Originally Posted by
JonNYC
On this part:
No, they won't be all that interested; airport personal are not required to show their ID badges to civilians outside the secure area, AA policy directs give only first name and position, (FAs don't have to give names at all,) so that's a non-issue.
On the rest, I'd bet very good $$ that's one of the new insourced CARs-- we'll be seeing lots of stuff like this, unfortunately.
All that said, "two sides to every story" has never been more apt than here-- guaranteed there's another side (goes without saying,) but it sounds like a little bitterness and acerbity on both sides to me.
Oh the bolded above, allow me to vent.....
We ran into a several very unpleasant PHL AA employees at international check in last month. We couldn't check in at the kiosk, resulting in two employees bickering at each other as to whether or not we would be allowed to check in at the counter.
The counter was well guarded and we were only "allowed" to approach the roped off area in front of the counter after the agent verified with the kiosk employees that we indeed needed further assistance.
There was quite a bit back and forth as to if I was absolutely sure my son had a passport (yes) and did ticket and passport name match (yes)? This all happened before we were permitted into the roped counter area. I found this all to be absurd and unnecessary as it was 4:30am and no crowd whatsoever.
Counter agent #1 refused to check our bags, saying they were overweight, barking at us to redistribute the items.
We were flying First to Antigua and the limit is 70 pounds per bag. (3 people, 1 checked bag each weighing 48 lbs, 51 lbs and 53 lbs so nothing crazy) I repeated several times that our First class tickets allow bags up to 70 lb each. She wasn't backing down and neither was I.
I didn't argue or loss my cool, I just kept to the facts. This all attracted the attention of another agent (#2) who came over to spectate. Agent #2 then jumps into the fray and agrees with me, stating we had up to 70 lbs.
Agent #1 then snaps "but they aren't in first" At that point, I pointed at our boarding passes because she didn't hear/process this the first 5x I told her. More ranting ensues about how was she suppose to know that, blah, blah, blah, bags are tagged and we go on our way.
It was so ridiculous, it became comical. My son said it was like watching "Come Fly With Me" , the very funny British TV show about two airlines, the employees and the passengers.
There is a difference between a frustrated employee and someone who is out to be a jerk on a power trip. The kiosk agents were the former, counter agent #1 was the latter.