A "Late at the Gate" Horror Story....

My daughter, the corporate road warrior, came up with a new twist to being
late to check in for an American Eagle flight....

She and two others, marginally so, but on time, were waiting in the counter
line - going for 10 days and needing to check luggage - at a very small
airport (1 gate, AA counter staff have to "man" the security line to get pax
thru the TSA check and into the secure boarding area).

Ahead of her is a gent with an overweight bag. Time passes as he and
counter satff go through the weight-shifting drill to repack some of his
load into his carry on. Bingo, in the midst of the repacking, the Magic
Moment arrives, the flight closes, leaving my my daughter "Late for Check
In" (with an "only this flight" connection functional to get her from Texas
to Syracuse, NY) and 2 others are left behind, more than just angry.

She ends of driving to DFW (leaving her car in "Extortion Parking" lot near
the terminal for 10 days), flying to ORD, where the last Syracuse flight is
cancelled, and AA after much carpert chewing and gnashing of teeth, flies
her to Rochester, so that she can drive to Syracuse.

She was not a happy Platinum camper, and the $300 AA voucher won't make up
for the parking expense and the one way rental to Syracuse. Sure, she
should have arrived earlier, but not enough to account for Senor Overweight.

In article ,
"TOliver" wrote:

My daughter, the corporate road warrior, came up with a new twist to being
late to check in for an American Eagle flight....

She and two others, marginally so, but on time, were waiting in the counter
line - going for 10 days and needing to check luggage - at a very small
airport (1 gate, AA counter staff have to "man" the security line to get pax
thru the TSA check and into the secure boarding area).

Ahead of her is a gent with an overweight bag. Time passes as he and
counter satff go through the weight-shifting drill to repack some of his
load into his carry on. Bingo, in the midst of the repacking, the Magic
Moment arrives, the flight closes, leaving my my daughter "Late for Check
In" (with an "only this flight" connection functional to get her from Texas
to Syracuse, NY) and 2 others are left behind, more than just angry.

She ends of driving to DFW (leaving her car in "Extortion Parking" lot near
the terminal for 10 days), flying to ORD, where the last Syracuse flight is
cancelled, and AA after much carpert chewing and gnashing of teeth, flies
her to Rochester, so that she can drive to Syracuse.

She was not a happy Platinum camper, and the $300 AA voucher won't make up
for the parking expense and the one way rental to Syracuse. Sure, she
should have arrived earlier, but not enough to account for Senor Overweight.

And to think, if she had only arrived a few minutes early, your daughter
would have been able to board that flight just fine. The problem here is
not the guy with the overweight luggage, it is your daughter's tardiness.

In article ,
Shawn Hirn wrote:
And to think, if she had only arrived a few minutes early, your daughter
would have been able to board that flight just fine. The problem here is
not the guy with the overweight luggage, it is your daughter's tardiness.

While she should have arrived earlier to avoid cutting it close
(especially for an itinerary with connections or limited/no
alternative flights), airlines should send people who want to
repack their overweight baggage to the back of the line so that
they will delay themselves instead of everyone else when they
try to avoid the excess baggage fees.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy J. Lee
Unsolicited bulk or commercial email is not welcome.
No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.

TOliver wrote:
My daughter, the corporate road warrior, came up with a new twist to being
late to check in for an American Eagle flight....


I wouldn't have given her $300. It was her fault, plain and simple. I
have never missed a flight and we fly often, all over the US.

-L.

On Wed, 15 Nov 2006 21:37:44 GMT in rec.travel.air, "TOliver"
wrote:

She and two others, marginally so, but on time, were waiting in the counter
line - going for 10 days and needing to check luggage - at a very small
airport (1 gate, AA counter staff have to "man" the security line to get pax
thru the TSA check and into the secure boarding area).

Ahead of her is a gent with an overweight bag. Time passes as he and
counter satff go through the weight-shifting drill to repack some of his
load into his carry on. Bingo, in the midst of the repacking, the Magic
Moment arrives, the flight closes

why didn't the pax who were critical raise hell with the counter
staff, and ask to get checked in? if it was AS, she could have
checked in on the internet before leaving home, and printed her
boarding pass at home or the office.

Dennis P. Harris wrote:
On Wed, 15 Nov 2006 21:37:44 GMT in rec.travel.air, "TOliver"
wrote:


She and two others, marginally so, but on time, were waiting in the counter
line - going for 10 days and needing to check luggage - at a very small
airport (1 gate, AA counter staff have to "man" the security line to get pax
thru the TSA check and into the secure boarding area).

Ahead of her is a gent with an overweight bag. Time passes as he and
counter satff go through the weight-shifting drill to repack some of his
load into his carry on. Bingo, in the midst of the repacking, the Magic
Moment arrives, the flight closes


why didn't the pax who were critical raise hell with the counter
staff, and ask to get checked in? if it was AS, she could have
checked in on the internet before leaving home, and printed her
boarding pass at home or the office.


You can do the same on AA. Of course, she still would have had to check
the bag and if there was only one person at the counter, she is still
back to where she was, waiting for the one guy to repack his bag. I
doubt it took that long, and if there was a problem they should have
spoke up. With one gate, what flight was the repacking guy on?
With one gate, why would the agent not understand the flight was leaving
soon and there were still people in line.

Dennis P. Harris wrote:
On Wed, 15 Nov 2006 21:37:44 GMT in rec.travel.air, "TOliver"
wrote:

She and two others, marginally so, but on time, were waiting in the counter
line - going for 10 days and needing to check luggage - at a very small
airport (1 gate, AA counter staff have to "man" the security line to get pax
thru the TSA check and into the secure boarding area).

Ahead of her is a gent with an overweight bag. Time passes as he and
counter satff go through the weight-shifting drill to repack some of his
load into his carry on. Bingo, in the midst of the repacking, the Magic
Moment arrives, the flight closes

why didn't the pax who were critical raise hell with the counter
staff, and ask to get checked in? if it was AS, she could have
checked in on the internet before leaving home, and printed her
boarding pass at home or the office.

Which wouldn't have gotten her bag checked. I have to agree, I'd
probably have mentioned while standing there that we were getting
close to the critical time and if I could get through. At any airport
of
size, they freqently wander the lines asking folks for near term
flights to move up in the line. At such a small airport ya'd expect
the counter guy to know what the heck was going on.

"Dennis P. Harris" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 15 Nov 2006 21:37:44 GMT in rec.travel.air, "TOliver"
wrote:

She and two others, marginally so, but on time, were waiting in the
counter
line - going for 10 days and needing to check luggage - at a very small
airport (1 gate, AA counter staff have to "man" the security line to get
pax
thru the TSA check and into the secure boarding area).

Ahead of her is a gent with an overweight bag. Time passes as he and
counter satff go through the weight-shifting drill to repack some of his
load into his carry on. Bingo, in the midst of the repacking, the Magic
Moment arrives, the flight closes

why didn't the pax who were critical raise hell with the counter
staff, and ask to get checked in? if it was AS, she could have
checked in on the internet before leaving home, and printed her
boarding pass at home or the office.

She had her boarding pass, but had to check baggage and was in line to do so
when the flight "closed". Small airports don't have separate counters,
simply one serving checking baggage and checking in for the flight. She
didn't arrive early enough for a long slow line, and she and two other pax
had the door closed on them.

Obviously, all of the gymnastics that AA went through attempting to get her
close to her destination on the same day(as they did with the other left
behind pax) plus the voucher indicates that AA was saying that the AEagle
counter/gate staff had screwed up...(if she had been late, they would only
have modestly aided a reroute). AA surely would not have been willing to
put her on the only flight to another destination had the airline beleievd
that being late was the problem.

TMO

TMO

wrote in message
oups.com...


Which wouldn't have gotten her bag checked. I have to agree, I'd
probably have mentioned while standing there that we were getting
close to the critical time and if I could get through. At any airport
of
size, they freqently wander the lines asking folks for near term
flights to move up in the line. At such a small airport ya'd expect
the counter guy to know what the heck was going on.


The station chief was off duty, and apparently, at least according to AA,
which seems to have gone through multiple gymnasticsd to physically if not
financially "fix" the situation, the counter guy was so inexperienced and
hassled that he blundered. Don't worry, the pax still in line where
demonstrating loudly that the flight was about to board. As noted earlier,
there were only three staff on duty, one out on the ramp doing the flight
evolutions, parking etc., and one at the counter, while the third, normally
working the counter, had to stand in front of security, clearing/IDing BP
holders into the TSA inspection process. I've had the same thing happen to
me, but with the counter agent "holding the door" when the check in/baggage
check line grows long.

Of course, part of the problem arises from passengers who once would go with
"caaryons", easily "gate checked" at the boarding ladder to the a/c and
retrieved just as quickly at DFW. Now, the TSA process is slower, and more
folks check bags to avoid "baggie check", etc.

TMO

TOliver wrote:


The station chief was off duty, and apparently, at least according to AA,
which seems to have gone through multiple gymnasticsd to physically if not
financially "fix" the situation, the counter guy was so inexperienced and
hassled that he blundered. Don't worry, the pax still in line where
demonstrating loudly that the flight was about to board. As noted earlier,
there were only three staff on duty, one out on the ramp doing the flight
evolutions, parking etc., and one at the counter, while the third, normally
working the counter, had to stand in front of security, clearing/IDing BP
holders into the TSA inspection process. I've had the same thing happen to
me, but with the counter agent "holding the door" when the check in/baggage
check line grows long.

Of course, part of the problem arises from passengers who once would go with
"caaryons", easily "gate checked" at the boarding ladder to the a/c and
retrieved just as quickly at DFW. Now, the TSA process is slower, and more
folks check bags to avoid "baggie check", etc.

Still, it doesn't seem like it would have taken more than a couple of
minutes to rearrange baggage. How long before flight time did she get to
the airport?