Travel Today - Warning Long!

[CarolA]

I traveled back to my home town from a city that shall remain nameless today. However, while I was wondering thru airports etc.. I started thinking about all the posts I read on this board about how rude the airline, car agent, etc... was. I thought I would comment on what I saw travlers doing today. While I always try to be polite when dealing with the customer service agents (even when I think they are wrong), I may be the 15 th problem they have had and I could not possibly understand what else has happened to them. Just to give you some idea of what they could see, I saw ALL of this today!

1. Rental Car. This airport is rather small and does not do any type of remote car return. I went in to the counter to return my car and the family in front of me was renting a car. They had 4 adults and 4 suitcases that I will refer to as flying coffins plus some carry ons. They had reserved an economy car and when they got the keys to the small car they announced this would NOT do. The agent gave the woman a quote for upgrading to a full size (which she said she wanted). She then YELLED at the agent that in the past she had always gotten upgraded for free because they were out of compact cars and that she wanted a free upgrade this time too! She turned to her family and said she read this trick in some budget travel book. When I left she was still screaming and the rental agents were getting RUDE! (I can't say I blame them, being nice had gotten nowhere!)

2. Skycap. There was a fairly long line for the skycap, it was VERY hot and the 4 people in front of me did not tip. Folks these people depend on tips as part of their pay.


3. Gate agent. A man showed up right after they closed the door to his plane and reamed out the gate agent because she would not reopen the door for him. I guess that he was so imporatant that the 100 other people on his flight should be delayed because his time was more valuable so they could wait on him.

3. The plane! Oh dear! This was not good. The plane was full and people were trying to carry on elephants! There was a large party of senior citizens who were very upset that their luggage had to be checked. There were numeous other older ladies who were upset that no one would help them get their luggage into the overhead. Then when we were finally ready to take off one woman got up when out in the aisle and proceeded to have a discussion with some other passangers. The flight attendants made the little announcement about returning to your seat several times before coming to her directly. She then got irate with them for interrupting her conversation! The flight was not very long and people were upset that they did not get all the service they think they deserved. (FYI, I just checked the full fare one way ticket on this flight is under $100! For $100 you just don't get a lot of service - you get transportation!)

Considering I saw all of this in about an hour, think about what these people see every day. I find it amazing that they are as polite as they are. (I would probably have gone postal by now!)

I realize that this does not excuse rude service, but it is something to think about!

 

[JudithM]

Carol, thanks for sharing your perspective on air travel. You made smoe interesting observations!

 

[idontknow]

I really don't know how to respond to this post, but I thought I would tell you I enjoyed reading it!

This is why I love to people watch. I love to see how rediculouse people can be when they think the world revolves around them.

 

[Kitty 34]

I share your sentiments exactly!! Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[Beverly Lynn]

Carol you just don't knwo the half of what agents put up with! this last Dec I had some guy throw 3 pieces of luggage at me because his flight to LGA got cancelled due to weather. (remember when the east coast shut down with that huge storm?) even amtrak had stopped running for the day. when Imade the announcement that the northeast corridor had shut down so no flights were coming or going this man just threw his bags at me! thankfully I ducked in time and he was hauled out of the airport in handcuffs.

I also could tell you how many times I have been called every name imagineable in a lot of different languages.

I have been threatened and swung at as well as told off in no uncertain terms. there does come a point when you just hit that icing on the cake and instead of saying somethign I would regret I just locked my drawer said not one word turned the computer off and left the counter. I'm sorry but I did not get paid enought to take the amount of abuse I sustained. Some people just don't get it that the agents have no control over the weather. thats mother natures department not the agents. the agents also do not have any control of delays, misconnects(altho if we foresee a problem we are supposed to reroute or rebook you) mechanical problems, late crew, electrical outages, and whatever else could possibly happen. I know how irritating and frustrating it is to be told I understand when in all honesty no I don't. but what else can I possibly say? I will explain the best I can and do what I can to help you but there are times when my hands were tied at what I could offer you or do for you. no matter how many times you try to explain people just don't want to listen. so at that point its best to not say a word.

There is new meaning in the term "Air Rage" these days. and finally its no longer being put up with. people are being arrested on the spot. if they assault an agent or flt attnd they are now being charged and are getting jail time as well as fines and community svc. not to mention being banned from flying certain airlines. some of the car rental agents not only have to deal with their customers being upset about their cr rental they may also be bringing their rage from a flt as well. so thats double jeopardy.

I remember I had this one guy cussiing me out left and right demanding this and that and I just held my ground and he got only what he paid for nothing more. no free upgrades and for using the language that he did on me he got nowhere. the next person after him was as nice as pie and I upgraded them to first class. why? because the saw what I went thru with the previous pasenger, saw that I was the only agent on duty and was getting hit from all sides and dealing with irates one after the other and no one was happy that their flight was delayed due to weather and they said somethign that I wished I could say about the person before them so I said thank you for saying what I can't and how would you like to sit in first class?
Each agent has their own way of dealing with irates and maybe its not hte way you think it should be handled but at times you reach a point where enough is enough and you just don't care. when I hit that point I left. I knew that I wouldn;t be doing any good to thepassengers out there if I snapped back or got ignorant but I also knew that these people didn't need to treat me that way either. so since it came down to me or them walking away I chose to do it before I got in trouble.

One really bad day full of cancelled flights and delays after delay and delta cancelling flights and us getting all of their passengers one super nice passenger went down stairs and came back 5 min later with a rose for me because I was still nice even after being cussed at and called names etc by some of theother passengers that he had witnessed and he thought I needed soemthing to say thanks and keep up the good work. If there were more people like him out there I might have stayed. but those kind are far and few between.


Would I work at the counter again? yes I would but for another carrier that was a true airline not the one I was working for. even tho they called me to come back for 2 mths after I quit. and recently when I went out to the airport to do somethign they asked me again if I would come back.

 

[msdis]

Beverly Lynn,
Sorry to hear that because of the rude, thoughtless, mean people that you have had to deal with you have left your career. That must have been hard for you. I worked many years on the front line of customer service and totally understand what you may have gone thru. I too was lucky to have a customer who witnessed the horrible torture I took from another customer and she chewed him a new you know what. Whenever I witness something that is out of line towards a customer service rep I tell them something reassuring and that they were not at fault. I swear some people live their lives hurting others. Have you ever wondered if they treat the people they are close to the same way. I would bet they do. That thought always makes me feel better because I can direct my own feelings towards feeling sorry for the people who have to put up with them EVERY day!

CarolA,
I hope you at least saw a few nice people. Wow, what is our society becoming?

 

[Beverly Lynn]

I left just the one aspect but not the travel industry. plus I'd rather stay at home with my child until she is of school age but those last few weeks helped me to make that decision. of course I gave up flying for free but its worth it. I will go back in about a yr or so.....I am already on the list for CO here at pittsburgh. and UA but they will lay off after the buyout since they will have too many employees. they are offering early outs now to get rid of some. its a dog eat dog world in the airline industry and I felt like I was wearing milkbone underwear! hahahaha

 

[joe.hurley]

I don't want to diminish the really lousy behavior people often engage in on airplanes, but this is also a two way street. For whatever reason (perhaps other passengers' air rage) I have been treated horrendously on a few occasions by airline personnel though I was nice as punch to them.

My current favorite example:

Two years ago, I flew Providence to Baltimore on Metrojet for my annual eye doctor appointment at Hopkins. I was booked on the last flight of the evening back from Baltimore. Checked in, got on, no problem. My seat is 1D, first row aisle seat. So I get on, and put my little tote bag on the seat to get out a book to read before putting it in the overhead.

Next thing I know, I'm hearing a very angry "ExCUSE me, sir, but you can't stand there. You're blocking the aisle." "I'm sorry, ma'am, I'm just getting some reading material from this bag and then I'll put it in the overhead." "No, sir, not there you're not." "But this is my seat." "Well, I can't have you stand there."

So, I moved to the other side of the aisle, near the outer wall of the galley, and resume what i was trying to do. Less than a minute later, same person, "Sir, you're going to HAVE to MOVE. I can't have you stand there."

So, I went back to stand by my seat. She then said, "Sir, I already told you you CANNOT stand there." I then said, "Miss, I will gladly stand wherever you don't mind, I just want to get a book and my ticket out of this bag before they close the door, so I can have something to read en route. I only have one bag, and will gladly stand anywhere to do this, I don't think this is unreasonable on my part. Every other passenger is doing this in the aisle by their seat. Since I'm in the front row and everyone is using the aisle, I have tried to not block anything, but it appears there is no place that you will find acceptable. So why don't you just name the place you'd like me to stand and I'll do it."

She then said, "Look, that's it. I want you off this plane. If you don't get off, I'll call the police and have you arrested."

Not wanting that, I got off and went to the USAirways special services desk and recounted my tale of woe. Obviously someone there thought I was dealt with overly harshly because they apologized profusely, gave me a travel voucher for the ENTIRE amount of my round trip fare, and then started working on getting me on another flight. Once she did that, she gave me a food voucher to get something to eat.

So, while I agree that there are passengers who often behave atrociously, this is not a one-way street -- there are flight attendants who aren't the nicest people to begin with and aren't that nice to the passengers.

Just wanted to give some perspctive.

Regards,

Joe Hurley

 

[Disneydenise]

For the life of me I swear I will never understand why people treat one and other as they do. Joe I hope that your replacement flight was pleasant. I am sorry for those who work in the service industry but really sometimes patience is a virtue that is just so hard to find. I too have been bumped off flights with family intow and I have been able to get a great flight home and this is the best part alive and well. My husband started to throw a fit once on our way back from vacation and thank God the counter person had the patience of a saint and handled him with kid gloves. I thought I was going to kill him on the spot. The weather is not a reason to get angry with anyone and I think all the ticketing agents deserve a round of applause and a big thankyou from me.

 

[Beverly Lynn]

well to be honest most of us other agents both tkt cntr and gate and res never put ourselves in with flt attendants we always considered them a different section.(they leave a lot to be desired) and I will wholeheartedly agree with you on their attitudes and such. But as I stated before it is a two way street. And I will say that those few wonderful people who come up to the counter and smile at you before they even open their mouths to speak make those nasty ones before them go away. I think that if it starts to get too much for them they either need to take a rest from it or switch positions or change careers. I know for myself when it got to be too bad on a bad weather day or such I would have to go take a 10 min break. because if you don't then you can take it out on the next undeserving passenger.

I was on a CO flight about 13 yrs ago and I had been sitting in bulkhead on my way to los angelos and she spilled her tray of coffee on mmy lap. now I can't even stand the smell of coffee let alone want to be wearing it...and she gave me the dirty look. I said you know what I was sitting here in my window seat reading when you spilled it on me. don't give me your dirty looks just because you let the tray fall. and the coffee was hot too. I had been wearing brand new silk windpants....thankfully they were lined and I didn't get burned from the coffee. 4 cups of it landed on me and 2 landed on the person in the middle seat. she was very ignorant to both of us about her spillage. when we got off the aircraft in houston I dragged this other person with me to their special services counter and we then both told them of the incident and how rude the flt attnd was. they gave me a certificate/letter to get my pants dry cleaned and so did the other person then we also both got a 300 voucher towards our next flight as well as meal vouchers for the houston airport and I also got a voucher to go buy a new pair of pants to wear on my connecting flight(these ones were soaking wet from the coffee and they stunk like coffee). since the pants weren't cleanable and they stayed stained from the coffee co also paid for the cost of those pants. so I will have to say that co customer svc was wonderful for the rudeness of the flt attnd. all that flt attnd needed to do was offer an apology rather than an attitude for her carelessness. and every time I speak to an agent I make sure the first thing I do is write down their name or ask who I am sopeaking to if they do not give a name. and I might even ask for an agent sign as well. and I also make it a point to let the supervisors know of an excellent job as well as terrible customer svc. those that go out of their way or just are super nice also deserve to get it acknowledged as well as those who perform in an unfriendly manner. Both get addressed to the agent once reported and goes on record. in fact I still have all of my accommendations that I received from Piedmont/usair. and I can honestly say in 14 yrs I had not one bad report on me in my file. I still have copies of my reviews as well.