cmdinnyc

Keep in mind, if the OP is being straight, he did give hime three different prices, starting at around $550 and going up to $1000 in 20 minutes. If they don't offer paid upgrades to first, just say so. Don't quote three different prices in 20 minutes, then retaliate when you get an offensive reaction.

cmdinnyc

On one hand, I loving knowing certain pieces of information such as this. On the other, the GA should know how to do his/her job. I'm very sympathetic to the idea that the airlines run a complicated business, but c'mon...if you don't know something at least know how or be willing to check.

cigarman

Okay noone seems to have made this point. Time can change that FC fare. Remember all this is taking place at most one hour prior to boarding all the way up to boarding. The computer is running in the bacjground, certainly upgrading Elite flyers , The gate agents are running the battlefield upgrades. Either of these will change the inventory and THAT can change prices. OR the fact the FIVE seats are involved can change the pricing. One seat MIGHT be $500 the next might be $600 and after that could easily be $1000. The differnce between a Y-up type fare, a "D" discounted FC fare and then a "A" full FC fare.
The original poster asked to buy a complicated ticket at the gate, less than an hour before boarding. A big problem at most airlines. They ASSUMED the airline worked one way, and got upset when it did not and the agent was not totally competent. Then they lost their cool and asked for a supervisor and then lost their cool again, and cursed at the agent. (inside baseball joke coming). Frankly, you are lucky you didn't end up with a broken neck!

TWA Fan 1

Please note my post which was the second response to the OP:

"The fact is there is more than one FC fare and it is not inconceivable that this fare went up while you were going through this incident."

A very inappropriate remark for you to make.

While the OP's hostile behavior and vulgar language where not at all appropriate (which the OP stated in his post, by the way), are you somehow implying that anyone who gets verbally abusive could very well expect physical assault as a possible response from CO's supervisory personnel?

Is that where you have placed the bar for your beloved Continental Airlines?

In your role as semi-official consigliere to the company's senior management I would certainly hope that you begin to represent passengers' interests a little more energetically as opposed to constantly defending the company's actions, regardless of their inappropriateness.

Noanker1

If you notice, Cigarman prefaces his remark about the broken neck by saying (inside baseball joke coming). It was only a joke, referencing I believe, a 5 or so year old incident at Newark.

mauld

Looking today, on a one way, last minute, EWR-LAS for FIRST (A) class the highest one way I get is $674 ($684.40 incl taxes). If I put in F as a Specific Class of Service, I get a message saying "Not a valid class..." Where did you get the $2182 o/w ??

TWA Fan 1

Of course, I understood this. The only thing that makes it inappropriate is cigarman's role as a semi-official passenger representative and confidant of Larry Kellner.

This position makes this kind of joke inappropriate. Instead, he should try to take his unique access and help Kellner and his team deal with the real, substantive issues that CO is facing with customer service at Newark.

star_world

[KVS Availability Tool 2.8.3/Platinum - Sabre: Fares/ZUJ/SG-USD]

Xyzzy

"F" is a reward bucket. The FC fare buckets are A, D, Z, and R. Not all of these are available for sale in all markets.

otralot

Just to be clear. I was not proposing tha review be made to over rule the decision and put the eprson back on the original flight. I was suggesting that in these cases, which I asume are realtively rare, that an uber-spupervisior take the pax aay to a quite place and assess the situation for onward travel. That seems like a minimum to me that should be done. Sure so cases are true security violations and the police make that assessment.

At some level CO involuntarily denied boarding to the OP and at minimum they should retun his funds for the ewr/las portion, or if it turns out that mutually flaring tempers are at the root here then the supervisor can rebook on the next available flight.

BTW, just because some one swears at you it does not mean there is a risk. In fact, there are many ways to diffuse situations like this and turn a negative around into a positive. Simple, honest communication goes a long way in this world. Again, an argument for more training or moving people (GA) who can't handle the stress to less stressful slots.

ryerflyer

I think here is a root cause. The OP made an assumption, which was wrong, and then grew upset when the facts didn't match his assumption. Instead of going " Oh, OK ,that's your policy" he grew angry with the agent, and the agent, in turn, and innappropriately, was angry in response.

Lesson learned - don't assume one airline has the same ticketing/upgrade policies as another. In fact, noone has the same upgrade policy as US Airways. It always helps to get your facts straight instead of jumping to conclusions.

Playing the race card is a little hysterical, though. When all else fails, plead racism. Please.

TVCMH

This seems like a really long story to put on a postcard.

TWA Fan 1

Your post makes it sound like the actions of the CO Supervisor were somehow appropriate, even if the OP acted in a hostile fashion.

Also, telling someone to "go back to Quebec" is not playing the race card, since French Canadians are white (assuming, of course, the OP is white)...

Stripe

Yes! With all the inconsistencies in the story I wonder whether it even happened at all. And even if the OP was at EWR and was denied boarding the circumstances were almost certainly not as he described them. He no doubt contributed to his own problems. I also don't believe...

... 5 F seats were available for sale at the last minute. All elites were upgraded?
... they waited until they were at the gate to ask for an upgrade if sitting in F was that important.
... that he was willing to pay over $2500 to upgrade the family one way. (Granted, this is a personal value judgment. Now if he were leaving LAS then I might buy the fact that he was lucky at the tables and was feeling flush.)
... that US took him for $1,300 per person for one way in Y from JFK to LAS. With DL, US and B6 all flying N/S from JFK to LAS there is no way that was his only alternative, if it even happened.

And if he was cursing the agents they were absolutely right to deny him boarding. They can't take a chance on letting someone out of control board the aircraft. Whether they contributed to his behavior is irrelevant. The GA's concern rightly should be the crew and the planeload of "normal" passengers. I can imagine the disruption and discomfort he would have caused others once on board.

Stop taking this guy's story so seriously. Yes, there are numerous tales of obnoxious EWR agents so the situation no doubt may have a ring of truth to some, but at its core the story stinks.

ryerflyer

Read the OP's original post - he specifically asked Kelner if he has ever been the target of "racial profiling".

Also, I said in my post above that the agent acted inappropriately.