Rude Flight Attendants Take it Out on Passengers

Airline: United
Date: 20 October 2007
Location: En Route Buenos Aires to IAD

I wish to complain in the strongest terms about the customer service that I received recently on October 20, 2007 on flight UA846 from Buenos Aires to Washington Dulles.  I was seated in seat 18F.  The cabin crews were serving dinner.  Up to that point service had been OK but somewhat short.  The staff made repeated irritated announcements about not getting up when the seatbelt light was on and reprimanded a passenger for pressing the service light when the seatbelt light was on by asking the customer to put his hand up to identify himself.  I know that it is a requirement for passengers to remain seated at these times but there are ways to make these kinds of announcements in a professional and polite way. 

The female cabin crew member was coming up the aisle serving dinner.  I had taken one of my headphone ear pieces off so that I could hear her but I thought that she was talking to customers in front of me as she was not looking at me and I could not hear her above the cabin noise.  I was shocked when I heard her reprimand someone for not paying attention to her but did not realize that she was talking to me until she walked past me without serving me (I was waiting expectantly with my table lowered).  When it became clear that she was not going to serve me I asked her for a meal and she rudely replied that I should have paid attention to her.  I did get my meal a few minutes later.  She continued to provide unprofessional service to other customers throughout the flight.  This is especially surprising in that she did not know at this point if I even spoke English.  Her colleague, an older balding man with a mustache heard the interaction but did nothing about it.  The man next to me in seat 18E and the two woman in the row behind me did hear it and sympathized afterwards (they planned at the time to send in complaints of their own).

These two ladies kindly identified the hostess as Laura (a tall African American woman with blond hair).  I heard her and another male staff member be rude to several other passengers during the flight (in full view of their colleagues). As a final insult, near the end of the flight when the crew was picking up the leftovers from breakfast the same female crew member picked up my empty box.  I also had a half full cup of coffee, just as I was lifting it to my mouth she picked it out of my hands while asking if I had finished.  By the time she finished the question my cup was gone! 

The overall atmosphere during the flight was like a war zone, crew members against the passengers.  It was such a relief to find that the staff on my next flight, to San Francisco, were normal – that is they were polite, respectful and helpful – everything that was lacking on flight 846.  I plan to fly to S. America in both of the next two years, if I thought there was any chance of meeting this cabin crew again I would purchase my ticket from another company regardless of price.  In 30 years of flying this is the worst customer experience I have ever experienced on an airline.

Romanian Entry Paperwork Hassle at SFO

Airline: KLM/Northwest
Date: 17 October 2008
Location: San Francisco

It all started on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 when my mother was booked to fly out to Romania via Amsterdam on KLM flight number 606. Once we got to the ticketing counter the agent informed us that my mother's passport is expired, thing that we already knew. We presented in exchange a US Permanent Resident card and a Romanian National Identity card. The agent, who obviously did not know the current regulations, asked her manager for guidance. He looked at us once and with arrogance stated that he "will not let her board the plane since she does not have a valid passport". I tried to explain him that she has a Green Card and that could substitute the passport and for reentry in Romania she could also use her Romanian ID since Romania is a member of the EU. He told us that she could only board the plane if she presents Temporary Travel Papers either from the Romanian Consulate or from the INS. Although I explained to him that KLM and Northwest websites show that a person could board a plane leaving USA based on a Green Card he continued to oppose her boarding and even started laughing in a very rude, unprofessional manner. When I asked to talk to another manager he told me that he is the only one there and that his decision is final. Not having an alternative we had to leave the airport and go home.

Next day, Thursday, I spent it entirely on the phone with representatives from Northwest/KLM here in United States and the Netherlands to clarify the situation. They were nice enough to open a new reservation for my mother where they all noted the details of the incident and upon consultation with their supervisors agreed with me that my mother should have been boarded on the plane based on the identification presented (Green Card and National ID) and that his decision was an abuse on his part. I was ensured by agent Bill from Northwest and agent Hannah from Amsterdam that they have placed explicit instructions into the reservation for the KLM personnel at SFO to allow my mother board the plane because the current rules and regulations permit it. Moreover agent Hannah stated that the situation from the precedent day was just a big misunderstanding caused by the fact that the agent did not know the rules. Next she said that there won't be a repeated behavior because by the time we get there the instructions will reach the proper people and my mother will board without any incident.

Next day we got to the counter at about 13:30 where we were greeted by another agent who, just like the day before, informed her manager, the same person from before, about my mother's situation. He came to us and on a very superior tone he told us that he informed us the other day that she will not be boarded without a valid passport. I explained to him that the current rules allow my mother to board based only on a green card and that he should read the case notes from the reservation because they explain in detail our situation. Although he did read the notes he continued to oppose the boarding. Bare in mind that all this time his attitude was very rude and his tone was very high. He seemed to be extremely irritated by the fact that we actually circumvented him and we found out that he was wrong last time not to board my mother. At my insistence that he should contact his superiors to ask for instructions he made a phone call and after, he told us that in this situation "the boarding is at his discretion because the company could be fined if she is not allowed reentry in her own country". I protested such an allegation without any knowing that it was just a made up excuse that was suppose to cover for his rudeness and stubbornness.

I tried again to explain to him that she will be accepted back into the country with her national ID. At this point he started yelling that if I "don't shut up and listen" to him he "will walk away" which he did. From here on nobody at the counter wanted to talk to us, every attempt to contact an agent was turned down quickly. This is when I decided to call Northwest/KLM customer service. The person on the phone tried repeatedly to contact that manager via phone but he refused and continued to stay at the counter. It was obvious that he did not have a logical explanation for his actions other than his hatred towards us because we would not accept his ruling. I was even asked by the agent to hand the phone to him but again he refused to get in touch. After an hour of waiting at 2:50 PM he handed my mother the boarding passes from under his keyboard which proves that he printed them earlier but he just would not give them to us because he wanted to humiliate us as a punishment for circumventing him.

Short Notice Cancellation

Airline: Jetblue
Date: 26 October 2008
Location: New York (JFK)

The flight was canceled with only 4 hours notice. The reason given was weather (a lie) where the plane was to arrive in NY. Having the internet link to Fightstats, which is searchable for arrivals and departure for every major airport in the world. I checked to see the status of take offs and landings at JFK. I found the dozens of JetBlue planes were taking of and landing, with the a notable exception of the flight to Jacksonville FL that would have been the plane turned around to fly back to JFK. So the problem was not weather, but the lack of back up aircraft available to JetBlue to cover their schedule.

There was a Continental flight that JetBlue could have switch us to with only a one hour delay, but they refused because they unlike most other airlines do not do this, giving us only the options of flying the next day (on one of their planes that might not have flown either) and missing the wedding we planned to attend or a refund. So lesson learned, Jet Blue is not just a discount airline, but a CHEAP airline. They obviously run on a thin margin of aircraft with does not allow for any problems and then when that thin margin causes their customers problems, they are unwilling to accept the cost to pay another airline to get you to you destination when you need to be there.