ATA limits customer inquiries and complaints to 1000 characters, including spaces. After posting this:
We couldn't check-in for our flight because we were told the cut-off time had been reached and the last bag sent. I offered to fly without luggage. My sister could pick up our bags in minutes. We were told we wouldn't make it down the jetway because everything closes at 2:05PM. My watch read 2:04PM. The ATA rep said theirs read 2:07PM. Note this is after we spent time in discussion.
A couple arrived after us with tickets on our flight, and after their pleadings, they were issued boarding passes for our 2:35PM flight to SFO! When I inquired about the disparity in treatment, I was curtly informed that I had arrived late and would need to pay a fee and buy a new ticket, amounting to $339 per person.
I flew a different carrier home out of frustration with the:
-DISCRIMINATION with which we were treated
-PRICE-GOUGING (other airlines allow passengers to fly stand by without purchasing a new ticket or paying a penalty)
Please contact me to resolve this matter. I'm out of characters on this form.
We each received a $100 travel voucher, and I got a generic letter. After realizing today that the travel voucher is basically worthless because they don't let you apply it to online purchases, so you can't get any online rates, I submitted this:
After being denied boarding due to our "late" arrival (32 minutes to departure), while another couple who arrived LATER than we did were allowed to board that specific flight (we asked ATA why the disparity in treatment and never received a direct answer), I have been attempting to use my ATA credit. I had been told I could use it to purchase ANY travel on ATA, including rescheduling the second leg of my original trip. Yet, I have just learned that I can’t apply it toward webfares and a HNL - SFO leg is priced as a one-way fare, not the continuation of a round trip. I was misinformed of my options, and your non-web / one-way prices are outrageously expensive. In addition, your customer service personnel can't even tell me my remaining balance!
Based on the discrimination, price-gouging, and mis-information I've experienced, at this point, the minimum remedy that will not leave me feeling victimized by ATA would be for you to credit my VISA with the $633.80 I paid for the tickets.
ATA sucks. Don't use them. This is but one of the first steps I will take to inform the world of their suckyness.
By the way, I still hate Express as well. Yes. It has been years. Loyal readers may remember. Perhaps my sending them bad karma is paying off. That division has been sucking wind, according to our retail analyst. I like to think I've contributed.
After spotting the four-legged fury creature that was leaving turds all over my cowboy boots and running clothes run for its life into the safety of the bathroom closet, we discovered a hole that was the mouse's entry to the buffet of the apartment. Patching up the hole, we again slept soundly, until last night.
At 2:30 in the morning, I heard crinkling noises. We awoke and investigated to find a tattered package of coco-nuts, though not the type that would induce memories of suntan lotion on a tropical beach or refreshing drinks sipped effortlessly while lounging on vacation. Chocolate-covered nuts had been "moused," though just in the beginning stages.
How was the bastard entering? A check in the closet showed that it was serving as a toilet to the critter, and a new gateway. Like in Shawshank Redemption, the mouse tirelessly worked to dig a new hole to freedom. Unlike Shawshank Redemption, the mouse was not offering to do my taxes.
We sealed up the hole and set two traps in the closet. We would catch that rodent.
An hour of restless sleep later, I again heard rumblings. We turned on the light, and the sounds stopped. We checked the wall for damage, armed with the knowledge that our intruder was a good little digger. We didn't see anything that was cause for concern.
After 20 more minutes of lying in darkness, the sounds were unavoidable. I thought I heard something coming from the left side as well as the right, but I figured I was just hearing things. The sound to my right was definitely louder. As Gordon was shuffling around boxes in the corner, I got his attention and pointed to the bathroom closet. My instrict was to quietly point, as if the mouse could understand what I saying and become alarmed that we were on to it.
Gordon grabbed a big hammer, entered the bathroom, and closed the dorr. I heard, "Whack, whack, whack, Whack, WHACK." Silence.
"Is is dead?" I cried out sheepishly.
"Yes, it's dead."
"Is there blood."
"You shouldn't ask those questions. Yes. There is blood. Lots of blood."
He cleaned up the blood and used bleach. As he was cleaning, he said, "I think I may have whacked it a bit too hard. There is a lot of splatter."
I asked if he thought there was just the one. We figured when he was shaking up the boxes, the mouse dashed across the room to the closet and was puzzled that his entrance had been closed, allowing for the surprise attack.
I was somewhat relieved that our rodent ordeal was over. He showered again, at my urging. Come on - a guy says there was a lot of splatter. That calls for a deep cleansing.
We tried to sleep for 20 more minutes before I had to get up for work. I was wound up. Got up, and Gordon went to grab some clothes and said, "Shh. I hear something."
He sifted through the boxes again. I was now in the living room getting my bag ready.
"Go in the other room," I hear. He comes in and grabs the hammer.
"Another one?"
He nods in confirmation. I am sitting as high off the ground as I can in the apartment. Waiting for the too familiar thudding noises. I heard, "He's gone." I see Gordon exiting the bedroom, on the tails of a second rodent intruder who found refuge in the couch that was supporting my weight.
This is no way to live. I have to be sharp this week. I've got 4 companies reporting earnings and two huge projects that have to be completed. There's no time to be kept awake by Minnie and Mickey at Disneyland.