AA Has Devil Lady For Check-In At Huntsville, Alabama Airport
Rodrigo writes of American Airlines, "In the last 4 travels between me, my wife and my father-in-law, ALL of them had been pretty bad. But the last one was the worst by far." However, they had lots of miles to cash in, a tight budget, and travel needs, so it was back into the belly of the beast for one more adventure: "First nonsense of the day was when the lady there claimed the maximum was 50 pounds for the luggage. Ok here we go again."
My wife, suspecting this was coming again since the same thing happened last time, waves a document issued by AA stating that international flights such as this one (to and from an overseas city, including the legs inside US) were 70 pounds maximum..."
The AA lady doesn't read it and proceeds to repeat the same garbage over and over. My wife waves the document again and again stating: please read this. Is this not an AA policy? Do you question the validity of this? Why don't you go access the same information. through one ear and out the other.Sometime later the conversation turned into the AA lady stating to my wife, and I quote: "your daughter cannot travel for free.". My wife takes out my daughter's plane ticket, takes out the ticket receipt, and shows her: "oh this is not a receipt". My wife explains: "here is the amount paid + tax + fee = total, it is printed in the same paper as a plane ticket but it is a receipt, AA said this is the receipt, we paid for it, please call the sales agent if your computer somehow doesn't show. AA lady: "this is not a receipt, your daughter is not booked in the flight and she cannot go". My wife: "that is fraud from AA". At this point I lose it, yell at the AA lady and go away to take care of my screaming daughter (she is 1 year old).
And so the conversation goes on and on for 1 hour and 40 minutes. When it was 10 minutes before the plane departure time somehow, mysteriously, everything gets resolved, my wife gets her boarding passes, luggage gets checked in, no explanations given, no apologies, no nothing.
(Thanks to Rodrigo!)
(Photo: Getty)
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Comments:
You should submit this to American Way magazine as well. You might be able to get another free flight (that you can't use) out of it.
Did Rodrigo get this woman's name?
The only thing that surprises me about this story is that you, your luggage, and your daughter all made it onto the plane.
The question is...why are airline people such ass's? They hate it when people complain yet most often they are the very reason. They act stupid and expect people to put up with it.
God I hope when they fly they go through the same crap
@parad0x360: Because they're crapped on by both irate customers (some who may legitimately be irate, but others are not) AND by the company they work for. It seems like the airlines are a textbook case of how NOT to run a company.
Ok I live in AL - not far from Huntsville - close enough that it's an option... and everyone I know and have talked to knows... you DO NOT fly out of/into Huntsville. It's just a given. Sadly they didn't get the memo.
First, if you run into a clueless employee who is making your life difficult, ask to see their supervisor, don't waste more of your energy.
Second, there is something missing in this story. What are you not communicating properly to the agent? why did she say your daughter cannot fly for free? Why are you having to take out a receipt to show that your daughter has a ticket?
More details are needed if this is to make sense, even from the customer's perspective.
Sounds like he and his wife could have handled the situation differently. Maybe not, but I'm guessing waving papers at the lady ain't gonna loosen her up. Anyone who works at an airport is already gonna be on their last nerve during holiday season...
I was surprised during a recent trip that most airlines have dropped the luggage allowance from 70 to 50 pounds. There was also a substantial increase in the cost for extra bags and overweight. Now I will check before each flight.
Perhaps the document your wife was waving was outdated because the AA website shows 50 lbs. as the allowance.
I do not understand exactly what happened with the child's ticket. And surely during an hour and 40 minutes the agent must have said something to try to resolve the issues - like charge for the excess luggage - not just stand there in silence while the customer talks for almost two hours. We are missing pieces to show us that the customer was acting reasonably and the agent unreasonably.
The first thing she did wrong (or one of them) was staring to throw around legal terms that she and the agent don't know the real definition of. Employees automatically go on high alert when someone starts to threaten (or in this case imply) legal action.
Rule #1: DON'T SHOUT
Rule #2: Make sure you're talking about the same thing.
Rule #3: If you don't make headway, escalate.
Isn't this the same airlines that tried to get all their hourly workers to take a 1/3 pay cut and have all the executives keep their golden parachutes. After that, I made a decision never to fly AA.
My girlfriend was getting hassled by a Continental agent for a frequent flier ticket I gave her, however the agent finally allowed her to travel on the confirmed ticket. Agents are people and therefore can be assholes when they have a bad day.
This idea of escalate is quite funny. Unless you are at a major airport, most likely there is no one on site to escalate to. Most of the airlines flying out of my local airport work the check in counter before the flight, then disappear to work the boarding gate. I am happy most days when I go that there is someone working checkin.
Repeat after me: "I want to speak to a manager."
AA has had morale problems since the late 80's. Numerous strikes, employee and management antagonism, corporate culture, etc. The times I had to fly them in the 90's I always had a bad experience. Surly flight attendants, and delayed or damaged luggage.
@kepler11:
I agree, I've run into some pretty dense and obstinate airline employees in my time, but there's something missing here.
The OP was clearly travelling to Brazil (only country where AA allows 70lb suitcases), and the AA agent may well have not been familiar with that exception to the 50lb rule (probably not a lot of people travelling Huntsville-Dallas?-Brazil). No excuse for being rude, but still...
The "waves a document" brings to mind an image of someone immediately irate, rather than someone trying to resolve a problem.
Yelling never solves anything, and losing it at the AA agent only makes life more difficult.
Most of these smaller airports either don't have a manager or the buttheaded employee will claim they can't get you a manager for whatever reason.
It is not just the Airlines that have people that really have some issues far beyond someone just having a bad day. For years our local gas utility had a small local office and one woman in charge of billing issues for the entire town. This woman was awful, you could ask anyone in town and they would recount some awful stupid pointless fight with this woman. After they consolidated into a main out of state customer service center this woman moved to one of the two cable providers and was the supervisor for the billing department. Same nightmare.
There was one guy who worked at the main DMV office who had the same kind of reputation, people rejoiced when he was finally removed.
On a smaller scale of all places they have a woman with these same issues at Lowes. She's rude, unhelpful and can't operate a cash register. She has refused to accept credit cards because she could figure out how to run that part of the register, refused to accept coupons because she can't figure out how to run them. Gawd, don't ask her where anything is. Thankfully they have self serve registers.
The UPS depot has a guy like this too. I had a co-worker call me for help on his cell phone, this guy was screaming at him because he didn't think the export form was filled out correctly. The same guy started yelling at me in front of a room full of customers because he didn't think boxes were packed properly (same as always). I have seen other people get the same treatment. We finally switched shipping carriers because nobody wanted to go to the depot and have to deal with this guy.
I guess management really doesn't give a damn as long as enough people keep giving them business.
Just so you know, the AA "employees" in Huntsville don't work for AA at all. They're contracted by the airline, so don't expect much from them in the way of AA knowhow. It sounds like you and your wife were being a little asshole-ish anyway. I've seen people like you in my travels...and I try to steer clear.
This is exactly why I now fly on Hertz airlines at a maximum altitude of 3 feet above the ground. It may be slower but my luggage can be as heavy as it wants and I don't have to deal with her.
And in the words of Dennis Miller: "And exactly when did stewardesses in this country get so f_cking cranky? I know it's a tough job -- there's got to be a thousand different ways to tie that neckerchief, but why piss on me, huh?"
Around the holidays, the airlines quietly lower the baggage limits simply because there are more people who tend to bring more items (and more weight) than your 2 day tip business traveler.
As for rude employees, yeah that's a given since they are being crapped on by customers who feel entitled and their corporate masters who only think about the bottom line. Result - bad customer service for everyone!
The hassle/expense of air travel has made it so that it is easier for me to drive the 700 miles to visit my sweetie than to book a flight. The drive is 12 hours, give or take, and once you factor in the lines and the hour or so early you are asked to arrive at the airport, which is an hour and a half drive from my house, the difference in time between driving and flying is negligible. And even with $3 per gallon gas, it costs about half as much to drive.
Man, I am SO over air travel. First you have your choice of being treated like cattle (Southwest), or peasants (Delta) or criminals (Continental).
Next, you are subject to the whims, arbitrary rules, and mood of what's basically a glorified security guard (TSA).
Then, after you've run the gauntlet of disgruntled, and incompetent workers, you may get your flight cancelled, delayed or sit on the tarmac indefinitely.
If you are lucky enough to arrive at your intended destination, you might find that some scumbag helped himself to your valuables.
No wonder the airlines can't make any money. Who in their right mind would want to pay to be treated like dirt.
Any employee that works behind a counter magically transforms into thinking they work for a Government Agency which said employee knows it is almost impossible for them to get fired.
Since when do international flights fly out of Huntsvile? I ran into this a while back, I was charged for carrying extra weight because while my final flight was international, the flight from Baltimore to NY was not.
It was not mentioned specifically in the story, but I have a question:
Would the baggage weight limits be tied to
A)The posted policy at the time of ticket purchase
B)The posted policy at the time of boarding
Do the airlines typically have the "we can change our rules and not tell you because we damn well please" clause in the ticket language?
loueloui:
I agree. I've been flying internationally a minimum of 4 times a year since I was about 6 (I'm 21 now) and it's hell. I grew up loving planes, and now I'm dreading my flight to London in just over a week, because I know I'll have to fight every step of the way - to check my bags, to ensure they transfer, to get a bus ticket to move from Heathrow to Gatwick, to get anything but rude ignorance on the plane, to check my international sized bags onto a domestic flight once I arrive (explain to me exactly how they're supposed to magically shrink if I just came off an international flight?), and to get ass-raped by US customs on my return, who seem to have some kind of vendetta against me, a middle-class, twenty-something, white girl.
Joy!
You know, after re-reading this a few times, I've come to the conclusion that it was a SLOW day at The Consumerist. This is a typical axe-grinder looking to get a little attention on the Intertubes, not a person with a legitimate customer service complaint. So much is missing from this story, I can't believe the editors chose to run it. AA service in Huntsville can be lacking at times, but I've never had any problems. This guy's wife was looking for a fight and got one. Glad I don't have to live with her.
I checked the AA web site and it appears to state that at least now you can only take 50lb internationally unless you are going to Brazil:
AA service in Huntsville can be lacking at times, but I've never had any problems.
@douglaslive: Because as we all know nothing that's never happened to you could have possibly happened to anyone else on the planet.
It shouldn't take almost two hours to resolve which weight limit is correct and whether a ticket was paid for.
@Rectilinear Propagation: I fly out of/into Huntsville every two weeks and have done so for two years now. I think I actually *know* the agent "Rodrigo" is complaining about! My positive experiences may not be typical, but then again, I'm not the pushy type who thinks the world owes me something.
@Citizen14x: AA also happens to be the only US major airline (the big 6) to at least partially solve its problems through negotiation and not take the easy way out (bankruptcy), which has cut pensions by more than 50% for United and others. As a tax payer, you're paying for those other airlines' fractional pensions by the way.
Not saying what the execs did / do is right, but there's a lot more to the story than this. If you base your airline choice solely on this fact, I hope you don't fly United, Northwest, US Air, Delta, or Continental (double bankruptcy) either. The bottom line is that the airline industry is simply not profitable with the current fuel prices and number of (government subsidized) players. Something will have to give.
I live in Huntsville as well, and have traveled out of HSV fairly regularly. I'm with Douglaslive, I think I know who the original tipster is talking about. And also, I've had nothing but great experiences with HSV as a whole. As a small airport in a fairly small town, it affords you the luxury of leaving your house (or hotel) an hour before your flight leaves and still making it.
It sounds like Rodrigo's wife acted like a bitch to me. Maybe its just the way he wrote it, but if someone did what he described to me while I was at work, I'd call security and have them escorted from the building.
I would like to point out that I am generally regarded as one of the nicest people in my company. I don't even growl at people when I get phone calls at 3 AM, but it just sounds like that woman was a huge bitch.
I haven't had any trouble with AA counter people - they've always been really nice at RDU and BOS. The only problem I've had with them is that on my last flight I left my camera on board. I know exactly where it was (front seat pocket) and I called them literally 3 hours later when I realized it was missing. Essentially, UNLESS the cleaning crew actually cleans the plane and finds it (this never happens; I find trash in those pockets all the time) and turns it in AT THAT AIRPORT, you'll never see it again. Of course, it was never turned in (it was probably found in chicago or laguardia or wherever that plane ended up at the end of the night). And so, camera gone.
@BlinkyGuy: 50lbs applies for economy class; 70lbs is for any other ticket - business, first class; travelers with lots of frequent flyer miles. At least that's Continental's policy, which I use on my travels to Europe.
@djxspike: Yeah, I live in Madison (the city in which the Huntsville Airport is located) and have flown out/in once. I had no problems (except weather)....
but then... I was flying delta. And back then they still served meals and allowed liquids.
Sounds like my experience with spirit airlines.
"I'm sorry we delayed your first flight so long that you missed your connection. THere's an 8:00 flight, but we won't give you a seat, or let you even try to standbye for 30 minutues before boarding. Ohh, that won't be enough time to check your bags and get through security? Sucks to be you. I guess you'll have to come back monday morning because of our fail."
Then magically, someone who wasn't a dumbass finally got us booked got us on the flight. Some times it takes 3 managers and an hour at the counter.
Well having to be fingerprinted for all 10 fingers for our out of country visitors will greatly BOOST all the airlines incomes and they'll be rushing to use that newly found income stream to instantly improve every......oh I woke up. Well might as well go pee...........
I live in HSV and have flow in and out of the airport many times - I think I know the agent that the OP is talking about, since she was giving the person in front of me the 3rd degree about his bag. I think he was flying to Singapore with something like 65lbs in his bag.
Her comment was "go over there (pointing to the phones against the wall), remove some things from your luggage, and carry them on."
Crazy!
Luckily, my bag (domestic flight) was well below the annoying threshold.
Freedom isn't free.
The terrorists have won.
lets all start taking the greyhound. surely you'll forget how bad flying is after that. you'll be glad to be treated like dirt by the airlines after that.
I think I would rather drive then fly, when you consider the possibility of 7-8 hours on the tarmac without going anywhere with no food or water or air conditioning or heat, your bound to be able to get wherever you are going faster if you drive. Plus you can pack your own food and bring whatever you can fit in the car with you, and your luggage won't get lost unless you lose it yourself.
I'm surprised the AA bitch didn't threaten to call the police. This would be typical of how they like to throw their weight around. One time, one of those bitches started yelling at me for no reason, and the guy behind me called the police on HER. Her supervisor took her off the line. Who do these people think they are.