cerralee

Yesterday afternoon my husband and I drove our daughter and grandson to the small regional airport in our area. There was quite a bit of heavy traffic/road construction in the area. It is well known and we allowed more than what we thought was ample time to arrive at the airport. It was really bad so I checked the planes flight status on my phone to see if it had been delayed or was still scheduled to be ontime. While on the site I noticed that the plane had a wait list with three names on it. A little later I checked again on flight status and saw that the three names was down to one. For some reason I took a screen shot of the two status screens, and as their was still plenty of time we continued on to the airport.
Upon arriving at the airport the booking desk was empty except for the two ticket agents. Daughter and grandson went to check in and the agent kept chatting and talking small talk to my daughter instead of going ahead and checking her in. First she suggested that my daughter try the kiosk-the agent messed around with that for a while with no luck and sometime in the process tried the computer at her station. After a while she said the computer was down and it was now to late to obtain a bording pass and proceeded to rebook her out the next day. She said my daughter was now under the 30 minute time allotment and that was all she could do. The other agent was just in shock. She had been at the counter in plenty of time to get checked in and the agent dilly dallied around and did not check her in. The terminal is tiny, tiny, tiny. It might on a bad day take five minutes to get through security. She called us up and we circled back to pick her up.
I looked back at the screen shots I had previously taken and realized that the agent had given her tickets away to standby passengers well before the alloted time frame. She had had plenty of time to check in, go through security and get to the gate. If the agent had done her job, she would have been in the waiting area 25 to thirty minutes before departure.
I really did not find out what happened till after we had circled back to pick her up. I pulled up the flight info and the standbys were still listed as getting seats on the screenshot. She did not know I was checking the plane status as we were driving as she says I go overboard with that type of stuff. When I showed her the evidence and said I noticed when they put the standbys on the planes roster before we could even get to the airport she decided to file a complaint. Her complaint has been filed. What if any compensation should she ask for? The agent quite possibly gave the seats away early and didn't want to rectify the situation so she kept having 'issues" with the computer until it was 30 minutes before scheduled departure. It just doesn't seem right to me. What else is there to be done if anything?

aztimm

What time was the scheduled departure?
What time did your daughter arrive at the counter?
Were there no other later flights to the destination yesterday?

I'm assuming this was at AVP?

GNRMatt

In addition to aztimm's questions, what reasoning has made you conclude it was your two seats that were given away to the standby passengers? There could've been other seats given to them for many different reasons.

cerralee

Scheduled departure was 4:00 pm
arrived at counter at 3:20-3:25 no one else at counter except another agent and no other customers checking in
Yes it was AVP

No other flights to PHL that night

Often1

If she can prove that she was at the counter no later than T-30 and had a confirmed seat, she would be entitled to involuntary denied boarding compensation depending on the size of the aircraft.

As fair warning to others, even if you don't have access to a printer, make sure that you always check in online. The only deadline is then T-15 at the gate.

MSPeconomist

Did the third person from the standby list get onto the flight or not? If so, approximately when was that person cleared onto the flight?

Maybe there were a number of empty seats (did you check the seat map near departure time?) and a GA simply cleared the two standbys early. OTOH, if the third standby was not put onto the flight, that would seem to be evidence that your seats were the last two and indeed were given to the standbys--who might not have been employees or friends and family.

MSPeconomist

Don't forget the deadline for checked bags.

Also, some airports can have other deadlines, such as the "conformance" check near security in some LHR terminals. With the US/AA merger, such primarily BA policies might start to affect US flights from airports where BA does the ground handling for AA.

cerralee

On the check flight status site where you can see if the plane is delayed, on time etc., there is a spot where you can see the total number of passengers checked in and the names that are on waitlist. the total capacity count was 35 with 32 passengers checked in and two on waitlist, which included the names of the waitlisted passengers. The second time I checked the site the passengers on waitlisted had been moved to the checked in status which only left one seat available on the plane. Their names (or at least the first three letters of the last names) were visable. The airline listed the waitlist passengers (2) of them as confirmed which I could see on my phone long before we made it to the airport. There was still time before the 30 minute checkin deadline when check was no longer an option.

SS255

I made the exact same assumption when I read the OP's post.

SS255

This only works if you don't have to check luggage. At AVP you also run the risk of the counters getting rolled up at T-30, so the check-in agents can work the ramp/gate.

I can't recall if US's operation at AVP works this way, but I found out the hard way once when flying UA: Construction on 81 turned a 20-minute drive into a 45-minute drive, and even though I checked in at T-24:00, I had a 26" suitcase.

The flip side is that the TSA agents at AVP are pretty nice overall, and they told me that I was welcome to take my suitcase through security and see if UA would check it plane-side. (They did.)

Back to the OP's tale: It absolutely sounds shady to me, and I would definitely send in a complaint along with the screen shot.

cerralee

There were no bags, everything was carry on, she had a duffle bag, a four year old with a backpack and a booster seat that could go with her or be checked. She said she physically watched the clock ticking down and the agent in my daughters words-dilly dallying to waste time. It is a very short distance between the ticket counter and security, then the gates. It is a very small terminal. I informed her to request compensation as if she had been bumped as that is what in my opinion happened.

Dave Noble

Is it known that the flight was full and that there is a causal relationship being alleged of standard of "cats are animals, dogs are animals so therefore cats are dogs"

Is it not possible that the standby list may have been cleared since the flight was lightly loaded , so no problem letting them on rather than relying on denying these passengers from checking in

aztimm

Given the location in the OP's profile, AVP makes the most sense


That said, I've flown through AVP many times over the years. I grew up in that area and regularly travel back to visit family. I recognize many of the same agents, and many recognize/remember me too. Perhaps it helps to have some status (heck back when the HP-US merger was going on they went out of their way to help me)!
I can't imagine any of the staff there acting maliciously, but perhaps things have recently changed or there's someone new.

I can't imagine it taking more than 10 min to get from the check-in counter to the gate, and that is walking slowly (I think there's perhaps 8 gates total). This is one reason I prefer to fly there, rather than deal with PHL (well plus price is usually similar, and as a preferred I get the 500 miles for AVP-PHL )

As for getting to AVP... The I-81 has been a trainwreck for several years now. I usually just take PA 315 up from Wilkes-Barre, or perhaps from DuPont. If I have a rental car, this works well as there's a truck stop with cheap gas just across 81 from the airport.
For my next trip back I'm using ABE, so will have different drama to deal with


Back to the OP:
I don't see a 4pm departure for AVP-PHL. I do see 5pm and 6:59pm.
Where was your daughter's ultimate destination? Would the 6:59pm flight have worked to make a connection?

Definitely contact US Customer Relations, be as brief as possible, outline everything in a few bullet points. You could also file a DOT complaint.

cerralee

My mistake, it was a 5:00 pm departure. Her final destination was Memphis, so it was the last flight out for her to make a connection. We knew 81 is congested and allowed additional time, usually takes 20 minutes or so to reach the airport, so we allowed a lot of time in case of traffic. And we were at the airport well ahead of the 30 minute cut off. I have never had difficulties with the AVP agents. They have always been helpful up to this trip, and we fly a good deal. I really don't know what happened this time, the agent went from cordial time consuming chit chat, to well its past the 30 minute mark I'll get you rebooked on tomorrows flight just way to fast. She was there in plenty of time to be checked in. Just didn't happen. She has filed a complaint,
will just wait now for a reply from their end.

krlcomm

This... you don't have to download or print a boarding pass when you check-in, just make sure you are checked in... you can print or DL a BP at a later time since you obviously need something to get past security. If you're checking bags you have to be at the airport on time to do that but if you are doing carry-on only then check-in online and avoid potential problems like this one.