I am not agreeing with the company I am just saying that it is FAA regulation and the law so you do

If you ve ever flown on an airplane you know how emotional of an experience it can be. From booking the ticket to landing at the destination the whole experience is one giant emotional roller coaster. To use a simple word, it s stresfull. Here are some of the questions that go through my mind:
But, after the insanity of this week, all I wanted to do was get home as soon as possible. I was in Chicago on business Tuesday through Friday morning. Rather than fly back to Pittsburgh on Friday and then fly back across the country to Minneapolis on Saturday, I simply booked a Southwest Airlines ticket from Chicago to Minneapolis on Friday. That put me back together with the family 1 day earlier. And I tell you, after nearly dying, there ain t nothing like family to make you feel alive.
Tonight, I tried to check in for my flight online at NWA.com download traveling wilburys songs . I received an error message and it wouldn t let me check in. I called the Northwest Airlines customer service number, made my way through 5 minutes download traveling wilburys songs of automated prompts, and finally ended up with a human being. I explained my problem and he quickly diagnosed.
Northwest Airlines canceled my ticket for Sunday because I didn t take the Saturday flight out to Pittsburgh. This was news to me. I ve changed flights dozens of times; especially when on business and I ve never run into this problem. I asked what that meant and he responded that they could reinstate my ticket for a penalty fee of $150.00 and the price difference between the old ticket and new ticket. By new ticket, I mean literally the SAME ticket I already had, but they canceled.
I sought a higher power and asked to speak with someone else. Surely, this must be a mistake, right? I was transfered to, Michael, a supervisor. From the get go he was cold. I re-explained my situation and he said amongst other things
He pointed out that had I read the full terms and conditions before booking the flight I would have known that this would happen. Gee, thanks for making me feel even dumber. As he put it, we re in the business of selling tickets. That was in response to my questioning why they canceled my flight. See, Northwest assumed that since I didn t take the first leg of my trip I wouldn t be taking the 2nd leg. They wanted to sell my ticket at a much higher cost. In doing so they ve sold the seat twice.
I was amazed stupefied really. Michael explained to me that the rules are the rules, I should have known better, and it wasn t his fault I took a different flight out. Wow. He even prodded me to go into details about why I changed download traveling wilburys songs my ticket. I explained download traveling wilburys songs to him the carbon monoxide situation and he that s when he said, well it s not an emotional thing. The conversation went back and forth for about 20 minutes. During that time I even flat out asked him do you think this is right? He fell back on the old rules are rules bit. He was condescending, argumentative, and cold as ice.
Since I didn t agree to any terms on the call about recording the conversation was he ok with me posting the call to my blog? This freaked him out and he explained I had no legal right to do so. I have no idea if he s right. Until I find out, I won t be posting it.
Are you sure there is nothing in your power or someone else s to fix this problem without forcing me (I believe I indicated they had a gun to my head and I had no choice) to pay? His response, was I didn t say that, you are putting words in my mouth. Wow.
As you can imagine, I was a little more than hot under the collar. I couldn t get over the rudeness, lack of civility, and coldness exhibited download traveling wilburys songs by Northwest and their customer service staff. I looked on twitter to see if Northwest had a presence. I was hoping to correspond with someone else before writing download traveling wilburys songs this post, but as you d imagine I didn t find anything.
To be clear, yes the rules are the rules.  Yes, I should have printed them, read them, and I guess followed them explicitly.  But, I also believe there is a difference between the letter download traveling wilburys songs of the law and the spirit of the law.
When you compare this experience to my experiences with Southwest it s no wonder Southwest continues to thrive will Northwest struggles to maintain it s existence. Now that Southwest is flying to Minneapolis, you can be sure all my future flights from Pittsburgh to Minneapolis will be on Southwest even though I d have to connect in Chicago. Yes, that s right. I m giving up direct flights for connecting ones. The difference in customer service is just staggering.
well, shit, that is some seriously crappy customer service. i m not sure i have any other gems to add to that. i don t travel anywhere near as much i do, for precisely the reasons with which you began your post (and a host of others), but my mom flies a lot and sometimes has to change the flight download traveling wilburys songs or whatever. i ll tell her about this. thanks for the heads up. incidentally, isn t Southwest the only airline that isn t charging download traveling wilburys songs a baggage fee even for 1 checked bag?
well, shit, that is some seriously download traveling wilburys songs crappy customer service. i m not sure i have any other gems to add to that. i don t travel anywhere near as much i do, for precisely the reasons with which you began your post (and a host of others), but my mom flies a lot and sometimes has to change the flight or whatever. i ll tell her about this. thanks for the heads up. incidentally, isn t Southwest the only airline that isn t charging a baggage fee even for 1 checked bag?
Given how poor the Northwest customer service ratings are, I don t think I m the only person feeling this way. On any business flight I ve ever taken there has never been a penalty/cancelation for reworking the travel plans. The devil is in the details. Because this ticket was NOT a business fare Northwest download traveling wilburys songs is allowed to do this sort of thing.
As I commented in the post, I should have read the 35 pages of terms of conditions and by the letter of the law Northwest is 100% right. download traveling wilburys songs But, look at the cost of their decision. For the $150.00 download traveling wilburys songs they are going to make off of me on this transaction they are going to lose approximately $15,600 to Southwest. That number is based on a $300.00 a ticket round trip price from Pittsburgh to Minneapolis. I ll be making that trip nearly every single week this year.
Given how poor the Northwest customer service ratings are, I don t think I m the only person feeling this way. On any business flight download traveling wilburys songs I ve ever taken there has never been a penalty/cancelation for reworking the travel plans. The devil is in the details. Because this ticket was NOT a business fare Northwest is allowed to do this sort of thing.
As I commented in the post, I should have read the 35 pages of terms of conditions and by the letter of the law Northwest is 100% right. But, look at the cost of their decision. For the $150.00 they are going to make off of me on this transaction they are going to lose approximately $15,600 to Southwest. That number is based on a $300.00 a ticket round trip price from Pittsburgh to Minneapolis. I ll be making that trip nearly every single week this year.
As a former NWA employee this is one of the reasons why I am a former NWA employee. You could have gotten your ticket reinstated with even more persistence and your time. Based on FAA regulation it is against the law to purchase a round trip flight and then only use a portion of it without speaking to the airline first. If you take a look at the back of your boarding pass or the terms and conditions link before you purchase any ticket it will reference this.
I am not agreeing with the company I am just saying that it is FAA regulation and the law so you do not have any legal recourse. If there is a next time call NWA reservations, pay a $25-50 fee to change your reservation and you will be on your way. To your point this is why Southwest advertises no hidden fees. But FYI, if you try and standby on a Southwest flight and you bought download traveling wilburys songs a reduced fare, they may require download traveling wilburys songs you to upgrade to the full fare before letting you standby. This is why I am now in the consulting business for airlines.
As a former NWA employee this is one of the reasons why I am a former NWA employee. You could have gotten your ticket reinstated with even more persistence and your time. Based on FAA regulation it is against the law to purchase download traveling wilburys songs a round trip flight and then only use a portion of it without speaking to the airline first. If you take a look at the back of your boarding pass or the terms and conditions link before you purchase any ticket it will reference this.
I am not agreeing with the company I am just saying that it is FAA regulation and the law so you do not have any legal recourse. If there is a next time call NWA reservations, pay a $25-50 fee to change download traveling wilburys songs your reservation and you will be on your way. To your point this is why Southwest advertises no hidden fees. But FYI, if you try and standby on a Southwest flight and you bought a reduced fare, they may require download traveling wilburys songs you to upgrade to the full fare before letting you standby. This is why I am now in the consulting business for airlines.