are adequate managers in place? Aren't these screeners supposed to be on the lookout for bombs? Isn't there even a modicum of security? How did the bottles get smuggled out of the airport, or did they drink them on the job? If they can bring out two bottles without a check, what's to keep them from bringing in a bomb and putting it in the cargo hold?

3. Given the scrutiny placed on the baggage handlers for abusing their overtime pay, what kind of balls does it take to continue to steal from checked baggage? Again, where are the supervisors?

4. My daughter spent hours on the phone, talking to people in India (she asked). She got amazingly little sympathy, and no clear answers on who was responsible, and how she would be reimbursed. She got absolutely nowhere when asked how they intended to apprehend the thiefs. It seems simple to go back through the employment records and find who was on duty when and where this bag was ransacked.

5. If USAir did not have a virtual monopoly on travel from philly, they would not survive. Certainly no other business can treat its customers so callously and get away with it.

Feel free to publish this, or send it to USAir. If not, kindly let me know who in USAir will actually care enough to read this, and I will send it myself. Your article gave me a little hope that something will change, keep up the pressure.

One of the things that really irks me is to have to pay for a luggage cart when arriving at the International Terminal A after an international flight. There, passengers arriving, many after a long flight and many from foreign countries, and after clearing passport inspection and customs, they arrive at the luggage carousel trying to
collect their luggage and hopefully put it on a luggage cart. But hold a minute: they need Dollars - three last time I came back from an
international trip in July.

Being a resident of the USA, I am prepared for that and always have some single dollar bills ready. But the unfortunate passengers from foreign countries may have no US currency or a credit card to use. I think this is the most unfriendly welcome in the state that claims to 'have a friend in Pennsylvania.'

This is another aspect of the poor airport management. How much nicer would it be, if luggage carts were free at the International Terminal. A courtesy extended by other international airport I have arrived at. What
a shame that the Philadelphia airport authority does not extend this service to its international arrivals.

On the other hand, I have to praise the crew of a flight from Philadelphia to Warsaw, Poland, via Frankfurt, Germany, on June 19. The flight (US Airways # 702) was scheduled to leave at 8:15 pm. However, severe thunderstorms all around prevented the maintenance crew to get
the plane ready as they are not allowed to work on a plane during a thunderstorm. That is fully understandable.

The storm kept on and on. The plane was rescheduled to leave at 9:20 pm. But was again delayed. I realized that with that delay I would not be able to make my Frankfurt to Warsaw connection. The crew most cheerfully helped rebooking me on a later flight from Frankfurt to Warsaw.

At about 9:45 pm an announcement came through that the flight would not leave till 11:00 - 11:30 pm. And that also did not happen. By about
11:3o pm, pillows and space blankets were handed out to the passengers who settled in for an indefinite period, curling up in all kind of corners.

By that time the crew would have come close to their standard working hours taking the flight time into consideration. However, they graciously agreed to fly the delayed flight.

We finally started boarding at 1 am (the next day) and pushed off at 1:40 am. However, at 2:30 am an emergency arose with a passenger suffering a stroke necessitating a return to the gate where the passenger deplaned with her companion. We eventually pushed off at 2:50 am and made it safely to Frankfurt by 5 pm (local time) - More than 7 hours after scheduled arrival. I did find a flight even at that late hour which took me to my destination, Warsaw, Poland, that got me in to the hotel just about midnight.

Since you asked in your column of August 20 to report the good and the bad experiences, I wanted to share both with you: My experience with a wonderful flight crew and what I consider the poor attitude of the airport management.