MileageAddict

I flew last night from FLL-DCA. The flight was oversold and running late. It seems as if every single passeger waiting to board was crowding the gate in a manner I've never seen before.

GA calls for F class boarding, waits about 10 seconds and then calls for Zone 1. Many Zone 1 passengers including myself were in the back of the crowd, excusing ourselves and asking people to step aside so we could board. Even though its inconvenient, that procedure usually works just fine. Except last night, the GA called Zone 2 about 30 seconds later. I kid you not, another 30 seconds and she calls Zone 3. Well, this got all the Zone 1 passengers still working their way through the crowd to voice their displeasure rather loudly and start .....ng her out.

I expected the GA to apologize and tell the Zone 2-3 people to hold off but instead, she said, "Look, we need to get this plane out of here. Don't you people want to get to Washngton or not?" Wow, just wow. The lack of customer service skills blew me away. Though, it was entertaining to watch every elite member chastise her in some way or another as they checked in. Hopefully, she will tell herself to handle the situation in a better way next time.

Tucker501

This is when I wish I had "Let's try harder next time" cards instead of "Above and Beyond" cards.

TiredOfTooMuchTravel

I can understand her wanting to do whatever she needed to get the flight out as quickly as possible but she definitely didnt do it the right way. However, arent you being a tad dramatic by saying she nearly caused a riot???

tommyleo

See definition #2 of riot.

HereAndThereSC

"Above and Beyond" are often referred to as "A & B's", uva185 and I have been wanting to prints "C & D's", which are, of course, "Cease and Desist".

HTSC

funkbox

and definition #1 trumps #2.

richinaz

Isn't this an example of conflicting goals? Doesn't the GA get rewarded/penalize for on time departures (at least from the gate)? However by her achieving that goal, she is annoying a bunch of customers by making things a free for all?

I was on a mileage run last year where the plane was having several issues. Outbound mechanics were fixing an armrest on one chair. The GA began boarding the plane while they were still fixing the chair and working on the aisle which greatly annoyed the workers and the FAs on board the plane. A somewhat heated argument broke out with the mechanic, pilot and GA.

On the return flight a problem occurred with the restrooms in coach. Apparently several people got sick and tried to flush items in the toilet they should not have (towels?, airsickness bags?). In this case the same thing happen.

Right now the incentive to get people on board ASAP over-weighs an orderly boarding process. That is why we also see gate checking of bags long before overhead compartments are full.

Anyhow, that is my 2 cents on the issue.

dcpatti

Last night's weather in DCA probably did not help much, either. I know we just got a little taste of the weather further north but we did have an ice storm brewing. If the OP was on the flight that landed near 6:30pm then it was well in advance of the weather, but delays were already starting to creep up. If that equpiment was needed to make up another flight departing from DCA (and with a scheduled 6:05 landing, I'd guess it was) there might be extra pressure on the GA to get boarded as fast as possible.

Circumstances like this are never an excuse to be snippy or short with customers, but a less-than-perfect boarding experience is also not an excuse for elites to *** at the GA. Lots of folks, not just GA's, have a "fight fire with fire" attitude and will return the ***ing.

I'm not in any way excusing a GA with an attitude; just saying, if you're Zone 1 you will have room for your bags unless you show up late, and if you're at the gate when boarding begins, they aren't going to leave without you. It's already been a rough winter here in the northeast, not so much in volume but in frequency of weather events. Everyone's tired, everyone's cranky, everyone wants to go home. Some GA's need a little refresher in good manners but we veteran travelers do not have to add fuel to the fire. Some things are just not worth getting into a shouting match over.

On the premature gate-checking of bags: when the GA's do this, it's a result of the computer's prediction of when the bins will run out of space. They want to proactively get people gate-checking before they're congesting the aisles and have to swim upstream with a bag, past a dozen or more people, and really cause a traffic jam. The computer errs on the side of caution, moreso in the winter when I guess it thinks everyone has a coat. The GA's are not in constant contact with the FA's about the bin space, and since they're relying on a computer that can't tell the difference between my party of 6 who never checks bags and shoves everything in a bin, and Traveler X's party of 6 who has only one backpack between them, it gets things wrong pretty frequently. But it's another area where tempers can get heated, and I don't blame anyone for wanting their gate-checked bag back when they find the bins full; I just think they need to be polite when asking, and not bark or b***.

tommyleo

The first definition listed is the most common definition, but it by no means takes precedence due to its position.

tommyleo

But what makes the action of the GA so wrong (aside from the attitude) is that the zoned-boarding process is meant be the fastest manner to load the plane. That's why US has such a process in the first place. So by pretty much telling everyone to board at once, the GA made it take longer to load the plane than if she had followed the correct procedure.

GaryZ

I'm loving it: "Let's try harder next time" vs. "Cease and Desist."

If anyone on this board ever makes up some professional looking cards that conveys these proposals, please let me know how to order them!!

I think I would probably hand them out in a 1:1 ratio, especially if the card was done tastefully.

TiredOfTooMuchTravel

And definition #2 doesnt even apply to the situation. Was it unorgranized? yes. was it a riot (by any of the listed definitions)? no.

TiredOfTooMuchTravel

^^

Not defending the GAs behavior but it definitely sounds like a lot of DYKWIA action going on in this particular situation.

tommyleo

#2 seems to apply perfectly; "together" is not equal to "organized." At this point, I'll give the benefit of the doubt to a FT moderator with 11,000+ posts -- who was actually there.

tommyleo

Or maybe those in F and Zone 1 simply expected that the rules would be followed correctly by a US employee as opposed to acting like DYKWIA's? After all, what is the point of US giving status to certain customers if US is not going to honor those perks when applicable?