ffsim

skybluesea

Uncle Nonny

The agent isn't allowed to have a bad day to the customer. We all have figurative baggage. That's to be left at home, just like any other job. People pay a lot of money to fly a family of four, in this case, somewhere. They are customer service reps, there to, oddly enough, service the customer. We've all dealt with crappy airport personnel. The thing that stings is even if you're right you never hold any leverage. The result can be an escalation like this. Rarely have I heard ANY worker in an airport/airplane say 'hey, you're right. I screwed up'. (There're AA FA's that can't grasp the basic understanding that MCE passengers get free drinks and they act all snooty when you call them on it.) Most airline employees I run into treat EVERYONE as if they are FFs who know all of the rules and regulations. It's such a drain on your energy dealing with long check in line. The long security lines. The long boarding process. The long wait for your bag at the carousel. It's a mine-numbing experience for many hardened travelers. Factor in a guy trying to get his husband/wife and kids through this gauntlet and you have situations like this happening.

I don't advocate using foul language to any airline representative. I'm not saying the OPs husband is in the clear. I will say that I spend enough time at airports to know that, for the most part, airline customers are just a clot in their race to get home. Airlines should hold their representatives to the same high standards that they expect from their customers.

TemboOne

Simple:
1: Arrive at the airport on time - with a very large spare time cushion of minutes; 3 hrs ahead for international is my normal;
2: Keep husband/wife/spouse/companion/partner under control from erratic irrational behaviour;
3: Keep children under control and in hand;
4: Keep my wits about me and myself under control to avoid over-reacting to the failure of any of the above.

Oh I amost forgot; find someone else to blame rather than the AC check-in clerk or gate agent for the failure of any of the above.

Be glad my child was prevented from getting seriously injured!

Nuff said!

CZAMFlyer

"Recommended" is a meaningless, unenforceable term. Arriving at the check-in area prior to the deadline is still within the legal check-in timeframe. I'm not sure your experience in very busy and or chaotic airports, but check-in (and lineups in general) amongst certain places/cultures can be fraught with all manner of delays, no matter how well-planned your preparation. It's entirely feasible to arrive at the queue at T-120min and still be short of the front desk 90 min later. At what point does the airline take responsibility for its own processes? Going by your rationale, it seems there's a murky line between the 'recommended' and the 'minimum' times...but where is it actually drawn?

I've saved my place in line and strolled up to the check-in counter before, when it appears the deadline may be shaved too closely. Just to let them know "hey I'm here" and get a sense of whether there's an opportunity to leapfrog forward. Generally the response has been "it's ok, we'll process you" and despite reaching the desk well after the cutoff time, they have honoured their word.

It perhaps helped that I stifled any curse words.

YEG USER

I agree that queue management should be an airline responsibility, and that "recommended" is not something enforceable. I also agree that airlines should properly staff their check-in counters. However, I also don't think that someone who joins a queue right at cut-off should have an expectation of getting on the flight. Put on the next flight, possibly, which is what looks like happened in this situation, but then weather issues occurred and things went really sideways when the confrontation occurred.

I don't necessarily agree with the policy as written, but it is published and is what AC's agents will default to. I was posting the links so that others in the same situation can be aware of what they're up against in a similar situation, regardless of what any of us might think is right/wrong.

skybluesea

LTN Phobia

I would absolutely deem myself guilty (legally and morally) if I knew about someone in my travelling party (for instance) behaving inappropriately and I did not intervene or insist that the person make amends for whatever he or she has done/said if it was no longer ongoing.

Anyone is quite welcome to consider that logic discriminatory and prejudicial. I won't change my mind about it no matter how aggressively or unpleasantly they word their response.

Perhaps I should call it guilty by 'failure to do the right thing' rather than 'association' though.

====

Besides that, are the OP and the OP's children actually banned, or is it just the OP's husband that is banned (if anyone is in fact banned at all), but the OP and the OP's family could not fly the next day in any case by virtue of AC's favour being withdrawn?

In other words, they no-showed for the original flight by virtue of being late to check in, but AC did them a favour by allowing them to standby for a later flight, but they withdrew that favour when the OP's husband got abusive and cancelled the tickets for the whole family (which would have been the result in the first place for no-showing unless it was an expensive flex ticket that allowed no-shows, but for the favour by AC), or is anyone actually banned from flying AC?

Sealink

TLR

Swearing at a gate agent is just a stupid thing to do. Even if you feel they took a dislike to you.

You catch more flies with honey.

skybluesea

canadiancow

Ah yes, clearly OP is being beaten at home. How could we all have missed such an obvious conclusion?

Can we get back to the F in FT?

skybluesea

sperkins921

The SPOUSE did not get into an argument. Per the OT's statement, the entire traveling party was banned. But only one person got into it with the gate agent. So no, they didn't get what they deserved. Perhaps the husband b/c we do not know what was or wasn't said. But if rest of traveling party was not involved then rest of traveling party doesn't need to be banned, it's as simple as that.

Guilt by association? Guess the next time your seat mate acts up you should be punished too. After all, you're guilty by sitting next to them.

MisterBill

How often is your seat mate booked on the same reservation as you are if they're not part of your family or your SO?

MitchR

Weather issues are beyond the airline's control and cause a lot of stress. Planes are so packed full that it can take a few days to get all of the inconvenienced passengers taken care of. None of this is the Gate Agent's or Ticket Agent's fault. In 35 plus years of flying I have seen some agents with very poor customer service skills, but once a passenger personalizes the situation, by yelling or cursing, the battle is over. Let this be a lesson to 1. be mindful of the airline employee's level of stress from a delay situation and 2. If the airline employee begins pushing your buttons, never react with anger or swearing. If you are being mistreated and it is intentional, ask for a supervisor. If it is something beyond the employees control (weather, even equipment or crew issues) be understanding. If you are the calm, inconvenienced passenger you stand a chance of being taken care of, if you lose your self control, it is a lost cause.