Letter: Hilton Head airport needs competition

After experiencing two mornings of canceled flights by American Airlines out of the Hilton Head Island Airport, I am hopeful that the airport expansion will bring some much-needed competition to the island. While it is very convenient to fly from Hilton Head, the honesty, reliability and customer service of the current airline is questionable.

My fist cancellation was due to “weather,” as told to me by the agent on the telephone when I was contacted about the cancellation. After physically going to the airport to try to fly standby, I was told that the flight was canceled due to “mechanical issues” and that all flights that day were already overbooked and I would not be able to get a flight out of Hilton Head that day. I rebooked for the next morning.

The following morning my flight again was canceled. I took a later flight that same day and was told by the agent at the airport that the morning flight was canceled due to the “town” not allowing the control tower to be open past 9 p.m. because they do not want to pay someone to keep it open (the town is not involved in airport operations). The last flight of the night was unable to land on Hilton Head (tower closed) so there was no airplane available for the first departure of the morning.

Needless to say, this was one of the biggest customer service debacles I have experienced, maybe ever. I’ve written to American Airlines and have received the standard gibberish answer.

I for one am looking forward to a little airline competition on our island. Maybe then American Airlines will start improving its service.

This story was originally published March 31, 2016 at 8:00 PM with the headline "Letter: Hilton Head airport needs competition."