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Reverse question: how does a GA or other airline employee feel after not doing his or her best to help a customer? Four examples:

1. In Montreal, as a CP, I was #1 on the upgrade list, according to the ticket counter; the (guy) GA cleared other passengers first and then another GA came over and said (in French, which I understand), that I should have been cleared first, the first GA responded (in French), "Those chicks were hot; I had to help them!" and laughed. I was thus stuck in a middle seat coach between two other large guys for what turned out to be a five hour trip on the runway and in flight. I didn't say anything to the GAs.

2. In LGA, I asked if my upgrade had cleared; the GA said, "First class has checked in full!" and so I boarded, in coach; another passenger and I had the same seat so another GA came on to help us get re-seated and fussed at me for having boarded after I had already been upgraded; it was difficult to get from row 18 to row 2 with all of the boarding passengers. I didn't say anything to the GAs.

3. At EWR, I had UA connecting flights (through IAD) on different itineraries since for some reason the website wouldn't let me book the multi-segment trip; I asked the ticket agent if I could check in for both flights (which had just an hour layover), knowing well that I could since I had done it the day before on the outbound trip; she looked at me and said, "No, the computer system will not allow you to check in from a flight from IAD from here." I just thanked the ticket agent.

4. At CLT, a ticket agent was confrontational from the moment I walked up to the ticket counter; I wanted to fly standby to a co-terminal but she kept insisting on me having to pay $XXXX to buy a new ticket, although I had done standby to the same co-terminal before; when I handed her the fare rules showing that it was allowed, she ripped up the fare rules and my boarding pass and said something along the lines of "I don't care; I make the rules here!" This time I responded, very aggressively, but certainly didn't feel badly about it.

Do any gate agents or other employees feel badly after treating customers like that?

The only time I felt bad about how I treated a pax was on this one day that turned out to be my worse day of work at any job ever. It was myself and one other agent down at the gate handling 3 PHL flights that were each late over 2 hours 1 DCA flt and 1 CLT and all full some oversold. I was trying to re-accomadate paxs along with work flts and EVERYONE kept coming up with questions, yelling, complaining, etc... I made an annoucement that I was working on connections and to please give me time to look up the connections and to refrain from asking any questions for the time being. It was impossible to get anything done with the constant interruption. I was not rude about it in any way. However I had a pax come up while I was boarding our DCA flt who was a speech professor or something of the sort and tried to give me constructive criticism about my announcement. At that moment I just couldn't hear it and sort of went off on the guy.

I felt pretty bad for going off on the guy but I just didn't have time to listen to a lecture about my announcement. That so far is the only time I felt bad about what I said/did to a pax. Other than that day I always make sure I treat pax with the upmost respect and consideration. I have definently learned that when I pax gets to the point where I am about to fly off the handle then I will just call the police, twice I refrained from calling the cops in situations where I should have.

I once had a lpax (a US2) miss her flight and proceed to throw her boarding passes at me. I politely handed them back to her and told her I will definently not help her if she is going to do that. And after she insisted it was an accident I re-booked her on the next flt and 10mins before departure on that one she was the last pax we were missing. And I found her at the bar and politely told her that she has 3 mins to be on board the aircraft. And you know what? I didn't even get a thank-you.

I agree with you; I would not like the pax who was in the bar at all. That kind of behavior is unacceptable.

Irate customers, yelling, nastiness, etc. are endemic to a lot of industries, unfortunately, in case it helps deal with it; I have gotten screamed at and called all sorts of names while at work; I work in finance and not in a job involving customer service. Curiously enough, when I did have a customer-service job in college, customers were a lot nicer than the people I have dealt with in jobs in offices that don't involve customer service!

While waiting for the F lav in an HP A320 the lead FA started chatting with me and said "You know, you're a really low maintenance passenger." I took it as a compliment and remarked "I'm just going to work... it's not a big deal." I don't need to be treated like a rockstar or have the employees fawn over me because I'm CP; I believe in mutual respect and have never in nearly 1,000 flight segments blown up at any airline employee. I've certainly argued my point a few times, but I do so repectfully. We all get upset at times, but there are appropriate courses of action.

Very fair question. I remember reading when your incident occured in CLT and you swore off USAirways. So when I have failed someone, how do I feel. I am trying to think of an instance where I didn't try my best.

Okay the one thing I always felt sort of bad about-I say sort of, because the guy ended up getting on the flight, so it all worked out in the end. We had a flight land where oxygen had been given to a passenger. Since the O2 bottle had been used, the flight could not go unless the bottle was refilled. No one had access to such, so our full flight canceled. Had a guy going to MDT, a trucker actually, whom had driven down from there to my station, was flying back up to repeat. I couldn't confirm him on anything until late in the evening. He was upset, and tired I supposed and I tried to reason with him saying the gentleman on the flight needed the oxygen or something worse may have happened to him. His response, "I hope that guy, I better not say anymore." It wasn't going to end, I hope that guy fully recovers. I was absolutely horrified and thought if this man values another man's life so little, why should I go out of my way to help him. He had actually been confirmed on the flight when I tried to longsell the stand by segment, I really to this day don't know how. But I canceled it out, and placed him as a standby using a different entry. Was it right? Hardly. But I could not reward someone that thought such a thing. There was another lady that if we couldn't have gotten on the next flight, wouldn't have made it home. She was on the standby list under him, so I took volunteers to get them both on.

I always felt really bad, after the fact, that I let that guy make it personal for me. The guy that had needed the oxygen is a CP and a really nice guy. And is fine today and still flying.

So there is my admission of being a bad agent. That is why I don't let things get personal. I pride myself on being the best I can be, so I hate knowing I let that man get to me.

You are definently my favorite kind of pax. You have no idea how much us agents appreciate paxs such as yourself. And just so you know we do take note of the CP, Gold, and Silver paxs that sit there patiently waiting for their flights week in and week out without a fuss. And I would bend over backwards any day for these paxs.

I also never forget the names/faces of the ones who have blown up on me. And while I will treat these paxs with complete respect the next time and do the job that is required of me for them, I may be a little less inclined to go above and beyond the call of duty for them.

And you, I'd imagine, are my favorite kind of agent... someone who takes pride in what they do and has both the ability and desire to find solutions -- even if they're not specifically spelled-out in the employee handbook. We recognize outstanding employees probably as much as you recognize level-headed pax.

One of my favorite lines, overheard by one of my co-workers, from a United baggage service agent as she was being verbally assaulted: �Sir, right now there are two people who care about the location of your bag -- and one of us is quickly losing interest.�

Great thread. Welcome to FT, A380US.

Lately, I have had a small amt of flexibility with days, times and sometimes routes I travel so to the best of my ability try to avoid full flights, busy travel days and bad weather. This seems to eliminate the majority of travel related problems and most stress. The lower stress understandably makes for a pleasant flt. Consequently the GA's anf FA's are relaxed and usually very pleasant as well.

As TVCH said, a well reasoned but respectful point is far more powerful than a temper tantrum. I can only remember one recent major snafu that I got fairly upset over and that was w/ Air Tran in ATL with the CS folks, but even then I kept my cool. I think anger is counter productive 99% of the time.

The regular GAs that I know on my routes are great and bend over backwards for a "low maintenance" passenger.

Great thread!

I've never gone off on a GA and rarely had even minor problems with GA's on US. I have to say that the GA's where I fly tend to keep me flying US. I have been amazed at some of the GA's who are able to explain some of the ridiculous policies that they often HAVE to enforce to an irate passenger in a way that the passenger cools off and at least understands.

I was delayed waiting for the FULL 330 for the PHL-SJU run about 2 months ago. We were MX delayed for about 3 hours. My connection got shot and the GA politely asked us to have a seat while she worked on connections. She was so professional. When she called me up she had everything ready to go, it was much better than waiting in line. I then watched her supervisor explain to a pax who was going to miss their connection on Vieque's airlink why US couldn't reimburse him for hotel (as they were reimbursing me). I was connecting on Caribbean Sun codeshare and because it was US's responsibility to get me to STX they had to put me up in a hotel. Since he was on a separate reservation US had done their responsibility to get him to SJU, albeit a bit late, and they couldn't shell out for a hotel when as far as they were concerned they got him where he was going. The pax wasn't particularly happy but he walked away understanding. I spoke with him shortly after his encounter and he even had good things to say about the way the GA handled it!

I started chatting with the GA who helped me after she had gotten her work done getting missed connections straightened out. She said she was staying on her own time at that point to make sure we actually got out as she was genuinely concerned with us pax. In the end we made friends and she asked me to swing back by to see her when I was making my PHL-SJU run again. About a month later I was heading out that way and brought her a little gift to thank her for doing such a fine job.

Empathy is the most important aspect I think a CSR of any type (GA, TA, FA) can have. Putting yourself in someone elses shoes and thinking "how would I like to be treated if I was just delayed 3 hours" is very important. In this instance the GA's did such a good job at this it amazed me. After years of paycuts I was just amazed to see that this woman still took pride in herself and her work and cared enough about us to do whatever it took to get the job done.

Sean

Well, you're a veteran now, but welcome to FT.

Love the handle - makes me think dreamily about boarding a US A380 on my next PIT-FRA hop... slap - they don't fly PIT-FRA anymore?

In answer to your question - never. If I had a dollar for every US employee (CSR, GA, FA) who's been helpful and professional and had to pay a dollar for everyone who wasn't, I'd retire a very rich man.

Thanks for your good work - it's sincerely appreciated.

Seems reasonable to me for 2 year old pants, after all if your house or car was robbed would your insurance company give you replacement costs? If you sued US would a judge give you replacement value? I think not.

Yes, there was one time a ticket agent (not a gate agent), made me lose my temper. About three years ago, I was traveling NRSA (Non-rev, Space Avail), w/ my family. I was about sixteen at the time, and my little brother was about thirteen. Well, my brother and I were wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts.
Well, when we checked-in at LGA, the ticket agent said, "You're not flying today because, when flying non-rev, you must wear a collared-shirt with pants and dress shoees." Huh? My mom, who was a pilot for over thirty years, had NO idea about that there even was a dress code. We had planned this trip for about three months, and we were going from LGA to PHL to LAX. Keep in mind that this was the 6am flight, and everything was closed. I yelled at her, "What the Hell? We were planning this trip for weeks, and there are finally enough seats on the airplane for us to go, and now you will not let us make the thirty minute connection to PHL? All the other flights to LAX from PHL are overbooked!"

Her response, "I'm sorry, but it is a company policy."

End of story? No. She then had another ticket agent come up. My mom asked, "Well, what can we do? Is there any place for them to change." (Keep in mind, this was in the middle of July). She answered, "Ma'am, are you asking if I will go into the bathroom with your son's and change them?"

We walked away, found another agent who actually had kids and knew what it was, and let us through.

But, had I been a full-paying passanger, I would have never flown US again.

Actually, YES, they would give me replacement value. But I do pay a premium for the coverage. Oh, and I guess had I really wanted to push the issue I couldve called amex for baggage claim assistance. It wasnt a big deal, except that I had to wait 9+weeks for a depriciated check. I just think it was poor customer service.

But I guess it was really my fault that US lost my bags? Every pax should understand that it is a courtesy to for bags to arrive when pax do? Maybe that is why I carryon as much as possible. Oh, and on US you have wonderful overheads that you can not put rollaboards in crosswise!

One key issue at play in this thread is the business of lost baggage. The newer employees at US simply may not remember a time (not that far back) when lost baggage was a real rarity -- and I'm not kidding. There once was a time when one could fly for years without ever having a bag misconnect. It was, in fact, wholly expected that one would check baggage wherever one was flying. Bring aboard bags were of the very smallest sort - used to call them "train cases" and purses, briefcases, etc.

I think that's one key reason that folks over 40 have little patience with a bag claim clerk who's 19 years old (chewing gum) telling them they shouldn't have checked their bags at all. As industry has progressed and every business on the planet has focused closely on effiencies of operation while maximizing ouput, somehow airline baggage handling has gone steadily south.

Agents should understand that, regardless of what they've been trained to think, it is unacceptable to have 10% of pax coming off any flight to have misconnected bags. Outside of unusual ops (blizzard conditions and 2 hour ATC delays in PHL, etc), it is reasonable for a pax to expect checked bags to arrive with them.