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I'm going to address the most important detail first. That Captain of yours coming into Dallas should be reported for making such a crass allegation that the agent was asleep. September 11 caused major cuts in the system, especially on the ground and especially in smaller bases like Boston. That agent was probably handling 20 other things at the same time that normally 5 people would split up between them. Yes, it's a problem. The problem is that AA cut too many people to keep the operation running smoothly.

Dallas is notorious for the type of behavior you mentioned. Everytime I am unfortunate enough to fly through Dallas (only when there is a LAS layover on the NY bidsheet or I visit my best friend), I get shucked around from one gate to another. You are fortunate that your changes were in one terminal. I usually have to truck all my stuff from C to A and back again.

My favorite is when they decide to board, you better be ready. They don't care what is going on as long as they get people on that plane, or near it.

One time we were working and came in late to A 39 and had a connection at C 30. By the time we got to our connecting gate the DFW agents had called a crew of standby flight attendants to get our plane ready to go and they were boarding it when we got there. We had to board with all the passengers.

I don't know about you guys, but it is infuriating to have something you like to do set up for you. Crewmembers are a finicky, superstitious lot and we like to check our empty airplane and it's catering and safety equipment out ourselves. We figure, we're working it we wanna know what's up with it. It only takes a few minutes to really get things in order. Those few minutes can save you a lot of frustration later on when you are trying to muddle through a service not knowing where your stuff is because someone else set up your cart, or trying to find safety equipment that someone decided fit better over here.

I'm just surprised this is the first time you noticed any problem in DFW. DFW is malfunction junction. They are known for having some of the worst agents in the system and some of the best. I just feel bad for the great ones there who have to deal with the ones that have the major malfunctions.