Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Alaska > Fairbanks
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 06-23-2010, 05:41 PM
 
Location: Tampa, Fl
4 posts, read 13,165 times
Reputation: 11

Advertisements

This past winter I accepted a job offer with a lodge up in Bettles, Ak. I won't go into detail, but the whole thing was a complete scam. Still, I walked away from Alaska feeling so good thanks to the people of Fairbanks. Listen to this...

After two days of flying, I arrived at Fairbanks Airport at 6 AM and I had a connecting flight to Bettles that departed at 8. I was not informed that my connection left from a different airport located about 5 miles away. When I went up to one of the small commuter airline desks to ask if they could recommend a taxi company...The man behind the desk insisted upon giving me a ride! He literally left his desk, hoped into a van, and took me to Wright Airfield and refused to accept a dime. I was floored.

Upon arrival at Wright Airport...I was told by the clerk that the owners of the Lodge I was flying to, had booked me on standby because they did not want to pay full fare. I was a little bewildered because I just assumed that I had a reservation...The clerk informed me that I probably wouldn't be getting on that day and it may be as long as 3 days before I could get to Bettles. At that point I was so exhausted I was ready to break down. i had called the owner of the Lodge's daughter who told me not to worry, because they are affiliated with hotels in Fairbanks and then proceeded to try and sell me some motel near the airport where she could get me a rate at $80.00 per night. I was horrified. BUT...get this...The clerk who worked at Wright Airfield...co-miserated with me, telling me she has seen this time and time again...and offered me her guest house free of charge! I have never experienced such nice people in my life. As luck would have it, there was a no show, and I was able to board the plane to Bettles...

Two weeks later (Lol) I left Bettles...I loved the town...but the owners of this Lodge were the most horrifying, nasty, people you could ever imagine. The last straw was when they tried to charge me $300.00 a week for utilities (Lodging was supposed to be included)...Just...awful people. Anyway...Upon my arrival back at Wright Airfield... I was in a taxi to take me to Fairbanks Airport. I was telling the Taxi Driver about my experience and he...refused to charge me a fare. I insisted...and walked away stunned at how wonderful the Alaskan people are. Not only that...While trying to get a flight back home with no notice...The Alaska Airline customer service agent in Fairbanks had to book me on a different carrier for a portion of my flight...and COMPED it. I wound up paying next to nothing to get all the way home. Fairbanks...THANK YOU! What wonderful people!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-23-2010, 05:47 PM
 
Location: Eastern NC
20,868 posts, read 23,534,555 times
Reputation: 18814
Thats awesome. Sorry the job did not work out but glad you had a very experience with the people you ran into.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-23-2010, 07:18 PM
 
Location: Anchorage, AK
191 posts, read 360,388 times
Reputation: 174
Quote:
Originally Posted by poorjudy View Post
This past winter I accepted a job offer with a lodge up in Bettles, Ak. I won't go into detail, but the whole thing was a complete scam. Still, I walked away from Alaska feeling so good thanks to the people of Fairbanks. Listen to this...

After two days of flying, I arrived at Fairbanks Airport at 6 AM and I had a connecting flight to Bettles that departed at 8. I was not informed that my connection left from a different airport located about 5 miles away. When I went up to one of the small commuter airline desks to ask if they could recommend a taxi company...The man behind the desk insisted upon giving me a ride! He literally left his desk, hoped into a van, and took me to Wright Airfield and refused to accept a dime. I was floored.

Upon arrival at Wright Airport...I was told by the clerk that the owners of the Lodge I was flying to, had booked me on standby because they did not want to pay full fare. I was a little bewildered because I just assumed that I had a reservation...The clerk informed me that I probably wouldn't be getting on that day and it may be as long as 3 days before I could get to Bettles. At that point I was so exhausted I was ready to break down. i had called the owner of the Lodge's daughter who told me not to worry, because they are affiliated with hotels in Fairbanks and then proceeded to try and sell me some motel near the airport where she could get me a rate at $80.00 per night. I was horrified. BUT...get this...The clerk who worked at Wright Airfield...co-miserated with me, telling me she has seen this time and time again...and offered me her guest house free of charge! I have never experienced such nice people in my life. As luck would have it, there was a no show, and I was able to board the plane to Bettles...

Two weeks later (Lol) I left Bettles...I loved the town...but the owners of this Lodge were the most horrifying, nasty, people you could ever imagine. The last straw was when they tried to charge me $300.00 a week for utilities (Lodging was supposed to be included)...Just...awful people. Anyway...Upon my arrival back at Wright Airfield... I was in a taxi to take me to Fairbanks Airport. I was telling the Taxi Driver about my experience and he...refused to charge me a fare. I insisted...and walked away stunned at how wonderful the Alaskan people are. Not only that...While trying to get a flight back home with no notice...The Alaska Airline customer service agent in Fairbanks had to book me on a different carrier for a portion of my flight...and COMPED it. I wound up paying next to nothing to get all the way home. Fairbanks...THANK YOU! What wonderful people!

I've seen several similar complaints about people who tried working at that lodge on different online forums. Glad you got out safely in fairly short order.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-23-2010, 07:23 PM
 
Location: Fairbanks
204 posts, read 471,965 times
Reputation: 82
Sorry to hear about your bad experience, Judy. Sounds like you enjoyed some of your trip, though. It's always nice when you meet people who know what actual customer service is. You hear alot about 'Southern Hospitality' but I don't think it's as prevalent as it once was. Sorry you had to go through a bad experience to meet nice people, though.

It makes me happy to know that I made a good decision on choosing F'banks. From what I've been reading, it seems like the "Great Northern Hospitality" is alive and well.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-23-2010, 07:43 PM
 
Location: Seattle
1,939 posts, read 3,920,669 times
Reputation: 4660
Quote:
Originally Posted by poorjudy View Post
This past winter I accepted a job offer with a lodge up in Bettles, Ak. I
//www.city-data.com/forum/alask...ced-sleep.html
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-24-2010, 12:40 AM
 
26,639 posts, read 36,681,428 times
Reputation: 29906
Quote:
The last straw was when they tried to charge me $300.00 a week for utilities
I'm finding this a bit of a stretch.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-24-2010, 12:43 AM
 
Location: Bethel, Alaska
21,368 posts, read 38,106,585 times
Reputation: 13901
Yawn...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Alaska > Fairbanks
Similar Threads
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:43 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top