BrianV

At DEN this morning, the line for first boarding was about 10 deep. Regular boarding was about 20. I tried to do self-service, but my wife's itinerary wouldn't come through the kiosk so we went back into the first line.

After a few annoyingly long checkins we were 4th or 5th in line when the only agent working just says, I'm sorry to do this, but I'm leaving. She just walked off and we looked amongst ourselves in bewilderment. There was no detail to her announcement and no recovery person came. Most of the line in front of us bailed to general boarding or self-service. We ended up in number 2 position and waited it out in confusion.

After 10 minutes the general boarding agent called the group in front of us. Then they called us after. There was only 1 general boarding guy and I actually said, "is this fair for general boarding, why aren't there more agents, why did she just leave?". At that time a man came over with a tie looking more official like a manager and he said sorry, and then he called over the general boarding queue from the self-service area.

I checked in at the new AC and the lady was saying she heard check in and security were slow. I took the opportunity to comment on my experience and inquire if they were union employees. She said no and she probably just needed a break since they open Checkin at 430am. Mind you I arrived at 6am for a 720am flight. She left at about 640am. Anyways, took a total hour to get my bags checked. At most, she was there 3 hours since they don't open until 415 or 430 am. It would've been nice for her to get relief before jetting with a terse announcement.

We kept our cool, but others were more upset.

mvoight

If she has to leave, she has to leave, whether there is someone there or not. If someone has to go, they have to go. We don't know the reason the left, it may have been personal or it have been related to union work rules, or something else. I would complain about the lack of personel, if you feel this is the case, but I wouldn't blame an employee for leaving.

dia1

Seemed clear in the post that they and one group in front of them stayed in the F line.

BrianV

While I agree, anyone can leave at anytime, there were 6 other workers there that did nothing for 10-15 minutes to address it or even communicate that there was an issue.

Also a I stated in my post, the AC lady said they are not union employees.

Regardless, I think it should've been handled better and more clearly not only by the employee herself, but by other employees there.

I won't speculate to why she left. However, it could've been communicated better and handled better. For a period of time, passengers were left with the fear that someone may never come and we could miss our flights. Many left their place in line while some like us stayed. If the regular boarding employee didn't address the problem when he did, who knows what would've happened.

I'm not going to write a letter, I was just curious what could cause someone to just leave since it's not union. Based on the duration of her absence (I never saw her return in about 20 minutes), I doubt it was a bathroom break. Finally, she was taking her time with the guests prior so i doubt it was personal emergency. She spent extra time chuckling and playing games with a child that was part of her last group. After they were off, she sent the next group back to the line and made her "Sorry, I'm out" comment.

videomaker

It sounds to me like OP got a little ticked off with the employee because the line wasn't moving fast enough.

OK, the lines were slow and it sounds like they were understaffed. Most of us have seen that before (not necessarily at DEN).

But what really happened at the point where the employee went on break was a slightly more than 10-minute delay for the OP.

I don't question OP's right to start a rant here on FT. I just don't think I would have gotten that worked up over what happened.

Thumper

I travel through DEN at least 4 times a year for the last 10 years.

The check in counter is always slow, and not overly surprising that in the last half of December the line was even slower. Holidays and being a major destination for winter activities I'm sure made it worse.

I would not arrive at DEN 80 minutes before take-off, certainly not at the start of Christmas break. May have been a poor choice on your behalf.

As to speculation on why she left, it could be anything from taking a family member for dialysis to getting to church on time. You didn't describe any AA person asking where she was going. Speculation by someoneone in the lounge shouldn't be your basis as to why it happened. It seems they did not have any more information than you did.

Hope the rest of your holiday turns out better.

cynicAAl

I don't think "Ladies and gentlemen, I have explosive diarrhea, and need to step away for a few minutes" enhances my travel experience.

Usually when the F agent steps away, the other agents pull from the F line, or at the least, alternate F and Y pax.

magic111

But you would like us to speculate. OK I will change the thread title.

~moderator

BrianV

A simple, I need to use the restroom would've gone a long way. Also I don't think anyone noticed she left which further amplified the problem.

Finally to the other remark, I got the text that our flight was delayed. I arrived 120 minutes early, not 80.

BrianV

To those who feel this is unnecessary, Im only here to have a friendly discussion to pass time. I'm not building ammo to write a letter or do anything else. The lack of communication was perplexing, were we to stay in line or were we to leave and get in a new lengthy line having already been there for a long time? No one knew.

This same thing could happen at a bank or grocery store. The teller just leaves with a terse message. There's no indication whether she's coming back or whether the lane is closed and we are to start in a new lane.

There was no indication from other agents that we were going to be helped. Most remained cool and just questions the whole thing amongst ourselves. Some dropped f- bombs and left to other lines after various amount of time.

While all of you saints would've probably said, "ahh poor lady probably has a hostage situation at her home that needs tending too." those in line were just like ... is going on? Not so much with her, but with what we were supposed to do next.

Thanks for the good commentary.

videomaker

The options seem pretty obvious:

1) Stay in the F line;
2) Get in the longer Y line; or
3) Use a kiosk (actually not an option for the OP, since one of his traveilng party's itins would not come up, but could have been an option for others.)

If I see other employees in the check-in area, as the OP did, I'm going to assume (or hope) one of them will come over and handle the F line.

This is a pretty easy one, really. Just be glad you weren't at LHR today.

BrianV

Pretty much sums it up. It wasn't an "easy" one though. Without any info, do you give up your spot in line for a 20+ deep general line? At what point do you cut your losses? No info, it's hard to do. Self service wasn't an option. Fortunately waiting worked for us, but the entire time it was an evaluation on whether the gamble was worth it. All could've been handled with communication from anyone.

I'm sure all of you would've just handled it without issue just like I did, but you all wouldn't have been confused or would've given any thought to whether to bail from our line. I made no scene or anything, but internally I had a lot of what's going on going on.

Robt760

Definitely sounds like there was confusion and nobody likes to be in these situations when time is against you and things aren't going right.

A few clarifications:

You were in line to board or to check in? Sounds like check in, had to re-read your statement.

If you arrive at 6:00 for a 7:20 flight, that's 80 minutes before departure. I don't think it matters if they bump the departure time, you need to be checked in before the original departure time.

Sucks that this happened the way it did. I would have stepped up to an empty spot at the counter to get somebody's attention to ask what to do in a friendly 'acting confused but not mad' demeanor, while my wife stayed in line.

BrianV

Flight was delayed until 8am around 1am due to crew rest, last flight in was delayed due to mechanical.

I thought 545am was sufficient given holidays. We had some trouble with the bus at the rental car place so we got there st 6 knowing the flight was at 8.

MJonTravel

Hard to say. Even ticket agents have to go potty from time to time, and perhaps they were having a "gotta go, gotta go right now" moment. The correct way for this to have been handled would be for the agent's quick absence to be coordinated with the closest non Priority AAcess agent to pull exclusively from the PA line until the assigned agent could return. Not cool, but at least she said "I'm sorry...." It would've been even worse to just turn away and leave.

For the record, AA agents are not unionized. That doesn't stop some of them from having union-like moments from time to time when a supervisor isn't out on the counter watching ...like...I'm assigned to general check-in, I will only work general check-in even though I have 10 premium customers standing in the premium line with no one working it.