Alaska Airlines (Addendum)
Jun. 18th, 2011 07:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
draggonlaadySo after I was safely returned to the lower 48, I called Alaska Airlines' customer service number to see if they would reimburse me for the leg of the flight up which didn't happen.
I was informed that because they didn't actually cancel the flight (just, you know, decided not to go to where I'd paid them to take me), they couldn't reimburse me anything. It was entirely my problem that I'd decided to leave the plane and pay those other people to get me where I had already paid Alaska Airlines to take me. After all, they'd offered to put me up in a hotel room in Juneau and get me there another day later.
Never mind that reimbursing me for the charter boat would have been a HELL of a lot less expensive than paying for a hotel room, AND would have made a customer hugely happier, thus increasing the chance of repeat business. No, no, I'm just SOL.
What they can do though, is give me a $250 discount coupon for my next flight.
When I specifically told the woman that I am NOT flying on Alaska Airlines again, she helpfully told me that the discount coupon is good for a whole year. I repeated that there is absolutely no chance of my flying on this airline again within that time frame, and thus this is not in any way a helpful offer. She then offered me frequent flyer miles instead.
I repeated (again. re-repeated?) that since I am so unhappy with their service that I won't be flying their airline again, so frequent flyer miles are not of use to me EITHER. What I want, and what might make me less wroth with AA customer service, is reimbursement for the leg of the trip that I paid for and which they did not deliver.
She transferred me to her supervisor.
Supervisor and I had EXACTLY the same conversation. At the end of that, she started over, but increased the offer to $350 discount. Yeah, that's nice, you can make it $3000, and it doesn't change the fact that I will not be flying Alaska Airlines within the next year and therefore it is nothing but salting the wound. She then falls back on frequent flyer miles, upping that offer to 14,000 miles. Now, to add to the fun here, this whole thing has taken so long that clients have arrived (you'd think 20 minutes would be enough, but apparently not), so I'm docking tails on a litter of puppies while talking to Supervisor. I finally get fed up enough that I give up. I accepted the frequent flyer miles (after Supervisor finally thinks to tell me that they can be used on other airlines), and hang up.
So. I remain un-mollified by Alaska Airlines' customer service.
Now, I loved the time I spent in Alaska, but unfortunately Alaska Airlines is the only airline that flies there. If I go back, I believe that I will take the ferry.
I was informed that because they didn't actually cancel the flight (just, you know, decided not to go to where I'd paid them to take me), they couldn't reimburse me anything. It was entirely my problem that I'd decided to leave the plane and pay those other people to get me where I had already paid Alaska Airlines to take me. After all, they'd offered to put me up in a hotel room in Juneau and get me there another day later.
Never mind that reimbursing me for the charter boat would have been a HELL of a lot less expensive than paying for a hotel room, AND would have made a customer hugely happier, thus increasing the chance of repeat business. No, no, I'm just SOL.
What they can do though, is give me a $250 discount coupon for my next flight.
When I specifically told the woman that I am NOT flying on Alaska Airlines again, she helpfully told me that the discount coupon is good for a whole year. I repeated that there is absolutely no chance of my flying on this airline again within that time frame, and thus this is not in any way a helpful offer. She then offered me frequent flyer miles instead.
I repeated (again. re-repeated?) that since I am so unhappy with their service that I won't be flying their airline again, so frequent flyer miles are not of use to me EITHER. What I want, and what might make me less wroth with AA customer service, is reimbursement for the leg of the trip that I paid for and which they did not deliver.
She transferred me to her supervisor.
Supervisor and I had EXACTLY the same conversation. At the end of that, she started over, but increased the offer to $350 discount. Yeah, that's nice, you can make it $3000, and it doesn't change the fact that I will not be flying Alaska Airlines within the next year and therefore it is nothing but salting the wound. She then falls back on frequent flyer miles, upping that offer to 14,000 miles. Now, to add to the fun here, this whole thing has taken so long that clients have arrived (you'd think 20 minutes would be enough, but apparently not), so I'm docking tails on a litter of puppies while talking to Supervisor. I finally get fed up enough that I give up. I accepted the frequent flyer miles (after Supervisor finally thinks to tell me that they can be used on other airlines), and hang up.
So. I remain un-mollified by Alaska Airlines' customer service.
Now, I loved the time I spent in Alaska, but unfortunately Alaska Airlines is the only airline that flies there. If I go back, I believe that I will take the ferry.
