It seemed no shuttle was forthcoming

We travel frequently and always use the local SuperShuttle for travel to the airport. SuperShuttle always tries to get us to make a reservation for our return home. For a December ’02 trip, we did make a return reservation since we were flying back to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California; that regional airport closes at night, so we wanted to insure a trip home.

I had a reservation number and confirmed same before we left on our trip. Upon our arrival back at the airport, we went to the Ground Transportation Center where there were numerous shuttles. A SuperShuttle employee was filling two waiting shuttles, but he could find no record of any reservation for us. The airport was closing at 11 p.m. and his two shuttles were going elsewhere, apparently.

The employee instructed us to sit and wait and he would see what he could do. Now, he had no more shuttles and told us he had no more coming in. I wondered, “Why should we sit and wait while everyone closes up shop?” Instead, we took a shuttle of one of their competitors.

Later, I called SuperShuttle to complain and was given the wrong address to write to. I followed up my Jan. 2, ’03, letter with one sent March 24.

On April 9, I received a letter from General Manager Richard A. Powers saying that they encourage reservations as it helps them judge the work load, but they handle customers on a first-come, first-served basis. Also, at times they may not even have a van going in the direction of the reservation!

The consolation prize was a 10-dollar gift certificate, not a refund but a small discount which requires we use their service again. Ten dollars would not go very far for a taxi home after the airport closes!

After receipt of the April 9 letter, I called and spoke with Mr. Powers and he seemed surly and unconcerned about the possibility of individuals with reservations being left waiting after the regional airport closes.

MICHELLE A. BRENDEL
Seal Beach, CA

ITN sent a copy of the above letter to SuperShuttle Los Angeles, Inc., and received the following reply.

We received your letter in regards to Michelle A. Brendel and the problems she encountered with our service back in December ’02.

Ms. Brendel’s reservation on Dec. 20, 2002, was for a 10:14 p.m. arrival into John Wayne Airport. In talking with our coordinator, he stated that Ms. Brendel came out to the curb and was upset that there was not a van there waiting for her. He asked her to have a seat and he would get her another van, but she was not happy and walked off to a competitor’s van that was curbside. Our coordinator was attempting to call the dispatcher on the radio for another van, but Ms. Brendel would not wait.

SuperShuttle does honor its reservations, and our John Wayne Airport coordinator is scheduled until 11:30 p.m. every night, 30 minutes after the airport closes, to ensure all guests are accommodated. In the rare event we cannot get our guest a SuperShuttle van, we will make every effort to get them on a comparable van service at no additional charge.

John Wayne Airport’s policy does not allow us to stage multiple vehicles curbside while waiting for reservations. They are in a holding lot at the far end of the airport property, approximately a 5-minute drive to the curbside pickup location. It is possible this was not fully explained to Ms. Brendel by our coordinator.

The coordinators are all aware of her complaint and have been retrained on how to better handle this type of situation in the future.

RICHARD A. POWERS, General Manager, SuperShuttle Los Angeles, Inc., 531 Van Ness Ave., Torrance, CA 90501