Hotel vs Airline Customer Svc

Although not always the case, I have found that the hotel chains make a better effort at customer svc than the airlines

1) Hotel employees seem to be more interested in you; airline employees greet you like they are robots.
Being a suspicious New Yawker when a hotel employee gives me a cheerful hello I look behind me to
see who they are talking to

2) If there is a problem hotels seem to make an effort to make it right; airlines quote rules on why they
can't help or accomodate you for inconveniences. Please & sorry are not words you hear much

3) Airlines routinely lie. Typical story - when I inquired why my plane was not at the gate yet, I was told
that the plane was in the hanger being cleaned; turned out the plane was in LA and had not taken off
yet!

4) Many hotels now offer some form of a free breakfast; airlines give you a bag with 5 peanuts in them

5) Hotels realize comfortable rooms are important; airlines - you want comfort????; they charge $5 for a
crappy blanket & pillow that my dog won't lie on

6) The hotel amenity fees are annoying but nobody tops the airlines for surcharges .

7) Hotel loyalty programs are better. Many of them now have programs that if there is a room available
you can use your points. Their credit card programs are better with status upgrades after spending
x amount of dollars and many include a free room every year. Airlines advertise free round trips with
25,000 miles, but in reality those seats only available on red eye flights 6 months in advance.
Otherwise it is 50,000 miles.

8) Loyalty program cont'd. Hotels will routinely upgrade you for free. Airlines only upgrade you if you
have the inordinate amt of miles

"5) Hotels realize comfortable rooms are important; airlines - you want comfort????; they charge $5 for a
crappy blanket & pillow that my dog won't lie on."

I never knew you had a dog..

footnote: Hotels are not subsidized by the feds/ maybe that is where they differ..

It thinks it is as basic as the number of options available, which often is none for airlines. And airlines are bottom-line utilitarian in function. Yes, a hotel room is a hotel room, with a loo and a bed, but a flight, in function, is as basic as basic can be. Mix that with my first statement ...

I am in the middle of an Airline Customer Service issue.

On my return flight from Vegas to Fresno, Allegiant claimed my carry-on was 1 inch too tall and required I check it for $35. I wouldn't have had an issue with it if they told me in Fresno where it was apparently not 1 inch too tall...or told me on any of the last 10 Allegiant flights where I carried it on without issue or extra charge.

As it was only an issue on the return flight, I had no other option but to comply and fork over the $35. I consider this near extortion and a deceptive business practice. I think they purposly don't measure the bag on the outbound flight to snag you on the return when you have no other options.

So I e-mailed them. Their response was to provide the Customer Support phone number (which is not Toll Free). I called it 5 times and each time the message was that "all lines were busy helping other customers"...and I was disconnected. On the 6th try I got a person...after a 20 minute hold.

Her response was that she couldn't help me, but gave me a PO box I could write. She warned that it would take 6 to 8 weeks for them to review my complaint and it was impossible to talk to anyone else about this issue.

The bottom line is that Allegiant is trying to create a Customer No Service environment so they can nickle and dime their clients and provide no real recourse. I've already wasted way more than $35 of my time on it...but my satisfaction in this matter is becoming a quest.

My next step is to dispute the $35 charge with my Credit Card Company. I will also write their PO box. I am not charged for long distance calls, so I may just start calling their senior executives to discuss and based on their response, perhaps a small claims suit is in order. It's no longer about the money...it's about getting even.

Am I wrong on this?

No, you are "not wrong" in my book
yet/but there is a "Life is too Short" clause I have adopted.
Resentments are often too bitter for my tastes.
No doubt you were taken.. but its a trip to nowheresville you're on...wasted time you could be dancing in the rain in that fun Vegas-hat of yourn.

Very. To my mind, airlines are too reluctant to enforce their carry-on rules, not too aggressive. You yourself said so, commenting on how many prior times Allegiant let you bring this oversize carry-on to your seat.

If you bring a bag too large for carry-on, which you apparently did, be prepared to be asked to check it. And if you agreed to pay for checking a bag, pay it.

I live 5 mintues from the airport and I was there early...to save $70 I would have done that. I assumed the travel bag was exactly the right size for carry on since I've done it so many times. Had they told me that at the start of my journey, or at the start of any of my other trips, no problem.

Now, as to customer service....6-8 weeks to respond to a complaint? 5 disconnected calls? Perhaps you'd be happy with that kind of response, but I expect more. Now whether it was their responsibility to inform me when I checked in or my responsibility to measure my previously ok bag is between American Express and Allegiant air.

1. Become self-reliant. If you think it's close to the limit, measure your bag yourself. That way you know. 22" maximum height.

2. So you're abandoning your "Allegiant purposefully screws us on the return-leg" conspiracy theory?

3. Why do you think it was Allegiant's obligation to measure your carry-on at the check-in counter? No airline does that. Those folks concern themselves with checked baggage, not carry-on bags.

4. I agree that an airline should offer responsive customer service, and that what you describe is pretty bad.

Well, we agree on something. Just the concept of submitting an Internet complaint so they can give you a phone number to someone who can't do anything about your call but give you a PO box to write...That's the old runaround.

They aren't interested in customer service. They are only interested in taking their customers for every possible cent they can squeeze out of them. Contrast this with the call I made to AMEX. I was in contact with the right person within one minute. The person explained the process to me and actually sympathized with me. I received an e-mail follow-up documenting our call in a couple of minutes

....and if you want to add another conspiracy theory to it, I will bet the complaint resolution process takes 8 weeks because that puts it outside the timeline most credit card companies will allow you to dispute a charge.

Now, did the check-in clerk purposely mis-measure my bag? Doubtful. Are they purposely trying to snag extra fees by measuring bags in their major Las Vegas destination hub, but not the feeder airports? Probably not....but the fact that I was incorrectly forced to pay a fee, under duress with no other options makes me wonder. Next time, I'm driving.

If this were me, I'd write the CEO/Chairman at their executive office, 8360 S. Durango Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89113

https://ir.allegiantair.com/management.cfm
https://www.allegiantair.com/documents_web/AllegiantCompanyFactSheet.pdf

From the company fact sheet:
Owner Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ: ALGT)
Leadership Maurice J. Gallagher, Jr. – Chief Executive Officer, Chairman
Andrew C. Levy – President,
D. Scott Sheldon – Chief Financial Officer; Senior VP, Principal Accounting Officer
Scott Allard – Chief Information Officer
Kris Bauer – Senior VP, Operations
Michael Reichartz – Senior VP, Marketing


8360 S. Durango Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89113