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Some time ago, US Air announced special fares for people traveling out of the Williamsport Regional Airport. The deal was $238 round trip to the most popular destinations east of the Mississippi and $278 for those destinations west of old man river. Williamsport.com encouraged all our visitors to take advantage of the special rates and to show US Air that Williamsport is a viable market for their services. To all of our visitors who attempted unsuccessfully to take advantage of those “special rates,” we apologize for making that recommendation.

Today I learned first-hand just how difficult it is to do business with US Air since the merger. To appreciate the agony, you need to have a full understanding of the events leading up to today.

Three months ago, my son called me excited about a rare concert featuring a reunion of rock legends Eric Clapton and Stevie Winwood. The concert was scheduled for Las Vegas, Nevada in June. We both got up pre-dawn on the specified “on sale day” day to “hit the button” and order our tickets online. In only 7 minutes the entire floor of the MGM Grand Concert Center sold out. But we got our tickets. Four on the floor in row J. The tickets came as promised. All that was left was to get the airline tickets.

Below is a real life conversation from Monday April 13, 2009.

“Us Airways this is Cheryl, how may I help you.”

“Hi, Cheryl, I‘d like to purchase four tickets to Las Vegas. I am on your web site but it’s not offering me the special rate that our newspaper says you’ve just extended because it’s been so popular.”

“Oh, what special is that?”

“That’s the $278 round trip to Las Vegas from Williamsport.”

“OK, you understand that doesn’t include all the taxes and fees?”

“Yes, I’m aware of that, (I actually read the fine print) how much is the REAL total?”

“That puts it in the neighborhood of about $340 each.”

“Wow Cheryl, that’s a whole different neighborhood! But what the heck this is a very special occasion. Let’s book four tickets leaving Williamsport on the 26th of June and returning on the 28th.”

“I’m sorry but I can’t do that, you need to stay over on a Sunday night.”

OK, let me calculate this. That’s two rooms at $115/night extra, four tickets with $60 each extra in fees, that’s an extra $470. “Oh why not it’s a special occasion. We’ll stay an extra night, let’s go ahead and book them.”

“OK, but I still can’t give you that special rate.”

“And why is that, Cheryl?”

“There aren’t that many “special rate” seats left on that flight.”

“Well I guess we could separate and take two flights to get that rate, just book us on consecutive flights.”

“Sorry I still can’t do that. We only have a few seats available at the promotional price on each flight. And there aren’t any “special rate” seats available that entire weekend. I do have one on Tuesday. Can you change your travel plans to the Fall?”

“Cheryl, there are 4 of us and the concert is on Saturday June 27th. I'm willing to call and ask but I don't think Mr. Clapton would be willing to change his concert schedule to accommodate US Air.”

“Then sir, I’m afraid you’ll have to pay full price..”

“Cheryl, this really is a special occasion and I’m trying to book my flight more than two months in advance. I have an idea. Since we’re planning so far in advance, why don’t I just use my frequent fly miles for this trip? I have earned enough miles for five domestic round trip tickets, so let’s use four of them.”

“OK, that may work but you’re going to have to call another number.”

“Cheryl, thanks, you’ve been a great help” as I bite my tongue for the sixth time. Let’s see 1- 800

“Thank you for calling US Air Dividend Miles Center, this is Cindy how can I help you”

“Yes Cindy my Dividend Miles Number is xxxxxxx and I’d like to book tickets to Las Vegas from Williamsport, Pennsylvania.”

"Sir, are you aware that you can save booking fees by booking your flight online?"

"Yes but at this point I really need some assurance I have the tickets. I'll pay the extra (gulp) $50 per ticket just to be sure I have them."

“Certainly sir, when will you be traveling?”

“I need four seats departing June 26th and returning June 29th. I see on your website you have a flight leaving Williamsport at 5:45 AM which connects in Philadelphia and arrives in Las Vegas at 10:14 AM local time.”

“Well sir that’s not correct. There is no 5:45 AM Flight out of Williamsport.”

“But that’s what your dividend miles redemption web site says.”

“I can’t see what you’re looking at, all I can do is tell you that’s not correct.”

So much for booking the correct flight online. "Well what is the earliest can you get us out of Williamsport on Friday the 26th.”

“Using 50,000 miles you can..”

“Wait a minute, my dividend mile brochure says 25,000 miles is sufficient for a round trip ticket anywhere in the US.”

“Sir, that must be an old brochure. Now it’s 25,000 each way.”

“Are you telling me that instead of costing 100,000 miles it’s going to cost twice that?”

“No sir.”

“Thank goodness.”

“You’ll need more than that.”

“What!”

“We only have a few “dividend miles” seats available on each flight and there are none available at that rate on that day.”

“Well what day can I use my miles flying out of Williamsport?”

“In June (two months from now) I can get you on a flight out of Williamsport on either of two Tuesdays and there is one Wednesday but I can only book two seats on any one flight. Oh wait, I have no “dividend miles” seats back to Williamsport until the end of July or early August.”

“So you’re actually telling me I can’t get there from here?”

“No, I can get you out there on the 26th and backk on the 29th but for each seat you will need to redeem 50,000 miles per seat going out. The good news is I can get you back to Williamsport for just 37,000 miles each.”

“So you do have empty seats on the dates I want to fly but I can’t use the dividend miles I've earned unless I agree to redeem 4 times the advertised number of miles.”

“No, you would need to redeem 348,000 for 4 seats.”

“So you do have empty seats but you won’t honor the dividend miles agreement of 25,000 mils per seat round trip and you’re holding them hostage for 3 times the miles?”

“That’s the best I can do sir, you see we only have…”

“I know… a certain number of seats available for “dividend miles.”

“Sir, did you know they’re running a special rate for travel out of Williamsport to many destinations and Las Vegas happens to be one of them. If you’d like to buy tickets at a discounted fare and save your miles for another day, I can give you the number to call.”

"Cindi."

"Yes sir."

"Would you or anyone you know be interested in buying tickets to an Eric Clapton / Stevie Winwood concert? I can give you a VERY SPECIAL RATE."

Who?

Never mind, Cindi. Have a great day!”

To any Williamsport.com visitors that have encountered similar corporate "two-stepping" as a result of our encouraging local residents to fly from the Williamsport Regional Airport, we apologize. Not for encouraging our visitors to fly from our local airport but for insinuating that US Air may have finally gotten something right. (See the update sidebar on the left).