Rewarding the wrong behavior has GOT to stop!
 

A long-time United and Delta flyer, I had my first-ever taste of AA this week. (Figured, hey, UA doesn't fly to El Paso and might as well try a Gold Challenge, as this one flight will get me halfway there...)

My return took me on AA1440 ELP-DFW, leaving @ 7.12am. First trip on AA of course means no elite, and the 20# of training materials I brought along means checking my bag. OK, this means dealing with the lines at the counter. No problem ... stayed at the airport Hilton, arrived at the terminal @ 5.35am. The AA line was about 100 or so people long, with three agents working the counter. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

At about 6.15, two more agents showed up and the line started moving faster. There was an ELP-ORD flight leaving @ 6.50, and they were motivated to get everyone checked in. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

At 6.30, I was third in line. Another minute or two, right?

Wrong! The counter supervisor called for a show of hands for those left in line for the Chicago flight, pulled them all out of line, moved them to the First Class check-in ... and then we watched as ALL FIVE AGENTS pulled from the first class aka Chicago line. All five! The "regular" line peons, all of us who'd been there for upwards of an hour, sat there slack-jawed, unable to believe this was happening.

After about 5 minutes of this, I'd had enough. "Excuse me ...," I called out, about ten feet to the supervisor. "Who's working the regular line?"

"We're all trying to get the Chicago passengers checked in, sir," the same obnoxious supervisor responded.

"You've got 5 people up there! You can't spare one person for the rest of us?"

"There's not too many more people left for Chicago. We'll get to you as soon as we can." She said this as she pulled a 60-something from the "O'Hare Latecomers" line who I'd seen with my own two eyes walk into the terminal at 6.20am for his 6.50 flight!! And he wasn't the only one. Not a single one of the last 20 or so people who checked in for ORD had originally been in front of me in line.

So at precisely 6.43, they finally returned to checking in the hoi polloi. And another counter agent (not the aforemenentioned supervisor, unfortunately, but I was in a hurry) had the UNMITIGATED GALL to tell me as she handed me my boarding pass, "The security lines are very long this morning. Hope you make your flight." http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mad.gif

Sure enough, 25 minutes in security later, I made it to the gate just in time for the final boarding call. A couple of empty seats coming up on the flight (which was overbooked and, oh, did I mention that they'd given away my seat assignment?!) was the only thing keeping me from the scarlet letters IDB.

I was livid. No, I was beyond livid. Those 15 minutes that ALL FIVE AGENTS spent on Chicago passengers, most of whom had arrived at the airport less than 45 minutes before their flight, could very well have ended up costing me THREE HOURS.

There's a big, BIG issue at work here. Unless you're blind, deaf, and have been living in a cave since mid-September, you know the security requirements for air travel in the United States these days. If you show up at the airport -- not at the gate, but at the airport -- half an hour before your flight is scheduled to leave, then my response would be, "To h*** with you. You're flying standby on the next plane out; hope you get lucky." When the mollycoddling of idiots who can't be bothered to get to the airport early in the morning winds up potentially costing people who DO get there two hours in advance a seat on their flight, then something is SERIOUSLY wrong with the system.

A couple of follow-up questions:

• Has this happened to anyone else on any other airline since 9/11?
• Or is this solely an American, or maybe even an ELP problem?
• And where would I go to bring it to American's attention without whistling in the wind?

I'm not going to ask for anything as, after all, I did make it on to my originally scheduled flight, but talk about a case of negative reinforcement! You'd think someone in a decision-making position would want to know about it ...

SP

Southwest pulled people out of line at the security checkpoints during September, but by late October they stopped, almost certainly for the reason you cite, which economists call "moral hazard". Namely guys like me gaming the system. Fortunately, by then they had the lines under control. Now the lines are 20 minutes max, and I'm perfectly happy to wait.

Hi there,
I recently had the opposite experience at SFO - I was the guilty one arriving late.

I was meant to fly at 13:50 SFO-ORD then connect onto my flight back to LHR. There was a wreck on the 101 freeway and I arrived only 50 minutes before departure. I was confronted by a giant queue. I waited in line and then was pulled to the front to check in.

Fortunately, the SFO agents were clever enough to avoid trouble and only 1 of the 5 agents (of the section I was in) was processing the late comers.

I know the rules and guidelines and by rights I should have been looking at a standby ticket on a later flight. It worked out for me this time but I agree that it's not a particularly fair system. Everybody is made aware of the rules - if you cut it fine you shouldn't expect to queue jump.

Jason

I couldn't agree with you more. It's one thing to handle those already in line if it gets close to boarding time, but to accept late comers at such a late time, is not right. Let them miss their flight! And yes, that goes for me too, if I'm late.

I have seen this at a couple of places/airlines, so I don't think it's just AA or ELP, it happens in other places as well.

Delta has done this to me at SEA. They ask for anyone on the JFK or ATL flights and pull them all over to the First Class check in lines. Once they just moved them to the front of the coach line.

Satellite Parking -- If you had your boarding pass and made it to the gate in time for the final boarding call, how did your seat assignment get given away???

BTW, I agree with your arguments, it certainly is a negative reinforcement.

My TA's confirmation shows that I'd been booked in 14F. The counter agent handed me a boarding pass when I (finally) got to the front of the line ... and when I pulled out my ticket to show the security guard, I saw there was no seat assignment listed on it! I hadn't even noticed it, I was so p***ed off at the whole line-jumping debacle.

So, to answer your question, I have no earthly idea.

All in all, an eventful morning ... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Agree. Have seen it at United as well on occasion.

Also just experienced it at the Fast Track security position where they x-ray your carryon before you enter the airside terminals at LHR.

Only about 20 people in line in this priority Fast Track lane, but it took about 45 minutes as they kept bringing people who were "late" for their flights to the front of the line.

I managed to get to the airport 2 1/2 hours early. Why couldn't they? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Satellite Parking Sorry about your encounter.

Like you, I always get to the airport as early as possible, and have been lucky not to have your experience yet.

I agree that it's very unfair for the ones that are always early... personally, i think the airlines should have people standing at the airport entrances and if you get in late, sorry you are on stand by!

I agree 100%.

This happened to me in SEA about two years ago. I had a flight that left at 1:10 am. There was another flight that left at 12:40.

I had worked until 4:20 or so in Pendeleton, Or, the drove 3 hours back to Seattle, saw the last 6 innings of a Mariners game. I then grabbed a bite at a fast food place, then returned the car. I got in line (no elite/FC counter at all, and the automated check-in was not functioning) at about 11:30 p.m. This was after working all day and driving 3.5 hours.

I waited in an incredibly long line for over 30 minutes, when the agents pulled all the people for the 12:30 flight to the front. At least 40 people who were behind me went to the front of the line, delaying me and everyone else another 20 minutes.

It wasn't so much that I missed a seat assignment, etc., but that I had to stand in line with a large garment bag, a laptop case, and a lawyer's brief bag filled with papers that weighed 30 or so pounds. I was exhausted, and wanted to sit down and not hold my bags any more.

This rewarding of irresponsible behavior (kind of like FEMA rebuilding everyone's house who DOESN'T have insurance after an natural disaster) is stupid. Show up that late, miss your **** flight, or simply ask others if you can cut ahead.... I would have gladly let anyone cut ahead of me... I just didn't appreciate NWA making me do this.

I flew out of ELP a dozen or so times while I lived there post-9/11, from Sept to Jan. FWIW, check in lines and security lines were never that long-- after a few flights, ELP regulars can attest that 45 min. to check in and clear security is usually still fine.

That said....

I don't agree with AA using all 5 agents to check in people for the ORD flight. I'm curious if people behind you ended up actually missing the DFW flight because of it.

My perspective, though, is to have a latecomers line, in the unfortunate event that someone is late beyond their control. Sure people will abuse it: people abuse the express line at the grocery store; people abuse handicapped parking spots and special seat designations at the front of buses. But by and large, it provides a courtesy in people's time of need, and it causes minimal inconvenience for the general populous: if 1 agent were checking in ORD, then your wait in line may have been 7 minutes instead of 5.

I see this everythime I am at the Airport... Delta at FLL makes this standard practice. However, as a GM, I only see this happining and I don't get caught up in all of the mess... I have become almost Exclusive on Delta just because of S*** like this! At that should say a lot as we all know how much Delta is screwing it's Medialian Members!^_

Happened to me at LHR late September. I was made to stay "first" on line for nearly 20 minutes while people who had just arrived at the airport were allowed to go in front of me. The lines at security were biblical. I barely made it to my flight.

Except that the crew was late. They were held up at security. (Or so they said.)

I've also seen this going on for a long time. I've heard people say that it doesn't pay to get to the airport early when they see people getting called out of the line.

Satelite -

Drifting off to a different subject, UA Express will be offering service to El Paso from Denver in the not too distant future. Check the web site for exact dates.