CallMiner wants to know why I would switch

I was asked by CallMiner, a site that offers products to help companies identify customers likely to Churn so they can retain customers, about the last time I called a company and threatened to switch providers - that would have been American West Airlines back in early October.

People that read my blog probably know the story. I was flying back from Atlanta after going down there for the Keith Urban concert and the plane had trouble with the fuel tanks not having enough fuel in them so they were getting overheated on the runway. Well, we went back to the gates and they began to shuffle people to other planes and that wasn't a problem for me. They sent my group to Las Vegas and I was met at the gate by a gal as I got off the plane, she handed me a voucher for a hotel and told me to go catch the shuttle. Okay, I went as fast as my little legs could take me to the other end of the airport where the shuttle stop for the motel busses was at and began to wait for the 24 hour shuttle she told me was going to be there. It was to run every hour. Three hours later I have a notebook full of what shuttles stopped and picked people up - no shuttle for my hotel. Someone else came out and got to talking to me and found out how long I had been sitting there and he went looking for information - came back and told me he was told the shuttle had just gone through. I asked who told him that, went to see them, they swore it had just been there and finally when I was adamant about it had not they called the hotel - nope, no shuttle for hours and no they would NOT send one out to pick up the girl waiting to catch one.

Back into the airport for me to find help. Airport closed down and no one but security, sleeping peoples and cleaning crews there. I called the airline and tried to get help from them, no luck, all she did was awwwed about how much it sucked. She moved my seat to a window seat, but did nothing to help me get into a hotel that was still running shuttles. I had no money for cab fare. I was stuck at the airport.

I determined when I saw they had sometimes three needle deposits in the women's bathrooms that I really did not wanna be sleeping in the airport (I have this small fear of other humans), so I ended up staying awake all night waiting for the folks to get there at 5am to please help me out. I could not even get food because only the bar was open and they would not take the food voucher I had.

So, tired and hungry and highly annoyed I sat in the airport and waited. Next morning I asked to talk to the manager - the kid would not get me a manager and after *repeated* requests by me for one all he did was move my seat to over the wing. That is the WORST place to try to see out a window from. I left the counter annoyed all to hell and back. When someone at a booth asked if I wanted frequent flyer miles I told her no way and at her surprised look explained what had happened. She told me to go see someone in the office and directed me toward it. I tried to find it, asked two gals where it was, they wanted to know why I needed it - I explained. One said to her friend "I'll handle this" and she took me to a ticket counter where she gave me a $5 voucher and put me in the first row behind1st class. A row that has MISERABLE view of the movies played and is USELESS for the extra room when the passenger is 5'2" and has more room than they know what to do with in a normal seat.

I was again refused to be let see a manager. Their service is lousy when they mess up, they give you the runaround and blame you for not having known the shuttle stopped running. I can't count how many times I was on the verge of or even in tears that night and day. The only savings was it was at the end of my vacation so I at least got to see my friends, but it ruined the relaxation that I had saved up for 3 years to be able to get and sent me back to care giving more stressed out and tired than I had been before I left.

Calling America West was, all in all, totally useless. I'm sticking with Alaskan or another carrier from now on that might actually have the ability to change hotels on stuck passengers from over the phone. Leaving me locked in the airport was completely unnecessary but the customer service call number was a joke.