Sopwith

Why do AC agents insist on posting/announcing information that they know is untrue or unachievable?

Waiting for an 18:20 flight. At 17:55 no a/c at the gate. Monitor still says 18:20 departure. Here we go again ... Checked Flight Aware for the inbound status, just landed, taxiing to gate. Okay, good.

So now it’s 17:58. Monitor still says 18:20 departure. (Other flights have a 10 or 15 minute delay posted.) GA announces a/c will arrive momentarily, we will begin boarding at 18:15. Apparently she wants us to believe they will unload and groom a 319 and begin boarding in less than 17 minutes. Monitor still says 18:20.

Just before boarding they post a 15 minute delay, 18:35 departure. Boarding starts around 18:25. While boarding they announce several times very insistently, “We have a full flight today. Please put one item of your carry-on under the seat in front of you. ... We have a full flight today ... etc etc.” The flight was not full. There were at least half a dozen empty seats I could see from row 17, and presumably a few more behind me.

Flight pushes back at 18:50.

In the overall scheme of things, not a big deal, but is there any wonder many of us don’t believe what AC tells us?

drvannostren

I hear that full flight thing EVERY time I get on a flight I swear, it makes me distrust it every time. It's a throwaway statement if false, so why bother making it, just give the carry-on instructions without saying it.

As far as delay postings, after working 10 years or so in the industry there's a few reasons for it...none of which will particularly satiate you, at least they don't for me, but they're reasons nonetheless.

1) Depending on destination and airport there's internal closures. For instance, at YVR, US Pre-clear closes at 2030 (IIRC) so any flight that's gonna delay PAST that, doesn't get listed as such, because they don't want passengers trying to clear customs after/too tight with the closure times. Once customs is closed, that's it, no one of getting around it.

2) Similar to this, because "we're trying to turn this plane quickly" the times are posted as "hopeful" times, but then in situations like yours they just seem stupid. Beyond that they also undershoot the realistic times to keep passengers at the gate. They don't want people disappearing in the terminal and thinking it's gonna depart at 18:50 when in reality they could get it done by 18:35.

As a ground handler it's ever more frustrating. Imagine having the airline tell you all this information while you're standing outside in the rain and have no opportunity for shelter. Happens ALL THE TIME. We can call the gate and they'll say "yup, 18:35" "yup, just a few more minutes" "no bag pulls required". Only to hear back at 18:35 "just a few more minutes and we need these 6 bags pulled" then have it depart at 19:15 while we're soaking wet. It's REALLY anger inducing.

flyquiet

I get aggravated when they don't turn off the digital sign saying "BOARDING!!!" and "FINAL CALL!!!!" or even "DEPARTED" when the aircraft is not at the gate or even landed. Seen multiple times at MCO.
Travellers who had information that the flight was delayed so took their time getting to the gate, but then see this when they get there, these patently wrong electronic signs cause anxiety and crowding of people seeking reassurance from the GA.
Perhaps the e-board software lacks all the necessary features to override the scheduled messages. I wondered if changing the message created an audit trail of the delay and they wanted to avoid this. I wish they would (in compliance with ADA, after all) post a notice saying "delayed, stick around, we have no idea when". While not very informative, it would at least not be as wrong as "FINAL CALL!!!!"

quantumofforce

unload in 17 minutes, not sure
Groom in 17 minutes, easy based on AC standards!

mapleg

Possibly they hope for a future career in politics?

global happy traveller

Westjetters or Rick Mercer wannabes with less sense of humor.... LOL

CZAMFlyer

Like in any relationship, personal, professional or otherwise, it often seems harder to tell the truth to the best of your ability, but doing so reduces a majority of associated problems. Passengers generally prefer to hear an honest "I don't know, we're ballparking two more hours" instead of silence or a fib.

Yes, you recall correctly.

Not sure which handler you work for at YVR, but I see them every day, and they seem to have no troubles staying dry and under shelter when not actually unloading/handling aircraft at the gate. Look for your coworkers in the company break room, in the bagrooms, or sprawled on the benches in the west chevron down by Gate 58.

Stranger

Same at YYZ, probably also YUL.

I was at YYZ waiting for a flight to MCO. Incoming was showing three hours late on flightaware. Lounge agent explains that because US preclear closes early they don't post delays past closure.

RatherBeInYOW

Which is funny, because UA will happily tell your flight is delayed but that you have to be through pre-clearance at time X before it closes anyway. That way you at least know what to expect / can stay in the lounge / spend some more time having a meal / whatever rather than arriving at the gate to find no plane at the end of the jetway and wonder ... is going on.

This issue is one of my biggest beefs with AC right now, and it has been this way for years and seems to be getting worse. I know that things can change (equipment/crew swap, etc. etc.) and they don't want to post a delay and then walk it back, but I can think of at least 4 situations in 2018 alone so far where I went to the gate with a flight showing on time at YYZ only to find out there was no plane there and no hope of the flight leaving remotely on time no matter what actions were taken. Has happened with domestic, transborder and international flights. They should be able to do a lot better than this.

drvannostren

Not to break down the layout of YVR ramp, yes there's a few places you can kinda hide. But quite often in the situations we're talking about, the airline kinda expects/demands you stay at the aircraft. Yesterday we had a flight go mechanical and I was basically on the gate for 3 hours offloading it, then re-loading it with other bags, then doing bag pulls and more bag pulls, then basically waiting for them to make a decision and finally waiting for them to leave. The only way to go back inside was driving back and forth to the bagroom dropping off the bag pulls to other airlines.

Obviously we have a break room, but just try and tell the airline "yea i'll do that bagpull in an hour when you're ready with 4-5 more, for now I'm gonna sit inside"...just doesn't fly (pardon the pun)

GeezerCouple

Many airlines are "guilty" of doing this.

Our recent "personal favorite" (NOT!) is JetBlue out of Barbardos.

Okay, the flight is delayed.
And delayed some more.
And then again. And "it will be arriving soon". And again.

So... instead of relaxing in the "lounge" there, we got out a laptop, and checked JetBlue's own website.
The plane had diverted to Orlando, hours earlier, and was apparently just sitting there.

When we found a reasonable agent to speak with, and to show the website info to, he reluctantly admitted that there had been a "problem", and the plane had indeed diverted to Orlando, and by the time they were dealing with it.... the crew had timed out.

Meanwhile, the official word was still, "Flight will be arriving shortly!"
GRRRRR.

Two flights left the next day, the previous day's flight, and that day's regular flight.

GC

RangerNS

Out stations may be especially bad at this. No supervision, no hive mind to backdoors (or even front doors) of information. Autonomy is limited to what the green screen says.

There is a subtle breaking point between listening to and using the official lie, and leveraging expertflyer or whatever. I've walked-away-called-reservations when dealing with YHZ UA contract agents, for example. Generally with AC I ignore the GAs entirely.

BlondeBomber

Agreed- UA just did this to me a couple of days ago. Think the original inbound must have been cancelled as the flight that eventually came to our gate was on time (arrived 15 minutes before supposedly revised departure time so I knew that wasn't going to happen--thanks to Flight Tracker). The originally scheduled 10:05 flight rescheduled to 10:50, left at 11:20. Allowed me to chill in the "Club" for a bit longer than if I had gone with UA's suggested departure of 10:50 (which wasn't revised until we started boarding at 11:00! Don't think AC is any better or worse, just glad I have other tools to monitor "real" progress of flights.

longtimeflyin

Why?

Because it's easier for front line agents to lie (short term) than it is to be honest and explain the whole situation. They know the FOTSG folks will buy their bull and the frequent fliers will know they are lying and not say anything.

Win win. (not really, but they think so)

canadiancow

I almost stepped in to help a couple at BOS earlier this year when the GA was being less-than-helpful. They'd been stuck for at least 24 hours and were trying to get to YVR.

GA just kept saying "everything is full". No standby was offered, and the FOTSGs never thought to ask for it. (For reference, the flight boarding at the time cleared some standby pax due to no-shows, so it's not like everything was overbooked).

Alas, I was on the phone dealing with my own issues, so I wasn't able to.

You can't screw with me because I'll just call the concierge. But I'm more than willing to start talking jargon to the GAs if I think they're screwing with FOTSGs. "Go see the customer service desk" is a perfectly valid response in many circumstances. "This flight has absolutely no space for standby" is not valid until it's boarded full. Reminds me of the "I'm AC*SM in full J, can you put me on the standby list?" "No, you won't clear."