Most airlines have crappy service. They should start figuring out how to solve their terrible service instead of having social media experts that responds tweets of people, that accomplish nothing, the bad publicity is like a snow ball that won’t be stopped by SMEs but by doing something on training people and techniques.Companies most understand that in order to make money they might loose money some times.And not try to make most money out of a situation that will leave clients uncomfortable and with a bad image of their institution,which will spread not only on social media but this will be translated into non virtual life. I always tell people that money won’t be made by one customer but by hard work and selling as many services and products in the long run.
josh:
**This is the story of my dealings with American Airlines yesterday. Their airport staff at LAX proved to be both incompetent and uncaring and I’d like everyone to know it so that if they have similar experiences they will also tell American about it.***
Yesterday, I had to fly back from LAX to NYC with my six-month-old baby Eleanor by myself because Kate needed to stay in LA for an extra day for work.
I was very nervous. Six hours on a plane with a baby by myself. Handling all our luggage and the baby from NYC to LA had been a two-person job. So when Kate dropped me off at the airport, I strapped the baby into the Ergo carrier, threw my huge backpack suitcase on my back, layered my computer bag on top of both of those, grabbed the baby bag with my right hand and our Pack-and-Play travel crib with my left hand and shuffled into the airport. I looked like I had everything I owned and everyone I cared about strapped to my body.
It was 7:15am. The flight was at 8:30am. Plenty of time.
At the self-service check-in, I piled everything in a big pile and checked-in easily. Then I was told to stand in a Bag-Drop Line, so I piled all my bags on my body again and shuffled into that line. It was so long (maybe because AMERICAN DID NOT HAVE FULL STAFF BEHIND THE COUNTER) that airport personnel were directing people to go back outside and use curbside check-in. That was not an option for me because I had a “lap infant” and needed an agent to add that to my boarding pass.
I was in the Bag-Drop Line for more than 20 minutes. Fellow travelers were very kind to me and Eleanor, helping me push my bags down the line, etc. American employees said nothing to us except to remove all tags from previous flights. Finally I reached the end of the line and went to an agent. She looked at my boarding pass and ID. She typed on her keyboard. She asked if I was checking bags - YES! THAT’S WHY I WAS IN THE BAG DROP LINE. She looked at the Pack-and-Play (which looks like this when it’s all folded up - it’s actually smaller and lighter than my suitcase).
AGENT: That’s a baby item.
ME: Yes it is.
AGENT: It’s not a car seat.
ME: No. It’s a Pack-and-Play. I checked it on the way out here. It’s fine.
She walked away and chatted with the agent next to her for a few minutes, pointing at the Pack-and Play. Then she came back, said nothing to me, and typed on her computer some more. Then:
AGENT: Your flight is at 8:30.
ME: Yes.
AGENT: We have to have baggage checked in 45 minutes before your flight.
(I look at my watch. It is now 7:47.)
ME: Okay?
AGENT: I can’t check your baggage because it’s too late now.
ME: I don’t understand. It’s two minutes too late?
AGENT: Yes.
ME: I’ve been standing here with you longer than two minutes. I was in line for 20 minutes.
AGENT: We have to reschedule you on a later flight. They won’t let you fly.
ME: Is there someone I can talk to? I’m traveling alone with an infant. I got here more than an hour before my flight.
AGENT: No. You have to get in the ticket line. They have to issue you a new ticket.
ME: So because you went over and talked to the other agent about my baggage for some reason, I can’t get on my flight?
AGENT: There’s nothing I can do.
ME: This is terrible customer service.
AGENT: It’s not my fault!
She actually said that. “It’s not my fault!” So I piled all the bags on my body for a third time and shuffled to another line where I waited for another 45 MINUTES to see a ticketing agent. Again, fellow travelers were sympathetic and helped me with my bags, helped me give Eleanor a bottle in line since I had timed her feeding to coincide with us being ON THE PLANE and not still in the airport.
Finally I reached the ticketing agent.
AGENT #2: You’re already checked in?
ME: On the 8:30 flight. They wouldn’t let me check my bags because the agent made me miss the cut-off by 2 minutes. Even though I’m traveling alone with a baby.
AGENT #2: Well, I can book you stand-by on the next flight or I can give you a confirmed seat on our 3pm flight. That will cost you 50 dollars.
ME: I have to pay for another seat even though the only reason I missed my flight was because of you?
AGENT #2: Yes. 50 dollars.
ME: I can’t stay in an airport all day with a baby then go on a six-hour flight. I don’t have enough food for that. I’ll try stand-by.
It was now 8:45. The next flight was at 9:30am. If it had been two minutes later, I assume I would have been bumped from that flight as well. And, of course, this agent checked my Pack-and-Play like it was any other piece of luggage. No questions asked.
I got in the security line and the airport personnel - WHO DID NOT WORK FOR AMERICAN - helped me move to the front of the line so I could make the boarding call. Even the guys at the metal detectors - AGAIN, NOT AMERICAN EMPLOYEES - rushed to get Eleanor’s formula checked and made jokes about how I was a “real man” for trying to fly alone with a baby.
So thanks to LAX personnel and TSA agents, I got onto the 9:30am flight standby and made it home - total disaster averted. A potential disaster created solely by American Airlines employees.
I tweeted about this as it was happening and when I landed, @AmericanAir had @replied to me asking me to DM them my info. I sent them the whole story. This morning whoever runs their Twitter account sent me a nice message that said:
Hi Anthony - I compiled your feedback yesterday and immediately sent it to our Customer Relations who has been handling it. As of this morning, I’ve confirmed that they will be contacting you shortly to discuss what happened yesterday. Personally speaking, I’m Dad to a 1 1/2 year old and can definitely understand the rigors of baby travel. Hope this helps!
As of 8pmEDT, no one from American has contacted me.
I’ll update if they do, but I suspect they have a Twitter feed to try to stop people from publicly saying bad things about them and they have no plans at all to actually do anything about their horrendous customer service. I hope I’m wrong.
ONE FINAL NOTE: Eleanor was AMAZING on the plane. She never cried. She smiled and stuck her tongue out at everyone. She somehow figured out how to unbuckle my seatbelt, which we both thought was pretty fun. And because her favorite thing now is to crumple up paper, I let her destroy three different American Way magazines and the 767 safety card.
AmericanAirlines is garbage.
![The need dollar dollar , dollar is what they need.They will get dollar if you share your story with them.
brooklynmutt:
Does Your Favorite Social Network Have Your Back on Privacy?
[E]specially if you are a user of Apple, Comcast, MySpace, Skype and Verizon.
Those are the five companies most likely to throw you under the bus altogether, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
The digital liberties advocacy group has released a privacy report and petition to rally users around the issue of privacy.
Measuring how tech companies respond to government requests for data…
The EFF’s chart, above, awards full stars for companies who are doing a “stellar job,” and half stars for companies who are “moving in the right direction.”
SocialTimes](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljwwynmP691qz80pso1_500.jpg)
