While I try to keep this blog positive this is a required post. As many of you know I fly at least once a week and many time 2 or more times per week. My airline of choice is Southwest Airlines. Now in recent months I have taken some heat from people for my airline choice. Mainly because of the maintenance problem that was made public through the media. That combined with the cattle shoots many choose not to fly with Southwest. I personally enjoy the people and policies of Southwest and truly what they stand for. I have flown over 100 flights on Southwest in the last 12 months and have even shipped in live Louisiana Crawfish through their freight program. Sometimes I take for granted the great people, good service and on time flights. Today is a day I will not forget for a long time and I will make sure to thank all of the great Southwest employees on my next flight.
As I have been writing about the United First Financial International Convention starts tomorrow with an invitational Golf and Tennis tournament in Atlanta, GA. My beloved Southwest Airlines does not fly into Atlanta so I was left with searching for an airline that does. Because of an unfortunate illness early this year I was unable to attend the Smith National Organization Training in Atlanta so I had a small credit with Air Tran. After a $75 change fee(Southwest has no change fee) plus extra fare for summertime I was booked on a non-stop flight from San Diego to Atlanta.
As I have done well over 100 times this year I show up at the San Diego International Airport roughly one-hour earlier than my flight. I have never flown Air Tran out of San Diego but it is in Terminal 2. The ticketing is on the second floor and is in the corner of ticketing. Just a small booth and has 2 employees. Like a professional traveler I have checked in online ahead of time, packed all my liquids and gels in my check bag and prepared for TSA. The lady at the counter was names Flora. She politely checked my bag in and sent it on its way down the belt. But oops the belt was not moving. It seemed like a concern to her because she kept calling that the belt was not moving over a 2 way radio she was equipped with.
Even though I was on my way to Atlanta the passenger who was traveling with me had a large bag. Flora thought it might be over sized. With a simple pull of a drawer Florida revealed a small tape measure. As gas gets more expensive the airlines charge more for bags. Here is the rules as of today from Air Trans Website.
Overweight Baggage
Overweight baggage will be accepted at the following rates per bag: $29 from 51 to 70 pounds and $69 from 71 to 100 pounds. Baggage weighing over 100 pounds will not be accepted.
A sign at the ticking counter details how bags are to be measured (L + W + D). Simple enough. Well Flora decides to measure (L + W + D + W) and insisted that it is how her manager trained her how to measure. This measurement made the difference of $40. So the correct measurement would cost an additional $29 but because of her mismeasuring it is now costing $69. I was quick to point out she was measuring wrong and she was quick to get an attitude and tell me she was correct. At this point I asked to speak to her manager. She made a call on her handy dandy 2-way radio only to inform me her manager was at the gate and would tkae a minute to come to ticketing. As we patiently waited I asked the other ticketing agent, Joe, how he measures a bag. Joe said he was brand new with the company but agreed I was measuring the bag correctly.
After a few minutes the belt started moving and my bag was gone into the wild yonder of the back of the airport. We were still standing at the counter with our over sized bag on the scale blocking all other passengers as Flora typed away at her computer. We decided this was going nowhere so we asked Flora if we could just pay the $69 and talk to the manager at the gate. We just did not want to miss the flight becasue we knew the only other flight out was a red eye. Flora with her new found attitude told us it is too late to check the bag even if we pay for it and we had officially missed our flight. Since my bag was already on the plane I started to get ready to get on the plane while the passenger riding with me would have to catch a later flight. Since I gave Flora a few choice words in between she had deceiving called and had my bag pulled from the plane. Now even though I had checked my bag, been on time and on my way through security, Flora as a ticket agent had the power to destroy me.
Now I am starting to get real unhappy. We continued to wait around, bag on scale, for over 45 minutes. This infamous manager seemed not to exist. I figured I would check for some sort of supervisor in the baggage claim department. There I found a wonderful agent who quickly called on her 2-way radio and found out for me that the managers name was Joseph. I proceeded back upstairs to look for a new flight with different airlines. Nothing for under $2000. I am now realizing I am stuck. Finally the manager from the gate emerged. She did not look like any Joseph I had ever seen before. She informed us she was not a manager and the manager at the gate was not associated with Air Tran they were just a gate manager for the flights departure. Now we realize we are getting lied to left and right. I immediately demanded to talk to Joseph the manager. Well remember earlier in this story the new ticketing agent named Joe? You guessed it, Joe is Joseph and he is the manager and did not even know it. Since the only manager for Air Tran San Diego is on vacation they assign a temporary manager.
Now I had to ask our new agent who joined us at the gate how to properly measure a bag. She demonstrated and showed Flora the proper way. Flora then admitted her mistakes to me, the gate agent, Joe the manager and my travel accomplice. Imagine this, it was the exact way I said and what caused me to be sitting in this airport writing this story for you.
Ok, as you can tell by the length of this post I am pissed beyond belief. I am having a hard time putting sentences together. I got access to the customer relations department at Air Tran (1-866-247-2428 x30) and they told me they cannot do anything because it is at the discretion of the local manager. Now do they mean Joe, the guy who does not know he is a manager, or do they mena the girl who is on vacation for the next week?
Well a little thing I learned about customer service call centers years ago is call back until you get someone who wants to help you or will help you. So I called back. This time I was talking to a different lady. I gave her the whole story and she told me there is two sides to every story and she has the agents notes in her system. As per the notes in the system, I refused to pay the over sized fee and waived my ticket to the flight to talk to the manager. It was also stated there was no agent error on Flora or Air Trans part. I quickly walked back over to the ticketing counter where Flora had conveniently snuck out and left for the day. So I put the gate agent on the phone to verify the agent error. The gate agent once on the phone plead the 5th and claimed she was at the gate the whole time and could not verify anything. I cannot believe the audacity of people.
My accomplice decided she would try to call one last time to Air Tran Customer relations and sure enough after a 15 minute call we were on the next flight at 10Pm in an exit row and were comped each a one-way ticket. I am by no means happy with this. The cost of 2 one-way tickets barely cover my hotel room cost for the night and comes nowhere close to accommodating me for my hassle.
I am now sitting in the San Diego airport with 2 other who approached the ticketing counter just after we were made aware we could no longer get on the flight. Air Tran informed me it is their policy not to let a passenger fly without their bag on the same plane.
Update:
To make things a little sweeter. Upon checking the Air Tran website for our new flight we found out the flight we missed left the gate 7 minutes early. At the end of the day I guess the companies mission is to have more on time flights than happy passengers.
Update #2: 9:55 All is clear. We made it through check-in and nobody batted an eye. Our $29 charge was not even a thought. Where were these ticket agents earlier. We are on the plane for an on time arrival. Anyone know what to do from 5am to checkin time?
