When Once Favorite Companies Fail You

An emotional song plays during the start of my 46-minute wait on the phone to talk to someone in the customer service department at JetBlue Airlines. 46 minutes is actually half the time I usually have to wait to reach someone due to them changing a flight schedule on us. But I patiently listen since it’s vital I reach someone.

Picture yourself at 8:30 a.m. walking up to the JetBlue Newark counter to check two bags within the two-hour suggested arrival time before your relaxing vacation flight, only to be told your flight was cancelled. Imagine this flight had been changed one other time before after you booked and paid for it without a call to make sure the changes were suitable. Then consider the fact, the JetBlue flight prior to this cancelled one, was also changed without notice making your end destination in Seattle instead of San Francisco because according to them “we didn’t have enough people on the flight.”

As a 30-year event planner with a strength troubleshooting urgent scenarios, I immediately approached one of 4 agents to try to figure out how they were going to get us on their next flight. To my chagrin, their next flight was at JFK airport at 7 p.m. “Impossible,” I said to the male agent as I saw their sister airline American Airlines had a 10 a.m. straight flight to Las Vegas which would get us there in time to pick up our pre-paid car and drive four more hours to Sedona, Arizona to our pre-paid hotel. I wasn’t going to lose time or money due to their problem.

“You used travel credit so I can’t help you, I don’t know how to do that transfer,” the male staffer said with no energy in his voice. “Get your manager then,” I demanded. After 10 more minutes of a manager not showing up, I noticed the American flight was already full so I left my husband to attend to this incapable staff member and went to United Airlines where the man there booked a straight flight for us leaving at 10 a.m. for only $200 one way per person easily.

I messaged my husband and told him to make sure the male staffer at the counter cancelled our trip and put the credit back in our travel bank. Supposedly, he did until we received messages that we were booked on a 7 p.m. flight out of JFK to Las Vegas, which believe it or not, got delayed to 9:30 p.m. after we got their second notice. By the time we got their repetitive changes to our travel plans, we were already across the country in our rental car driving to Sedona, Arizona.

Assuming this man canceled our return flights but not trusting him, we booked a return flight home on United Airlines again for more money but our trust level of United was more important than the cost. More than three times, we tried without success to reach JetBlue via phone and website on our vacation to no avail, never getting anyone who could even answer us. As I sit here now typing this blog post, I am waiting to see if I can finally get someone to justify the cancellation and lack of refund to our account, but all I hear is music.

Do I want to be rising my blood pressure level to rectify this situation? No, but it is money owed to us and if we left it up to JetBlue, they would keep it and say it was our fault for not taking both flights. As the continuing music plays, I think of this wisdom to share with you:

* If your first or second customer service experience with a company is so bad, do not under any circumstances use them again. We trusted a company that used to be great thinking they would rise to the occasion again, only to be fooled by their horrendous business attitude. I don’t blame the pandemic for this mishandling and mismanagement, I blame JetBlue.

*Money is not abundant so do not give it away to a company that doesn’t make you a priority. There are other companies that will make you feel like you are their best customer like United Airlines did for us immediately and through both flights

* Sharing poor customer service experiences are necessary to warn other consumers of terrible corporations. Save someone else the pain of a bad experience by sharing your thoughts with others. It is good business to do that.