btonkid12345

EXACTLY. I wonder, if this is a "horrible GA" per the OP, how he would have felt if the GA stuck to his guns and to policy - stating either you check it or you don't board.

And yes, a complaint will simply make AA crack down harder on "rogue" GAs or cases like this and move even more towards a "no exceptions" policy. If OP wanted to complain, the in-airport management would be best, and it seems they're already aware.

OP's message on Twitter will likely fan the flame further and not lead to anything positive.

The OP was completely unreasonable. Is it that hard to carry some diapers and a can of formula in your hands if you have to? He's lucky the GA didn't shut the door in his face when he refused to check his bag, and see the flight off, instead of calling the Manager.

The OP wants the GA to hand a passenger a plastic bag to turn into their personal item. Who are we kidding here? He claims to travel a lot but suggests things that reflect never having even seen a boarding podium.

Would it have been that difficult to run to the closest Hudson News or any store and ask for a disposable bag? That likely would have been faster than waiting for a Manager anyways. Everything - including a 4 year old refusing to carry their backpack - screams of entitlement.

PS I am Diamond on Delta. Delta's CoC states that, for international flights with a 6-12 hour connection, you can short check to a connecting point. Ok, I dealt with 2 DL agents as well as a Red Coat (a DL first-level Manager) and the Red Coat refused to do it - despite me being calm, having to show them the CoC, and all. In the end, I was told to either board and check my bag, or don't board. I boarded and checked my bag.

At my connecting point, an OSM (Operations & Service Managers) fixed everything.

In my example, the DL Red Coat/Manager level was wrong. For the OP, the GA was actually correct, and he's still peeved. You can't help people like that.

Also, DL doesn't valet tag. Not even for a Diamond 360 in Full J class. Their system literally does not allow it - they either have to use a handwritten tag or change your itinerary so the connection falls within the timing allowed to short check. Folks like OP will only push AA more towards what DL has in place.

Sure, it's in the Contract of Carriage you agreed to when you purchased the ticket.

DL puts in their CoC the policy of short checking on domestic itineraries with greater than 4 hour connection, or international itineraries with greater than a 6 hour connection. I see no such language in AA's CoC at all - very clear and black and white.

Relevant quotes from AA's CoC:

"Checking your bag

You can only check bags on the day you travel, and your bags must travel to the same ticketed final destination as you. Be sure your name is on all bags before you check them.
...
In all cases, we reserve the right to decide if your carry-on items are suitable to bring on board and if there is enough space in the overhead bins.

If you need to check your carry-on bags, be sure to take any fragile or valuable items like your keys, medication or computers with you on board. Also remove and carry on any e-cigarettes and spare batteries for laptops, cameras or other mobile devices."

See? You agreed that THEY decide if you could bring your carry on (NOT your personal item, which fits under the seat in front of you) with you. Then, at the airport, you made a scene and called the GA horrible, claiming you felt like punching his teeth in, because you no longer wanted to do what you agreed to (it sounds like because of poor planning).

AA_ORDlady

I don't mean to be rude, but have you read any of this thread? OP likely couldn't check-in online because of the lap infant on a booking from Travelocity, and then once they did get to the airport it took 90 minutes to do the check-in process. I'd be miffed about this as well if I got to the airport 2 hours early and this sort of thing happenedYes--I understand there was a ticketing problem. And OP knew this prior to his arrival at the airport.
Travelocity recommends at least 2-3 hours prior for international travel.
And knowing that he had a ticket issue he chose to arrive 2 hours prior.
If he had followed Travelocity recommendation, choosing 3 hours would have made more sense with a known ticket issue.
Which would have theoretically put him at the gate an hour earlier and he would have pre-boarded with young children and been happily sitting on the plane with his roller board stowed.

His main beef should be with Travelocity but he has not really explained what the infant ticket issue was. That is unfortunate and I would be really angry about that.

As far a using one roller board for a family with 3 young kids---well, I wouldn't do that but he seems quite married to his roller board method. What happens if the flight is cancelled and they are re-booked but in separate rows? Then you are trying to distribute everyones things from a roller board in row 5 back to row 23. Or worse---your roller board is gate checked and subsequently your flight is cancelled? Then you have a 5 hour delay with no diapers?
Anyone traveling with an infant needs to have the infant stuff in a bag that goes under the seat and stays with whoever is holding the lap baby.

HMPS

Bolding mine.
Agree. While I am not advocating openly, rudely confronting a GA, I do believe each of us afraid of being bumped because then the Captain has dumped the problem on ground staff justifying a non co perating pax delaying everyone else. There is a time & place to present / argue your case....OP did right by asking for manager who used common sense as otherwise off loading bags , rebooking etc would involve more delays and a blizzard of paper work, not to speak of potential liabilities.
I am not sure if MCE guarantees bin space, don't think so.

OP write to AA, use social media.Ask for compensation.

btonkid12345

YOU were the somebody who wanted to valet check simply because you wanted to. The GA told you no and you didn't accept it.

You had 4 people who could carry things in their hand, and all of whom could have brought a personal item (that fits under the seat) with them. You chose not to do this. Just because you decided to have children and brought them along doesn't mean you are accorded any privileges that any other paying passenger isn't. Thinking that any family should be allowed to valet check is beyond entitled and selfish, not considering many other passenger use cases where valeting could help, but still isn't necessary.

What you mention your wife doing is something you should consider doing in the future in advance of the gate - making sure what you ABSOLUTELY NEEDED is in your personal item, not a carry on rollerboard. What she did at the gate is a common sight at airports, so not sure why you are making it seem like she was victimized at the gate.

Again, it makes no sense to send connecting passengers out to retrieve a bag during a connection. If you missed your connecting flight retrieving a short checked bag, I bet you'd blame AA too.

bscooter26

Man, there is some serious keyboard warrior victim-blaming going on in here.

*Yes OP could have gotten to the airport even earlier than 2 hrs, yes they could have packed their essentials in a smaller bag, but IMO it's really not an unreasonable request and you guys are slamming him like he did all of this on purpose to draw the ire of a GA

s0ssos

I guess I must have been on very strange flights, as the overhead bins were often not full even though the cabin was.
Oh, but I do not fly AA

carlosdca

The same is true the other way around.
Most likely, the GA denied the request not to draw the ire of the OP.
GAs gate check bags all the time, every day, on every flight. Every day they hear hundreds of stories with all sorts of justifications, reasoning and/or rationalizations from pax that don't want to let go off their carry-on bags. Because, who likes to gate check? Nobody!
The GA just wanted get the flight going and there is NO RULE that I know of that the GA must accommodate a valet check request from a pax Because then everybody WILL feel entitled to request valet check as well, it is convenient for everybody.

Of course there is no reason for the GA to be rude or have an attitude. That's another story.

omaralt

chris8796

I always get a little chuckle from these CSR complaints, it almost always comes down to their perceived attitude. "If they where only excessively apologetic (for something outside of their control), I would have been fine with it." What do you think your attitude would be as a GA , when a smirk makes you want to punch someone in the face? These have to be some of the worst jobs out there. You get to make $12/hr to sit between AA's penny pincher policies and the travelling public. The supervisor probably told the GA many times this is the policy and don't call me just to tell them the same (only to call and get thrown under the bus). If Flyertalk has taught me one thing it is FFs (myself included) are some of the most pretentious and entitled people on the earth. When group 2 is called, the gate lice shall part like the red sea, I'll shall be whisked unimpeded to the plane by the GA, where the FA will have my PDB ready and happily stow my 4 carry on bags directly and only directly above my seat. While the non-FFs also seem to lose almost all brain activity when they enter the airport. I am sure that long line at the GA desk is only asking thoughtful and relevant questions, like questioning their interpretation of an unpublished AA policy. The only reprieve you get is going out in the weather to connect the jetbridge. I am sure the majority of us FFs would harbor such a great work ethic (as evidenced by higher status) that if we were the GA we would happily verbally fellate these paying customers to show our appreciation for their loyalty. I am impressed that more of these GAs don't have an attitude or homicidal. No AA will not fire these GAs, because they are truly the best they could find and they are expensive to replace. AA needs to keep convincing them that working at the airport is fun, instead of working at Target for $13/hr where they would get to park next to the building they work in. AA also knows what got you to purchase this ticket (price, loyalty benefits, etc), will also drive your next purchase, not the GA experience. I try to not to get too excited about these minor annoyances and see both sides, so I can figure out how to help them to help me. Demanding extra from low paid employees will often result in disappointment.

On a side note, I have no problem with the general policy of not giving the option to valet check bags, except for a few specific cases.

Hopefully, you had a good time on vacation and already starting to plan your next one.

JetAway

Your standards for a service-oriented business seem really low.

AA_ORDlady

OP--you were in a bad situation due to Travelocity and the ticket issue. I am not blaming here---I am simply pointing out several ways you can hopefully avoid this in the future.
Delays happen---sometimes at check-in and sometimes at security.
If you have a known ticket issue, here's what actions you can take:

1. Call AA if your online check-in does not work. Try to understand what is wrong and who can resolve the issue. Perhaps then a call to Travelocity. Do whatever you can the day before to understand who can fix the problem.

2. If the ticket issue is still not resolved, arrive an extra hour early (or more) to the airport. Better to be relaxing at the gate than stressing at check-in.

3. Rollerboard---I would ditch it for many reasons, or at least supplement with small bags with the necessities. Keep the baby items under the seat---it's way easier to get a diaper, snack or pacifier or whatever that way, especially if the seatbelt sign is on.

4. Know the rules on when you need to be at the gate, MCE overhead space (I didn't know there was a time at which your lose that) and short-checking. That way if you are delayed checking in you could perhaps ask the check-in agent to let the GA know that you have a ticket issue. Not sure if that would help or not.

5. Especially when traveling with young kids---think through every possible worst case scenario. Things like mechanical/weather delays or cancellations, gate-checking roller board, overnight delay with a trip to a hotel, cancellation before and after boarding, etc. I would allow enough diapers, formula, meds for at least a 24 hour delay---because it can happen.

carlosdca

I got you.
When bins are full, you want valet check instead of the standard gate check to final destination.
Exactly what I understood.
And again, the GA has no reason to do so. Not for you, not for anyone else.

Also. I am sorry but the argument that "bins were not full!!! there at least X empty spaces" is absurd.
Why? Because most of the times the "bins are full" call is not when bins are actually full but when FA/GA estimate the bins will be full.
If they wait till last minute when people are actually standing in the aisle looking for the last available spot, the boarding process will be delayed as pax find none space and the bags have to be brought all the way to the front to be gate checked.

Every time I have flown Delta as a non-status pax, I have had to check my carry-on. I plan accordingly.

btonkid12345

True. However OP claims the GA waited around for 10 mins while his tried to repack.

In this time, a good GA who a pax is nice to could have radioed for just ONE roller spot for a baby - after all, if everyone else has boarded, they could easily identify if they could find 1 spot in an open bin anywhere.

But something tells me the OP wasn't nice to the GA. Between OP's feelings about his smirk, wanting to punch him, and all the names he's called other posters here, it all points to a lack of respect and lack of an ability to conduct some introspection.

Plus, he still hasn't detailed what happened with the infant ticket. He places all the blame on Travelocity, but I'm suspect...the OP could have assumed infants come on for free and he would do what he wants - just like with the baggage. Perhaps nothing was even paid or registered for the infant.

Given how the OP felt about the GA, I'm sure the feelings were mutual on the GA's behalf. And thus the GA made no attempt to help in any way because he likely wasn't being treated very well when all this went down.

omaralt

USA_flyer

my opinion doesn't count for much but, i agree with you. A family that had planned to bring only one carry on with a few essentials has done the right thing. A lot of people who dont have kids and don't understand that babies require nappies and food at regular intervals, personally I'd give up my carry on so you could keep your baby fed and clean and quiet while in transit. Not easy to do if they're hungry and sitting in a soiled nappy.

The GA was a jerk and I'm glad his supervisor saw sense.

More power to you my friend for sticking up for yourself.