Forget about those dowdy old-school Olympics. What we need is an international competition to see which airline can suck the most, since everyone is getting so good at it. In the category of Random Rudeness, this AirTran agent and her equally hostile supervisor would have a good shot at the gold—especially since they aimed their hostility at a honeymooning couple.
Completely unrelated to delays, bumpings or overbooking, we had a shockingly traumatic customer service experience with Airtran coming back from our honeymoon yesterday morning that I wanted to share with you.
We were checking three bags at Boston’s Logan airport and the woman checking us in said one of our bags was oversized and would incur a $29 oversize bag fee. We were surprised, since we weren’t charged a fee for an oversized bag on the first leg of our trip. When we asked her about this, she acted really put out and annoyed and got her supervisor. Her supervisor came over, even more annoyed, and said “If you don’t watch it, I’ll charge you for that first leg, too.” (From a conversation with a customer service person 20 minutes later on the phone, we learned that this is absolutely not authorized under Airtran policy…I’m not sure where that “retroactive extra fee” would have gone).
We protested, and asked for her name and title. She refused to give us her last name and walked away. We asked the woman checking us in for her name–she too refused, and tucked her name badge inside her sweater so we couldn’t see it. Fortunately I had already looked and wrote it down. Deciding that our conversation was over, she yelled out “Next!” We didn’t leave, and asked again for her name and title because we wanted to complain about her hostility and her threat to charge us retroactively for something that obviously wasn’t our fault.
Her response? She yelled “Get the hell out of my god damn face!” in front of about 100 people waiting in line, including many families with small children. We were absolutely shocked, and when I asked her “Did you really just say that to me?” she screamed it again, making threatening gestures and frightening both us and the people around us. Her supervisor watched from about 20 feet away, doing nothing.
When we approached her supervisor to complain, the supervisor’s response was “She didn’t say that”, and her tone insinuated that we had made it up. She added, “There aren’t any witnesses.” When we pointed to several people who could attest to the fact that a) her employee had indeed exploded in the unprovoked, threatening manner described above, and that b) there were dozens of witnesses, the supervisor responded to the effect of “Don’t worry about it. Go to your flight and I’ll handle it.” Her tone was casual, dismissive and condescending, and I’m fairly certain that no disciplinary action was taken since she had essentially watched the episode unfold before her eyes without doing or saying anything.
I’d like to note, too, that when asked again, this supervisor refused to give us her full name.
We had a plane to catch so all we could do was file a formal complaint on the phone and demand our money back for being subjected to such an emotionally traumatizing experience without cause or provocation. They said the best they could offer us was a $25 travel voucher, since “the airline doesn’t compensate for rudeness.” When we explained that this incident transcended rudeness to include being physically threatened and lied to about corporate policy, they didn’t budge.
Any ideas for what we should do next? As you can imagine, we’re furious and want some kind of appropriate resolution–no company should be permitted to treat paying customers like that without repercussions, and we feel like Airtran knows it can get away with this without any consequences.
Sincerely,
Jon
Jon, your best solution is to buy your own airplane. Ha ha, but seriously, we hope you didn’t accept that voucher just yet. Check out this soldier’s story of how he persisted with his demands until they were finally met—it may give you some idea of how to proceed. Check out our “Fighting Back” post for other tips.
However, if AirTran really doesn’t compensate for rude treatment, then the voucher may be all you’ll be able to get—in which case we suggest you cross AirTran off your list of desired carriers.
(Photo: Getty)
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What a fantastic start to a marriage. Usually it takes a few months before a husband is subjected to such terrible verbal abuse.
Yeah, that’s pretty bad even for a crappy airline. I dunno about “emotionally traumatizing” though.
@esd2020: I’m sure some the “small children” were traumatized from that exchange…
@esd2020: Seconded. Unprofessional but the world keeps turning.
Too bad anti-terrorism security policies can’t be applied to airline workers like this.
Rude airline agents? In Boston? I’m shocked, just shocked…
Remember that Airtran is a budget airline so customer service isn’t why you fly them. If you want good customer service, go with Southwest.
My personal reaction to a person screaming that at me would have been to comment on what a horribly depressing life that person must be leading. Pathetic.
Wow, this is really surprising. I fly Airtran exclusively because they are the one airline I’ve NEVER had a problem with. Never any lost luggage, no bad treatment or customer service, no problems at all. The only semi-weird thing I get is when I go to check-in using the AirTran Elite line, the agents always question me. I guess they don’t think young people can fly enough to be Elite members *shrugs*
@seamustry: Why would that have traumatized a small child? The kids don’t have ears that can hear worse language than that on the street? And why is rudeness traumatizing?
Threat of physical violence in an airport? Doesn’t that deserve some attention from the TSA or another agency? I would be tempted to report it, don’t the agents always threaten that when they view a customer as ‘threatening’?
Emotionally traumatizing? Pretty thin skin if that’s an emotionally traumatizing experience.
But honestly – the airline agents probably knew they were in trouble when they asked their name. I hate it when people do that – refuse to give their names.
I remember one time working in retail, I had a customer that was pissed off at me (rebate hell). Long story short, I saw him trying to write my name from my name tag. I took out a piece of paper, and wrote my name in BIG letters. Told him this is my name if you want to complain. “I’ll get you fired,” he said. Funny – never heard about that situation again.
WTF- do we have to have personal recorders for every business transaction now???
This would have made great audio…
Next time someone rude refuses to give you their name, take out your phone and snap their picture. Or better yet video them. Say its the only way you can make sure your complaint doesnt effect the wrong people. Oh and a little hint: Should security or anyone ever make you “delete” a photo from your memory card, go right ahead. Then go home, dont take any new pics in the meantime, dowload PC INSPECTOR for free, and get it right back.
“Jon, your best solution is to buy your own airplane. Ha ha, but seriously,” -LOL!
If I crossed off every service provider that pissed me off, I would be living in a shack buring wood for energy and growing my own crops.
Times are TOUGH and everyone needs to relax. If all the customers could tone it down a bit, then the underpaid, job threatened people behind the counter would relax as well. God knows how much shit the airline customer people get on a daily basis because of the moronic commandments which rain down from above in the form of random daily fee changes.
@bigvicproton: You really shouldn’t try to photograph or videotape anything connected to airport security. Unlike most bogus anti-photography rules it actually is a crime.
@sketchy: But there wasn’t really a threat of violence. And pretending someone is a security threat just because you don’t like them is a crappy thing to do no matter who is doing it.
When I was in High School, my parents cleared me to punch-out a bully if said bully kept up the bullying. How long are we going to take crap like this from “service” employees in a position of power? I would have gladly thrown my bag at her, paid the fine, spent the time in jail, just to show her that some of us do not take it.
Since most calls we make to companies are ‘recorded for training purposes only’ I truly don’t see why we shouldn’t do the same to them. Have a personal recorder that we wear, and that records (in a loop) the last hour of any conversation. If something like this happens, you have the evidence to screw them right back. Call the device “ouitnes” ™.
Come on gadgeteers – get hacking! Make it so.
My rules on having a problem free flight…
Do NOT expect good customer service
Expect to pay much more then you expected
Bring your own food
Never make eye contact with airline/TSA employees
Bring reading material (books, magazines, newspapers) you will be delayed
Bring a change of clothing in your carry on baggage they will lose you baggage (in fact if at all possible ship you luggage to your destination)
Never ask for anything “extra” (blankets, pillows, food, and again good customer service)
Keep conversations with all airline employees to a minimum if at all
Expect whatever the airline employee is telling is wrong or a complete lie
Good Luck!
So weird. People say the OP should expect the treatment he got and should have used another airline, should get thicker skin, and should be more patient with the overworked employees. Not much sympathy from a blog called Consumerist! Do we not agree that when we pay for service we have a right to expect service?
An agent that says “Get the hell out of my god damn face!” might be better off not working directly with the public. If I was the supervisor I would have fired them on the spot. But obviously the AirTran supervisor had lost the passion for their job a long time ago.
@bigvicproton:
you don’t even have to delete it. just refuse. I agree. Pictures are worth 100x more than you word. I take photos everywhere. Even if you DON’T plan to act on it, just the act of taking a photo makes people think about their actions and behavior…
@esd2020:
Someone yelling at you who is working at a ticket desk is not security. You will not go to jail. You are doing everyone a favor by recording this and complaining about it. And if some goon comes over and tells you its illegal, which it isnt, you can do the “oh I’m so sorry” routine and delete it, making said goon happy. But its not deleted. And maybe Youtube…
First, the ticketing agent was way out of line and the supervisor was actually worse. If front line employees get carte blanche from their supervisors in dealing with customers incidents like this should not be shocking.
However, the OP needs to get their expectation for compensation in line with reality. A full refund is not appropriate and very unlikely to be given. They took the flight, both there and back. They were obviously not emotionally traumatized enough to keep from flying. Since the amount in question was $29, I’d expect that and a little more as comp. Let’s say a $50 dollar credit back to them. I would resist the voucher as I don’t think that I’d be using that particular airline. I don’t think this is unreasonable and I think the airline would go a good way to remedying the situation. A large part of getting what you want is wanting something that is realistic. Asking for the moon and stars weakens the argument to the point that you just end up getting blown off.
On a similar point, I wish there was a check in line for people that realize we bend over when we decide to fly. I just want to follow the rules, keep my hands inside the care and get on the damn plane. Standing for 15 minutes behind the guy that insists a live chicken is an approved carry on item, or the family that insists their clearly 4 year old child is 2 and doesn’t need a ticket gets my blood boiling. This is not a joke suggestion, they should have a separate line of “negotiator ninja” style reps that deal with the 10% of cases that aren’t straight down the pipe kind of situations. It would probably improve efficiency and outcomes. I mean your ninja would have told the OP something along the lines of “I apologize for the inconvenience, but an error was made on your earlier leg. I can’t make the same error here just because one of my co-workers elsewhere made it.” rather than threaten to retro charge them.
@VeryPlainJane: “My rules on having a problem free flight…
Do NOT expect good customer service
Expect to pay much more then you expected
Bring your own food
Never make eye contact with airline/TSA employees
Never ask for anything “extra”
Keep conversations with all airline employees to a minimum Expect whatever the airline employee is telling is wrong or a complete lie”
Gee, you forgot:
Bend over
spread your cheeks
Roll over
play dead
Submit
OBEY
Leave dignity and principles at home
AirTran is Valuejet with a new paint job. There are over 100 people still buried in the everglades because of the corporate attitude.
The treatment you received is unacceptable, absolutely.
But the one thing in your story that bothers me is that it’s “not your fault” that the bag is oversized. Unless you’re trying to blame the airlines for how they defined oversized, or someone else packed it – it is. Of course you didn’t *know* it was oversized and I sympathize with that, since it’s what sparked this whole situation, but if it isn’t your fault, who’s is it?
@alejo699: Service, yes… but to debate whether this was ‘emotionally traumatizing’ is a realistic argument here. I’m not clear on what a ‘threatening gesture’ is…. the finger, or a slitting across the throat gesture?
And, I know I’m gonna catch it for this, but management of these airlines hangs the front line agents out to dry, until frustration is bound to boil over and this happens. As rude as the CSR was, and there should be consequences, we might wanna include management in our list of gripes for putting CSRs in the position of having to collect these bullshit fees. Anytime you put people in charge of enforcing crappy policy, this type of confrontation is nothing but inevitable.
@VeryPlainJane: This is why I am very happy about the choices of airline I have flying over the Pacific. Would this behavior be acceptable for Singapore Airlines? JAL? Asiana? NO! In those companies, a person like this wouldn’t even have made it past training. I can only hope that someday, the US just says “screw it” to the American airline industry and opens up to foreign competition.
Late to the party here, but I’ve only ever flown AirTran. Great prices, great service. The staff has always been polite me.
Of course I’ve only flown into Tampa, Baltimore, and Atlanta.
Not excusing the behavior of the employees but maybe the bag was actually oversize. I know that when I go on a trip I usually come home with more crap then I left with, and since they had three checked bags maybe they packed a little differently going home and one bag ended up heavier. Just a thought…
Jimmydeweasel beat me to it…
sounds like typical for the airline FKA Valujet…they never did recover after their plane made an unscheduled stop in the Everglades…
I can honestly say that no matter what the OP did the employee under no circumstances should have cursed them. That should be a termination on the spot.
Its a line that once crossed can and will lead to retaliation. It has no place in any business. Honestly if it had been me the first time I would have stated watch your tone. The second time she would have been in police custody.
Sorry its verbal assualt and my phone records at the press of one button.
@lightaugust:
Agreed. I don’t think that I would describe an experience like that so dramatically either. And as far as the rest of your comment — isn’t that sort of the state of the service industry overall these days, where the airlines are just the most heinous example. Isn’t it the American way to pay your service people an absolute pittance and then expect them to stand up for a completely crappy product? It’s always about the penny they can save today as opposed to the dime they could make by keeping a customer.
@Ass_Cobra: Just make sure you don’t say you’ll never use the airline again when trying to get compensation.
What motivation will they have to help a customer they will never get money from again?
@FrankenPC: Sheeple. That’s a perfect response. Just look at the floor, and shuffle off. After all, it’s our fault that these people have to do their damn jobs.
Welcome to Boston. You’d get the same treatment at a convenience store. I find it unacceptable and it’s one of the reasons I’m seriously considering moving away. Rudeness is a given. Kindness is the exception.
My girlfriend and I had terrible experience with AirTran when we were in Boston just last month. We were vacationing with family in Cape Cod for the weekend.
On our return flight, we were scheduled to leave Boston Logan at @5:30 for Milwaukee, then had a 28 minute layover before heading back to San Francisco.
Because our layover was so short, we checked with the ticket agent several times to make sure that the flight would be on time (we got to the gate hours early because our schedules didn’t quite line up. They kept telling us that they assumed they were on schedule, but had “no way” to determine the incoming flight’s location or ETA, as if planes didn’t have radios and pilots, and airlines simply let people fly their $10-50M planes wherever they please on their own schedule. Right.
Anyrate, 5:00 rolls around, and there’s no plane. 5:30 rolls around, and there’s no plane. We get in line at the ticket counter, because we KNOW that we’ve already missed our return flight. At about 5:45, they announce that the plane was rerouted due to “weather”, and that everyone would miss their connectors to either SF or LA by about 1 hour (this, by the way, was just about everyone at the gate).
What was really silly is that the connecting flights from Milwaukee were going to go to their respective locations with 1/2 or less of their passengers, because they wouldn’t hold the flight for the delayed passengers (I guess two wrongs don’t make a right.).
Further, the airline would do NOTHING to help anyone get home, other than rebook people for a flight that left 8PM Wednesday (it was a Sunday). No meals, no hotels, no re-booking on another airline. They made it pretty clear that standby on any other flights before that basically wouldn’t work.
Just when the gate was turning into chaos with sobbing moms and screaming business passengers, we ran away, and bought tickets on Jet Blue. It set us back another $400 on top of the refunded tickets, plus a $45 cab fare because it flew into a neighboring airport instead of SF, but we went to sleep in our own bed that night. Ok, we got home around 12:45AM on Monday, but still. Lesson learned: NEVER FLY AIRTRAN.
@MeSoHornsby: Please tell me you’re still single.
It sounds like AirTrain encourages rudeness.
Am I too empathic? I get SOOOO angry when I read about stuff like this. ARGGG! I want to give this AirTran employee shaken baby syndrome!
Although the employees were really sucky, I have never worked for a company that required employees to give their last names to customers.
We could give them VOLUNTARILY but could decline if necessary (which I often did because my last name was so uncommon).
However, each one of those jobs also provided me with a unique employee ID number so all you would need is my first name and ID number to identify me to the company.
I should also add, since you know the counter location, the agent’s name and the time she was working, you probably have enough info for someone at the company to figure out who she was.
This sounds awful…I do hope they were reimbursed for this and that further action was taken. HOWEVER (and this isn’t an attempt to blame the victim), it really makes my skin crawl when Jon says, above, that he was emotionally traumatized. How amazing has your life been that an airline employee being rude to you seriously emotionally harms you?
@esd2020: …she screamed it again, making threatening gestures and frightening both us and the people around us…
In Massachusetts…”Assault is attempt to batter, or a threat which places the victim in reasonable fear of bodily harm.”
Fail East Side. Even if the TSA doesn’t have jurisdiction threatening behavior is still a crime and should be investigated by the local constabulary.
@totoro: I’m with you – I’ve actually been watching for a home phone add-on recording device which automatically announces that “…this call is being recorded…”, or such when phone is picked up, then proceeds to do a voice actuated recording of the conversation. I’m a buyer waiting for a product on this one.
File an FAA complaint. That’s the only way you’ll get an airline’s attention. I had to file one against ASA last week; they were blatantly manufacturing “maintenance” excuses to push passengers from three not-full flights onto a single aircraft that left much later in the day. Gate agents weren’t quite as rude as in the OP’s experience, but they still had the patented Atlantic Southeast “You can make your flight or drop dead, it’s all the same to us” attitude.
uhmn… maybe she needed to get out of her face? lol
i’d just really like to hear the other persons side of the story.. if it isn’t snarls curses and spittle.
Oh you people…didn’t you pass English? The subtle clews are there. A supervisor standing up to your Entitledness. A clerk telling you off. And how dast she have a “tone”.
Yep, you’ve been trolled.
Gracious me! If you are not literate, maybe you’ve procreated and have dealt with the little darlings. How they leave the incriminating stuff out. This reads very much like an eight-year old describing the altercation with their sibling.
I know this might sound weird (for this site at least), but I have never had a bad experience with customer service when I fly. Most of the time, I find that people are nice–and willing to do me favors even!–if I am pleasant and (maybe this is the key) reluctant to anger. I always say “thanks,” for instance, even if the desk agent or whomever is just doing what he’s paid to do.
The experience above sounds pretty bad, but maybe there was a way the couple didn’t see to defuse the situation–with some humor or small-talk–that would have resulted in them a) getting what they wanted and b) not having to escalate things to the “Can I have your name?” level. Because let’s face it, that’s unpleasant for everyone.
@totoro: [www.olympusamerica.com] FTW