US AIRWAYS LACKS SAFETY AND SECURITY

Dear All,

I have wanted to share the feedback which I have just sent to the US Airways which lacked safety and security as you can read below.

Thanks God, I am safe and sound at home.

Peace and Love,

Ay-lin:)

March 26, 2010

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Aylin Yavas. I am a Fulbright Scholar at Cornell University. I was in Boston during my spring break during March 19^th to 26^th, 2010. I am sending you this feedback so as to help you continue to improve. I had believed that all of you at US Airways were committed to providing the best customer service and safety regulations. On the other hand, I observed lack of safety today.

This morning I had two flights by US Airways: Flight 2115 at 6:00am from Boston to NY La Guardia (Seat 19A) and Flight 4152 at 8:30am from NY La Guardia-Ithaca (Seat 3F).  When we were about to take off around 6:10am, the pilot/officer announced that the radio was broken. Luckily this was not realized when we were in the air. After he apologized, he said that we could not fly for safety reasons.  We were stuck on the plain close to an hour due to the maintenance of the plane.

I am not a pilot. Yet, I know some information about the safety in the aviation, for I flew glider in Turkey and attended 2002 International Air Cadet Exchange in the United Kingdom representing Turkey.  As far as I am concerned, the fact that the radio did not work should have been identified at least an hour before our flight, that is to say, around 5am. Then they should have arranged another plane for us/the customers so that we would not have missed our connection flights as I did.  

In addition, it was 8:23am when we landed La Guardia. I wanted to get out of the plane as soon as possible to catch my flight at 8:30am. Unfortunately, they did not open the door located at the back of the plane, when I was in the plane. My seat number was 19A. In case of an emergency or such a situation that the passengers needed to get out of the plane very quickly to catch their connection flights, they should have contacted the ground officers to prepare the necessary preparations so that they would have opened at least two doors at the same time. This showed that US Airways lacked a professional crises management as well.

Moreover, when I came to the Gate 6 for my flight to Ithaca, it was 8:33am. The officer at the gate told me that I missed my flight. When I expressed that it was not my fault, but the radio was broken, she said that one passenger from Flight 2115 was able to catch 4152. On the other hand, I could not, for I sat at 19A and they did not open the back door of the plane. I kindly expressed my concerns regarding the safety. On the other hand, she said that this was life and such things would have happened even when we were in the air. Yet, I feel that you should not express a mistake in your safety naming this as destiny or faith, etc.  You should give utmost importance to safety and security.

Finally, they gave me a ticket for the Flight 4603 at 10:59am. Because of this, I had to cancel my two appointments with my doctors at Gannett, Cornell University and lost two hours at the airport in vain. When were stuck in this plane till 11:55am again. They told me that the air traffic was very busy. On the other hand, I have used the US Airways line between Ithaca-NYC. I am sorry to say that you are always late.

My life and time are so precious that I should feel secure enough to prefer to fly with you. I felt so stressed, for I was insecure and cancelled my appointments that were very important to me. I had to see my doctors ASAP today. I could hardly reschedule new appointments, which made feel sorry.

To sum up, I hope you would appreciate my constructivist comments and improve your safety and security checks,

Thanks,

Aylin Yavas

M.Ed. Candidate

Certified Translator & Interpreter

Visiting Faculty, Cornell University

Fulbright Scholar, Turkish Language

E-mail: aylin.yavas@fulbrightmail.org

http://www.arts.cornell.edu/nes/people/docs/Yavas.pdf

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