Odds & Ends
Page Two
FED UP EX-CUSTOMERI travel weekly for work and also several times a year (domestic and international), and will never travel AA again if I have a choice - I would rather take multiple connections than AA straight thorough, and as far as international flights - NO WAY!
To date, I have yet to get my miles for my trip to Paris - 5014 miles. I have called, written, emailed and faxed, and nothing. I finally got a supervisor named "J." who was SO rude and refused to help me that I asked to speak to her supervisor, and also for her name/emp ID to file a complaint. Her response, hang up on me. I call again, get her again, get hung up on again. Complete lack of professionalism. Oh, and still no miles - yet the reason I have not got them changes with each agent I speak with.
Onto the flight itself - outbound to Paris the plane was filthy - I even refused to use the restrooms it was so bad, old trash stuffed in the seat in front of me, no movies, and this is the first international flight I have ever been on that they charged for wine/beer! One inedible meal the entire flight (9 hours) - it was cold, and tasted awful.
Coming home was even worse (which I did not think was possible). Still charging for wine/beer, requested water multiple times yet never got it, the flight was FREEZING - I had on a sweater, wool coat, scarf, gloves and 2 blankets, and still was freezing, as was everyone in my section. The people in the row ahead of me asked if the heat could be turned up, and the flight attendants refused. I heard multiple people after that complain and nothing was done. We actually had 2 meals - WOW! - but one was once again supposed to be hot, but served cold, and the other was just gross - worse airline food I have ever had. I could not wait to get off that flight!
Domestic service is just as bad - expensive snacks, with no healthy options, both my flights were an hour late to get to the final destination, and rude staff.
Just a warning to travelers - their service has just gone down faster than imaginable, and they don't care about keeping customers. Even if they are the cheapest, I would still pay more to fly anybody but them! 1/21/08
LATE AND IRATE
My older daughter and I took my younger daughter to the San Francisco airport to catch a flight to Cincinnati. My younger daughter was going to visit my parents, her grandma and grandpa. She was 14 and Delta policy was that parents of unaccompanied minors wait in the boarding area until the flight had safely departed. The policy is probably to avoid callbacks and stranded kids in case the flight was grounded or had to be cancelled for whatever reason. It was during that waiting period after the plane had boarded, and the doors had closed, that my story begins.
It was at least 10 minutes past the "official" flight departure time. We spotted a very well dressed older man, who seemed to be in a flustered state, arriving in the boarding area. "Let me on that plane. I've got to get on that plane!" He exclaimed. The counter attendant, who was basically done with his work, was finalizing the paperwork, divvying up the tickets and doing whatever it is they do with the stubs to close out the flight. Doing his best to ignore the almost hysterical man, he said "Sir, the flight is already boarded, you'll have to get another flight."
The guy almost went apoplectic then..."This is a ticket, I just got this ticket, it's for this flight, you need to let me on, etc." Instead of being nice and saying "sorry I'm so late, I was delayed" (which I would have done if I were in his position, and which might or might not have been enough to convince them to re-open the doors. I don't know at which point the ground crew decides not to let anybody else on NO MATTER WHAT. Probably after it pulls away from the gate).
But late passenger wasn't getting his way this time. The young man at the counter said "Sir, you'll have to wait a second while I finish this up then I'll take care of you." But the late passenger was having none of it. Oh no, it couldn't have been late passenger's fault for being late!
After the attendant disappeared for a second behind the red door to deposit or finalize the tickets, the late passenger got behind the ticket counter, picked up one of the house phones and started talking to whomever would listen. "Hello. I've got to get on such and such flight, yadayadayada." When the attendant came back and saw the late passenger doing this, that's when he read him the riot act. "Sir, if you don't get out from behind there I'm going to call security!" Late passenger: grumble, grumble, grumble. He was still grumbling when my daughter's flight took off! Glad he wasn't on it....it was rather amusing to watch his antics! 12/07
TOTAL HUMILIATION
A few years ago, I was flying as an unaccompanied minor. To ensure that the flight attendants know that you're unaccompanied, the usual song-and-dance was that they would give you a red and white 3" badge to pin on your shirt, and they would write on it with a black magic marker. This time, however, the gate agent was out of badges. After a few phone calls, she decided to improvise, and tied...wait for it...a paper plate around my neck with a piece of string. She then wrote my information on the paper plate in giant letters with a magic marker. I protested about my new fashion statement, but wouldn't hear it. Total, instantaneous humiliation for a 14-year old. 12/07
PARKED PLANE GETS 'DISCOVERED' -
DURING A LANDING
In August of 2001, my mom, younger sister & I flew from our home in D.C. to Phoenix, Arizona for my older sister's wedding. At the time it was cheaper to use BWI than National and we didn't live within sight of Dulles until a few years later. Because we had booked a flight earlier in the day and had no specific plans - we had an entire day to kill in Phoenix, resting, whatever until leaving the following day for Tucson - when an agent announced that volunteers were needed to take a later flight due to overbooking, we agreed it was fine with us. For compensation, we were to be driven from BWI to National for the next flight, then put in first class. We relaxed, stopped preparing for the flight, and as the door started to close we received word that they weren't overbooked after all (???), so we could board this flight, still in first class. As we boarded, they said there were only 2 seats; there were 3 in our party. So my mom had us up front. Then they informed us that a very large (extremely huge is more like it) man needed BOTH extra seats to be accommodated (hold the extra snacks). So they bumped us to the first row of coach, together, which worked out well - plenty of legroom, and still the service we would've received in first class.
The rest of the flight was going as planned until landing. We were just seconds away from touching down (as in, nose pulled slightly upwards) when suddenly we began to accelerate at the steepest angle I've ever seen an airplane ascend in. This was less than a month before 9/11, but the first instinct wasn't hijacking, just pure confusion. After about 5 minutes, people started getting nervous. No one would tell us what was going on, and we wanted to know why we suddenly pulled up that way and why we were now at a height much greater than normal for being almost directly above an airport. Finally the pilot comes on and says, "Ladies and gentleman, sorry for the disturbance. We're going to try landing one more time. Just as we were about to touch down, a plane was discovered right in front of us on the runway. We had to pull up at that steep angle to avoid a collision. We should be on the ground shortly."
How did they miss a plane on the runway? It was sunny outside and planes are big. Oh well, guess it was better to see the plane right before impact than right after. 12/07
SURLY SERVICE
United Red Carpet Club, SFO:
I recently flew to London from San Francisco. My travel companion has membership in the United Red Carpet Club. He asked that I meet him at the club before the flight.
Now, please understand, I'm REALLY polite and mild-mannered; it's often pointed out to me that I'm "too nice." I was met at the Red Carpet Club desk by a surly twenty-something guy who, with a scowl and a raised voice, told me, "We don't allow guests!" Luckily, my friend came around the corner at that moment and explained that, indeed, one guest per member IS allowed, and had the rules at hand to prove it.
Note to United: Stop hiring thugs.
Note to disgruntled United employees: If you hate your job, quit.
Maybe they should work for tips. 12/07
HIGH IN THE SKY
Last year my sister and a friend and I flew from Philadelphia to Las Vegas for an eagerly awaited vacation. It had been many years since I had flown and I was nervous, especially since I have severe claustrophobia. My doctor gave me a few strong sedatives to take on an as needed basis.
The flight out was fine. I took one pill and relaxed in a serene, trance-like state.
The flight back, however, occurred the night potential terrorists were arrested in Great Britain trying to smuggle liquid explosives onto a plane. This only added to my terror of flying and closed in spaces. We were advised to get to the airport very early. We did, and so did everybody else. We spent hours waiting on the sidewalk for the airline personnel to show up. Then a few more hours watching them throw all our shampoo and perfume in the trash.
As the time for the flight approached, I took one sedative. Strange, it seemed to have no effect. So I took another. And I think I actually took a third.
I have a vague memory of walking onto the plane and trying to sit in a seat - that already had a person sitting in it. And seeing a can of coke in front of me. And I recall my sister smacking my shoulder and hissing "Swallow! Swallow!" Apparently I was falling asleep while eating a sandwich and the food kept falling out of my mouth.
To this day I don't know why I didn't choke or stop breathing, I was so zonked. But I had the doubtful pleasure of regaining consciousness in Philadelphia. 11/07
Signed, G.M.
IF YOU THINK COMMERCIAL AIR TRAVEL IS BAD...
Airline travel is, at best, uncomfortable, but traveling for the military is unbearable. The government contracts with a civilian company to fly large amounts of troops where they need to go. Most people would say that is better than flying on a cargo plane, but most people have never flown with the military. I was coming back from an exercise in the Republic of Korea to my base in Texas. The contractor had taken a plane meant to sit 200 or so passengers, ripped out all of the seats and put 400 seats back in. I am 5'4" and I spent the entire flight eating my knees. We flew from Korea to Anchorage, AK. A very long, boring, crowded flight that ended at the International terminal at the Anchorage airport. It was the middle of the night and nothing was open. Then, for some reason, the flight didn't take us back to our base, but to a base on the other side of the state (Texas, REALLY big state). After two days of flying, we packed onto 3 buses for the 14 hour drive to our home base. After that, nothing a real airline can do is that bad! 10/07 Signed, GI Jane
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