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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:

Michael of Cherry Hill NJ (10/19/08)
Despicable vile greedy and heartless. I booked a flight (2 round trip tickets) from Philadelphia to Green Bay weeks in advance. 3 weeks before the flight I had a medical emergency, surgery and a clear prohibition from my doctor about traveling. I called the airline and said I would provide detailed medical document (doctor, hospital, etc.) and asked them to simply credit my charge card. They explained no exceptions to non-refundable ticket rules UNLESS you die (I am NOT making that part up).

After immediately saying there would be a 100 per ticket penalty for canceling they graciously said I would have a credit for the remaining price of the two tickets good for one year. I said why would i want to fly ever anywhere with a greedy ruthless airline that could give a darn about my surgical situation. I was flying to Green Bay for an Eagles Packers game. My seats were definitely sold to a grateful traveler within 24 hours of my medical cancellation. They are/were notorious for canceling FLIGHTS with little or no warning to their already ticketed passengers massively inconveniencing thousands every year.

Damage to me due to circumstances (medical) beyond my control: approximately 600 (2 airline tickets). Plus the heartlessness of it at a time is was in severe distress made it seem even worse (and even now more than one year later).

Randy of San Diego, CA October 10, 2008

Randy of San Diego CA (10/10/08)
NWA changed the plane from a large plane to a small plane on the tickets I purchased. NWA has refused to change my flight to one with a larger plan. Their customer service supervisor (Salisha at location id: Houston 5357)stated, I don't have a supervisor or any phone number to transfer you to.

I will most likely get physically ill if I were to travel on the small plane.

Christopher of Los Angeles, CA September 25, 2008

Christopher of Los Angeles CA (09/25/08)
I needed to change my flight (and it happened to cost nearly 500 less) and was told by the booking agent on the phone I would receive a transferable voucher. When I complained I wanted a refund, he stated they don't provide refunds and confirmed my voucher to be transferable. I was driving at the time and did not have access to their terms and conditions where it clearly states they provide refunds. I attempted to transfer the voucher and was summarily told NO.

I escalated through three levels of Customer Satisfaction who all explained their hands are tied by their policies. I attempted to speak with the refunds department and they just transfer my call to customer satisfaction. They will constantly give the same answer as a computer and have no room to exercise judgment. I say, fire the Customer Satisfaction department and lower the costs of the flights. I would still consider flying if there was no human interaction and I got this kind of treatment.

NWA clearly does not value customers or the cost of customer acquisition and I will never use their services again. It's funny how I am expected to agree with the terms set forth on their site without being able to review them and am also at the mercy of whatever comes out of the booking agent's mouth even if it does not comply with the same T's and C's I have to comply with.

354.52 + 100 administrative fee.

Reginald of Detroit, MI September 11, 2008

Reginald of Detroit MI (09/11/08)
Saxphone was damaged. I asked the attendant at the checkin desk if I should carry my saxphone on the plane and check it in. She stated that I could check it in. My saxphone was damaged and I didn't find out until I was on the Carnival Cruise Ship. I was suppose to play a song at my daugher's wedding and I rehearsed 4 months for this event.

Of course, because I was on the ship, I could not report this until I was on shore again (3 days later) and Northwest would not even take a report because I was told that I should have reported this within 24 hours. I was not aware of this policy.

My saxaphone was bent badly. Damaged to the point that I can not use it at all.

Jamie of Toledo, OH September 3, 2008

Jamie of Toledo OH (09/03/08)
This was for an airline ticket to depart Detroit on August 28 and return on Monday, September 1. The hurricane tracker was showing that New Orleans stood a very good chance of getting hit by Hurricane Gustav and I decided to cancel the trip. I called NWA on August 27 and explained the situation and was told a weather waiver hadnt been issued yet. On Friday, August 29, I called Northwest after I found out the hotels were going to be evacuating people on Saturday morning and was told since my flight had departed for the outbound, I was subject to the cancellation rules, even though my outbound flight would obviously been cancelled.

While I was on hold, their hold message recommended sending an email on NWA.com and that they would respond in 24 hours. I did that after the phone call only to receive an automated email back stating that they are experiencing a heavy volume of email and will get to me as soon as possible. I decided to call NWA again on Tuesday, September 2 and was basically told the same thing. I was given the number to call for a customer service rep. I called that number and after going through their phone menu, I was given a message that they couldnt take calls at this time due to heavy call volume and it would transfer me to their general voicemail system.

I feel that Northwest should not be charging me a 100 penalty and should give me the credit in full on a future flight. The city was evacauted on August 30, 2 days before my return flight. No reasonable person is going to fly to a city expecting to get hit by a hurricane, and especially on an airline like Northwest which has an awful reputation for handling situations like this.

R. of Canton, GA August 28, 2008

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