Letter: Airline experience raises a question

Under the stewardship of American Airlines, US Airlines has become the "We Don't Carelines."

Four members of our family paid a premium fare to fly roundtrip onto Hilton Head Island instead of Savannah on Dec. 23. They were allowed to embark from New England even though the Charlotte airport was already experiencing flight delays and cancellations due to weather. Once in Charlotte, along with many, many others, they were stranded overnight. With no cooperation from the airline, they found hotel accommodations while others slept on the floor of the terminal.

On Dec. 24, they flew into Savannah. There were no flights onto Hilton Head. As best as they were able to determine, there were a total of only two flights out of Hilton Head through Dec. 26, despite clearing weather.

Two of the guests got someone at the airline to admit that their flight out on Dec. 26 would probably be canceled, and they were able to fly from Savannah. The flight out on Dec. 27 for the other two was a repeat of the same experience of Dec. 26.

What was especially troubling was that the airline continued to sell tickets out of Hilton Head when it knew that the flights were being canceled or that there was no chance of arriving in Charlotte in time to make the connecting flights. It makes us wonder if American Airlines is about to discontinue service to Hilton Head.

Stan Leavitt

Hilton Head Island

This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 8:23 AM with the headline "Letter: Airline experience raises a question."