DC10

On my recent Swiss, operated by Helvetic Airlines flight I have experienced very rude gate agent. I was departing from a small airport where the lounge is located 2 min walk from the gate. My flight was leaving at 10:35 with board scheduled at 10:10. For your information, lounge broadcast all PA announcements from the gates.

At 10:10 there was a announcement that the flight is ready to board, inviting those needing special assistance to board first. Next 6 minutes there was no further annoucment (ex. Priority boarding, general boarding, last call, etc.).

At 10:17 there was annoucment “Mr. My name and last name, proceed to the gate imidetaly ! “. I ran to the gate and arrived there at 10:19 and gate agent was telling me off that I was not at the gate on time. I asked why they didn’t made any boarding announcements beside pre-boarding and she said that there was no need because all other passengers where at the gate and that I should be boarded first because of the Business Class ticket. I told her that LH Group usually boards by the zones and I was expecting same. She continued with telling me off. I decided to end the conversation and thanked her for waiting and wished her nice day and walked on the airplane.

Once on board I have apologised to the Maître de Cabine if they had to wait for me and he replied that I should not worry because we have another 10-15 minutes on the gate. I told him about the gate agent and he apologised on her behalf for the bad experience and he said that they should announce boarding zones.

Now I am thinking that I will file the complaint to the Swiss. Do you think is it worth because it was the airports staff (gate agent) fault for the bad experience. I am not complaining about not announcing board zones but the way how the gate agent was talking with me in the rude way.

Regards, DC10

fassy

In short: No.

The bit longer version:
First: Your complaint will go no where. Best you can expect is a standard pre-made "sorry for your experience"-mail.
Second: Well... all airlines usually say: "Please be at the gate at the indicated boarding time". Gate Agents can close flights early for various reasons. And they can miss to call out boarding groups... especially in a small airport and a small plane. Had numbers flights from very small Swiss or Austrian Airports and they did not call for boarding groups as only 20-25 pax were expected anyway.
Third: Even a GA is only human... bad day? Headaches? Slept not well? Sick kid...or already received notice? You never know.
Fourth: Was there any real damaged done which is worth complaining about?

Still, No!

11277m

These days it seems to be unusual for me to get through 24 hours without being "told off" by someone, if I choose to take it that way.

I always put it down to them being unreasonable, not me!

Water off a duck's back.

chris63

It’s not a particularly nice job & certainly low paid, as others have said She could have been having a bad day, just part of life

behuman

Personally to be within my comfort zone I would have left for the gate at 1008 if boarding starts at 1010 . But that's me, relaxed flyer getting older......

ced_lx

There are plenty of reasons why boarding would close early but clearly you have the time in this case. Just remember that staff must be getting such crap these days for angry passengers… cut them some slack

no use complaining in this case.

flew out of YUL two weeks ago and it was a complete Zoo!

MichielR

It appears to me that at more and more airports, the handling agents have to deal with contractual performance indicators like 'board all pax by D-10' or similar, where D is the scheduled departure time, not actual (that would be a self-fulfilling prophecy, after all). That would explain all the 'timely' boarding only for pax then to spend 10 minutes waiting in an airbridge, a bus on the platform, or a holding pen right behind the gate desk. This may well have been a similar case where the gate agent is encouraged to board early and late pax mess up the KPIs.

fassy

Well, if you look at all the knock-on effects of a late push back from the gate over the day, that is a very valuable KPI to meet for an airline. Just imagine 5 to 10 minutes late push-back at each leg over a day... Than can mean hours of delay at the end of the day. Or even worse that crews time out.

Some airlines are VERY aggressive with this in the last few years. Most notorious LOT at WAW when using bus gates. Had many times boarding did start 10 minutes earlier than indicated and the flight was closed 20 minutes before departure time.

That's the one thing I don't get. A lot of elite frequent flyers complain about delays, missed connections etc.... but if they can contribute to a timely departure by being at the gate at the indicated time.... or maybe even 5 minutes early... they don't and rather stay in the lounge to the very last minute.

Even after 15 years of very frequent flying,... I walk to the gate like 10 minutes before boarding time, and just wait at the gate... No, not hugging the metal turnstiles. Just somewhere find a seat or calm place to read a bit and wait for the magic to happen.

MichielR

I try to be at the gate on time, not early but certainly not too late. But I am getting more and more upset with the "early boarding" practice where boarding starts well before the plane and crew are ready, and pax are just waiting in the holding pen/airbridge/bus for 10 minutes. Pax are not late if they arrive at the time indicated on the boarding pass... And I prefer to wait in the lounge, not in the airbridge, especially with the current temperatures.

chris63

Same here & at outstations some of those holding pens are horrible !

fassy

Yes, that's what I do as well... and in most airports I usually go through, that means leaving the lounge like 10 minutes before boarding time to have a comfortable slow walk down to the gate. But I know a lot of people who try to minimize time spend waiting at the gate and in principle show up last minute. That annoys me. Especially if the flight is already fully boarded but you have to wait for the one guy who decided he needs another Brezel in the lounge.

Yeah, true... that is annoying. And to be honest, most of the time I experience this is in ZRH. Almost never in FRA, MUC or ARN. In CPH... they are very nasty on the bus gates but don't queue up people in the airbridge behind the turnstiles.

catandmouse

I wonder if in some airports, and it wouldn't surprize me for airports in Germany, Health and Safety or the Fire Department have rapped the airlines on the knuckles for crowding people on air bridges or other similar locations.

MichielR

You have to wear a mask in the airbridge. Problem solved, right?

hugolover

LOT flights close 15 mins before, not 20 mins.

oliver2002

If boarding begins at T-25min thats when you should be at the gate, especially if they announce boarding... the gate agent has to close the flight and print the paperwork around T-10min if they want to push on time. If the crew doesn't have the paperwork in time they can't ask for pushback clearance either. The gate agent in BEG was probably told to get everything done in time and under no circumstances create a dealy to the aircraft leaving that can be pinned on the handling company.