In August, I wrote an OpenSkies Review detailing my costly experience with OpenSkies, the all business airline that flies between New York and Paris. While the flight and the flight crew were perfectly fine, the policies of the airline are not.
Imagine my surprise when I see articles and tweets mentioning OpenSkies’ great new (temporary) policy of “Love Everything or Pay Nothing” offering a money back guarantee to unsatisfied customers. According to the recently launched program, anyone who isn’t satisfied with their flight between now and November 30th has 30 days to get a full refund, less the cost of government fees and taxes. {USA Today}
As someone who has been trying for more than 30 days to get a refund, I have to say that it’s a great PR campaign but will likely prove a challenge for the reported 3% of customers who would not recommend the airline.
To briefly recap, I was running short on time the day of my originally scheduled flight. I got to the airport with just enough time to check in, but due to a complete lack of signage, ended up at the opposite end of the airport and missed check-in. Normally, a gate agent will place you on standby for the next available flight. Not OpenSkies.
There are no actual gate agents at OpenSkies, but rather a 3rd party company contracted to handle check-in. All modifications are handled off site through a call center (this is part of the reasons fares are so low). Despite being in the airport, on the phone with the call center while the plane was at the gate, I wasn’t offered standby, I wasn’t offered a change fee, I was told that the only option was to purchase a new, full fare ticket at the last minute. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy about having to part with $1600 for a 20 minute delay, and requested a refund not long after.
Despite the fact that OpenSkies seems to have gone against their own policies, I had to make multiple requests for a refund, and was offered 25% of what I paid – $400. After grudgingly accepting, 3 weeks later, I’ve received no refund and no response from customer service.
While the marketing campaign is noteworthy, in my experience there’s no reason to believe that OpenSkies will actually honor any refund requests which are made. For that reason, on Monday I’m formally launching FlyOpenSkies Review.com, a site dedicated solely to countering the press releases and deceptive marketing of OpenSkies.
It’s bad enough when airlines treat customers without any respect or consideration, but it’s an absolute slap in the face when they do so while claiming to lead in customer service.
Republished from Signature9