villox

Actually, I should have been clearer. Though I was not at all complaining about the delay, their stated reason for the compensation was as an apology for the mechanical delay itself, not because I complimented their employees.

garykung

Point taken.

BH62

So I'm on a CRJ-200 a couple of days ago & I'm not *that* tall (5'10" w/ shoes) & even so I was almost to the ceiling. So on deplaning I grinned at the FA & remarked something on the order of "Good thing you don't fly charters for basketball teams", and (punch line here), she said, "But we do".

Boogie711

Sadly, it's true. They also use the RJ-145's to do Transcon's for a NASCAR team, for example. They'll pick them up in Charlotte and go non-stop to California. Ugh.

soccerref750

I followed one of those basketball team charters on an RJ-145 the other day, they trashed the plane so bad we had a ~15min departure delay because they had to clean the plane.

Pat89339

I flew on a Embraer 120 from GEG-SEA with half of the UH basketball team a few years ago. Those young men had to bend at the waist to walk down the aisle of the plane. They could only sit one person per 2-seat side because their thigh bones were too long to sit straight in the seat. As soon as we took off they all put their legs in the aisle. I felt so sorry for them. They were a somber group having been beaten badly the night before in an important game, yet were very gracious. One of them carried my bag up the stairs for me.

UAGLOBAL

Ok I've been wanting to post this for a while and now that the dust has settled I think it is a good time. Anyways, I was traveling in BF a few weeks ago Europe-USA on an INTL 757. We were delayed about an hour and waiting to board. GS was called to board and I started walking up through the lane when another customer(lets call him Mr. GS) literally ran in front of me and handed his BP to the GA. I was about to say something until I glanced at his BP and saw that Mr. GS was my seatmate for the next 9 hours..so I kept quiet.

Once onboard, FA came around taking PDB orders and when she got to us Mr. GS had gone to the bathroom. I was quickly served a Diet Coke and besides the little boarding incident which was forgettable, I was ready for a nice flight. The drama began when Mr. GS returned and seeing my drink, wanted to order one for himself (totally fine). Anyways, FA serving drinks had moved on to cabin prep work and Mr. GS tried asking her for Champagne but she seemed busy and did not hear him. Finally on the second try the FA heard him and told him no problem but it would be a minute. No more than 30 seconds later still Champagne-less, Mr. GS bolts up to the front of the cabin to a different FA and loudly explains how he is a GS member, flies 300k miles a year, spends $100K, and that he has been on the plane for 6 minutes without a glass of champagne. I was shocked he would make such a scene for something so small.

Fast forward to the end of the rant, Mr. GS returns to his seat. I was really hoping some FA would deliver this man his champagne, but after another minute or so, it still was not there. Next thing I know, Mr. GS is on the phone with GS reservations and ranting to them about how he has not received a drink and how unacceptable this service is. While he was on the phone, the ISM (who was fantastic) came over and began to apologize to Mr. GS, but Mr. GS wouldn't hear it and forced the ISM to talk to GS reservations and apologize. Anyways, ISM apologized profusely and Mr. GS simply responded "that's ok I'll just let them know when I get back to UA corporate offices."

I of course knew that Mr. GS was lying and not really a UA exec, so I am just shocked at how disrespectful and inconsiderate he was. The weirdest part came next. (BTW he has Champagne at this point) Mr. GS picked up his phone, and began saying things like: "Flight Attendants: three out of ten. ISM: 2 out of 10. Ground crew: 6 out of ten." (Clearly reporting scores) I think to myself wow maybe he is talking to someone at HQ but look over and when he removes his phone from his ear it is off!! I am very iPhone familiar and 100% positive that the phone was either asleep or off and he simply made this fake phone call to try and make me think he is someone important at UA.

I see the FAs talking to the Captain and looking over at Mr. GS clearly discussing what to do with him. I go up to them and explain what I have seen and apologize on behalf of all GS for his behavior. They are all shocked and have never seen anything like this. Captain called HQ and asked if it was ok to kick Mr. GS off the plane, but HQ told him since he is a GS "only if he is a true risk to the safety of other pax and crew" can he be kicked off. Captain took down my name and info and told me that I may receive a call in the next few days to discuss what I saw for their investigation. Long story short, we took off, Mr. GS ordered a full dinner but then intentionally went to sleep right after take off, woke up on approach, and stormed off the plane upon arrival. I received a few calls from HQ the following week and simply recounted what happened...and even received an E-Cert! Overall just a crazy story I wanted to share with you guys to hear your thoughts.

rankourabu

Someone leads a very miserable real life existence if they need to make themselves feel that important on an airplane.

Cuchulainn

Sounds a bit more like Mr. Unhinged would be a better name than Mr. DYKWIA.

Doc Savage

He must have been fairly drunk already. Hope they revoke his GS.

RealFan

Wow, I hope to never run into this guy. As a fellow GS, I would like to apologize to all UA staff who have to deal with a guy like this. Unreal.

MikeFromTokyo

I wish he had been kicked off the plane. What you have recounted sounds like this guy might have issues beyond DWKWIA entitlement. Maybe he was drunk and/or mentally unstable.

Often1

Absolutely too bad he wasn't offloaded.

sinoflyer

Thanks for sharing the story. I actually feel sorry for Mr. Dykwia. Sounds like he had a frustrating trip. It might have been his conscious decision to sleep through the flight instead of creating more stress for the crew.

fjfv19

Some people are just that angry naturally or get angry easily and take it out on the rest of the world. Frustrated or not, this is ridiculously childish, petulant behaviour and it is inappropriate in any public forum. No sympathy here.

OP - well done on handling this appropriately.