A friend of mine (talented writer / American / all-round good egg), has pleaded to the readers of her world-class blog to circulate this. It's worthy. I HATE totally unacceptable service as much as the next person, and her husband (talented teacher / American / all-round good egg) has recently been on the receiving end of some outrageous petulance from US Airways. I flew US Airways to their wedding last summer and didn't have anything stolen. I won't be flying with them again to maintain that record.

US Airways considers THEFT to be within their "Ordinary Standard of Care"

*** PLEASE REBLOG***

My husband traveled on a US Airways flight from Boston to Charlotte on Sunday August 9th, as a chaperone on a school trip for Providence Day School, where he is a teacher and Senior class advisor.

When boarding the plane in Boston, he was told there was no more room on board the plane for any carry on luggage, and was ordered to hand over his small, rolling bag to a baggage employee on the jetway.

His bag was tagged and tossed below. Once he landed in Charlotte, he was told he wouldn’t collect the bag on the jetway, but that he would have to claim it off the baggage belt. He waited for his bag at the baggage claim belt, and when it arrived, the zipper was partially opened. He opened up the bag to discover that his brand new Mac Powerbook and the accompanying power cord had been stolen.

He immediately reported the situation to the Baggage Claim desk for US Airways, and faxed all required claim paper work to US Airways main office less than 24 hours after the incident.

Six days later (Saturday, August 15th), he received a letter from Carrie Kleinschmidt at the Central Baggage Resolution Office with US Airways. Her letter states the following:

“Please accept our apology for the inconvenience caused by your recent baggage incident. This is not the impression we wish to convey or the level of service we strive to provide.”

It goes on to say, ”We are unable to compensate for computer hardware/software as it is among those items excluded from coverage per our Conditions of Contract.”.

A copy of the contract clause in question is helpfully included along with the letter. The applicable clause is in Section V - Baggage, under the sub section “Exclusions from Liability”, Part 1. The language reads:

“When US [Airways] has exercised the ordinary standard of care it shall not be liable for the loss, damage to, or delay in delivery of…”

That’s the part that we as frequent customers of US Airways (in fact, I am a Dividend Miles program member) find very hard to swallow: ”ordinary standard of care.”

Does that mean that THEFT is the ordinary standard or care that US Airways maintains? How truly horrifying. Ms. Kleinschmidt herself, in the letter’s opening, declares the recent incident not to be of the “level of service” that US Airways “strives to provide”. How can she declare the incident not of their usual level of service, but then rely on a clause that excludes them from liability if they don’t provide the “ordinary standard of care?”

We would appreciate your attention and assistance in helping us rectify this completely unsatisfactory situation. To think that Providence Day School provided more than 100 paying round-trip passengers for US Airways and in return, they have nothing to offer my husband, an educator, other than this paltry excuse for an exclusionary clause.

If this is the “ordinary standard of care” that US Airways offers its customers, then not only will we be flying another airline from now on, we will also be sure that their negligence gets the press and media attention that it deserves.

Sincerely,

Jenn and Joe Grabenstetter