I was pretty disappointed about how both reacted but in retrospect why would I feel this? Airlines historically don't make money for long periods of time. Many have gone out of business including some great names. Remember Pan Am? So method has changed from a service to customers to what feels like airlines doing we the passengers a favor about flying us from A to B, over charging us and providing essentially zero customer service.
Take the automated check in machines (same as the automated immigration machines too), one AA employee told us one machine equals 5 employees. In my experience they rarely work and in any event someone has to stick the bag tags on so you have to line up again anyway. Its all about cost savings. And that is what their focus is all about. Cost savings through lower head count, no food, cost surcharges... you name it in fact and as a result they are starting to make money. Which I suppose is why Warren Buffet has started to buy airline stocks for Berkshire Hathaway.
Anyway it was all very disappointing and costly for us too but the people I feel for are the others particularly on the Bermuda flight for in that long line at the airport I heard many stories. People coming for weddings or indeed funerals. People coming on a once in a lifetime holiday only to find that if they did extend their days in Bermuda by the 2 or 3 they would miss from not getting on a plane today, AA would recharge them for the new flight and cancel this existing one with no recompense. Staggering. Of course this was only what I heard in the line and may not have actually been the case but then AA did call in 3 armed policeman to watch over the endless line at the customer service desk, presumably just in case anyone may have got annoyed for some reason.
But I am getting ahead of myself for nobody knows the full story. Well here it is!
Day 1 – Tuesday, 15 May 2018
On May 15, 2018 we had tickets to travel from Toronto to Bermuda on American Airways via New York JFK. We had taken this routing many times before leaving TO around midday and arriving into Bermuda around 9 pm at night but on this day the flight was cancelled due to what the airline said were storms in the New York area. As we had 4 bags to check and 2 carry on bags, we arrived even earlier for the flight than we would normally. It was now nearly 9 am.
The AA check in counter is physically located next to the Delta check in area so the man who ‘checked us in’ asked the Delta check in person whether their 10.30 am flight was still open… going to New York JFK. The lady said ‘yes’ so we decided to switch from AA for this leg to Delta, received our boarding passes, proceeded through baggage check in, US immigration, security and thence to the boarding gate where we arrived around 10.00 am, just before boarding was due to commence.
As we lined up to go onto the plane, the Delta check in person noted that my boarding pass had ‘SSSS’ on it, meaning that on a random basis I needed to go through additional security checks.
The boarding gate was A16 and the lady said I should leave the line and go to gate A10 where someone would be waiting for me to do this quick check and return as she said she would call the specific person and ask for a security official to attend to me. I left the line and went to A10 as directed where there was nobody. No flights, no security, nobody at all. So I returned to gate A16 where I told the Delta lady that nobody was there and could she call again or do something as the flight was due to leave imminently. She was adamant that I had to go back and do this inspection and said that she had called already and would do so again.
I left the line once more and this time ran back to gate A10 where there still was nobody. I spotted a lady with a ‘security’ tag and asked her what I should do. She told me that nobody was there and that the security office was never manned unless someone had specifically arranged for someone to be there. I told her that the Delta lady had called twice and she said that she would call again there and then, which she did in my hearing. She then directed me to the security check waiting area and in less than a couple of minutes someone showed up and I showed him my passport, told him my story and asked him to hurry as my flight wouldn’t wait.
He conducted the inspection in less than 5 minutes by which time it was just after 10.30 am and when I came out of the screened area found my wife who told me of the events that had taken place after I left the gate for the second time.
The Delta lady specifically did not call anyone in security but did call someone presumably with Delta to ask them to take our bags off the flight.
Clearly there was no intention to wait for me and again no effort to call anyone in security to perform this additional inspection.
As we were standing at the security area a different Delta employee arrived and came over to ask after us. He said that he was in some back office area and that he was the one that the Delta lady at the gate had called originally regarding the additional security check. This gentleman had called airport security and had apparently asked for someone to attend to me at gate A10. He was now checking up to see what had happened. It was 10.45 am and the flight had gone.
He explained that the security people were rarely prompt in their attention to customers in this regard and went on to say that as he had become older and recently had had a cancer scare, that occurrences such as this were less important in the great scheme of things (not joking here). He said that he had learned to take things as they come and not stress about details too much.
Obviously this was something I could not agree with and told him so and I asked him what we should do now and what was likely to have happened with our luggage, checked in and most likely in the hands of Delta. He said that he could not help us but should go to any Delta gate and explain our story and get onto the next JFK flight which was around 2.30 pm.
So we went back to gate A16 where a flight was boarding and all the Delta employees had changed and then to A14 where a flight was about to leave and where a different Delta lady asked us to wait until she had cleared this flight when she would be able to help us. It was around 11.15 am.
Near 12 noon after the Delta flights cleared the lady said to us that we should go to talk to someone at AA to get us booked onto a flight as she could not see us anywhere in the Delta system and had she known this at the outset she would have told us to do this 45 minutes earlier.
We went to gate A9 where AA fly to JFK and found an AA lady to help us. She asked us why we were there as we were booked onto the 2.30 pm flight on Delta to JFK with Delta holding our bags already. She said that the flight left from gate A6 and we should head there and talk to the gate attendant when they arrived to sort us out. This we did.
The notice board advised us of delays to the flight on multiple occasions but around 2 pm someone from Delta arrived and set up the computer. After waiting our turn after many people doing the same thing I spoke to this Delta lady and explained our predicament. She told me that there was no record of us being booked on the 2.30 pm flight to JFK and she had no idea where our bags were. She recommended that we speak to an AA attendant and resolve this issue.
This shocked me of course and I explained that we had already done this with AA saying that we were booked onto this 2.30 pm flight to JFK along with our bags. The Delta lady was adamant in that there was no record of us anywhere in their system and there was nothing she could do other than suggest we speak to AA. It was now 2.30 pm.
We went back to gate A9 where we spoke to a different person and went through the same story again. This AA lady checked and said that that was strange as she could see us booked onto the Delta flight to JFK at 2.30 pm. She said that at that point the best that she could do was to book us on the flight tomorrow but which would go through Miami as the JFK flight was full. We decided to do this as it was now 3 pm and even had we made a connection to JFK, we would miss the Bermuda flight.
We asked about our checked luggage, particularly as to who had it: Delta or AA. The AA lady looked at the tags and said Delta still had the bags but she would organize transfer of the bags and return of them to us via baggage claim 2 in the terminal. She then took us out of the secure area and down to the baggage hall where she directed us to wait until the bags arrived.
This we did and the bags duly arrived some time around 4 pm.
Day 2 – Wednesday, 16 May 2018
The Miami flight (AA 308 2721) was due to leave Toronto at 1 pm but given our experiences of the day before we again decided to be early to the airport so arrived again just before 9 am when we spoke to the AA check in lady at the Priority counter. She told us that we were indeed booked on this flight but were in fact booked in twice, i.e. we had 2 bookings not one. This was a surprise to us of course but then before we were able to be accepted and checked in, the AA lady had to cancel the 2nd booking, which took her over an hour to complete. It was now 10 am.
We had our boarding passes and checked bag tags and were again able to pass our checked bags into the secure baggage area without problem, pass through security and immigration without issue and proceed to gate A7, the departure gate for the Miami flight. We managed this quite comfortably and settled ourselves to wait at the gate for the boarding time which was 12.15 pm.
The AA gate people asked for passengers with carry on bags if they’d like to check them into their final destination free of charge. We did this and so found ourselves with just our personal items for the flights.
The flight to Miami was uneventful and arrived at about the right time and we looked for the departure gate for the Bermuda leg (AA 308) which would be at 5.41 pm. When we arrived at the gate, the notice board said it had been delayed and from discussion with fellow passengers it was due to the weather. Apparently there were thunder storms in the Miami area and this prevented any activity at all from taking place at the airport. This included not only things directly related to the flights themselves but also maintenance, baggage handling, resupplying the beverages, and in fact everything else at the airport that took place outside.
Our plane had arrived by this point apparently.
The area around these gates filled up as more flights were delayed. The Bermuda flight notice board kept putting back the departure time too. On one occasion the tannoy exploded into life with someone, presumably a gate attendant saying:
“I don’t know how many times I’ve had to tell people that flights are being delayed due to the weather. If lightning is spotted within 5 miles of the airport, the rule is that no activity whatsoever takes place outside in this time. This is for the safety of the workers.” And then he shouted not spoke “So don’t ask me again!”
I can imagine the pressure he must have been under from disgruntled passengers like ourselves when there were no airline announcements of any sort. This was the first information that was provided to us even if it was handled in such a way. Airlines would do far better to actually tell people what is going on rather than say nothing and look the other way as happened at Miami on this day. Everybody understands that sometimes things happen and will be very understanding and probably sympathetic if appropriately told. Saying nothing merely aggravates people so airlines shouldn’t be surprised that passengers get disgruntled and complain.
Finally the flight was called and we dutifully passed onto the plane which was full. It was 7.30 pm.
We sat in the plane for 20 minutes or so when the pilot came onto the PA and told us that because the ground staff were not able to oil/grease the engines whilst the plane was sitting on the ground during the period of time when the storm warning was on, it had to be done now. This would be a 20 minute or so exercise. Furthermore the baggage had not been loaded and the resupply of the plane had not taken place either, this would have to be done. It would take 20 or 30 minutes to accomplish. It was now nearly 8 pm.
Half an hour later the pilot made another announcement. He said that the good news was that all the necessary maintenance had been successfully done, baggage loaded and plane resupplied but the bad news was that the crew were now out of hours so could no longer fly the plane. And as the storm had meant a number of other cancellations into Miami, there were no other crews. It was now 8.30 pm.
The pilot went on to advise that the AA ticketing desk should be our point of first contact so we could see what our options would now be for our travel.
Bedlam ensued as the passengers debarked and rushed to the ticketing counter where the line already was snaking down the terminal building. I joined the line. It was nearly 9 pm.
The AA ticketing counter had room for what looked like 5 or 6 employees, however only 3 were working and each customer of course had individual issues so took 15-30 minutes each to resolve. An AA employee in white uniform (a supervisor maybe) told us in the line that as this was not due to the weather but due to the crew running out of hours, AA would have to reimburse us and find us lodging. It was around 9.30 pm and I had moved 6 feet.
In the meantime my wife had moved out of the line to see what could be accomplished by calling AA on the phone. Others I later discovered simply went online in the lounges to do the same thing. The waiting time on the phone at this point was 45 minutes. It was now 10 pm and I had not moved any further in line.
Some time around this point 3 policemen showed up as passengers were getting angry at the length of time in line. In addition other more senior AA people showed up too and were immediately surrounded by irate passengers demanding to know what was going on. The upshot of this was that AA would not be making any compensatory payments nor would they be willing to pay for any lodging expenses as they argued that this cancellation was due to the weather and not due to any other reason. Not even because the crew were out of hours. It was nearly 11 pm by this point and I had moved a further 10 feet.
In addition other flights were also being cancelled at this time too so the line was growing ever larger but luckily by this time my wife out had managed to contact AA on the phone and had confirmed that we had been booked on the Friday flight out of Miami as the Thursday flight was now full.
My wife was further able to book a hotel for this period at which point she also asked about the status of our 6 bags – 4 checked plus the 2 additional carry on bags that we had checked at the counter in Toronto. She was told that we should go and discuss this at the AA baggage desk which was outside the security area. This we did and I left the line around 11.45 pm having moved in total some 20-30 feet.
At the AA baggage desk we provided our bag tags and were told that if we made a specific request the bags would be pulled and be available around 11 am tomorrow (Thursday) as the baggage crew were now off duty and the first shift of the day would only come in at 4.30 am tomorrow. We made the specific request and left for our hotel. It was now 12.30 am on Thursday.
Day 3 – Thursday, 17 May 2018
As the AA baggage desk had suggested we arrive around 11 am, we arrived a little earlier and took our place in line where we were told that we should have been here at the airport around 2 am in the morning as our bags had come out then. We asked where they were now and the desk said that many had been left in the area between baggage claim 24 and 25 and that we should ask the staff at that desk for assistance.
This we did and the staff encouraged us to look around for ourselves in the area between the two carousels and behind the desk as we would more readily recognize the bags as opposed to them checking each bag tag number. Our bags weren’t there. The desk lady there suggested we ask at the AA baggage desk even though as I pointed out that they had directed us to this spot in the first place.
We did as suggested and a different person at the AA baggage desk said that it wasn’t going to be 24-25 all, rather more likely between carousels 26 and 27, so that is what we did. It was now between 12 noon and 12.30 pm.
Miami airport is very large so it takes some time to walk up and down the terminal, even on the baggage claim level but ultimately we did find carousels 26-27 and another AA staff person there looking frazzled as I am sure she had had many people like us gamely looking for baggage. She again encouraged me to take a look behind the counters and I was able to find 3 of our 6 bags. It was now 1 pm.
I asked where the other bags would likely be and the lady said they probably hadn’t been requested but if we went back along the terminal to opposite entrance 9, there would be a grey door with some markings on it. She suggested I knock and ask for more baggage assistance there as this was where a lot of bags were being held.
This we did and we tramped back along the terminal building as directed and found the door in question. I knocked and told the lady that opened the door that I was looking for my bags whereupon she opened the door and said “take a look”. Again I presumed this was because I would know what my missing bags looked like whilst she would have to laboriously go through checking each near identical looking bag by its bag code.
In this room were lines and lines of racks and hundreds of pieces of luggage. Luckily I was able to spot all 3 of our bags immediately making the full complement of 6 pieces in total. It was nearly 2 pm.
We took another taxi back to our hotel but this time with all our bags.
Day 4 – Friday 18 May 2018
AA 308 from Miami to Bermuda was scheduled to leave at 5.40 pm but as usual and with our experiences fresh in the mind, we decided to leave very early and so arrived before 3 pm where we were able to check in and pass through all security checks without delay.
Boarding was pretty much on time but as soon as we were seated the pilot made an announcement. He said that the plane was in great shape and that everything had been done… except for the resupply of beverages and food for the plane. This delay would be around 30 minutes. In the event it was nearly 1 hour later that we took off but this time we were able to compete the journey without further incident.
**
Delta have markedly improved service conditions but the conduct of the gate personnel we thought to be terrible. The first gate lady in Toronto was totally unhelpful in conditions when it was totally in her control to resolve the SSSS security issue. She failed totally in this regard. She simply directed that our baggage be removed from the plane as there was no way it could all be done in time. This may have been a pragmatic response to the situation but in terms of service to a paying customer, totally wanting.
This is a failing on behalf of Delta with the appearance of the second gentleman to ‘find out how things were’ was merely a sop to stop me getting even more angry at the situation that so easily could have been resolved with only a modicum of effort and a small piece of common sense.
2. American Airlines
As a long time member of their frequent flyer program I was shocked how badly AA responded to admittedly a bad situation when so many flights were cancelled (I understand this number was 22 flights). However this said much of this is a situation totally in their control. It is AA’s choice not to be fully staffed so that at times of stress there is capacity to resolve a bad situation. Not having a fully staffed ticketing desk at Miami airport, for example, and then calling in the police is simply terrible.
Even worse is the manner in which AA wriggled out of their obligation to passengers to compensate them in some way for the inconvenience of having their flight cancelled and then denying them lodging until the next flight is available. The Bermuda flight was not cancelled due to the weather at all. It was cancelled due to the crew having run out of hours. How can AA then say no compensation as it was weather which is an act of God? No it wasn’t. It was an act of very poor planning on AA’s part to not have crew cover available. Even the first AA person that we had met in the line said this was not weather related so AA would have to compensate passengers.
Furthermore, the entire airport had just sat down doing nothing waiting for the weather to improve for the previous 3 hours. That would have included the crew too. It wasn’t as if they were flying or anything. Most likely they were just sitting around drinking coffee like the rest of us. This is simply a very poor excuse and a way for AA to get out of paying for passenger inconvenience and save money.
3. Problems
Nobody expects everything to go according to plan every time. Things often happen that disrupt even the best laid plans. But to have as a response no information, no announcements, and no compensation is simply unacceptable. Problems happen, it is how they are resolved that provides the measure of the person or the organization.
God, this was a boring post. Sorry! The bulk of the text is the letter I have written to both Delta and AA. I'll provide updates if there are indeed any. Don't hold your breath. I am not.
