Thank you “Master of the obvious”.

My friends and I just love to (Break Balls) with each other and sometimes it gets a bit rough so we instituted the “Softball Rule” which states “If it’s soooo easy and obvious then you can’t use it”

So thanks. The “Softball Rule” is ingrained in me so I couldn’t say what you did.

….Didn’t the passengers plan a vacation in a DANGEROUS third-world country??

1. You (meaning customers) Agreed to the term of the CoC when they bought the ticket. What’s “right” or “Should Be” is not the way modern business works.

2. US Airways went so far as to arrange rooms for at least some of those stranded. The were NOT obligated to do so yet they did.

3. An extra “section” was put on in order to get their customers out of harms way. Again NOT required by the CoC

4. Hurricane s,like feces happens and you show me an airline or any business that can predict and plan for every contingency flawlessly.

Opinion:

This time US Airways did MORE than required in getting these folks home, safely with by all accounts their belongings. What else would you have them do? The customers were very lucky they didn’t have to ride out a tropical storm in a strange place. Why were they lucky? Because US Airways got their assets out of there.

I’m no fan of US Airways, in fact I’ve stopped flying them. However in this case they did all they could and besides why would ANY customer desire one of those nearly impossible to use vouchers? To make them feel better? Vouchers talk but cash SCREAMS

Several flights cancelled the day before. 270 PASSENGERS are now trying to get to their destination in ADDITION TO THE PASSENGERS who are booked to leave THAT DAY. It’s a small caribbean airport. LIMITED checkin area. This was an unusual situation, so they dont normally need excessive amounts of computers to check-in BECAUSE they only have a couple of flights PER DAY.

The computers were working, but their LCD’s were out? (dont they work together?)

http://www.csatravelprotection.com/frequently-asked-questions.do#reasonstocancel

Travel Insurance can protect non-refundable Cruise, Flight, Tour costs. Travel Insurance can provide peace of mind, covering Trip Cancellation & Interruption – Medical Expenses – Baggage & Personal Belongings – Baggage Delay – Travel Delay – Emergency Evacuation/Repatriation.

Insurance allows you to cancel your trip due to STORMS and get REIMBURSED.

http://www.csatravelprotection.com/comparepolicy.do

provides COVERAGE for delays, interruptions, cancellations.

Things do happen though, you are right. Perhaps it was just all a weird coincidence that on the very weekend there was a tropical storm, all but one of the US Airways computers were “out for repair.” But perhaps US Air, operating on an island in the Caribbean, should have some way of dealing with the teaming masses in the aftermath of events like this, that happen every year, multiple times. They seemed ill-prepared. The staff was non-responsive and there was no information. People in that line weren’t even sure they were in the right line; we were all kind of just relying on bits and pieces of information others in the line were picking up from fellow travelers. I understand the staff was probably taking a beating from all of the angry travelers, but they wouldn’t have had to do so had the company they work for 1) given them the tools necessary to process a line more efficiently and 2) had some sort of “plan B” when things like a tropical storm hit, cancelling flights and leaving people stranded in a 3rd world country airport that closes on them.

I did check the on time stats before our trip and did see that they are ranked high. However, in the two trips I have taken in using US Air, involving 9 flights, I have experienced only one of those flights being on time. The problems with US Air were not confined to the Punta Cana airport. We left our hotel at 11:15 am on the 16th and didn’t get back home to Chicago until 10 a.m. on the 17th. We DID end up getting on our 2:15 p.m. flight out of Punta Cana on the 16th. I simply didn’t get into the other aspects of the trip from hell because they weren’t relative to the discussion of what was going on at the Punta Cana airport.

For those who mention “this is why you have trip insurance,” we did have trip insurance. We weren’t one of the people stranded, but had we set our vacation to depart one day earlier, we would have been. For future vacations, please enlighten me with regard to the procedure. I am aware that trip insurance covers you monetarily for incidents where you are unable to travel due to some emergency, or if your resort is hit by a hurricane prior to traveling. But in case I’m ever stuck at a foreign airport in the middle of a tropical storm with no hotel to go to because the hotel I just left is stating they are booked, no working cell phone (I know my Blackberry didn’t work down there), no airport or airline staff willing to assist, no cash on hand, and an armed guard kicking me to the curb, I would like to understand in what way trip insurance would magically come to my rescue.

http://www.bts.gov/press_releases/

On the 16th, we arrived. The US Air lines were the only lines at check-in with their LCDs not working. Having never been there before, we didn’t know where in the heck the US Air line was. The airport staff was less than helpful. We finally confirmed the line and it was probably 200 people deep and not moving. After an hour and a half in line, we were at the point where we would miss our flight if we didn’t get checked in. We were probably another hour back in line still. I finally saw a 8×11 piece of paper taped up at about waist level at the counter with our flght nubmer on it. No instructions for people who were on the flight, no one polling the line to see who was on that flight, and you couldn’t even see it unless you hopped out of line and moved up a bit.

So I went up to the desk, cutting in front of everyone else and explained that we had been in line for 90 minutes and were now 40 min from takoff and we HAD to check in. He looked at me like I was an alien. No response. Just a blank, “so what?” stare. Thankfully, one of the women from the group behind us in line, who was also on the same flight, spoke Spanish and she came up there and had to start yelling at the US Air employees. They checked us in…VERY begrudginly.

When we were in line, I had commented that the line was moving so slowly, they must not have computers. As it turns out they did….one. For 3 or 4 agents. They had, instead, stacks of pre-printed boarding passes and as you got up to the counter they went through them. “Is this you? No? Is this you? No? Is this you?” No wonder they were getting through one checkin, oh, every 15 minutes or so. It was ridiculous. There is no reason thatin 2008 you are managing your airline checkins like this. There was NO reason for the lack of communication and consideration provided to the passengers at the Punta Cana airport.

I won’t even go into the US Air nightmare that ensued once we did board (3 hour flight taking 7+ hours).

Overall, the lack of communication, the unprofessionalism, the general chaos that was the Punta Cana airport and US Air that day has ensured that I too will no longer be a customer of either. And you can be sure that I have told way more than 6 people. It was a horrible experience and I didn’t even have to be subjected to being stuck in a 3rd-world country and prodded by armed guards. I can’t even imagine that situation.

Everyone acts like this Tropical storm only affected Punta Cana. IT DIDNT. Many LCC cities were affected:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Fay_(2008)

why should the airport remain open into the night? For what reason? camping out?