RossClanMan

My Nightmare with American Airlines began on August 14th of 2019. I was trying to get home from Minneapolis to Greenville, SC. I should have known to find a connecting flight through Atlanta as opposed to Chicago O'Hare, but alas at around 12pm I arrived at MSP to begin my adventure home. Everything seemed normal until flight 3438 decided on being late, instead of taking off at 2:05pm we were now leaving MSP at around 2:50pm. Needless to say I was worried because my connecting flight at ORD was leaving at 4:33pm. Thankfully the one decent person during this entire ordeal was kind enough to assure me there were several later flights I could be switched to if I did not make the connection, she did advise me to run to make the flight once I arrived. I took her advice.

As we took to the sky on flight 3438 I was a little on edge with plastic bits falling from the overhead compartment & water dripping on us, but not through the ac vents. The flight attendant didn't seem too concerned. Thankfully the pilot informed us that he was booking it to ORD to make up time. I breathed a sigh of relief just hoping I would make it home in time to tuck my 2 young kids into bed. We touched down at O'Hare around 3:40 and some change. I am watching the clock on my phone like a hawk at this point, thankfully fellow passengers knew I had to make a flight, and they let me down the aisle ahead of them as we exited the aircraft. The door opens at ORD right at 4:10pm, I grab my 50 pound camera bag and begin my sprint to gate L24.

In a whirlwind of a sprint I make it to my gate right around 4:18pm. The gate was empty, and my heart began to sink. The display still had the flight information and there was a nice woman waiting at the gate. I quickly approached her and asked if I had made the flight. She replied "Just in time." I couldn't believe my luck. But, this is where the real nightmare began. As the gate attendant scanned my ticket her expression went from fine to oh crap in an instant. She checked her computer then looked at me saying I am sorry sir but we sold your seat. In between my gasps for air recovering from the sprint I underwent to get there I politely ask, "How is that possible I have a seat number?" She replied "Well you were not here sir, and there were other people that needed the seat." I am a very level headed guy, my only thought was hmm there has to be a spot for me somewhere. So I politely asked the attendant why my seat was sold? She didn't have an explanation, but informed me if I ran halfway across the airport there was a flight boarding in 5 minutes that I might be able to get on. Already exhausted from my sprint to get to the gate I replied I didn't want to run for another flight, and that I was here, and would like my seat. At this point a young man walked from beside the counter to stand beside the desk agent I was speaking with. I finally asked if they had done a last call 10 minutes before the flight, which literally was about to happen as we were having the conversation. At no point did I ever raise my voice, cuss, or even become slightly rude. Well, aside from panting like a fool who needs to visit the gym more often for strange instances such as this.

As soon as I asked about the last call the young man that suddenly appeared yelled at me to "CALM DOWN." I was in a bit of a shock as I was in no way upset, or even remotely in an agitated state. He asked for my ticketed itinerary, so I handed him my tickets which also had my receipt and baggage claim ticket in the bunch. I replied "I'm not upset at all, I just want to get on my flight and go home to my kids." Once again the young man yelled at me in front of fellow airport travelers that I needed to calm down, and that I was not boarding this flight under any circumstance. The young man was physically upset, I am still not sure why. I calmly replied to the man "I am not upset, I just need to get home, this doesn't make any sense to me." The young man replied That "You are not flying anywhere today sir, I will not have you treat my staff this way." At this point I am still in shock, I asked the young man if he was having a bad day, and if so why he needed to take it out on me. Being in Marketing I was a little shocked at how this fellow went from 0 to 350mph on me in a heart beat. The young man replied he was not having a bad day, but that I was now going to have a bad day, and that he was going to ban me from American Airlines. I asked him if he was threatening me, and informed him that I would like his name & a supervisor immediately. Needless to say I am not someone who likes to mess up someones day by calling for senior staff, but this was the exception to the rule. The young man quickly spelled out his first name which I could only make out to possibly be Jaime, but he made sure to flip his badge around so I couldn't see it as soon as I asked. The young man now somewhat identified as Jaime informed me he was the supervisor, and that he was calling security. At this point I am somewhat in a state of shock that this is going on, and I am kicking myself for not having the foresight to take out my phone & record the encounter. But Jaime was hell bent on making my life as miserable as possible. I noticed Jaime had taken my tickets and receipt. At this point I knew everything was off about the situation. As he gets on the radio I step back from the desk and decide I am going to find a customer service kiosk. Jaime seemed almost happy that I was walking away as if he had vanquished the terrible passenger whose only offense had been to ask questions, possible Napoleon Complex for our good friend Jaime.

After walking about half a mile inside the maze of O'Hare I find a customer service kiosk. Boy, those folks could not have cared less what was going on. Finally the only information I received was that the flight was with American Eagle, so it wasn't their problem. Somehow the only good thing was the customer service agent printed me a ticket for a later flight from O'Hare, so at least I have that going for me. I still asked to speak to a manager or supervisor about the situation. They informed me if I walked another several thousand feet, near an obscure gate that there might be an American Eagle supervisor. Finally I found a gate with an attendant, and asked as i was told. After waiting for about 20 minutes a man named Jonathan showed up, he gave the absolute minimum in terms of trying to rectify the situation. Once I describe Jaime his expression changed, he knew exactly who I was talking about, and informed me Jaime was not a supervisor. At this point he briefly said I will look into it, and you are fine to get on the flight today. I asked him if I was in fact banned, or what impact this would have towards flying through this airport again. He looked up my profile and said he did see notes from Jaime, who literally had to be typing them up as soon as I left to cover his rear end. At this point I was just done, made sure my flight home that day was still fine, and sat down to wait my escape from hell.

It wasn't until around 11:20pm that I arrived back home, and I was so happy to see that my bag got on my original flight home, and was left out in the open with no one watching it for hours and hours. Thankfully no one stole my suitcase with several thousand dollars worth of audio recording equipment inside. From start to finish, but especially in the middle, American Airlines demonstrated how to do everything wrong. You could not pay me to fly with them again. My coworkers warned me about flying with American, if only I had listened. Safe travels out there everyone, and I hope you never encounter Jaime with American Eagle at O'Hare.