At the end of my week, ready to head home, I was on US Airways’ web site checking in when I ran into an issue.  Every time I tried to check in I got an error message.  I called the support number given with the error.  I explained how I was trying to check into seat 1D, it showed that seat in my itinerary and on the web site.  I was placed on hold for nearly 20 minutes. 

When the rep came back, she told me there was a problem and I couldn’t have that seat.  I questioned her on what the issue might be.  I am pretty familiar with airline overbooking practices, however, I don’t typically hear about them doing it with first class.  The rep said in a hushed voice, “Well I’m not supposed to tell you this but a Sky Marshall needs that seat”.  Uh OK.  As a tax payer, I wondered why a Sky Marshall would need a paid first class seat, but I kept that to myself.  She put me in a seat in the middle of the plane.  Wow, lucky me. 

When I started boarding the plan, I tried not to make a big point of looking at seat 1D, but I was a little curious.  When I walked by, I actually noticed one of my coworkers sitting in what should have been my seat.  I was confused.  I have stated in earlier entries, I am a Chairman Preferred Dividend Miles member.  That means I travel over 100,000 miles per year to qualify for that status.  In fact, I qualified for Chairman status for next year by June this year.

I know my coworker travels quite a bit as well, but she is actually one tier down, Platinum.  I also knew that she had gotten to the airport to check in at least an hour after I had checked in online.  One of the Flight Attendants that I see frequently happened to remark, “Yes, I was surprised to see you back here, you are the only Chairman traveler that didn’t get upgraded”.  Great, thank you for that.

The next day at home I called the special Chairman customer service number I get as a benefit just to find out what happened.  I explained the entire situation to her.  She said wasn’t sure why the previous US Airways rep had told me that story about the Sky Marshall.  She said that they don’t even know the identity of the Sky Marshalls so there would be no way for them to communicate that to me.  She, of course, was very sorry that had happened. 

I asked at that point why I would want to keep doing business with a company that is going to lie to me.  She placed me on hold for a while.  When she came back, she said she noticed I had a trip booked for a few weeks from now and that she was going to go ahead and upgrade me now.  Typically, US Airways upgrades 7 days before for Chairman members.  I have flown that particular trip a number of times, I always get upgraded no matter what.  Unimpressed, I voiced my disappointment at her, in a nice way I basically said she didn’t address the issue and thanks for nothing.   

She then told me to write a letter to customer service and see what they had to say.  Lets see, it is 2009, US Airways has email, a web site and a call center and I am supposed to write a letter.  One of the least trackable and slowest ways of communicating.  Is that really how they handle customer service issues?  Is it some kind of stalling tactic?  Do they hope that in frustration the customer will just let it drop?  Thanks US Airways, I feel really appreciated.