Originally Posted by
btonkid12345
Even despite this - it is unacceptable for the check in agent to unilaterally cancel the tickets, especially after the $275 was paid.
The check in agent should be made to pay IDB to the 2 pax out of his own pocket.
Again, I think there is a lot more to this and TPG is trying to paint the situation in a better light than it possibly deserves. First, not initially reporting the attempted scam. Second, were the tickets cancelled because they arrived at the gate after the flight was closed? The timeline makes me wonder.
Right at T-45:
So, another agent assisted in making the name change, charging the fee and checking the passengers’ bags, just before the 45-minute cutoff.
The passenger described in an email to TPG, which we reprint here unedited, what happened next:
Upon trying to leave, I expressed my unhappiness with the initial agent’s attitude. I tried to take a picture of his name tag. The agent gets irate, lunges across the counter, punches my hand, snatches my phone and throws it into the floor.
Then after all that happens:
After the recording stops, the agent threatened, in the passenger’s telling, to cancel their tickets. Again, a manager was called, who apologized for the situation and handed the passengers their boarding passes. The passengers rushed to security and got to their gate only to be stopped at the boarding door saying that the tickets were cancelled.
So at T-45, they start arguing again with the agent, trying to photograph him and the altercation occurs, which they start recording. They again call a manager, wait for him to arrive, tell the story, probably show the video, presumably the agent tells his side etc, etc. How long does all that take? Remember, they only had 35 minutes left. Only then do they head through security to the gate. Did they make it to the gate by T-10? Or did the altercation, filming, argument, manager intervention, more argument, security, and run to the gate all take longer than 35 minutes and they missed the boarding cut off? If so, then I am not surprised they stuck to the letter of the boarding time law and the agent cancelled the ticket once they missed it and he saw they werent boarded by T-10.
That is my suspicion based on the pax own account of the timeline. And if TPG originally omitted the fact that it was entirely different name on the ticket (which is what caused the inital delay to reissue the ticket at check in), then I can also see him omitting this part of the story as well. As I said, just my suspicion but the timing seems awfully tight for all that to happen.