chessman

Perhaps the GA meant deported from the US preclearance area?

YVRtoYYZ

Where is the crowd applauding this GA for following Zoned Boarding procedure and denying those who attempt to board outside their assigned zone?

jc94

Well the OP was trying to board in their correct zone, albeit not the assigned zone, but that's just another example of AC's inability to do something like print the correct Zone on a BP. And sure this could be due to the OP doing something wrong like booking on a different card, but when we consider the current state of AC IT, I'm going to go out on a limb and say the odds are the OP is correct here.

But regardless of what the OP may or may not have done (assuming there was no yelling, name calling, abusive behaviour etc...) the GAs response was completely out of proportion, verging on I work at the airport, you're wrong, egotistical and completely unprofessional and I hope that AC investigates this and takes appropriate action and compensation for the OP. In reality I expect the best outcome would be a promise to investigate it (and maybe a slap on the wrist) and a 25% discount voucher off base fare of a future AC metal only flight.

Jagboi

Even if that's what they meant, gate agents are not CBSA/USCBP agents or Judges and have no authority to deport anyone. Just because someone works at the airport doesn't give them unlimited authority.

I'm not even sure a CBSA agent could deport someone, I think only a Superior Court Judge could do that. I'm making a distinction between deportation and refusing entry, a CBSA agent can refuse entry to someone, but I don't think they could make a deportation order to someone already in the country. I'm also 100% sure it can't be as arbitrary as the fact situation presented by the OP. I'm sure someone who knows immigration law better than me can correct me.

RangerNS

Fine. So celebrated.

OP was carrying around a BP for minutes to hours and chose to hold up the process and jump the line when him wasting the GAs time would hold up dozens of people.

And then the GA responded inappropriately.

But OP was wrong first.

YVR guy

Asking the gate agent's name is unnecessary in this situation. I've had AC customer service deal with a problem agent just by giving them the flight details and physical description of the agent. You could even discretely take a picture of him as a backup plan, although not advisable once the confrontation has already begun.

PaulMSN

That it has happened before doesn't make it any less wrong. If an agent is asked their name, they should give it, or at least their first name. Bullying should not be supported, and that's what this was.

imarks

Regardless of whether OP overly provoked the GA or not, I agree that this was a disgusting display of bullying by the idiot GA and he completely deserves to be reported.

jasletra

This is why I only occasionally look at Flyertalk threads. Seems like half the folks responding to an incident are experts at "blame the victim" no matter how egregious the airline or staff member. This is a great example. Assuming the description by the passenger is accurate (and it is all we have), some things are obvious: the passenger was truly scared; the gate agent was far beyond rude, he was outrageous. And the question of what was the right answer about boarding priority is of course irrelevant. Why threaten to separate a couple by not boarding the husband? Why get angry if someone asks your name? What on earth would move you to tell someone they were to be deported? (There are people for whom that is a life-and-death matter and the gate agent could not have known what "deportation" meant to this passenger).

And all of the "Cardinal rule is don't confront or escalate"? Are we sheep? Do we live in totalitarian countries? Why be afraid to ask for a staff member's name? That somehow makes everything that transpires afterward your fault?Nonsense. Get a grip.

For what it is worth -not that it will matter to those of you who blame Jack the Ripper's victims for choosing to walk in London - I don't yell or swear at people, I write many more "thank you's" than complaints, I try to help flight attendants, I volunteer to give-up my assigned seat when families are separated, etc., and I know if I am pleasant and positive, it's more likely it will be a good trip. However, I am no Mother Teresa and I won't travel scared or subservient, and I have seen some really awful behavior on and around flights, much more frequently by passengers that staff, but wrong is simply wrong and silence is not a magic answer.

canadiancow

I think a lot of it comes down to just how preposterous the situation is. No GA would ever react that way to these circumstances. It's insane... or at least it seems that way until you've encountered agents/employees like that.

I still think "deported" was a misunderstood "deboarded". They're practically homonyms. The former makes zero sense (though as I said above...), while the latter is pretty much exactly what the GA was saying ("not flying").

Stranger

Except, OP had not boarded. Could only have been offloaded.

canadiancow

Except OP had scanned his boarding pass. At that point, he's boarded in the system.

Loren Pechtel

Or it was a mis-speak.

canopus27

Agreed.

And it's also really difficult to discern any number of contributory factors ... actions, words, behaviors, by both the GA and the OP.

I'm not saying it's the case here, but we have had threads on this board before when an aggrieved poster complained about their terrible treatment by an AC GA .... only to have the story turn on it's head when other passengers on the same flight also turned out to be FT posters, and provided a very different perspective on the original story.

I can't find that thread now (paging 24left ) and again, I have no evidence to state that anything similar occurred here ... perhaps it really was just a terrible GA having a terrible day ... but it sure sounds like something made the conversation escalate pretty darn quickly.

canadiancow

AC569 Denied Boarding - Seeking Witnesses/Accounts (1/11 SFO-YVR)

The search term is "witnesses".