For anyone flying at NWA, or considering flying at NWA, the following is for you (this is NOT a flame bait thread)
Last night I went to www.nwa.com (because the live agents charge you $10 to talk to them) to book a ticket. The price, out the door, came in at $428. I selected itinerary, put in the credit card info, clicked purchase - wham, directed back to the home page. No confirmation number, no e-mail a few minutes later, nothing. (I've bought many tickets online before, this wasn't my first time).
Before I tried it again, at risk of a dual charge on my credit card, I called the NWA live agent, explained my problem and she helpfully looked up my credit card, name, worldperks, etc...no reservation. O.K. - back to www.nwa.com to rebook it again (to save $10 booking live agent fee). (cross your fingers, hope the price hadn't changed).
Again, find flight, enter credit card info, click purchase - BANG - back to the homepage. Obviously, something was wrong with www.nwa.com. Again, I called a live agent, sat on hold for 20 minutes (I timed it), and decided to use a 2nd line to call another live agent sinultaneously - whichever one picked up first is who I would talk to - which one do you think picked up first?
If you can believe it, the 2nd agent I called picked up in 1 minute, while my FIRST call had been on hold for an agent for 20 minutes! But, who cares at this point that their phone system isn't working EITHER, I am talking to a live agent!!! She explains that her system is down, their is nothing she can do...call back in 1 hour. Off to do some chores.
An hour later, I play www.nwa.com again - no luck, same kick-back to the home page when I click purchase. Another call to the live agent who says "my system is still down, and www.nwa.com is down." (no kidding). She continues "please call back in 1 hour sir." O.K. Fine...off to do more chores.
By now it's been over 2 hours since I started trying to buy this ticket. It's 10:30 p.m. (yes, I do chores late - I was draining and cleaning the pool in PHX). I dried myself off and headed in to try this again...guess what - STILL NOTHING WORKED. The website kicked me back to the home page and the live agent confirmed that both her system and www.nwa.com were both DOWN - STILL!
By now it was almost 11:30 pm and I was going to bed - we'll try this in the morning, let's hope the price doesn't change.
GOOD MORNING - at 7:45 MT I look up my flight - WHAM - $200 increase!!! *sigh* So, I call a live NWA agent, explain the story, and she says "sir, our systems were not down last night." Alright, I'm lying...check something, something somewhere in your office HAS to tell you I'm not making this up. Nope, she has nothing to confirm my story with, and we haven't even gotton to the price change yet. Literally, all this live agent can do is type your name and payment into the computer and charge you $10 for 10 minutes of attitude.
Now, I'm purposfully keeping my cool in hopes of just BUYING THIS DAMN TICKET. I'm transferred to her "Supervisor" (oh, that's a third thing the live agent can do, transfer you to a Supervisor). I explain, all over again, what happened. I'm sure you can guess the response: "sir, I have no way of verifying your story, our systmes were not down last night, I can waive the $10, but you'll have to pay the new price." Breath, stay calm, breath.
I explain to this Supervisor, because obviously NWA Bankruptcy didn't teach her economics 101 - that if I can't buy a ticket, as I couldn't last night, how can NWA stay in business? Silence. And ma'me, if NWA won't honor it's ticket price from last night (by the way, when you are on hold, the stupid recording says "find a ticket lower on www.nwa.co, and we'll match it with a voucher"), when I, the customer, had NO ABILITY TO PURCHASE THE TICKET AT THAT PRICE, how long will I remain a customer? Silence.
"All I can do is book you a ticket now, the new price is $610"
After a bit of questioning, it was obvious that I was talking to a robot. Show up, collect a paycheck, go home - no sense of ownership or pride in her company what-so-ever. I thought to myself, would SWA treat me like this?
Ticket booked on SWA (have to make stops, but at least I can go now). Thanks for nothing NWA. I surely wouldn't bet my career on a sales system like this folks.
Again, not flame bait - but if you're a NWA pilot or candiate, maybe my story will get you an inch at the bargaining table next time. Geez!
Last night I went to www.nwa.com (because the live agents charge you $10 to talk to them) to book a ticket. The price, out the door, came in at $428. I selected itinerary, put in the credit card info, clicked purchase - wham, directed back to the home page. No confirmation number, no e-mail a few minutes later, nothing. (I've bought many tickets online before, this wasn't my first time).
Before I tried it again, at risk of a dual charge on my credit card, I called the NWA live agent, explained my problem and she helpfully looked up my credit card, name, worldperks, etc...no reservation. O.K. - back to www.nwa.com to rebook it again (to save $10 booking live agent fee). (cross your fingers, hope the price hadn't changed).
Again, find flight, enter credit card info, click purchase - BANG - back to the homepage. Obviously, something was wrong with www.nwa.com. Again, I called a live agent, sat on hold for 20 minutes (I timed it), and decided to use a 2nd line to call another live agent sinultaneously - whichever one picked up first is who I would talk to - which one do you think picked up first?
If you can believe it, the 2nd agent I called picked up in 1 minute, while my FIRST call had been on hold for an agent for 20 minutes! But, who cares at this point that their phone system isn't working EITHER, I am talking to a live agent!!! She explains that her system is down, their is nothing she can do...call back in 1 hour. Off to do some chores.
An hour later, I play www.nwa.com again - no luck, same kick-back to the home page when I click purchase. Another call to the live agent who says "my system is still down, and www.nwa.com is down." (no kidding). She continues "please call back in 1 hour sir." O.K. Fine...off to do more chores.
By now it's been over 2 hours since I started trying to buy this ticket. It's 10:30 p.m. (yes, I do chores late - I was draining and cleaning the pool in PHX). I dried myself off and headed in to try this again...guess what - STILL NOTHING WORKED. The website kicked me back to the home page and the live agent confirmed that both her system and www.nwa.com were both DOWN - STILL!
By now it was almost 11:30 pm and I was going to bed - we'll try this in the morning, let's hope the price doesn't change.
GOOD MORNING - at 7:45 MT I look up my flight - WHAM - $200 increase!!! *sigh* So, I call a live NWA agent, explain the story, and she says "sir, our systems were not down last night." Alright, I'm lying...check something, something somewhere in your office HAS to tell you I'm not making this up. Nope, she has nothing to confirm my story with, and we haven't even gotton to the price change yet. Literally, all this live agent can do is type your name and payment into the computer and charge you $10 for 10 minutes of attitude.
Now, I'm purposfully keeping my cool in hopes of just BUYING THIS DAMN TICKET. I'm transferred to her "Supervisor" (oh, that's a third thing the live agent can do, transfer you to a Supervisor). I explain, all over again, what happened. I'm sure you can guess the response: "sir, I have no way of verifying your story, our systmes were not down last night, I can waive the $10, but you'll have to pay the new price." Breath, stay calm, breath.
I explain to this Supervisor, because obviously NWA Bankruptcy didn't teach her economics 101 - that if I can't buy a ticket, as I couldn't last night, how can NWA stay in business? Silence. And ma'me, if NWA won't honor it's ticket price from last night (by the way, when you are on hold, the stupid recording says "find a ticket lower on www.nwa.co, and we'll match it with a voucher"), when I, the customer, had NO ABILITY TO PURCHASE THE TICKET AT THAT PRICE, how long will I remain a customer? Silence.
"All I can do is book you a ticket now, the new price is $610"
After a bit of questioning, it was obvious that I was talking to a robot. Show up, collect a paycheck, go home - no sense of ownership or pride in her company what-so-ever. I thought to myself, would SWA treat me like this?
Ticket booked on SWA (have to make stops, but at least I can go now). Thanks for nothing NWA. I surely wouldn't bet my career on a sales system like this folks.
Again, not flame bait - but if you're a NWA pilot or candiate, maybe my story will get you an inch at the bargaining table next time. Geez!
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