Kitty's Scratch Pad: Flight Fiasco

I booked our tickets for DC on Halloween. I called American directly in hopes we could use our miles. I had no such luck so I went through my options. Being cost conscious, I went with the red-eye and saved us $600. My mistake was booking a red-eye that had a change over in Dallas. I guess I just couldn’t figure out what the big deal was… I think they call it pennywise and pound foolish.

Alex was a little bummed to hear what I had done. I was so proud that I saved us so much money… I called back to see if I could change the flight. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do that made any fiscal sense. It would have cost more than it was worth. I felt bad. I made the customer service guy figure out all of our options for a half hour only to tell him never mind.

Fast-forward four months. I hop online to check-in our flight and cannot seem to get a seat assignment. What? I booked these tickets four months ago, of course I have a seat assignment. I call the airline and the nasty woman on the other end tells me I am wrong and not only that, we are set to leave on Friday not Thursday. I explained to her that was impossible and that I was staring at my confirmation in my inbox and it clearly states our departure is on Thursday. After sass-mouthing me she finally put me on hold. I was a bit angry at that point. She came back on the phone and assured me they would fix the problem and was all of the sudden very kind to me. My theory is she looked a little further and found Alex was a million mile member.

We took off Thursday and got to DC Friday morning. It was a long flight indeed. At that point my lesson was learned. Our trip was great but I am saving the details for when my pictures are edited.

We got to the airport today without a minute to spare but fortunately made our flight. The best part was, while we were frantically driving to get there, I was able to check us in using my Treo. I love technology J

We landed in Dallas only to get stuck on the tarmac waiting while another plane left the gate we were headed for. We looked at the clock and started to realize it was going to be a mad dash to our connecting flight. It seemed like there were quite a few people in the same predicament. What I expected was them to either 1.) Switch gates and park the damn plane or 2.) Be kind and at least announce to the other passengers to stay seated until people with connecting flights could get off the plane. What we later found out was there was no way either would help.

Our connecting flight was 31 minutes from our arrival time. They had already called stand-by passengers before we got there. Alex dashed ahead of us to stop them from closing the gate. The best part was our connecting gate was D31 and we landed in the C terminal. This was literally across the airport. Fen and I ran as fast as we could and by the time we got there, they had closed the door in Alex’s face and told him there was no way we were getting on. Needless to say, we were a little upset.

I think the worst part about the whole thing was we were never really set up to make the connecting flight. Even in a perfect situation, we couldn’t have made it all the way across the airport in time. They would have boarded the stand-by passengers. While Alex was dealing with the Manager, there were three or four more passengers who also missed the flight. Each of them got sent to the next flight which also happened to be the last flight out for the evening. The Manager finally got Alex on stand-by and was also able to confirm two seats for Fen and I. We then marched to the A terminal and waited for the plane to start boarding. Alex had a priority stamp on his boarding pass. Presumably, he is called first when there is a line for stand-by. I think that is a bunch of crap. I watched at least 7 different people board the plane and as I write the entry, Alex is now stuck in Dallas for the night.

I am not sure frustrating can come close to describing the situation. The whole thing is just dumb. Why book connecting flights when the passenger will never make it? Why board stand-by passengers knowing farewell the other plane is stuck on the tarmac? Even if it is useless and no one listens, why not at least announce for those not trying to grab connecting flights, please remain seated? Why argue with me over the telephone and accuse me of being wrong when I am looking at my confirmation email sent by your company? It all adds up to one big colossal customer service nightmare. I will be interested in seeing what American comes up with as retribution for their failure to at least admit we had no chance at all of EVER making our flight home.

You can read Alex's version of the story here.