# ATA botched it yesterday....



## UWSurfer (Mar 24, 2008)

We'll I'm at the Bay Club a day late in large part due to ATA.   We left LAX yesterday at 8:50am and were out over the water for about an hour when the plane starts banking...first left, then right, then left, then right, right some more and right again.

A couple minutes later the pilot informs us the plane's navigation system has failed and they are on the backup...however they are closer to the mainland than Hawaii so we would be diverted to Oakland, where we landed about 11am.  It should take 30 - 40 minutes to change the part we're told and we may deplane or stay put.   I opted to take my family off as at 5-1/2 hours it's a long flight and we've already been on the plane a little longer than 2.  Then comes word the part didn't work and they are going to get one from Southwest.   Some of the passangers are being overly grumpy and demanding a free round trip flight voucher...a bit later ATA announces they'll hand out food vouchers for use at the airport or in flight snack service & a $50 off coupon for the next flight.  

 A bit later we're told they have to fly it in from Southwest.  A bit later still we're told the plane with the part will arrive at 6:55p and it's now 2pm.  Time for plan B.  The plan is to take a spare plane they have there, ready it, get a flight crew assembled and to leave at 3:30p.    At this time our family and a couple others are paged to the desk, they acknowledge we're not only missing our connecting flight to Kona, but they won't make in time to get the last flight of the day and issues us hotel vouchers. 


At 3:10 they begin boarding this slightly bigger plane, a 757-200 only to find the seats must have been designed by committee because they were smaller and had the extra supports in all the wrong places.   We sit there while they slowly load the luggage they pulled off our original plane...taking their sweet time for about an hour.  At 4:15 they come on to say the co-pilot they arranged for flew into the wrong airport (LAX) and we would have to de-plane while we wait for him to make it up.  ETA 7:15p.  

We were waiting for the punch line, this had to be a joke.  NOPE.  We get off the plane with now an angry near mob, they pushed the plane away from the gate and out of the way on a part of the tarmac, at which point my wife realizes she doesn't have her purse and we're not sure if it's on the plane or been snatched.  The gate attendants tell us don't worry, the plane is locked up (huh?) and the purse is safe.  

Oh, they told us they'd be issuing vouchers for a free round trip ticket on a future flight when they deplaned us.   So we wait, and wait hoping the purse is on board.  At 7pm the now hostile group of passengers are hovering around the gate desk and the attendents have few answers.   The plane is pushed to the gate and just as the flight crew boards, ATA announces they have the vouchers and to make two lines.  No one lines but crowds the desk.  ATA then starts calling out the names ONE AT A TIME, waiting for someone to come forward.   After about 6 of these someone asks a question which stops everything.   After a bit more of this, someone at the airline gets smart enough to realize this is going to take probably 90 minutes this way, so they have us board and give the vouchers to the flight crew to distribute in the air.  Mind you they could of had these ready and done this between 4:15 and now. 

So we get back on the plane, the lead crew member gets on the PA welcoming us back to ATA's same day service to Honolulu from LAX via Oakland.  The plane takes off, the vouchers dealt out and we land in Hawaii at about 10:30pm Honolulu time, 11 hours later than originally scheduled out of LAX.  We're told two other things earlier in the day...1) Our luggage tagged for Kona will go on the next plane and we won't have access to it prior to arriving to Kona.  2) There will be a gate agent to help us with getting to the hotel.  

We get off the plane and there's no gate agent and the ticket counter is CLOSED.  They still had a couple of baggage check-in folks at the entrance and one was able to check and verify that all the bags were coming off the flight.  They did, we caught the hotel shuttle to the hotel (who didn't know we were coming from an ATA flight) got up to the room and passed out.

5 hours later I wake up and call Aloha to get aboard one of today's (Easter Sunday flights).  I'm told they show us as NO SHOWS yesterday and ATA hadn't called them in anyway.   Next call back to ATA who puts me on hold for about 10 minutes at a stretch as they locate me, a future flight in the morning and a second flight we requested to be on.  30 minutes total.

Then a shower, repack, continental breakfast (which actually was pretty nice by continental breakfast standards) and back on the shuttle to the connecting flight.  The ticket counter had NO record of new reservation and had to go back into the system to find us, verify last night's non-sense and issue us tickets.   We get on the flight, over to Kona, get the rental car which also had issues as their reservation line hadn't put the info in the computer that I had called while in Oakland informing them I wouldn't be there unitl today.   They belive me and get us a slightly larger SUV cross over than we had booked (a Tarus X) which is actually quite nice.

Went to Costco to get our groceries after exiting the airport, only to find them closed for Easter Sunday (oh yeah!).

Go to the resort, pull up to the check in to be greated by someone dressed in a giant easter bunny suit.  (It's Alice in Wonderland Time!!!).   Actually they had just completed an easter egg hunt for the kids and he was playing the Walmart greater for a few minutes.  

So, we are in our unit at Bay Club now.  Ate something at the local food court and paying $40 for $20 worth of fast food, then to the Waikoloa Center and market paying $93 for enough groceries to make diner and breakfast and ended up snorkling with a turtle late this afternoon.  

We'll never get the day back we missed, but as luck would have it I did purchase the Travel Guard trip insurance last year through a link with HGVC and from first read while stewing in Oakland, they cover trip delays caused by the airline for more than 6 hours.   I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to prove it as ATA didn't update their website to indicate the true time we arrived in Hawaii, let alone how long we were in Oakland...but it appears we qualify for something.   I asked the hotel for something indicating we were there and they gave me a printout with our check-in and checkout dates and a photo copy of the room vouchers we presented them from ATA.  

Obviously ATA doesn't know how to communicate and this entire trip was handled poorly by the ground staff's.   It came very close to being an ugly mob scene at the airport and was totally avoidable had they kept the information flowing and factual.  All in all it was not a fun day.  Obviously it could be alot worse and we're here, we're safe and I snorkeled with a turtle today!!!   I'm writing this from the LARGE Lani of Bay Club and loving it!

Mahalo


----------



## Icarus (Mar 24, 2008)

What a royal mess. Glad to hear you finally made it there ok.

-David


----------



## Jestjoan (Mar 24, 2008)

YIKES, it sounds horrible. Sorry to hear of it all. 

What about the purse?


----------



## Cathyb (Mar 24, 2008)

Getting it off your chest was very healthy     Now put it out of your head and truly enjoy the beautiful ocean and surroundings!


----------



## nonutrix (Mar 24, 2008)

Very sorry about your misadventures.  Glad you are safe!  I know you are now ready to have fun, and you are in a great place for it.

What about the purse?

Let us know if the Vacation Guard insurance pays off.

nonutrix


----------



## bigeyes1 (Mar 24, 2008)

nonutrix said:


> Very sorry about your misadventures.  Glad you are safe!  I know you are now ready to have fun, and you are in a great place for it.
> 
> What about the purse?
> 
> ...



Most important thing of all, is that everyone's safe.  

Btw, I want to know, too.  Did your wife get her purse back?


----------



## Mike&Nancy (Mar 24, 2008)

To file for the trip delay with Travel Guard you'll need a letter from ATA. I haven't dealt with them, but have several other airlines and they are usually very easy to get the letter from. You should have an 800 number for Travel Guard in your documents, call them and get things started before you leave for home.

Mike


----------



## UWSurfer (Mar 24, 2008)

Thanks everyone...

Ahh yes, the purse.  When the plane returned to the gate we asked two different crew members to look...both time furnishing them with the wrong seat number and both times they came up empty handed.

I gave it a go before we boarded after the 2nd search to call my wifes cell phone which was in the purse and it ran several times before going to voicemail, telling me it was still turned on.   As we boarded the plane I called it again and my wife zeroed in on it very quickly.  Purse found.

Thank you for the travel guard letter advice.  I've not had alot of luck with the ATA call center.  It located off shore in the Phillipeens (sp?) and it seems if you ask these folks to think outside what they've been scripted to say, they just can't do it.

I'll e-mail their customer care which hopefully will go to someone here in the US.  If anyone has any other US contacts for them other than what's on their website I'd love to get it.

Now onward for today's agrevation...the "owners update".


----------



## MissTins (Mar 24, 2008)

Oh my goodness!  I must admit while reading your post, I sensed your frustration in the beginning and then the "Oh Crap - this can't be for real - I'd better find some humor or I'll go INSANE" at which point I started to crack up.

Like a previous poster eluded to - hopefully writing it down and sharing with others alleviated some stress.  At least now when you write your letter to ATA customer service most of it will be available to "copy and paste"  

Enjoy the rest of your vacation!
MissTins


----------



## Nancy (Mar 24, 2008)

*Hawaiian Air*

We had a similar incident with Hawaiian Air out of LAX about 7 years ago.  Customer service seems non-existant any more.  While waiting for our plane to arrive (very late), I called Hawaiian Air and was told the plane had already departed LAX.  (Not True).  

Nancy

ps. Just enjoy Hawaii.


----------



## Denise L (Mar 24, 2008)

Well, I'm glad you finally made it to Hawaii, and I'm sure you will have a great week  . What a royal mess, though.  I don't know what we would have done with my kids for all of those delays. 

We had a problem with AA years ago on our honeymoon. We were going to Lanai via Honolulu, and our flight out of San Francisco was delayed due to mechanical problems, which caused us to miss our connnecting flight in Honolulu. After a few hours sleep at the Holiday Inn at the airport, we took the first morning flight to Lanai. Not the best way to start a honeymoon, but it worked out in the end.

Have a great week at the Bay Club!


----------



## SherryS (Mar 24, 2008)

We had a similar experience with NWA out of Minneapolis 3 years ago.  Messes like that make a LONG trip even LONGER and especially frustrating!!  I feel your pain....  

Time to kick back with a Mai Tai or Lava Flow!


----------



## carl2591 (Mar 25, 2008)

*who or what is ATA..??*

what airline is ATA  not sure.. AA is american air, SWA is southwest air, etc


----------



## Talent312 (Mar 25, 2008)

carl2591 said:


> what airline is ATA  not sure.. AA is american air, SWA is southwest air, etc


As I understand it:  Until 2003, ATA was "American Trans Air."  Its predecessors include:  Ambassadair and AirTran.


----------



## Talent312 (Mar 25, 2008)

That has got to be the most horrific misadventure I've heard.
And I thought that after leaving Rome, IT, at 6:30AM (local), changing planes in Amsterdam, and arriving in Newark at 4:00PM (local) dead-tired, only to find that Delta had cancelled my last leg home due to rain in Atlanta; resulting in a night in Newark, was tough.

All one can do is accept that you are at the mercy of these bastards and chalk it up to a surreal, existential experience.


----------



## EAM (Mar 26, 2008)

Talent312 said:


> As I understand it:  Until 2003, ATA was "American Trans Air."  Its predecessors include:  Ambassadair and AirTran.



Ambassadair is a travel club and ATA was a sister company.  Ambassadair was sold a couple of years back, and is still in business although no longer affiliated with ATA.  

AirTran was formerly ValuJet [spelling?].  I do not recall any connection with ATA.  Maybe you are thinking of Amtran, which was once the holding company than owned Ambassadair and ATA.  

ATA is now a subsidiary of Global Aero Logistics.


----------



## SuzanneSLO (Mar 26, 2008)

I think what is significant about this thread is the anecdotal evidence that delays getting to and from Hawaii seem to happen regularly no matter what airline.  Despite all the misadventures, it really seems like ATA did fairly well by the OP and family by getting them to HNL safely and reimbursing them for food at OAk and a night at HNL and giving them a free trip in the future.  With only one or 2 flights a day on most airlines (and those generally flying full), there just is not a lot of room to accomodate any problem.   -- Suzanne


----------



## UWSurfer (Mar 26, 2008)

SuzanneSLO said:


> I think what is significant about this thread is the anecdotal evidence that delays getting to and from Hawaii seem to happen regularly no matter what airline.  Despite all the misadventures, it really seems like ATA did fairly well by the OP and family by getting them to HNL safely and reimbursing them for food at OAk and a night at HNL and giving them a free trip in the future.  With only one or 2 flights a day on most airlines (and those generally flying full), there just is not a lot of room to accomodate any problem.   -- Suzanne



You know, I generally agree with you Suzanne.   They diverted us for a safety issue, they did get us some food & a hotel stay and basically provided.  Aside from the issue that we lost a day of our treasured vacation time, their customer service people are inept.  They couldn't or wouldn't tell us anything in a timely fashion and didn't follow-up with any assistance without my going back to them to make it happen.   The day was very drawn out and I was very patient and respectful of all the personnel I dealt with, thanking them at every interaction and commenting to those I dealt with face to face that I know they have a tough job and appreciate their efforts.

That said, they really could use help on how to deal with situations like ours and how to better communicate with the passengers.


----------



## Fern Modena (Mar 26, 2008)

You made the whole situation more tolerable through your attitude and how you interacted with others.  It amazes me how few people act as you do when its crunch time.  

I've been "on the other end," and its difficult.  I remember what it was like, so I'm always telling people that I know how difficult it is for them, and how I appreciate what they are doing to help me.

Its like my ma said, "you can catch more bees with honey than with vinegar."

Hope you had a great vacation and that your trip home is uneventful.

Fern


----------



## Icarus (Mar 27, 2008)

SuzanneSLO said:


> I think what is significant about this thread is the anecdotal evidence that delays getting to and from Hawaii seem to happen regularly no matter what airline.  Despite all the misadventures, it really seems like ATA did fairly well by the OP and family by getting them to HNL safely and reimbursing them for food at OAk and a night at HNL and giving them a free trip in the future.  With only one or 2 flights a day on most airlines (and those generally flying full), there just is not a lot of room to accomodate any problem.   -- Suzanne



All airlines have issues these days, as they are all running them as lean as possible and don't have the people around to deal with problems.

However, I fly back and forth to the islands on United every month and rarely have any problems. United has lots of flights each day to each island from at least two airports on the mainland, sometimes 3 or 4 airports on the mainland, depending on the day of the week and the season.

Do they have cancellations and equipment issues? Sure they do, just like the others.

There's really nothing specific about Hawaii flights when it comes to screw ups, operational and crew issues. In fact, for mechanical issues, Hawaii flights should be better because there are stricter maintainence requirements for planes that fly over the ocean.

-David


----------



## johnmfaeth (Mar 27, 2008)

Hi David,

Just notice that you are now timeshare free. Congrats on completing the 12th step of Timeshares Anonymous.

In general, I am the first to get annoyed when delays kick in on a flight, so this is not preaching or even an attempt at such.

But while reading this thread, it did flash through my mind how "normal" it is to fly to Hawaii or another destination when it was unheard of when our parents were groing up. And a generation or two earlier it was waiting to be invented. Before then, I guess it would fall in the 'witchcraft" category  

My point is, it's amazing it works at all. We'll see my attitude next month when I fly to St. Thomas...


----------



## laxmom (Mar 27, 2008)

We had a similar one out of LAX a year or so ago on NW.  Left the gate twice only to return. Same story; bad part, new part, didn't work, fly in new part.  We were on the plane 3 hours and hadn't left the gate.  We ended up missing our connection and they rebooked us on a flight that left before we even landed.  Had to wait 4 hours in Memphis for next flight only to find out they overbooked the flight.  They did end up upgrading us to first class but not before my nervous breakdown.  We landed in Columbus at 10pm after leaving the hotel for the airport at 4 am LA time.  I will never forget it!

Missed the originating flight on the way out.  Not their fault.  Ours.  What a trip.  Haven't had one like it since.....Thank goodness!!


----------



## Momtotwo (Apr 5, 2008)

*Hope your trip was enjoyable and did you make it home?*

With the more recent ATA bankruptcy did you make it home without any issues?  I hope the rest of your trip was enjoyable.

We too suffered a similar issue about 15 years ago on Delta.  We were delayed over 10  hour at LAX and missed our connecting filght to the Big Island.  We were put up in a hotel after lots of complaining and did receive a voucher for lunch at LAX.  Still not the way to start a trip but after finally arriving in Hawaii we made up for the lost day!  

Laurie


----------



## "Roger" (Apr 5, 2008)

Laurie,

You can find the next segment in UWSurger's saga in this thread (on the Hawaiian board).  What a nightmare trip he has had.  We all wish him well.

The continuing saga


----------



## UWSurfer (Apr 5, 2008)

We are home, arriving in LA at 5 this morning on a red eye on Continental.  Spending today in a slight haze adjusting to lack of sleep and return to mainland time.  (See the link posted in the message prior for the scramble for THAT booking!)

Basically we lost a day on either end of our two weeks, and had a great time in between.   Aside from my initial post starting this thread, we were pretty determined not to let the air travel over shadow the experience and was very happy with our time on the Islands.    My tax return just covers the additional airfare for the flight home and if we get money back from AMEX &/or Vacation Guard we'll be doing well.

This was definitely a trip we'll remember for the rest of our lives, and one of the best things we've done in a long time.  I can honestly say it's not something we would have undertaken if it weren't for timesharing and the wisdom we've tapped into from those here on TUG.

Thank you for your kind thoughts.


----------



## UWSurfer (Apr 6, 2008)

Fern Modena said:


> Hope you had a great vacation and that your *trip home is uneventful*.
> 
> Fern



Uhhhhhhhhhh, well.....


----------



## nonutrix (Apr 6, 2008)

Hi UwSurfer,

I'm glad that your trip worked out well after all!  

To think that on Christmas Day you asked, "What to do with 17 y/o males? I've got two and it would be great to know where to send them from the start so they don't waste time being dumb and complaining."  Maybe they had more excitement than you would have liked! :hysterical: 

Any way glad you're back safely!

nonutrix


----------



## UWSurfer (Apr 7, 2008)

nonutrix said:


> Hi UwSurfer,
> 
> To think that on Christmas Day you asked, "What to do with 17 y/o males? I've got two and it would be great to know where to send them from the start so they don't waste time being dumb and complaining."  Maybe they had more excitement than you would have liked! :hysterical:
> 
> nonutrix



The truth about the kids was I had to keep shoe'ing them away from the TV during parts of the trip.  At each resort I had to remind them we hadn't come all this way so they could sit around and watch TV. We don't have cable or satellite at home so they were essentially kids in the TV candy store at the resorts.

Strangely enough, they were more active when we went out on activities, and liked going ATV'ing one moring the best.  The second week we cut back some on paid activities and it was like they forgot what to do.  Wife and I figure that two weeks is too long for them.  One the other hand, I did have some very fine quality fathter and son moments through out the trip we otherwise wouldn't have experienced...and frankly that made for probably 50% of the total satisfaction we had with the stays.


----------



## Cathyb (Apr 7, 2008)

UWSurfer:  Kid quality time -- that is soooo special and they grow up so fast that it was good you had that chance!  Good job!


----------

