As if this weren't enough at 7 AM, now American Airlines hopes to further crush your day. I have flown American quite often and have noticed a steady decline in their service. Oh wait, did I say steady? Indeed it has been going down for a few years now, but this year it has downright plummeted. In the past year I have flown on American, Continental, and Singapore Airlines. The worst experience I had by far was with American.
I showed up at the checkin line about an hour and a half early yesterday morning and had to wait forever to make it to the ticket counter. Staff confused customers by saying "If you have your ticket already, go in self-service. If you don't, go to an actual ticket person." One customer questioned this to find out what the real difference was between the lines, and the staff member just repeated her statement. I wanted to yell, "It's the same freaking thing, except in the self-service line, a machine can process your order faster and more efficiently than a ticket agent can." Another staff member started yelling line rules at us, which were fairly obvious. Rules like "If you don't want to use self-service, don't stand in this line." Um, thanks lady.
Other staff members stood around looking pissed off and hardly awake. Meanwhile, the crowd stood looking anxiously towards the self-service machines, not knowing which ones were available and which were in use. Instead of directing people to open machines like any other airline would have, the staff members stared off into space. Once I obtained my boarding pass, I was asked to pay $15 to check in one bag. If this isn't bullshit, I don't know what is. American Airlines, do you really think that this $15 is going to help your fuel costs? Wouldn't it make more sense for you to simply raise your ticket prices? When I'm booking my flight at home, I'm already willing to pay x hundreds of dollars on tickets, why not just have me swallow the extra $15 then? Making me pay the money at the ticket counter slows everything down, inconveniences me, and makes me feel like I should have stayed at home. If you're worried about losing money, make me feel like I want to fly American Airlines, don't make me feel like a bad person for visiting friends or family. Do something that makes the airline stand out in a positive light. You want to be remembered for the good you've done, not how you've screwed your customers over. Virgin Atlantic and Singapore Airlines both make their customers feel like stars, no matter where they sit on the plane. They serve hot towels, full meals, and continuously serve free beverages (including free alcohol). I would like to make a small note saying that usually the flight attendants on American are pretty cool. It's not their fault that the company sucks.
Once I had obtained my ticket, I asked the lady at the counter what to do with my bag. She goes, "you need to show someone your boarding pass first." As I turn to give it to her, she looks away and starts giggling with another staff member. I push my way over to another woman, and she says "Any of us can take it." Instead of taking my ticket, she stares off into space. I finally give someone my ticket and can go off to security.
I arrived in San Francisco to find that I was one of a couple people whose bag didn't make it on the plane. The reason why? "All it says is TSA: Bag had to be rechecked for security reasons." Oh really? All I had in the bags were clothes, two pairs of shoes, a book or two, and toothpaste. Wow, I must be really dangerous. Most likely, one of the flaky staff members didn't get it on the belt on time (big surprise considering how much attention they were paying to their jobs), and then coded it as "TSA" to cover his/her ass. I landed at 11:00 AM, my bag did not get to the airport until after 10:00 PM. American told me they'd call me when the bag landed. Did they call? No, have they ever called before when my bag didn't make it on the flight? No. I called close to 11, and discovered my bag could either be delivered between midnight and 3 Am or 10 AM and 2 PM. They couldn't guarantee any specific delivery time. I chose the night option. A 2:45 AM finally showed up. Thanks American. I have now officially stayed up 24 hours for you! And now I'm exhausted and pissed off! American has lost my bag several times in the past. I can understand when there are weather issues or if they say they had too many bags on the plane. But security reasons? Also, not once has the airline called me to say my bag has been retrieved. In fact, when I live close the airport, I tend to drive there after a few hours and find my bag just sitting in the baggage claim area. I don't have to sign for it and notify anyone that I'm taking it. Which leads me to believe that anyone could have shown up and walked away with my bag. Also, normally when your bag is searched, there is some sort of evidence that this has been done. They will (or should leave) either a tag or piece of paper saying the bag has gone through additional screening. There was no sign of this on my bag this morning.
Did American offer me any sort of compensation or travel voucher? No. I have requested to have my $15 check-in fee refunded, but so far haven't heard back. Oh, did I mention that you can e-mail, fax, or mail your complaints in but can't call a customer service line? What a way to discourage negative comments or deny responsibility for fault! As someone who has previously worked in customer service, I know that the easiest way to calm a customer down or to solve their problem is over the phone. Customers will vent in emails, which often times leads to a customer service agent not wanting to really help. On the phone, the customer realizes that you are human too and are actually trying to help. Don't send your customers to a black hole, help them out. Also, when I made a mistake at my job, I'd offer to refund or partially refund the customer. This would make the customer happy and encourage them to shop with us again. If I don't see at least an apology or my $15 back (which is nothing compared to my full day wasted), I do not intend to fly with them again unless no other option is available.
Hey companies, do you want to know how to lose money and fail at business? Just look at American Airlines!
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