Did your MBA curriculum not include spelling and grammar? If you speak like you write it's no wonder the GA discounted you.

The treatment described was quite far into the realm of unacceptable regardless of business attire, age discrimination, or whatever.

Judging from the post (1K status, SFO-EWR) , I would think OP's on a UA flight, not CO (even s/he didn't say it specifically).

I agree. If a GA is in a bad mood (or unprofessional), s/he is in a bad mood (or unprofessional). I assume confrontation on the spot didn't help either.

As most people have already said, this sounds like yet another case of bad service and not age discrimination (though that may be indeed be a factor).

I am even younger (just turned 22) and look quite young as well. I've been in a few sticky situations and I can safely say that, while it may not help sometimes, being nice and staying calm never hurts. Dressing well probably helps, but being cool gets you so much further.

UA has generally been pretty decent to me in airports worldwide, maybe because I travel quite a bit with my family (dad is 1KMM, mom is 1P).

Take it easy on the OP, people. I empathize, as most of us have been in a similar situation at some point. Besides, MBAs get enough flack as it is. Reminds me of this FedEx ad!

I'm 23, a Gold on Delta (will be Platinum in 3 weeks) amongst others and have been elite on an airline since 18 (I think). Only once have I ever run into an issue, and that was with a GA in PHX who said I was using my father's Medallion information and that she was doing me a favour by not turning the both of us in. I simply told her "thanks" and boarded the plane, and when I got home shot off an e-mail to DL complaining about this agent and how she treated an elite member.

Oh sorry that my spelling and grammar bothered you. English is my fourth language. Why don't you try to speak your fourth language this good then go talk to me again?

I call bull. The reason is that if English were really OP's fourth language, and OP
got an advanced degree of some kind, OP'd be more careful about its usage.
Unless the degree was one of those vanity degrees, perhaps.

Or unless it was from a university in non-English-speaking country. Like most of the world ;)

Think about it, K.

Oh gosh, four languagues, this person is obviously superior to me! I only speak three languagues so I should bow to someone that speaks four. </sarcasm>


OP, I was on your side in this situation until I saw your arrogant response. Is it possible you're not recounting the story correctly and some arrogance crept into your body language during the exchange? Is it possible that, by your own admission your English is a 4th language, you did not understand what was going on during your verbal exchange? Like I said, I thought you were right until I saw the quoted post showing that perhaps you don't even realize you're being offensive.

The arrogance was originally displayed in the post OP was replying to. OP replied in a fitting and restrained manner under the circumstances. Frankly, the fact that you thought OP was "right" until you learned English was not his first language speaks volumes and sheds some light on what OP actually experienced at the airport.

My reaction has nothing to do with learning English isn't his first language and has everything to do with what I view as his arrogance. I feel like he was trying to silence dissenting opinion because, and I paraphrase "I speak four languages, therefore I'm intelligent, so shut up and don't disagree with me."

My learning about the language situation doesn't "speak volumes" because my point is that, when someone disagreed with the OP, his reaction was harsh. Is it possible that when faced with a rude representative of the airline, the OP reacted in a way that escalated the situation? of course the GA was ghastly wrong, but that doesn't mean that the OP isn't arrogant as well.


Anyway, RPH, I can already tell where this is going. The next response is to call me an 'apologist' for bad bahavior.

OP: Please tell us that you are a person of color so that PhlyingRPh can REALLY go on a tear. With "discrimination" in the thread title, I knew it would not take long for him to appear.

Yes, you experienced age discrimination. The GA treats young people badly and does judge books by its cover.

Or as others have stated, the GA is just lousy at his job.

A picture is more than a thousand words. Just check out OP's profile and you can see it for yourself. :D

As I mentioned before, I am not giving excuses to the GA in question. However, I learn from personal experiences if things are handled in a "graceful" way, most of the times, you'll get better results, in comparison with being confrontational.