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Horn_Spanker

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  • 5 years later...

Wife and daughter flew American last weekend.  First flight to DFW was delayed.  They land with 20 minutes to make it to the next terminal (DFW has different American terminals, another annoyance).  They run up to the counter and the lady says "final call'' and then ten seconds later "no more boarding" or something like that.  They had missed it by 10 seconds.  So, wife starts to try to rebook when the other lady says "they're still backed up on the ramp, just let them in."  I understand security, metrics, etc, but how about using a little common sense especially when you're the reason we're delayed.

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Posted (edited)

If they did that for everyone, every flight would be late. There is somebody running for the airplane and barely missing it or barely making almost every flight every day.  

It’s a bigger picture than just you.  There are probably other tight connections that are in jeopardy on the next flight. Or a crew close to timing out. Or an ATC takeoff window that has to be met.  Or just the downline schedule that has to be caught back up to to keep the rest of the day on time or as close as possible.  Every delay causes more delays down the line. One family getting on isn’t worth jacking up the rest of the day. 

And the days of making up time in the air have been gone for many years now. The airspace is just too busy for that.

Edited by Your Mom
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Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, Your Mom said:

If they did that for everyone, every flight would be late. There is somebody running for the airplane and barely missing it or barely making almost every flight every day.  

It’s a bigger picture than just you.  There are probably other tight connections that are in jeopardy on the next flight. Or a crew close to timing out. Or an ATC takeoff window that has to be met.  Or just the downline schedule that has to be caught back up to to keep the rest of the day on time or as close as possible.  Every delay causes more delays down the line. One family getting on isn’t worth jacking up the rest of the day. 

And the days of making up time in the air have been gone for many years now. The airspace is just too busy for that.

Literally just standing right there though.  Plus, I've been on a plane where they've announced there's a late connection and they'd like to let those passengers board.  Nobody groaned as they probably have been in the same shoes.  When the delay is your (as in the airlines) fault, maybe a bit of brevity could be helpful?  Plus they were still loading.   Literally people on the ramp.

 

It was literally "final boarding" which she heard and then "whoops no more boarding."

 

The fact that her own colleague semi called her out says as much.  "We're still loading, why not just let them on?"

Edited by closetohumping
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3 hours ago, closetohumping said:

Literally just standing right there though.  Plus, I've been on a plane where they've announced there's a late connection and they'd like to let those passengers board.  Nobody groaned as they probably have been in the same shoes.  When the delay is your (as in the airlines) fault, maybe a bit of brevity could be helpful?  Plus they were still loading.   Literally people on the ramp.

 

It was literally "final boarding" which she heard and then "whoops no more boarding."

 

The fact that her own colleague semi called her out says as much.  "We're still loading, why not just let them on?"

The gate agents get dinged if there's a late departure and it's nobody else's fault (not weather, mechanical, etc). 

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This is common across every airline in the world. They'll hold the plane for extreme circumstances (last flight out and the delay was the airlines fault and they don't want to deal with free hotels, for example) but otherwise, this is all very much SOP. On time % metrics are pretty damn important to airlines because they're important to us as passengers. 

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1 hour ago, dieucla98 said:

This is common across every airline in the world. They'll hold the plane for extreme circumstances (last flight out and the delay was the airlines fault and they don't want to deal with free hotels, for example) but otherwise, this is all very much SOP. On time % metrics are pretty damn important to airlines because they're important to us as passengers. 

Yep and to the airlines credit they had just locked the gate five seconds ago so they’re actually in the right.  That being said their connecting flight was the reason they were late.  

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On 7/23/2024 at 9:54 AM, closetohumping said:

Wife and daughter flew American last weekend.  First flight to DFW was delayed.  They land with 20 minutes to make it to the next terminal (DFW has different American terminals, another annoyance).  They run up to the counter and the lady says "final call'' and then ten seconds later "no more boarding" or something like that.  They had missed it by 10 seconds.  So, wife starts to try to rebook when the other lady says "they're still backed up on the ramp, just let them in."  I understand security, metrics, etc, but how about using a little common sense especially when you're the reason we're delayed.

Years ago, I had this same experience on DL connecting through ATL.  It's infuriating.  And obviously by no means unique to AA.

14 hours ago, closetohumping said:

Oh I get it.  Have to adhere to metrics.  

It isn't just metrics.  There are other scheduling considerations, including crew time (as @Your Mom points out above).  And if they run over crew time and have to cancel a flight, the DOT now makes the airline refund everyone.  And I think the traveling public favors that rule, even if the consequence is that people are from time to time going to get left behind at the gate.

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4 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

Years ago, I had this same experience on DL connecting through ATL.  It's infuriating.  And obviously by no means unique to AA.

It isn't just metrics.  There are other scheduling considerations, including crew time (as @Your Mom points out above).  And if they run over crew time and have to cancel a flight, the DOT now makes the airline refund everyone.  And I think the traveling public favors that rule, even if the consequence is that people are from time to time going to get left behind at the gate.

100%.  I will say I was on another flight that was on to and again one of the connecting planes was late.  The pilot decided to wait and there were no audible groans on the plane

 

in this case I think the gate agent was just doing here job and I’m sure feelings aren’t supposed to come into play.  It shouldn’t. But even her colleague said “they’re still backed up on the ramp. Just let them in. Why make them rebook?”

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52 minutes ago, wild_turkey said:

Being DFW based and flying AA more than anything else, I’ve been pretty pleased with their customer service the last few years.

I will go further--having Platinum status on AA and having access to the AAdmirals Club is really nice.  The ladies at the Austin AAdmirals Club know me.  On the occasion where I had a problem with a flight, I can go to them and they take care of the rebooking.  So my experience isn't exactly standard, but I have been pretty pleased with AA.

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36 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

I will go further--having Platinum status on AA and having access to the AAdmirals Club is really nice.  The ladies at the Austin AAdmirals Club know me.  On the occasion where I had a problem with a flight, I can go to them and they take care of the rebooking.  So my experience isn't exactly standard, but I have been pretty pleased with AA.

Same. And always go to the club for rebooking. We had to a couple of months ago and they took care of us in about 10 minutes. The line in the terminal stretched past several gates. All airlines have their issues, and cancelations happen to all of them, so it's always funny to me when someone bashes one over the other. I've flown AA all over the world and sure there are times when things have happened and I've been frustrated, but your gonna get that with any of them. Find one you like, be consistent so you get status, and then get the benefits of that. 

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23 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:

I will go further--having Platinum status on AA and having access to the AAdmirals Club is really nice.  The ladies at the Austin AAdmirals Club know me.  On the occasion where I had a problem with a flight, I can go to them and they take care of the rebooking.  So my experience isn't exactly standard, but I have been pretty pleased with AA.

This. If you have at least Platinum status and a club membership you will usually get taken care of pretty quickly. Sometimes shit's just borked, but it's pretty rare. A modicum of patience and a smile go a long way, too. 

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1 hour ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

This. If you have at least Platinum status and a club membership you will usually get taken care of pretty quickly. Sometimes shit's just borked, but it's pretty rare. A modicum of patience and a smile go a long way, too. 

I'll also compliment AA on their baggage handling of late.  They've always put this "Priority" tag on your bags if you're Platinum or above.  But until the past year or two, I never noticed it making any particular difference.  But the past several times I've flown and checked bags, my "Priority" bags have come off the conveyor within the first ten bags.  And that's a pretty nice perk.

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I don’t know about that baggage tag. I used to be platinum or whatever back with continental. To me it just seemed like it slowed the whole process down just so they could sort the luggage to get them out first

I don’t fly much anymore so who knows

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  • 2 months later...

Yesterday in a non-Texas airport, 8 TSA agents set up shop at our gate, re-checking IDs and randomly searching purses/ carry-ons before we scanned our boarding passes and got on the jetway.  I travel almost every other week and several other folks who said they travel all the time also noted they had never seen this before.  It was weird and extremely awkward/ clunky.

Then when I was making connection in DFW, dude in AA uniform like a gate agent was filming everyone with a headshot with his i-phone as we approached to scan our boarding passes.  Just like the earlier experience, it was just fucking weird.  Put em both on the same day and it was borderline WTF is going on?

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13 hours ago, Iceman said:

Yesterday in a non-Texas airport, 8 TSA agents set up shop at our gate, re-checking IDs and randomly searching purses/ carry-ons before we scanned our boarding passes and got on the jetway.  I travel almost every other week and several other folks who said they travel all the time also noted they had never seen this before.  It was weird and extremely awkward/ clunky.

Then when I was making connection in DFW, dude in AA uniform like a gate agent was filming everyone with a headshot with his i-phone as we approached to scan our boarding passes.  Just like the earlier experience, it was just fucking weird.  Put em both on the same day and it was borderline WTF is going on?

Sounds fishy. 

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Flew with wife and our infant on AA, night before flight the seat next to us was empty. At the gate I ask the agent if it’s still empty since we’re flying with baby. Well, that seat got booked. Damn. 
5 min later I’m coming back from bathroom and agent had called my wife up to let her know he rebooked us to a dif row promising an open seat. Damn fine work. 

Edited by bluto
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On 10/19/2024 at 6:57 AM, Iceman said:

Yesterday in a non-Texas airport, 8 TSA agents set up shop at our gate, re-checking IDs and randomly searching purses/ carry-ons before we scanned our boarding passes and got on the jetway.  I travel almost every other week and several other folks who said they travel all the time also noted they had never seen this before.  It was weird and extremely awkward/ clunky.

Then when I was making connection in DFW, dude in AA uniform like a gate agent was filming everyone with a headshot with his i-phone as we approached to scan our boarding passes.  Just like the earlier experience, it was just fucking weird.  Put em both on the same day and it was borderline WTF is going on?

Guess you made the list 

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On 10/19/2024 at 6:57 AM, Iceman said:

Yesterday in a non-Texas airport, 8 TSA agents set up shop at our gate, re-checking IDs and randomly searching purses/ carry-ons before we scanned our boarding passes and got on the jetway.  I travel almost every other week and several other folks who said they travel all the time also noted they had never seen this before.  It was weird and extremely awkward/ clunky.

Then when I was making connection in DFW, dude in AA uniform like a gate agent was filming everyone with a headshot with his i-phone as we approached to scan our boarding passes.  Just like the earlier experience, it was just fucking weird.  Put em both on the same day and it was borderline WTF is going on?

Had the TSA thing happen on one of my flights this year

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On 10/19/2024 at 6:57 AM, Iceman said:

Yesterday in a non-Texas airport, 8 TSA agents set up shop at our gate, re-checking IDs and randomly searching purses/ carry-ons before we scanned our boarding passes and got on the jetway.  I travel almost every other week and several other folks who said they travel all the time also noted they had never seen this before.  It was weird and extremely awkward/ clunky.

Then when I was making connection in DFW, dude in AA uniform like a gate agent was filming everyone with a headshot with his i-phone as we approached to scan our boarding passes.  Just like the earlier experience, it was just fucking weird.  Put em both on the same day and it was borderline WTF is going on?

The TSA thing could be a randomly selected exercise? That one's the least fishy of the two, but the AA agent filming people definitely is weird. Those company issued iPads have a lot of passenger data so maybe AA wants updated headshots for everyone. And we probably agreed to it via some random hidden clause they threw into the fine print when we bought the ticket. 🙄

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Holy fuck, I started today at MIA, and it was a shitshow with fucking Swifties everywhere. I must have seen 1000 Taylor Swift shirts.   And connected through Austin, which IMO is a pretty meh airport on a good day, and when you mix in all those F1 bros in McClaren hats, it's an outright disaster.  I'm glad to be home. 

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