Go Airlines is a division of MESA Airlines which was founded by Larry Risley in 1982. They began with scheduled service between Farmington and Albuequerque, New Mexico using a passenger Piper Chieftain. I admire Mr. Risley, who is an airplane mechanic by trade, who started by mortgaging his house and managed to develop Mesa Airlines into one of the largest regional airlines in the world but GO needs some help.

Since 1990, Mesa has grown by managing to achieve codeshare status agreements with Delta Air Lines, United and America West but it is GOs 50-seat regional Hawaii flights that service Lihue, Kahului, Kona, Hilo, and Honolulu that needs to be restructured for customer convenience. The customer service that we received at the Honolulu terminal was horrendous.

Anyone can understand mechanical delays if the customer service works with you but that was not the case with GO. Let me tell you a true story that occurred a couple of weeks ago.

We had booked an early morning flight to Honolulu from Kona for a day hop to see Pearl Harbor and the Missouri. When we arrived at the Kona terminal no one could help us locate the GO desk. In fact, agents from other airlines had us scurrying all over the terminal and since the desk didn’t open until a half hour before the scheduled flight we were at a loss. Finally by mere chance we found the one agent representing GO and were able to make our flight. To there credit this flight was on time.

However the return trip was nightmare. After spending an enjoyable but tiring day in Honolulu we arrived over an hour early at the Honolulu terminal for our return trip. The flight was scheduled to board at 5:15pm with a scheduled departure of 5:35pm. When it got to be 5:25 customers began asking the customer service agents, who were between the ages of 18 and 24, when the flight would be boarded. They were repeatedly assured that the flight would board in the next few minutes. In the meantime the agents laughed and conversed among themselves and showed no respect for the customers awaiting the flight. After the scheduled departure time one lady asked if the flight was in a for a long delay as she needed to be in Kona for a wedding rehearsal dinner. She was assured there was no problem. At this point she still had time to make other connections through Hawaii or Aloha airlines.

Another lady called her husband and told him to expect her flight a few minutes late but to go ahead and go to the Kona terminal. Several of the passengers had small children and were anxious to get back, as were we. Then finally after several confrontations with the agents it was announced that our flight to Kona would not depart until 7:30 pm which meant arriving in Kona after 8:30 pm. The reason a mechanical problem that they had been fully aware of all day.

This was inexcusable in itself but the attitude of the manager, again about 24, was unbelievable. He refused to help anyone get a refund to enable them to purchase other tickets, saying that they would have to contact customer service another day. If they wanted to purchase a ticket from another airline that was up to them but they would have to up front the money. Also they never apologized for their deception nor did they make any attempt to pacify the passengers who had been inconvenienced. Overall, they were just downright rude and unhelpful.

One frustrating add-on point is that when GO Airlines customer service was contacted after our return they didn’t even have the courtesy to acknowledge that we had contacted them with a legitimate complaint. So if they don’t care about passengers and their comfort can we be sure that they care about our safety. Ever wonder how well their planes are serviced and maintained? I know that in business if a company shows a lack of caring for customers in one area they are generally not too concerned about other areas either.

Additionally, several passengers on other flights received the same treatment with some of their flights being cancelled, with no warning, .after they were allowed to wait for several hours. No other airline has ever been so unresponsive to passenger needs. Especially in terms of this being a known problem that was not weather related. My advice is stick to the better known airlines with a reputable, proven reputation like United, Aloha, or Hawaiian and by all means if you need to get somewhere on time and want an airline that cares about their passengers don’t count on GO Airlines.

[tags]GO Airlines, Mesa Airlines, Larry Risley, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Aloha Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, customer service, Customer safety,regional airlines, Honolulu terminal, Kona, day trips, island hops, [/tags]