This is my experience during what could have been the worst air travel I have ever heard. I am a very frequent user of the domestic and inetrnational flight service.. But thanks to my experience at the hands of American Airlines.. my family has vowed never to fly it again...
I was booked for the flight from JFK airport to San Jose, California on the 21st of Aug 2004 at 6.25 p.m... after a vacation of three weeks we, a family of 4 adults and a 3 yr old kid who were staying at New Jersey had to leave at 3.00 p.m from our hotel only to get caught up in the traffic and reach the airport at 5.45 p.m.. There was a long queue at the check-in counter and so we had to request the people in the line to get us to the tickting agent.. which thankfully they agreed to..
One agent at the counter was beginning to check our documents and process our checking in when this lady identified as Dina, a Passenger service representative comes yelling and orders us to go and stand at the end of the line...V tried to explain 2 her that our flight was due 2 leave in the next 30 mts n so we could not afford 2 go back but she was so rude n continued yelling at us in front of all the other passengers saying ’’ I will not spend an iota of time discussing this..etc etc.’’.
In the past, in all the major airlines that we have flown both domestic n internationally, the airline staff calls out for passengers who are stuck in the long check-in lines and who have a flight that is ready to leave for priority check- in.When requesting for such a thing the lady rudely replies..’’Priority is not for people who come in late and miss their flight’’. It was stunning to see the agent who had started processing our case return our document gingerly..
Bcoz of the rude behaviour n insensitivity of the so called PSR we missed the flight and all the subsequent flights to SFO that day and were forced to put up at a hotel and fly out of JFK the next morning..
As far as we r concerned, staff such as the PSR called Dina are a total misfit for the job..She had no reason to be so rude .. we were paying for our tickets..and she was no way doing a favor to us by letting us fly AA.. Also her designation of doing service to the passengers is a total misnomer.. passengers and I am sure, the airline agents sure would do better without her..
Well, this experience will last for a long time in our minds and we hope we never are in a situation where we have to fly american airlines again...