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FCO, anyone?? I'm venting -- apologies in advance
- Thread starter Alpinista
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Mom83
100+ Posts
So good to hear, Alpinista. We are in Rome now…we will take that same flight home (FCO to IAD) on Monday morning, so I hope our experience is similar. We had a great flight over on 10/4…we did not get bumped from business class and the flight was on time.
We spent our first week in the Chianti region of Tuscany in the villa where we always stay…then drove down here to Rome yesterday. We had a lovely dinner outside at Ai Balestrari near our apartment…then walked to see the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain lit up at night.
Raining today, as you know, so taking it easy until dinnertime…I made reservations at a restaurant in Trastevere for tonight that I have heard good things about…Ditta Trinchetti.
Safe travels home!
We spent our first week in the Chianti region of Tuscany in the villa where we always stay…then drove down here to Rome yesterday. We had a lovely dinner outside at Ai Balestrari near our apartment…then walked to see the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain lit up at night.
Raining today, as you know, so taking it easy until dinnertime…I made reservations at a restaurant in Trastevere for tonight that I have heard good things about…Ditta Trinchetti.
Safe travels home!
Alpinista
100+ Posts
Up at 2 AM today to watch the recorded West Virginia University vs Baylor football game from last night (I'm a WVU person, so the day is off to a great start with a huge win for the Mountaineers).
Just to round off the trip comments. Didn't like the Prima Vista lounge in Rome in July; liked it even less this time. Same overcrowding. Same need to stand in an ill-defined and longish line to place an order for food/drinks and then wait for the server to find you.
As to the problems with no seat assignments: Still have not gotten full compensation from United on the bump on the Dulles to Rome leg. Got our vouchers for the "We're sorry" part, but no refunds yet (as promised) for the difference in cost between business and premium economy.
Once in Italy, I used my best English major skills to write emails worthy of Pulitzer Prize recognition to the CEO and VP Customer Service for United Airlines. Got no responses. A week later, sent "WTH" follow-ups to both and got a short note back from the VP's staff saying they had tried to call me. Found a message in my phone list "CALL BLOCKED UNKNOWN CALLER" that turned out to be that call. Cost me $10 to activate my AT&T international plan to listen to the voice message that they left -- "Sorry for your inconvenience. Call ticketing to make other arrangements for your trip home (Newark, here I come)".
Tone of my next email was a little less polite and then more silence. A day later, I checked one more time to look at the blocked-out seating chart and, lo and behold, there were now three open seats in business. I grabbed one of those (my wife did have an assigned seat for the return trip) and my final note to the VP's office was that I had a seat, but that it would have been really nice if they had assigned one of those newly opened seats to me instead of me just happening to find it on my own search. Got one last canned reply of "We can't always guarantee seat assignments".
Just to round off the trip comments. Didn't like the Prima Vista lounge in Rome in July; liked it even less this time. Same overcrowding. Same need to stand in an ill-defined and longish line to place an order for food/drinks and then wait for the server to find you.
As to the problems with no seat assignments: Still have not gotten full compensation from United on the bump on the Dulles to Rome leg. Got our vouchers for the "We're sorry" part, but no refunds yet (as promised) for the difference in cost between business and premium economy.
Once in Italy, I used my best English major skills to write emails worthy of Pulitzer Prize recognition to the CEO and VP Customer Service for United Airlines. Got no responses. A week later, sent "WTH" follow-ups to both and got a short note back from the VP's staff saying they had tried to call me. Found a message in my phone list "CALL BLOCKED UNKNOWN CALLER" that turned out to be that call. Cost me $10 to activate my AT&T international plan to listen to the voice message that they left -- "Sorry for your inconvenience. Call ticketing to make other arrangements for your trip home (Newark, here I come)".
Tone of my next email was a little less polite and then more silence. A day later, I checked one more time to look at the blocked-out seating chart and, lo and behold, there were now three open seats in business. I grabbed one of those (my wife did have an assigned seat for the return trip) and my final note to the VP's office was that I had a seat, but that it would have been really nice if they had assigned one of those newly opened seats to me instead of me just happening to find it on my own search. Got one last canned reply of "We can't always guarantee seat assignments".
Hi Alpinista - the type of service you describe never ceases to amaze me. Where along the line do these big companies start to feel they have the right to treat customers as some type of disposable merchandise? When and at what level do the customer service people lose sight of the fact that it's these little things that really make customers content or dissatisfied with them? Where are the PR experts - all with the appropriate degrees and salaries of course - that don't get these simple facts of giving a customer what he pays for and expects?
I'd be happy to hear or read of an insider's perspective of how these things get rotten and dysfunctional. I don't really believe that it's all "bottom line/lack of resources/priorities" or whatever excuse is used to whittle away customers' reasonable complaints, and to justify the apathy of Business.
And to edit this after doing a search, out of curiosity :
hbr.org
From the article (Harvard Business Review, no less) :
"Since 2015, we examined the incentives structures within customer service departments at over a dozen companies in finance, technology, and travel services to understand why customers perpetually experience hassles. We found that these companies screen complaining callers by using a hierarchical organizational structure. This structure, we argue, keeps a lid on the amount of redress customers are willing to seek. In other words, by forcing customers to jump through hoops, the organization helps curb its redress payouts."
In short, they really don't care.
I'd be happy to hear or read of an insider's perspective of how these things get rotten and dysfunctional. I don't really believe that it's all "bottom line/lack of resources/priorities" or whatever excuse is used to whittle away customers' reasonable complaints, and to justify the apathy of Business.
And to edit this after doing a search, out of curiosity :
Why Is Customer Service So Bad? Because It’s Profitable.
American consumers spend, on average, 13 hours per year in calling queue with an estimated monetary cost of $38 billion. A third of complaining customers must make two or more calls to resolve their complaint. And that ignores the portion who simply give up out of exasperation after the first...
From the article (Harvard Business Review, no less) :
"Since 2015, we examined the incentives structures within customer service departments at over a dozen companies in finance, technology, and travel services to understand why customers perpetually experience hassles. We found that these companies screen complaining callers by using a hierarchical organizational structure. This structure, we argue, keeps a lid on the amount of redress customers are willing to seek. In other words, by forcing customers to jump through hoops, the organization helps curb its redress payouts."
In short, they really don't care.
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Mom83
100+ Posts
Hello Alpinista. Good to hear you made it home safely. We are Mountaineer fans also…our son attended WVU from 2005-9. I am also a Gator fan as I attended UFla…my husband an Ohio Buckeyes fan…our daughter went to William and Mary and roots for all our teams.
Flying is just no fun anymore. I am glad you got the business class seat coming home…and I hope you finally see that refund soon on your bumped seat flying over to Rome.
Oddly airlines can “guarantee“ that we pay for our tickets promptly, but after that there are no guarantees of anything!!
Fingers crossed that our flight home FCO to IAD goes smoothly this Monday.
Flying is just no fun anymore. I am glad you got the business class seat coming home…and I hope you finally see that refund soon on your bumped seat flying over to Rome.
Oddly airlines can “guarantee“ that we pay for our tickets promptly, but after that there are no guarantees of anything!!
Fingers crossed that our flight home FCO to IAD goes smoothly this Monday.
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Joe Baumann
10+ Posts
Flying United to FCO in January. Crossing my fingers everything goes smoothly. Haven't been there since March 2018.
italian excursion
100+ Posts
Like Allen, I'm rethinking my luggage configuration for travel, too. Airlines now have even less control of their own systems. Yesterday I had a wonderful Lufthansa biz class flight from Europe to Chicago. But when we got to Chicago we had to sit on the tarmac for 2 hours, which meant an enormous number of passengers missed connections (including me). The flight attendant I was most friendly with told me that in all of her, as well as her colleagues time working at their jobs this was the first time this had ever happened. She also said it was a function of the ORD system which did not have enough places to disembark a plane of their size, etc.
Even though I had global entry, I missed my connection by moments because I had to wait for the luggage to be unloaded. Then I got to wait another 4 hours for the next flight home. SO, in conclusion I will absolutely no longer check bags but travel even light than usual. It's customary for me to check my larger (20") bag only on the way home. NO MORE CHECKING LUGGAGE)!
Oh well, a wonderful trip, nonetheless and a new lesson for me.....
Cheryl
www.italianexcursion.com
Even though I had global entry, I missed my connection by moments because I had to wait for the luggage to be unloaded. Then I got to wait another 4 hours for the next flight home. SO, in conclusion I will absolutely no longer check bags but travel even light than usual. It's customary for me to check my larger (20") bag only on the way home. NO MORE CHECKING LUGGAGE)!
Oh well, a wonderful trip, nonetheless and a new lesson for me.....
Cheryl
www.italianexcursion.com
Mom83
100+ Posts
We flew United home from FCO to Dulles this past Monday. Flight was great…left a bit early and arrived early to Dulles.
Alpinista…I agree about the Prima Vista lounge at FCO. We went in just to get a bite to eat. Fortunately it was not terribly crowded and there was barely a line to order food, so our yogurt and scrambled eggs came fast and served the purpose. But it is certainly no great shakes as far as lounges go.
Alpinista…I agree about the Prima Vista lounge at FCO. We went in just to get a bite to eat. Fortunately it was not terribly crowded and there was barely a line to order food, so our yogurt and scrambled eggs came fast and served the purpose. But it is certainly no great shakes as far as lounges go.
Alpinista
100+ Posts
In the "It could be worse" category, got a text message from my younger son who just boarded a flight from Frankfurt to Dulles. He was unable to get business seating, but was happy to have an aisle seat in premium economy....until his neighbor showed up and is apparently not able to fit into just one seat and has overwhelming body odor -- not sure the next 10 hours are going to be a great travel experience ;-) Says the flight is full and no option to move ;-(
Alpinista
100+ Posts
Let me wrap up my part of the United saga.
We were left waiting for the compensation for the difference between business and premium economy, so wrote back to the VP Customer Service rep citing the case number associated with my issue. Got a response back from some random rep with a list of 12 questions that he would need to pursue a resolution (as in, “Everything that was already in my emails that created the case file”). I sent back a “Really??!!” response and then silence for a week. Was getting ready to send another query and got notification yesterday from the original VP rep that both my miles and my wife’s dollars had been compensated.
I had been forewarned that airlines calculate this based on ticket cost on the day of the problem (departure day) versus the differences at time of sale (April for September travel in this case) and it appears that this was the basis used. Not thrilled, but moving on.
Hope everyone has great travel
experiences ahead.
We were left waiting for the compensation for the difference between business and premium economy, so wrote back to the VP Customer Service rep citing the case number associated with my issue. Got a response back from some random rep with a list of 12 questions that he would need to pursue a resolution (as in, “Everything that was already in my emails that created the case file”). I sent back a “Really??!!” response and then silence for a week. Was getting ready to send another query and got notification yesterday from the original VP rep that both my miles and my wife’s dollars had been compensated.
I had been forewarned that airlines calculate this based on ticket cost on the day of the problem (departure day) versus the differences at time of sale (April for September travel in this case) and it appears that this was the basis used. Not thrilled, but moving on.
Hope everyone has great travel
experiences ahead.
italian excursion
100+ Posts
Whom do I contact for the delay/cancel compensation? I was told there is a government advocate somewhere. Not getting any response from airlines! Thank you....
Alpinista
100+ Posts
Go to the US Dept of Transportation site for information. I contacted United’s VP Customer Service to register complaints.
italian excursion
100+ Posts
Great, thank you!
At first glance at Cheryl's report, this appears to be a matter where Lufthansa owes you compensation under EU rules, although the fault may be attributed to Chicago O'Hare. LH's page about the rules:
italian excursion
100+ Posts
Andrew, it's confusing because we took off out of Europe 30 minutes late and when we got to ORD they had no spot for a plane our size upon arrival. That's why I thought I should try for the US first.
We shall see. Seems daunting either way!
We shall see. Seems daunting either way!
There are sites like https://www.airhelp.com/en/ that will handle a claim, but they take a portion of whatever you're awarded.
Alpinista
100+ Posts
Here is an EU site for passenger information. https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm
Joe Baumann
10+ Posts
I ended up canceling my trip to Italy with United because they kept changing the aircraft and our seats. I initially purchased Premium Plus seats. Two days after purchasing I received a notice from United that aircraft had changed and those seats were no longer available. I would have to wait until after travel to receive a refund. I wrote United who stated they would give me a refund for the difference. Then a week later they changed the aircraft back to the original model. This time they did not notify me. I just happened to check. But they had stated the schedule had changed (by 5 minutes) but failed to state that the model plane changed back to what it originally was. I wouldn't be able to see what seats we were in until I accepted the change. I can't chance my partner who is 6'5" being stuck in a middle seat on a 3-4-3 configured plane. I wrote United stating this was a scam changing our seats and aircraft twice in two weeks and that I either want my original seats back at the original price or a full refund. They wrote back stating I needed to pay an $500 above what I initially paid for the Premium Plus seats. I persisted stating I wouldn't accept the change until I get those seats back or get a full refund. They ended up giving me a full refund. Hence, my trip to Italy is cancelled. I have been following United on Twitter and apparently they have been known to downgrade passengers who have purchased business class or premium plus seats. I don't know if other airlines do this regularly as I don't fly very often.The travel gods punished us. After a really good set of flights in August on Icelandair (to/from Reykjavik), noticed that we no longer had seat assignments for our trip to Italy with United (jumping to end of story, we’re in Italy as I type, however). Had made the current reservations on April 2. Had seat assignments on April 2 (and seem to recall that very few seats were taken at that time). On September 17, after multiple calls to United, still had no seat assignments, but lots of calming reassurances. Right. Got bumped out of business, but the steward brought me a pair of slippers and a bottle of water and a heartfelt apology once under way — my wife, who was sitting beside me and also bumped, got neither slippers, water, or apology
United made the mistake of sending her a “How did we do? email today. 20 minutes of angry typing later, she had told them.
As always, thanks for the venting platform.
Made our jet lag recovery stop at Bagno Vignoni yesterday night and now at her home in Tuscany, so life is still always good.
Alpinista
100+ Posts
Very sorry to hear of the problems. I hope you find an alternative way to get to Italy -- would hate to see United ruin the whole trip for you. We are sitting on a significant amount of travel credits (seems like every flight has either delays or technical problems in addition to being bumped that they issue credits for). Need to use them, but know that will put us in a fare class that will be on the chopping block if they change configurations or overbook.