If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
United ticket agent gives cold shoulder to family rushing to dying relative
Monday, April 20, 2009 'I've got to go on my break' United ticket agent gives cold shoulder to family rushing to dying relative -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: April 20, 2009 4:45 pm Eastern By Chelsea Schilling A couple is distraught after they say a United Airlines ticket agent refused to help them – even while a woman tried desperately to be with her mother as she lay dying. But the ticketing agent would not help the distressed customer because it was time for her break. "I was just hoping and praying that she could hang on until we got there," Melissa Evans told San Francisco's CBS 5. Evans was trying to purchase a flight from San Francisco to Portland, Ore., where her mother was nearing death. "Her dad called me and said get my baby girl home," said her boyfriend, Michael Golaszewski. Other passengers kindly allowed Evans and her boyfriend to the front of the line, and the couple told the only available ticket agent that they had an emergency. "I said we need to get a ticket we've got a flight at 7:50 p.m., you know her mother's in the hospital she's close to death can you know just try to hurry us along," Golaszewski said. But, to his shock, the woman refused. "She looked at me dead in the eye she handed me the ticket back and she said I've got to go on my break. I wasn't quite sure that I heard her correctly." Evans said she was dumbfounded and speechless when the woman turned to her and retorted, "Look, I'm going on my break and you know if you have a problem with it you know you need to talk to my supervisor; that's the policy." In a letter to United Airline CEO Glenn Tilton, Golaszewski wrote, "When the employees of large companies discard compassion, respect, and common human decency and instead place their own interests in front of those they are chartered to serve, then they are no longer deserving of the public's trust." He continued, "I was absolutely horrified. The only person at the United counter who had the ability to ticket passengers felt that it was more important to go grab a soda than to give me a decent chance at making a flight to be with a dying relative." Even the customers standing in line voiced their concerns about the way Evans and Golaszewski were being treated. The couple was too late to board their 7:50 p.m. flight. Another agent booked them on a later one – almost three hours after the first one departed. The United agent told Evans and Golaszewski the behavior of the first ticketing agent was understandable because "management really makes us work some unreasonable schedules." "My girlfriend's mother passed away at 2:50 AM, shortly after we arrived in Portland," Golaszewski wrote. "We will, of course, never know what we might have been able to share with her in the two and a half hours we burned sitting at a gate at SFO. "I certainly hope your agent's break was worth that price." United apologized to the couple for the incident and said employees should "... provide excellent and professional customer service at all times" and that its staff can do "... a far better job than your letter indicates." There has been no word of whether the ticketing agent was disciplined. According to the report, United Airlines has changed its customer complaint process and is refusing to take phone complaints – opting instead to handle them by e-mail and regular mail. The couple has filed a complaint with the Department of Transportation. This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows. To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=95623 |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
United ticket agent gives cold shoulder to family rushing to dying relative
In message Brian
was claimed to have wrote: The United agent told Evans and Golaszewski the behavior of the first ticketing agent was understandable because "management really makes us work some unreasonable schedules." Let me offer a counter point -- At one job where I worked, management decided that even if you left for your break late, you were expected to be back on time. Despite this practice actually being illegal in most jurisdictions (not this practice specifically, but rather, mandatory breaks of minimum lengths are required in nearly every civilized country), the natural employee response is simply to ensure that their break starts on time. In my case I was a call center monkey in those days, so my only question to management was whether I should terminate a call when I go on break, leave the customer on hold, or transfer them back into the queue. That being said, I'm a decent enough human being to make an exception based on the circumstances, and it's truly unfortunate that things worked out the way they did, but if United actually had no ticket agents at all on duty at that particular moment, the majority of the blame still goes to United, not some poor working slob who probably gets such a wider variety of "I'm so urgent you have to make an exception and help me now" stories then most of is could dream up if we tried. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
United ticket agent gives cold shoulder to family rushing todying relative
United claims:
========== However, United Spokesperson Jeff Kovick says the couple arrived at the counter just 30 minutes before the flight time and points out that United's policy is customers must be checked in 30 minutes prior to a flight. Kovick also says the couple did not have tickets, just travel certificates. He says given the timeframe and ticketing needs, it would have been impossible to get them to the gate on time for that particular evening flight. ========== There are a few other airlines that fly from 'Frisco to Portland. I realize they had travel certificates but if you want to see a dying relative, what's a few bucks to see if you could catch a flight on another airline? |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
air ticket agent ntroduction | www.travelconnecxion.com | Air travel | 0 | May 16th, 2007 10:44 AM |
LAX - MNL;BKK Ticket/Agent Wanted | PeterL | Asia | 2 | July 28th, 2005 12:58 AM |
Give them the cold Shoulder. | Annonymous Account | Cruises | 0 | April 9th, 2005 09:43 AM |
U.S. Gives a Cold Shoulder to Treaties | Gaston the Second | Europe | 2 | March 16th, 2005 02:31 AM |
Looking for travel agent to sell me air ticket$ | Les Izmor | Asia | 0 | October 20th, 2003 12:17 PM |