We recently travelled via US Airways to St. Lucia Virgin Islands. Our return flight home was routed through Charlotte N.C. Here we were scheduled for a 3 hour layover plenty of time to get through Customs and Immigration and re-check our baggage for our final destination. However the plane was one hour late in boarding in St. Lucia. Upon our arrival in Charlotte we were told there was no gate open for parking at the airport so we waited on the tarmac for a half hour or so. Then we were told there was no ground crew further delaying our de-planing. Once at the gate we were told that Customs was backed up and we were made to wait for another half hour on the plane. At this point we had 1 hour left to get through Customs and Immigration re-check our baggage and run to our gate actually only 45 minutes as the plane cannot be boarded for the last 15 minutes before take- off. My husband had TSA pre-check on his ticket however I did not. I had to go through a very long security line. My husband went to the gate to notify our plane that I was on my way - hurrying. Just as I finally ran to the gate (just at the 15 minute before flight mark) the flight attendants closed the door to the gate and would not allow me to board. I begged as there was still 15 minutes until take off they would not budge. We went to the ticket counter and were told that it was the last flight out and that there were no flights available the next day. So with no way to get home we rented a car drove all night and arrived back home 8 hours later without our baggage. We were met with rudeness and a complete lack of sympathy from customer service when dealing with the airline. By the way our flight from St. Lucia was to have meals available for purchase however by the time the attendants reach our seat in the 19th row there was no food left. We had not eaten all day.
airlines reviews