I am a Canadian resident who had a flight from Buffalo, NY to Norfolk, Virginia on Sunday July 2 at
5pm. There were three of us travelling (my brother visiting from overseas, my boyfriend and myself). While I left several hours to avoid traffic on the freeway and at the US Border, I found that the traffic
was even heavier than I anticipated. I called Northwest Airlines at 3:30pm while driving to inform them that I was on my way, but was doubtful about what time I would arrive. Not that I expected to have the plane wait for us, but was just informing them that we could be late. I was told to try to arrive as soon as possible to the airport because I may have to be put on the flight the next day at an added cost. I really pushed through the traffic and finally arrived at the airport at 5:10pm.
After parking, I got to the counter around 5:15pm and inquired whether the flight had left. I was told "yes" and found out that it left at 4:53pm. I asked what could be done now - seeing that there were freeway and border delays. The agent at the desk said that I should call Northwest to see what could be done.
Calling Northwest, I was told that if there was another flight later that night, we could be put on standby, however, since there were no other flights that night, we would need to get on one the next morning (Monday 3 July at either 9:55am or 11:56am). However, we would all need to re-purchase tickets. My brother's ticket could be changed for a nominal fee because I purchased it on his behalf directly through Northwest, but since my boyfriend and I bought tickets off of Travelocity, our tickets were null and void therefore we had to completely pay a new fare. (The explanation for why my brother's ticket was bought directly through Northwest is that my boyfriend and I booked our tickets first, my brother came to visit and decided he wanted to go with us to Virginia. Since we could not find the same flights on travelocity at that time, I decided to call Northwest directly to see if
we could be on the same flights, which we were able to do successfully).
Another alternative to this was to check whether we could fly with Delta that same evening - either for another fee or for free (depending on which agent we were speaking with). When speaking with the Delta agent at the airport, they only had 2 seats in economy and another couldbe put in first class. However, we would have to get Northwest to book it for us. Calling back Northwest, they were unable to see these 2 seats in economy class, so that option was gone.
After Delta did not work, and another series of running arounds with Northwest about how much it would cost to book a new ticket (anywhere between $110US for a change to $361 or so for a new ticket depending on the agent we spoke to), we decided to check other airlines to see if we could get a one way to Virginia and return with Northwest. We found Southwest to be reasonable and they had space, but they told us to verify that we would be able to return with Northwest. When calling Northwest again (maybe about the 5th time this time), I was told that we could not do that since we were not using our outbound flight. Something about people buying return flights to get a cheap one way flight. I was put on to the supervisor, explained my situation (why we were late etc), and she said again that we would have to buy new tickets (the $300+ ones). When inquiring about using another method to get to VA but returning with Northwest, she again gave me the story about not being able to use the return ticket. I explained to her calmly that we sincerely tried to use the outbound ticket, but we couldn't....the proof is that I am calling you and letting you know, butstill, it was not allowed based on their policy. After that, my voice got a bit stronger, saying that all other airlines (at least the ones at Buffalo airport) had it in their policy that they would put passengers
in our case on the next available flight (on standby) AT NO EXTRA COST, whether that happened to be later that evening or the next day. After I said what I had to say, there was a long pause over the phone from the supervisor, and about 10 seconds later, she said "are you finished?". I
thought that was very rude. Whatever happened to "the customer is always right". I eventually got the refund for my brother's ticket, and it looked like we were headed straight back to "O, Canada", out $500 CAN.
We were determined to still go because it was my brother's first time in the US and would have been my boyfriend's first time travelling (it was my birthday present to him). We finally made our way over to the counters to inquire about their prices for trips to Norfolk, VA within the next 24 hours. At US Airways, we were told "$551 a person". We gasped and were dejected because we knew we could not afford that. They informed us to go to priceline to see if we could get the tickets cheaper. We did not want to go onto priceline because we were now wary about buying tickets from such
websites - to Northwest, buying the tickets off of travelocity were regarded as good as trash. We informed them about this, so they wanted to hear more about our story. We told them about our run around with Northwest to which they said "I can't believe they won't let you fly forfree in the morning". The manager there asked us for our tickets, which we did not have (only confirmation numbers), so he said we need to go speak with them for our tickets. At the point the Northwest desk was
closed. The manager at US Airways then said to us "when they open in the morning, you go get your tickets. Come back here around 12:30pm and I will be able to change them into US Airways tickets at no cost to you. I said "then, how would you get paid?" He said, "don't worry about that".
After 3 of us slept in our car that night, we went over to Northwest in the morning. $50 was the fee for the tickets, but we could get some kind of receipt for free. We got that. At 12:30 we were at Northwest. The manager at US Airways was there. He said he needed the full tickets, and
went over personally to Northwest to get them. He found out that something they put in their system allowed the agents not to give us our tickets for free, so he told us to just pay the $50 for each ticket. We got that, took it back to him, and voila! We had tickets to Norfolk, VA for that evening - no cost to my boyfriend and I, and instead of $551 for my brother, he paid $368. Now that is what I call genuine help! How could Northwest treat their customers like that while US Airways could try to help clients who had not originally booked through them? Other airlines hearing our story could not help us, which we understood but how did US Airways do it, I do not have a clue! Twenty-four hours
later, we were in Norfolk, VA. One day lost but our spirits not crushed!
Special thanks to US Airways!
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- Thank You! We appreciate your effort.