Monday, October 22, 2007

Austrian Airlines' message to me = "Screw You!"

Well, Austrian Airlines finally got back to AmEx following my complaint about being stranded at Heathrow because their 'plane was two hours late. The result? A massive "Screw You" from the essentially nationalised airline. My comments in red


"Dear Mr Parkinson

I am writing further with regards to the delayed Austrian Airlines flight as we are now in receipt of their response, which I attach for your kind perusal.

Good morning Mrs. [name redacted],

We regret that our client Mr. Parkinson was affected by the long delay of OS 457 on 20th September and the inconveniences caused. (so it took you over a month to get back to me. I guess that's because of the overwhelmingly HUGE number of complaints you get!)

The aircraft had to be changed due to a technical reason, therefore it could not depart before 10.00 p.m. Airlines cannot be held responsible for consequential costs, therefore we have to confirm the statements of the staff asked by our passenger. We cannot offer any compensation or refund of missed train connections or costs for cab companies. (so screw you!)

We do hope that despite of the negative experience Mr. Parkinson will soon take off again with the Austrian Airlines Group and wish a pleasant journey! (you. have. got. to. be. joking.)
If you think I will ever fly with Arrogant Airlines again you have another thing coming. The seats are tiny, the food - what food?, the arrogance of the cabin crew - I can carry on but you'd get bored.

Yours sincerely
___________________________
AUSTRIAN AIRLINES GROUP
[Name redacted]
Teamleader Customer Relations

The airline have declined to reimburse your additional charges incurred due to technical problems. This may be something that can be claimed via your Travel Insurance. If this is a path you would like to follow, please let me know as I have asked the airline to provide some confirmation of the delay to provide to the insurance company.

Therefore I must advise with regret, that on this occasion it is not a more positive outcome but hope that this will not deter you from using our services in the future.

AmEx have, as usual been super in all this. I don't have a bad word to say about them.

Regards

[Name redacted]
Customer Services Representative
American Express Business Travel


So. Travel with Austrian Airlines at your own risk. They suck.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:55 pm

    There's nothing better than "Customer Relations". Think of it this way: You're the Customer, and they just had "Relations" (in the biblical sense) with you. In other words YOU GOT SCREWED, Officialy. Thank you, come again! That sucks that they just dismissed your complaint. And thanks for tipping the rest of us off to this terrible company.

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  2. With me the same. One and a half hours delay on OS515 from Vienna to Milan and I lost my TAP flight back home. At the ticket counter a Austrian Airlines supervisor instructed by the phone their representative to tell me they wouldn't assume the hotel and rescheduling of the flight to next day. All on my own expenses. This Star Alliance flight is a pure lure to decent people. The Austrian have one of the worst attitudes I've seen. I wasn't able to complaint because they didn't give any from of doing it, the supervisor even lied saying that I had 4 tickets when my ticket for the connection flights had a single ticket number. Just avoid them and trash them when they proceed like this!

    Joao Peixoto

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  3. I also had an incident with OS , raised my
    complaint to Airline itself and European law bodies,
    Ministry in EU but no result, desperetaly but with a
    determination I still seek for a justice,

    Austrian airlines are not very polite and obviously totally
    incapable of seeing things from the customer's perspective -
    blocking people with fault decisions on doc checks are not
    the actions of an ethical supplier.

    I am building a portal and website just for the people who are wronged and victimized with the faults of responsible staff at this airline
    I know how powerless it can feel when complaining to Austrian airlines and being at their mercy. It is time we held Austrian airline
    accountable for their mistakes. That's where this new portal comes in to let more people to know What happened!!

    please welcome to stop by and add your comments and share your experiences,

    Site: http://www.denied-boarding.info

    P.S: May I publish your story there?
    Murat Bilga

    ReplyDelete