Today’s American Airlines experience in a nutshell.... I get to LAX at 6.30 AM. Checked in at one of those self-service check-in machines. So far so good. Then I am asked to take my luggage to the bag drop-off desk. I willingly comply. The young lady there weighs my suticases and tells me You are overweight, by 7 lb.- Me: No, I am business - She: “No, you are overweight – “No, trust me, I am business and there are different weight restrictions for business. - No, you need to go to the counter and pay $100 since you are overweight. - No, I am flying business (as clearly stated on my ticket!) - She - to her colleague: He says he is business (I generally do not appreciate it when people talk about me in the third person while I am standing there.). Her colleague looks at the ticket: Yes, he is business and different weight regulations apply - My checking person, without apologizing adds the tags to both suitcases and orders me to drag them towards the end of the baggage line. At that point I was already done with AA - due to previous rather unpleasant trips with them. I get on board - so far so good. Service okay, nothing special, but nothing to complain about. After take-off I turn to one of the attendants and tell her that I have only 50 minutes to connect at JFK and that I was wondering whether she could check ahead of arrival whether I will make my connection. She did not really seem to be interested in what I was telling her. We take off with a delay of almost 30 minutes - meaning my window at JFK shrank to less than 30 minutes. So, 1 hour before we were supposed to land at JFK I ask the same attendant again whether she could check or ask the cockpit whether I will make it. She listens to me - but does not appear to care. 30 minutes before touch-down I ask her again. In the meantime there had been an announcement regarding our arrival gate and two connecting flights to Madrid and Barcelona. She looks at me and says that the flight connections had already been announced and that she does not have any information regarding my connections. Again with a look on her face that translated (at least in my mind) into: Sir, I dont give a f****). I get off the plane at JFK. Right next to the jet way there is an AA counter. I ask one of the AA representatives for the gate of my flight. (We had actually managed to reduce the delay to around 15 minutes, but it was still tight. He tells me that the flight to Berlin leaves from gate 5 - we arrived at gate 46. So, I sprint to gate 5 carrying 2 rather heavy pieces of carry-on luggage. I get there - sweating profusely - only to find out that the counter at gate 5 is not manned. The board above the counter says Berlin Tegel - with the original departure time. Next to gate 5, at gate 7, AA is checking in for a flight to Austin, TX. So, I approach the desk and ask whether they knew what happened to the Air Berlin personnel/flight at the adjacent gate. I dont know. I am boarding passengers to Austin! - Well, yes - but your partner airline Air Berlin is right next to you. Do you know where the personnel went - Sir, I am boarding passengers to Austin - I have a connecting flight to Berlin and it seems there is no one here that could check me in! - Well, if you need help you can call SECURITY!!!! - Excuse me – why would I want to call security in order to check in for a flight - I cannot help you - May I speak to your manager!? - At that point the lady checking the tickets turns around and says I am the manager - I repeat my question and get We are boarding for Austin here.... - At that point I lose it- Excuse me ma’am - but this is ridiculous. I am asking you a rather simple question about one of your partner airlines/code sharing airlines and it seems that you dont really understand or care! - Well, you can call customer service!!!!!! A third AA employee gets involved: There may be some Air Berlin people at gate 3. You could check there - I run to gate 3 - and yes at gate 3 there are Air Berlin employees boarding passengers on a flight to Düsseldorf. They inform me that the flight to Berlin is delayed by 2 h 30 - due to a mechanical problem with the plane coming from Berlin. And yes, they were very friendly... So, no one at American Airlines could have told me that? I had to sprint from gate 46 to gate 5 - fearing all along that I would not make my connection - even though I had more than 2 hours 30 minutes to kill? Plus - the attitude of the majority of the AA employees involved in this episode was absolutely unacceptable. Dont even get me started on the AA lounge... Thank God Air Berlin was a pleasure as usual. I talked with one of the attendants about my AA ordeal. She tried to be diplomatic and said: Well, you are not the first customer of ours that had an unpleasant experience with our partner airline...
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 11:08:26 +0000
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