When my family last flew American Airlines, we were bumped from our nice row of seats together to make way for an elderly female prisoner in chains escorted by her two air marshalls. American – where prisoner satisfaction is more important than customer satisfaction.
I’ve never prayed so much for my kids to just please keep their mouths shut.
So, when the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism booked my daughter and I on American for our press trip down there, I was concerned. We were flying American to Miami and then Cayman Airways to Grand Cayman. I didn’t know if I needed to be at the airport 2 hours in advance, and since we were flying at 6:40am, I decided to call.
The rep on the phone was friendly, and told me that yes, I did have to be there 2 hours in advance. Even though it was two airlines, they knew I had a connection to Grand Cayman, and if I showed my Cayman Air boarding pass to the rep, they’d book my luggage all the way through.
When I got to Boston Logan (yes, at 4:40am), my daughter and I went right to the line to check in with a rep. But, we were guided to a kiosk, which the rep assured us would work fine. After checking in, we waited for the rep to call our name with the bag tag.
Enter Lois. Lois called our name, and my daughter and I, shorter than everyone else, raised our hands. It was crowded, and you could see that Lois was already having a bad day.
“Jodi Grundig, one bag, destination Miami?”
Me – “No, we are going from Miami to Grand Cayman”.
Lois – “No, you aren’t.”
Me – nervous giggle. “Yes, I’m on Cayman Airways. I called yesterday and was told I could check my bag all the way there.”
Lois – heavy sigh. “You aren’t going to the Caymans. It doesn’t say that in my system. Sorry.”
Me – “I have a boarding pass – here.”
Lois – “It’s not in my system. According to my system, you are flying from Boston to Miami, and returning Sunday from Grand Cayman to Miami, Miami to Boston”.
Me – “Yes, but I have to GET to Grand Cayman, right? I’m on Cayman Airways.”
Lois – “No, it’s not in the system”.
This went on for a while until Lois agreed to look at the boarding passes I was holding. Eventually, she booked my bags all the way to Grand Cayman. I held my breath at the baggage carousel, but thankfully it arrived.
I think Lois needs a new job. Maybe as a prisoner air marshall?
Last time I flew American, the surly attendant got on the PA at the end, thanked us for flying American and said if there are any complaints, don’t bother since they’re going broke and “we’ll all be out of a job pretty soon anyways.”
Pleasant.
Seriously? That’s just awful.
Not much better elsewhere. I normally adore JetBlue, but last trip we were all sitting across on a 3-and-3 configured plane – boys and I on one side, Kevin across on the aisle seat – and they moved Kevin for a retired stewardess flying standby with her 2 kids – one a too-big lap child for whom she had brought 0 food and no games for a cross-country trip.
Kevin had to sit in a middle seat several rows behind me, between 2 big men for 5.5 hours. Meanwhile, I had booked these seats 4 months in advance just so that I didn’t have to worry if I had to take a child to the bathroom and leave one by himself, etc. And of course – instead of hubby, I had screaming bored 2-year-old lap child screaming in our ears.
When I said to the crew “why did you move a paying customer with small children to accomodate someone going on vacation and flying free?”, I was told not to make a stink because it would get the retired stewardess “in trouble” for making a “real” passenger unhappy. Hey – as long as she was happy, right!
You really should have complained about that Nancy. That’s terrible.