US Airways "flight certificate" scam
 

"singlemalt" wrote in message
m...

Sorry 'bout your problem, but it's a shame you don't read the papers.

http://www.eturbonews.com/2588/us-ai...mer-satisfacti

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/s...l?ana=from_rss

http://us-airways.****edconsumer.com...212112970.html

Reviews;
http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/us_air.htm

US Airways "flight certificate" scam
 

Here's the deal. In Phoenix they asked for volunteers to take a "bump" on
the flight to Austin. Having done so many times on AA I volunteered. They
offered a "flight certificate" good for any round trip flight in the USA.
That's what they told me. Now, I have tried to use it 3-4 times going to
various cities at various times. I tried to go out as far as May to schedule
a flight from Austin to Chicago and no spaces are available for use with
this so called "flight certificate" Basically, what I got was a frequent
flyer miles award worth 25,000 miles. I was told that I could use it toward
buying a ticket and its value would $200. This thing is practically
worthless. And also it has an expiration date on it so it will probably
expire due to inability to get a ticket. I was advised to call customer
relations, but they have such call volume that they will not put you on hold
to talk to an agent but rather tell to go to the internet. This is a scam
and I think it is outrageous that they would treat passengers like that
because they know people are going to talk like I am. I am not even sure if
it is legal. Just beware of taking a bump with them.

US Airways "flight certificate" scam
 

singlemalt wrote:

Here's the deal. In Phoenix they asked for volunteers to take a "bump" on
the flight to Austin. Having done so many times on AA I volunteered. They
offered a "flight certificate" good for any round trip flight in the USA.
That's what they told me. Now, I have tried to use it 3-4 times going to
various cities at various times. I tried to go out as far as May to schedule
a flight from Austin to Chicago and no spaces are available for use with
this so called "flight certificate" Basically, what I got was a frequent
flyer miles award worth 25,000 miles. I was told that I could use it toward
buying a ticket and its value would $200. This thing is practically
worthless.


I am a bit confused. If it really is worth the same as a 25K roundtrip
FF award, then there is plenty of availability from Austin to ORD.
http://www.usairways.com/awa/booking...ilability.aspx

It looks like there are no dates for May, possibly because they will be
loaded later. A good part of October has 12500 one way awards.
The latest 12500 award to ORD is Jan 27. The latest return is Feb 7.
I assume they will add more dates later.

25K round trips are limited on many carriers.
From looking at paid fares, it looks like there are only non-stops on
US are UA codeshares, so it looks like you are fighting for awards on
AUS-CLT AND CLT-ORD, which reduces your chances.

I like AA's set up as they give $$ vouchers when you volunteer your
seat. I once got $800 plus hotel, meals, and a business class upgrade
from BRU-ORD-SJC when I gave up my BRU-ORD coach seat. This was a good
thing. It was a work trip and my return was delayed, so the I had no
seat assignment on the flight I gave up my seat on. I was worrying about
getting a middle seat. The flight was delayed for a mechanical and was
scheduled to be at least 6 1/2 hours late. So, when the request was made
for volunteers, it didn't take long for me to do the math.

This Monday probably has a good chance for oversold situations. Just
don't offer to do this on DL. :)

US Airways "flight certificate" scam
 

singlemalt wrote:
Here's the deal. In Phoenix they asked for volunteers to take a "bump" on
the flight to Austin. Having done so many times on AA I volunteered.

The problem is that people are volunteering. If you're involuntarily
bumped the payoffs are much higher now, and they're in cash, not
vouchers. If so many people would stop volunteering, the overall net
result would be much better, as there would be a big incentive for the
airlines to reduce over-booking, and when it did happen the passengers
would get real compensation.

If the airline arranges substitute transportation that is scheduled to
arrive at your destination between one and two hours after your original
arrival time (between one and four hours on international flights), the
airline must pay you an amount equal to your one-way fare to your final
destination, with a $400 maximum, and they still have to fly you to your
destination or refund your money.

If the substitute transportation is scheduled to get you to your
destination more than two hours later (four hours internationally), or
if the airline does not make any substitute travel arrangements for you,
the compensation doubles (200% of your fare, $800 maximum), and they
still have to fly you to your destination or refund your money.

Apparently these rule are only if you are bumped from a flight that is
actually still operating. If they cancel your flight completely, even
when it's for reasons under their control (not weather), there is no
payoff, and in fact you'll likely lose money. I.e., JetBlue routinely
cancels flights, and simply refunds the cost of any remaining segments.
This strands the passenger, leaving them to purchase full-fare,
no-advance-purchase, tickets on another airline. JetBlue can't rebook a
whole plane load of passengers on a later flight, or a flight the next
day because there is no room on those flights, and they have so few
flights on each route to begin with.

US Airways "flight certificate" scam
 

"singlemalt" wrote in message
m...
Here's the deal. In Phoenix they asked for volunteers to take a "bump" on
the flight to Austin. Having done so many times on AA I volunteered. They
offered a "flight certificate" good for any round trip flight in the USA.
That's what they told me. Now, I have tried to use it 3-4 times going to
various cities at various times. I tried to go out as far as May to
schedule a flight from Austin to Chicago and no spaces are available for
use with this so called "flight certificate" Basically, what I got was a
frequent flyer miles award worth 25,000 miles. I was told that I could use
it toward buying a ticket and its value would $200. This thing is
practically worthless. And also it has an expiration date on it so it will
probably expire due to inability to get a ticket. I was advised to call
customer relations, but they have such call volume that they will not put
you on hold to talk to an agent but rather tell to go to the internet.
This is a scam and I think it is outrageous that they would treat
passengers like that because they know people are going to talk like I am.
I am not even sure if it is legal. Just beware of taking a bump with them.

What did you expect from US Airways? They have become arguably the worst
airline in the United States, and continually show a total disregard for
even the most rudimentary customer service standards.

US Airways "flight certificate" scam
 

Yes this happened to me........basically to cut costs they are making
good on the fine print that the offer may be modified at any time and
subject to change without notice.

----
http://www.moviesitearchive.com/travel

On Aug 28, 6:42*pm, "singlemalt" wrote:
Here's the deal. In Phoenix they asked for volunteers to take a "bump" on
the flight to Austin. Having done so many times on AA I volunteered. They
offered a "flight certificate" good for any round trip flight in the USA.
That's what they told me. Now, I have tried to use it 3-4 times going to
various cities at various times. I tried to go out as far as May to schedule
a flight from Austin to Chicago and no spaces are available for use with
this so called "flight certificate" Basically, what I got was a frequent
flyer miles award worth 25,000 miles. I was told that I could use it toward
buying a ticket and its value would $200. This thing is practically
worthless. And also it has an expiration date on it so it will probably
expire due to inability to get a ticket. I *was advised to call customer
relations, but they have such call volume that they will not put you on hold
to talk to an agent but rather tell to go to the internet. This is a scam
and I think it is outrageous that they would treat passengers like that
because they know people are going to talk like I am. I am not even sure if
it is legal. Just beware of taking a bump with them.

US Airways "flight certificate" scam
 

SMS wrote:
singlemalt wrote:

Here's the deal. In Phoenix they asked for volunteers to take a "bump"
on the flight to Austin. Having done so many times on AA I volunteered.


The problem is that people are volunteering. If you're involuntarily
bumped the payoffs are much higher now, and they're in cash, not
vouchers. If so many people would stop volunteering, the overall net
result would be much better, as there would be a big incentive for the
airlines to reduce over-booking, and when it did happen the passengers
would get real compensation.


If that happeend, airlines would need to cut back on overbooking.
Of course, this would mean more empty seats, which wouldn't be
profitable. If the number of airlines decreases because of failure to
make a profit, what do you think that will do to air fares?

US Airways "flight certificate" scam
 

FYI, earlier this summer I exchanged a US bump certificate for an
ITH-LGA round trip that would have cost close to $700 if I had to pay
for it.

I think that you'll have better luck at a ticket counter than over the
phone, particularly if the ticket counter isn't too busy and you smile
at them. I figured they'd give me $200 credit and ask for the other
$500, so I was pleasantly surprised when they said OK, here's your
ticket receipt.

R's,
John