Thursday, February 16, 2012

Sitting in Burlington International

So I'm currently,as I type sitting in the middle of one of the worst customer service situations I've seen in a while. I'm sitting in the terminal waiting for US Airways flight 4553 to NYC LaGuardia. It's 7:07. Flight was scheduled for 6:35. They have one monitor by the gate informing us that the flight has been delayed until 7:20. Yes,13 minutes from right now. There is no longer anyone at the US Airways desk. There were 3 women there about an hour ago. One was making a clearly personal phone call for 20 minutes. The other two were talking. I approached the desk at around 6:20, asking if I'd be okay for my connecting flight to Baltimore and what was causing the delay. As I walked over the attendant who was standing doing nothing ( one was on her call, the other was working on the computer), she gave me a look that made me uncomfortable before I got there and clearly told me she was annoyed at the prospect of me possibly asking her a question. I got to the desk and was not acknowledged until I, waiting a second, said hello. I asked if she had any information on what the delay was. She responded with something so inherently stupid I was dumbfounded. "They're having weather". Oh they are? Do they not usually have weather in NY. If I asked a New Yorker what the weather is would they respond, "There isn't any"? Beyond the stupidity of her abrupt remark, it gave me no info, is the lane here and we can't take off? Is it on the way? On the ground in NY? Where is this mystical weather you speak of occurring?

I came to terms with how little this woman cared and asked if I would be okay for my connection. "Should be fine". She didn't look, didn't ask when/where I was going. Didn't even feel that my question deserved a full sentence as a response.

I returned to my chair and sat it is now 7:19. We have finally been addressed. The monitor still asserts I'll be in the air in 1 minute, I'm beginning to doubt it. They plane will be here in 5 minutes. 10 minutes ago. Then they will update us on when we will take off.

I'm so annoyed right now it actually inspired me to do school work.

7:25- I was just informed I'll need to gate check a bag I travel with constantly. Never had a problem with it. The coffee shop is closed and I'm in dire need. Apparently we will land in NYC at about 9:15. I'm connecting flight is 9:30 so chances I pull my groin jogging gate-to-gate is about 80%. They have still yet to change the monitor. Unless my plane is a time machine as well I don't think I'm taking off at 7:20.

I'm going to end my rambling but almost an hour past the scheduled departure and I still see no plane. I've been addressed once by a human.

I now know why I fly JetBlue or SW. But one doesn't fly from Burlington and
The other doesn't fly to BWI.

7:31 Plane has arrived!!!!!

I'll comment and let you all know if I make my connection. I know you're all in suspense.



P.S. Prof. M. Posted this from the Blogger app. Little slower to type out and tougher to edit but not too bad.

UPDATE-
8:15- I'm typing this part in the air. No idea if I'm on pace to make the connecting flight. Who knows.

I can say I was lucky enough to experience something new and unexpected for me tonight. I'm currently sitting on a puddle jumper. I'm confident that if I pulled out a tape measure I could confirm that as a kid I had RC airplanes bigger than this thing. It has propellers on the wings, planes still have those? I feel like I should be somewhere over Berlin in 1944. Jokes aside, I walked onto the Tarmac tonight, no jetway, walk down the stairs onto the pavement and back up into the plane. Caught me by surprise. To top it off the one time in my life I was willing to pay $9 for a half nip of alcohol so that the always courageous Jack Daniels could comfort me through this ride, they have none.

I enjoy looking out the window while flying, even during a flight like tonight when it's pitch black, I thought it would be fun, looking down as we flew into NYC. I was disappointed when booking the flight, I saw that the only window seat was at the wing. So I assumed I wouldn't be able to see. I am happy to report I can see, since the wing is ABOVE the window.

I apologize for whining via blogger from the flight, as I wrote this I feel like I'm writing the script for a Peter Griffin "You know what really grinds my gears" rant. I will update you all again soon.

3 comments:

  1. This is definitely a customer service issue at its finest! What air line did you fly? Like you i am always a JetBlue fan, I have never experienced a bad flight with Jet Blue. I wonder if from airport to airport the customer service varies. Has this experienced changed your opinion of the airline or the airport? It is interesting how they just tell the consumer "what they want to hear" in order to avoid confrontation. That definitely does not seem like the smart way to handle your customers...

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  2. I can't believe how little attention you were given! To sit there and have hardly anyone acknowledge your presence is absurd. Being in that industry, I would think that people working at airports should sense that if something is not going according to plan that people are going to have questions. It saddens me to think that they may act the same way with someone our grandparents' age. Of course it's rude treatment for anyone (age aside) but it's simply not acceptable customer service. How she told you "they're having weather" is really upsetting because I feel you can't say that to someone and feel like you're helping them. I guess they all woke up on the wrong side of the bed?!?

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