bsb21

Don't be too harsh now!

ajax

Yes, yes, yes.

And I still can't find any evidence that age discrimination has been committed.

Just because the OP is young doesn't mean that he/she was discriminated against because of it.

voop

Try "three continents [and counting] within a week". Makes you want to kill someone, if not yourself.....

[from VIE, bumped off an intercontinental to asia, and rerouting through FRA to an also oversold flight which "may have better odds of having a no-show, or at least get you partway there", to quote the agent heres....ohh, the suffering]

czhang

I don't see how much of the discussion here is even related to the OP now anymore. Also, FWIW, the OP might have quoted himself saying "OMG" as an abbreviation rather than "O M G" itself.

nkedel

Yeah, I was rather tempted to point out that it's better in the long run than the alternative of looking older than you are. Being able to pass for older ceases to be cool pretty much the moment you hit 21.

Well, maybe never having started smoking does but the point is otherwise well taken.

VideoPaul

I think the point here is that even though this person looks like a teenager, clueless or otherwise, the poster is a business professional and percieves that he was trated shabbily because of appearance. Airlines will walk through the fire for business travelers and this GA, from the OP's posting, took him for some kid, even though the OP probably intellectually outclasses the GA by a couple of dozen points.

When I started traveling extensively and looked 25 rather than 36, I ran into the same thing in executive lounges, ("Excuse me, which member are you here as a guest of?"), first class check in lines ("Sir, the check-in line begins over THERE, this is for first class only") and in first / business class itself ("Sir, may I see your boarding card?") because obviously someone who isn't in a suit and doesn't look old ebough to have ben in one industry for 18 years Now that I look 32 rather than 41 (#$!&#$% Propecia!) it's a non-issue but it was really insulting having to "prove" that I belonged with the business executives and "looked" the part after I had already gotten past the front desk at the Admiral's Club and other places where if you're not wearing a three piece suit and you're not pounding Crown Royal out of a juice glass at 7 AM you obviously don't belong there.

I know exactly of which the OP speaks.

--PP

ajax

It's tricky. Whilst being singled out in a line of people to show your boarding pass (and simultaneously looking 10+ years younger than anyone else, or being the only black person, or whatever), is a pretty clear indication of discrimination - and abhorrent, don't get me wrong - I don't see anything about this particular encounter which shows any age discrimination.

Am I missing something?

The more I think about this, the more it sounds to me like (a) the agent was a world-class bonehead who had no business being in front of customers, and (b) the OP had a chip on his shoulder and was happy to cry "age" even when it wasn't true.

runarut

Probably.

Discrimination does occur more frequently than any of us would like to admit. It can be very subtle. For example, a number of posters to this thread are having trouble accepting the notion that the OP wasn't discriminated based on age. They just assumed the OP had to do something to receive the treatment or the GA was just plain bad.

If you aren't lucky/unlucky enough to look materially younger than you are, odds are you will never understand what it means to be treated like a child as an adult even when you are exhibiting adult behaviors, adult dress, adult mannerisms.

The discrimination comes from people assuming you are a twelve year old and treating you that way based on how you look. It is OK when you are twelve but it really bites when you are 25.

On the flip side, if you are 40 and look 60 (there are folks with this affliction), it is virtually impossible to receive equal treatment with regard to employment opportunities. Folks just assume you are going to keel over any day now. No promotions or substandard raises.

Ageism is alive and well.

ArtfullyUrs

First of all : EXCUSE ME for my Bad, Horrible, Unacceptable use of the English language. Yes, I may speak only Three Languages, but I thought I would count Sign Language too since I am very P.C.

The reason that I signed up for this lovely site was so I could learn more about traveling from professionals, educated people.

So I had a problem with one of my flight, and I decided to share my story. I had NO idea this would turn into such a NASTY thread. I really tried to pull it down, but I did not know how to do that.

I just caught up on all the nice ( and not so nice) posts that you all wrote. Thank you so much for all the criticism and the supports. I really don't want to point out every single person, but some of you are really ignorance. It's amazing.

We are about to have the first African American President in this country, so hopefully, that would change the attitudes all over the U.S. Maybe I am not allow to vote because I don't write English that well. Well excusez moi.

Peace.

Voila, ciao.