bejohnson
03-01-2006, 06:46 PM
From The Consumerist...
American Airlines Blames the Victim (http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/airlines/american-airlines-blames-the-victim-157671.php)
Wed 01 March 2006
Brad tried to board his American Airline flight only to be told that he was already in the air and he would have to buy another ticket. When he refused , the boarding agent accused him of stealing.
His journey into a parallel universe beyond sight, sound and especially reason, continues after the jump in his own words…
I arrived early at the airport because I was hoping to catch an earlier flight than the one I was booked on. But, I just missed it. Oh well, my traveling partner and I thought, we’ll just have a drink in the bar and wait. So, we checked in at the kiosk, but it refused to give me my boarding pass. (My colleague had no problem.) So, I waved over a desk agent who clicked some buttons and told me that I had already used my ticket. I was polite as I told her there must be a mistake. After all, I was there for my flight well before the time.
Things escalated from there.
She informed me that I had used my ticket and boarded the flight that had just left. This was surprising since I was standing in front of her with my feet planted firmly on the ground. She actually persisted in telling me that I had taken off on a plane 10 minutes before.
Umm…are AA personnel really that stupid, is it just her?
She then accused me of giving my ticket to another passenger, defrauding AA of their fare. I had not, of course. And, she had no indication that I had.
I suggested that maybe a mistake had been made and my ticket had been given by AA to someone else. She got hostile and told me firmly that that was an IMPOSSIBILITY.
Bottom line, she told me, was that I had to purchase another full fare ticket and then I would only be on standby for the flight I had booked and paid for already.
I got my travel agent in the action and he got an AA corporate person involved by phone and she secretly listened in as the AA ticket agent proceeded to be just as hostile to my travel agent as she had been to me.
Urged on by my travel agent, I demanded to speak to her supervisor. I was told she was too busy to come up and talk to me. And, she repeated that my only option was to buy another full fare ticket.
AN HOUR-AND-A-HALF of back and forth and I finally got my ticket, through the help of AA corporate.
What happened? They HAD given my ticket to someone with the same last name (but not same first name…not even close) and didn’t want to acknowledge it. I wonder how Homeland Security would feel about AA not checking to see that the passenger matched the ticket????
FINAL SCARY CHAPTER: Just as I boarded my plane, stressed and angry, my travel agent called me and began, “You’re not gonna believe this!” He went on to inform me that the flight I was accused of being on had landed in St. Louis moments ago. And, security (I’m not sure if that means Homeland Security or airport security) had held all the passengers on the plane until they removed the person flying in my name from the plane and verified his identity. So, a whole planeload of passengers sat wondering what was happening so they could clear up a stupid gate agent’s mistake. And, what about the poor guy who didn’t realize he had been given my ticket by mistake? He must have wondered WTF!
So, how confident do you feel in security on airplanes now when mistakes happen that easily? And, when AA arrogantly proclaimed that this was my fault and not theirs, I was happy. No apology was offered. No compensation was offered, even though I’m a Platinum frequent flyer on AA.
Hmmm…customer service???
-Brad
EVP & executive creative director
This has got to be the worst case of customer no service I've ever heard of. :Nope :banghead :Nope :banghead :Nope
This should make everyone feel really safe knowing that security is so tight at the airport. :Holy Crap :Yea right :shifty
American Airlines Blames the Victim (http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/airlines/american-airlines-blames-the-victim-157671.php)
Wed 01 March 2006
Brad tried to board his American Airline flight only to be told that he was already in the air and he would have to buy another ticket. When he refused , the boarding agent accused him of stealing.
His journey into a parallel universe beyond sight, sound and especially reason, continues after the jump in his own words…
I arrived early at the airport because I was hoping to catch an earlier flight than the one I was booked on. But, I just missed it. Oh well, my traveling partner and I thought, we’ll just have a drink in the bar and wait. So, we checked in at the kiosk, but it refused to give me my boarding pass. (My colleague had no problem.) So, I waved over a desk agent who clicked some buttons and told me that I had already used my ticket. I was polite as I told her there must be a mistake. After all, I was there for my flight well before the time.
Things escalated from there.
She informed me that I had used my ticket and boarded the flight that had just left. This was surprising since I was standing in front of her with my feet planted firmly on the ground. She actually persisted in telling me that I had taken off on a plane 10 minutes before.
Umm…are AA personnel really that stupid, is it just her?
She then accused me of giving my ticket to another passenger, defrauding AA of their fare. I had not, of course. And, she had no indication that I had.
I suggested that maybe a mistake had been made and my ticket had been given by AA to someone else. She got hostile and told me firmly that that was an IMPOSSIBILITY.
Bottom line, she told me, was that I had to purchase another full fare ticket and then I would only be on standby for the flight I had booked and paid for already.
I got my travel agent in the action and he got an AA corporate person involved by phone and she secretly listened in as the AA ticket agent proceeded to be just as hostile to my travel agent as she had been to me.
Urged on by my travel agent, I demanded to speak to her supervisor. I was told she was too busy to come up and talk to me. And, she repeated that my only option was to buy another full fare ticket.
AN HOUR-AND-A-HALF of back and forth and I finally got my ticket, through the help of AA corporate.
What happened? They HAD given my ticket to someone with the same last name (but not same first name…not even close) and didn’t want to acknowledge it. I wonder how Homeland Security would feel about AA not checking to see that the passenger matched the ticket????
FINAL SCARY CHAPTER: Just as I boarded my plane, stressed and angry, my travel agent called me and began, “You’re not gonna believe this!” He went on to inform me that the flight I was accused of being on had landed in St. Louis moments ago. And, security (I’m not sure if that means Homeland Security or airport security) had held all the passengers on the plane until they removed the person flying in my name from the plane and verified his identity. So, a whole planeload of passengers sat wondering what was happening so they could clear up a stupid gate agent’s mistake. And, what about the poor guy who didn’t realize he had been given my ticket by mistake? He must have wondered WTF!
So, how confident do you feel in security on airplanes now when mistakes happen that easily? And, when AA arrogantly proclaimed that this was my fault and not theirs, I was happy. No apology was offered. No compensation was offered, even though I’m a Platinum frequent flyer on AA.
Hmmm…customer service???
-Brad
EVP & executive creative director
This has got to be the worst case of customer no service I've ever heard of. :Nope :banghead :Nope :banghead :Nope
This should make everyone feel really safe knowing that security is so tight at the airport. :Holy Crap :Yea right :shifty