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Northwest Airlines

Northwest Airlines • Ticketing snafus • Luggage lost, stolen, destroyed • General hostility • Disgruntled Employees • Northwest vs. KLM • Pray for food --- News • Delta, Northwest Complete Merger • Delta, Northwest Merger Faces Heavy Chop • Troubled Northwest Strikes New Deal With Pilots • A Seething Summer of Discontent for Northwest Airlines • Northwest Passengers Face Uncertain Summer • Pilot Shortages Plague Northwest Passengers • Machinists Pact May Head Off Northwest Airline Strike • Northwest Hopes to Cancel Employee Contracts • Delta, Northwest File for Bankruptcy • Northwest Flying Despite Strike • Northwest Warns Of Bankruptcy • Strike Looms At Northwest • Northwest Seeks Replacement Flight Attendants • Northwest Pushes Up Fares

An icy fossil that survives only because Southwest apparently dislikes cold weather, Northwest is perhaps the most rigid U.S. airline when it comes to making even the slightest accommodation to the customers who keep it in business.

The complaints in this section illustrate how unnecessarily miserable travel can be if one chooses the wrong carrier.

Here are a few of the more recent consumer comments:

Marty of Fair Grove MO (06/28/08)
I was booked on Flight #NW5793 on June 27th. Memphis to Springfiel,MO. The airport check-in personel anounced that the planes lavatory was not working on this flight. Ok, it was only a 45 min. flight. We all boarded and settled into our seats and fastened our seat belts. (Full flight) Outside temp 86 degrees. The pilot made an anouncement that the APU on this plane was not working. This is the A/C unit that powers the A/C after the plane dedatches from the ground surport A/C system till the plane gets into the air where the jet engines power the A/c system during the flight The pilot said that the part would take to long to install and thusly we were going to take off with out installing the APU.

This has happened to me three times in the course of the past 30 days I have been flying with [them]. I can only conclude that I have been booked on this same plane all three times or [they] have a serious problem with the APU part on several planes. I am a Senior VP.in one of the nations largest hotel chains. If you checked into one of our hotels and when you reached your room and found that the restroom did not work and the air conditioning system did not work you would be back at the front desk demanding your money back or at least another room that worked.

How can [Northwest] defend this terrible treament to paying guests that are paying higher airfairs these days? Not discounting wonderful associates that are trying there best to offer first class service to flying guests on these flights? Does NWA not care enoght to keep your planes flying in first class condition?

Tom of Mcfarland, WI June 25, 2008

Tom of Mcfarland WI (06/25/08)
on hold by agents, dropped 3 times, upgraded to first class my family of 4, called and told one could not be upgraded to first class, called and found an agent that saw all the history and she got a supervisor on to upgrade my daughter to first class, next day looked and there were no first calss tickets issued online, called and was told that it would be impossible to upgrade my daughter to first class, told them she was already upgraded and thye said that they could not honor the mistake an agent had made....

4hours of my time and total frustration from a company that does not have an ounce of custeorm service in its company....cant call any of the adminitrators, email, ---that tells teh story ritgth there. My company i own that spends upwards of 2 million a year on travel will do everything possible not to be on Northwest

Ben of Papillion, NE June 25, 2008

Ben of Papillion NE (06/25/08)
I flew Northwest Airlines a couple of months back. On the way out I was late to the airport due to a speeding ticket (obviously my own fault). When I got to the airport they would not allow me to check in for my flight because it was within 30 minutes of departure time. This is understandable and I have no problem with that.

The people at the ticket counter could not help me rebook a later flight, they essentially cannot do anything except weigh your bag and slap a heavy tag on it. They directed me to a single black phone on the desk which was already in use. After waiting 15 minutes for other disgruntled passengers to use the phone I got my chance. The unhelpful lady on the other end wanted to charge me a ridiculous fee to rebook but told me I could do it myself online for cheaper. Flying standby was not a great option because we had multiple connections and there was more than just me traveling.

I went to their website and it allowed me to modify my current itinerary. I selected to only modify the outgoing leg of the trip and selected a later flight, paid the difference, and got on the plane.

A week later when I arrived at the Miami airport to check in for my return flight I found I had not reservation. Apparently what happens is when you miss the first flight the entire itinerary is canceled. Fair enough, but when you go on their website it shows your original itinerary and allows you to modify it without ever indicating the original flights were all canceled. So by modifying the outgoing legs but choosing to leave my return flights the they were (which is what I desired), I ended up with no return flights.

The Northwest reps in Miami were useless and said they had no supervisor I could talk to. They directed me to the single black phone where I again had to wait my turn. The lady on the other end, while pleasant, told me there was nothing she could do and she also had no supervisor. Essentially there is nobody that works in Northwest customer service who actually has any power or decision making ability. She said my only option was to book a one way ticket for the return flight and then submit a claim for reimbursement when I arrived home. She suggested I email rather than call because you'll never get a person if you call.

I eventually gave in, booked the ticket, and flew home. Despite her advice I tried to call Northwest. All I received was a looping recording that repeated their website address and their mailing address. So I went to their website and submitted the complaint, detailed the whole story, and asked for my refund. I never received anything in return. Not even an acknowledgment of the complaint.

I called my credit card and had the transaction blocked hoping this would get Northwest to at least speak to me. However, my credit card eventually dropped the block because I had agreed to pay the one way ticket and the customer service rep telling me I could get it refunded did not represent a verbal contract. That is where I am now and I don't believe I will ever get anything back from Northwest.

They are in a service industry yet they have no customer service whatsoever. All I can do now is never fly Northwest again (and I am a very frequent flier) and encourage everyone I work with and all of my friends and family to never do business with them. So if you're reading this, save yourself a massive headache and potentially hundreds of dollars and fly a different carrier.

A 192 round trip ticket turned into a 1500 ticket and nobody from Northwest Airlines would even respond to my complaint in any way whatsoever. I fly very often and so do a lot of people I work with. I will never fly Northwest again and I tell everyone about my experience. I have already easily cost them more business than they took from me. I had three trips is the last month, some with three or four coworkers, that I would have normally flown Northwest but we chose a different carrier.

Johnson of Houston, TX June 21, 2008

Johnson of Houston TX (06/21/08)
Well it was a very windy and rainy day in albany and we decided to check in early for out flight to Detroit. We got to the ticket counter and began to check in and found out our seats we not together and traveling with 3 kids you need to be together. So we spoke to James on the ticket counter who was wonderful while checking us in and he managed to seat us all together.

So we all go up to the gate hope to leave then we find out our plane has been cancelled. So we go down stairs to get rebooked hoping to get home that day and the line is so long. So after about an hour we get James again at the ticket counter. after repeatedly appologising for the cancellation before I can open my mouth to ask what our options are he hands me more boarding passes for another airline to get me home to Dallas. He told me that when he found out the plane had been cancelled he promptly booked me elsewhere. This is what I call customer service. We got home 2 hours late but we got home that day. I just hope that other customers who got James at the ticket counter were as pleased as I was...

Dr. of Plymouth, MN June 18, 2008

Dr. of Plymouth MN (06/18/08)
I've flown many times out of Minneapolis on Northwest. I have no complaint against Northwest. I'm beginning to fear my standards just aren't high enough if I'm so easily satisfied. Their employees have been courteous and with a few exceptions with awful weather, they were on time. I did have a long sit while they deiced the plane. I'd rather they do that than skip it. What I will complain about is the rude, capricious and as far as I'm concerned worthless Transportation Safety Administration. I'll avoid air travel to the maximum extent possible as long as I have to suffer those folks.

Edison of Jackson Heights, NY June 16, 2008

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