ride red

FWIW, I had an AA flight a couple years ago, booked directly with AA, where they couldn't check in my infant. The infant was on the ticket when we booked.

We were dropped off curbside and an AA agent told us he could check us in right at the curb. We said we had an infant and asked if he could still do it, he said yes. After a long wait, we were told that he couldn't and that we'd have to go inside. They had plenty of trouble inside as well. I got the impression they were trying two different systems, and old system and a new system, but neither worked. We were starting to get nervous as the clock was ticking. The agent handed off to a supervisor or Sr person, who was on the phone with some sort of tech support. In the end it was around an hour, plus waiting in line inside for the 2nd agent.

Boarding was already underway when we got to the gate, despite arriving two hours in advance.


I don't know what happened to our rollers (I usually plan to gate check them) but everything we needed would have been in a diaper bag, so there was no issue there.


So while it's easy to blame Travelocity, this could still be an AA issue.

deeruck

All those trying to draw a distinction between gate check and valet check need to take a cold shower. AA's website and AA's agents use gate check to mean handing over your item at the gate so it can be put in the hold. It does not denote where you collect it from. Go look. The website tells you that wheelchairs and strollers are gate checked at retrieved at the door at your destination.

no1cub17

OP I have to applaud how you handled this. It would've been very easy to lose your cool and possibly delay or even ruin your entire vacation because of the GA's horrible attitude. Don't take offense to all the aapologists here. No matter what happened, no matter what an AA employee did or didn't do, there will always be a brigade here defending them to the death. Go look at some of the other threads (such as the lack/reduction of saaver awards thread) as another good example. It's incredible how far some of these posters go to defend what is arguably the worst airline of the US3.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

At the end of the day the airline has a policy. If you don't like the policy don't fly the airline. One should not expect airline employees to bend or break rules from them. If they do fine, but it should not be expected. I've had AA employees bend the rules for me because I've been polite, reasonable and not expect them to materially violate a policy.

no1cub17

If this is such a black and white policy then why did the supervisor so readily agree to OP's request? Surely the supervisor also doesn't want to get in hot water with Dougie?

There were multiple failures here. Not sure what went wrong with the infant ticket or why it took over an hour to figure out. And then when OP boarded there was still space in the overhead bins. A reasonable AA employee who had a working brain could've realized hey this is a family traveling internationally, why don't we try to help them rather than make their lives hell. But no, D0 is more important.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

I doubt the employee in question was worrying about Doug Parker. I don't worry about my CEO-I'm sure he doesn't even know I exist. Sorry but not making D0 has downstream impact, particularly for paxs. I would never expect AA to hold up a flight for me. At some point the GA needs to make a decision about checking bags or the flight might be delayed.

omaralt

alangore

It's not that we want to be "lenient" toward nasty gate agents, but that none of us want to challenge their absolute power at boarding time. If we disagree with them they can chuck us off our flight and make us pay for the privilege. If we ask for a supervisor they can refuse - you are lucky in your case that one showed up at the right time to help. All we can do in most places is complain after the fact, and we're all aware of where that gets us.

no1cub17

You know what I mean. The supervisor may not have been worrying specifically about how Dougie would react, but no doubt if she was worried about possible punishment or reprimand from her supervisors, she also would've declined to help OP. I'm not sure why you chose to take that particular Dougie reference so literally.

And yes D0 is important, but it's also been documented that the obsession with D0 isn't even helping the overall performance and reputation of the airline. Sometimes AA needs to understand that they deal with real people and real lives. Thankfully the supervisor had a moment of clarity and was able to help the OP.

giporlos

I must be the exception... I never have problems with GA's... always buy direct from the airline... always pack my important stuff so it can stay with me... always assume something can go awry... always show up on time... always smile... always thank them... never argue with them... and occasionally get some benefit for all that. My day may be coming... I'll take my chances.

SJOGuy

I don't understand: There were four non-infant passengers who would have had space under the seats in front of them. Why not pack and plan for that scenario just in case?

omaralt

ryan182

That is a good deal ^ and its besides the point as where one buys their ticket is completely irrelevant to the GAs behavior.

rumboj

omaralt