Phoenix Sky Harbour Airport
Sunday, August 5th 2007. 7:30am
Security:
The lines were long enough to where I just said heck with it, let's go through Employee line. I did all the screening and took of my shoes, awaited for my 3 guests to come through as well. We sat down, put on our shoes. I had a bad memory so I ended up taking us to the International B gates, where I was supposed to be at B27. We laughed and took the walkways back to the correct location, which would have been walking straight outside of security.. not to the right.
B27 Gate:
Okay, here we await for the boarding for flight 158 to St. Louis at 8:48am. The sitting area was shared amongst 4 other gates, so people were filling in the area around the gate desk. We "checked in" again to let them know we were in the area and to see what the chances were of them getting onboard.
First of all, some lady got scared cause there were three of us flying, but I wasn't included.. else we would have gotten on
I just shrugged and thought to myself, this is supposed to be a longshot at best of getting on this flight. (And the next.. but tht one is a different story.)
They start flashing the lovely sign that says "No first class upgrade; flight is book full. No seat changes, flight is book full." I am thinking about giving up right now.
Observation: Gate agent, while nice, just seemed like he was there. He didn't really offer anything useful, just said okay.. standby and we'll see if ya can get on the flight. Everyone boarded and the first 3 nonrevs listed got on, leaving us not on the plane
We make our way to the next gate.
A16 Gate:
We arrive at the gate, although the St. Louis flight doesn't leave until 11:45am. We sit down, across from this girl who is sleeping on the chairs. (Must have been uncomfortable.) The 4 of us talk about various things, listen to the boarding announcements etc. There was this *REALLY* bad announcer who couldn't remember her script (LOL) and kept stumbling around with it. Oh well.. kudos for trying.
About 10:30, we get a late breakfast/lunch consisting of some weird chicken burrito. Probably cost $7 for the thing.
About time for boarding, say 11:15am.. my friend goes to get a boarding pass. Turns out Agent #1 from flight 158 didn't roll us over, but she did them a favor and rolled them over as a courtesy. Very nice of her to do that. (They would have been IAM-Screwed.. hahaha.. although not mechanics.. anyhow.) No seat numbers on the tickets. She then makes this DREADED announcement. "We are in an overbooked situation here. If you would like to give up your seats, we have several offers for you. The first one is a one night hotel stay and roundtrip airfare voucher, the second is a voucher good for any destination in the 48 US states, or a $200 credit." LOL d'oh.. not that flight either. We figure it's going to be a LONG day until flight 152 comes in.
Observations: No one wanted to give up their seats, they thought the idea of a voucher was sort of funny. They were still anouncing this during boarding. Think of all the involuntary bumps on that flight.
Okay, so they didn't make that flight. Next flight is at 6:18pm. Long wait.
Gate A20
SHORT WALK OVER. LOL. After a debate about going home and giving up or staying for another 7 hours, we decided to stick it through after visiting with Customer Service. She gave me a good idea of stuff I couldn't check because I wasn't at work. There were flight delays out of San Francisco, so at least 10 people weren't going to make it
A lot happened during this long sit next to the gate counter. My friends / neices got to play behind the counter with some other airline employee's kids.. and I chuckled when the gate agent through this adult guy out from behind the gate because it was for employees only. I felt bad for him, he was just sitting there. At this time a plane pulled up bound for Santa Anna. LOL This A320. They have a sh*t because the next announcement I hear makes us laugh. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have some bad news. The plane going to Santa Ana has been downgraded from a Boeing to an Airbus and we just lost about 50 seats. That means those of you in rows 27 and after need to come to the desk so we can resit you." LOL Poor people! Observations: One man almost looked like he was going to attack the male gate agent who took his ticket.. he was one of the last to board, he was mad cause he was now in a middle row instead of his "aisle seat" .. he hesitated and just got onboard. Another lady customer get mad about the same thing, but this one STOMPED on the jetway and through a fit. (LOL.) Next, they close the gates after giving the rest of the seats to stand by passengers. RIGHT after they shut the door a guy comes running up asking if it's closed. They say yes it is, and then they put him on a flight in the B gates. ROFL.. have fun getting over there in time buddy He said "swell" and then started off in the other direction.. hehehe.
Okay, so after a Whopper w/ cheese and a drink, they are about to board in 2 hours. LUCKY US. The flight is delayed one hour because of MX issues. Well, anyhow. Turns out they DID get on board this flight after a long day at the airport. The gate agent at this one was friendly too. I was soo happy they got on. His job was on the line if he didn't get in .. had to go to work at 6am the next morning.
Comments:
If I had not checked him in the night before at 9pm and then did the rolling standby's, he probably would NOT have made it. His seniority jumped ahead of the other SA7s and below because of that.
There were some grumpy gate agents because of delays, but in general, they were very professional. I don't know how I would take that direct abuse day to day. I guess not make eye contact and you have to have a cold shoulder.. because you know the pain they are going through if they get bumped, but you have to turn them away sadly.. and can only do so much to help them. (Rebook, hotel, etc..) and try to make them happy. It doesn't happen all the time, but I think everyone of the agents I saw that had to reaccom pax did a good job.
I left after my friends / neices got their seat numbers. I couldn't take it anymore. I made sure they were okay with handling the rest.. cause I was there to make sure they got home safely. I battled what I did the whole way home because I KNEW I was taking a chance they'd still get bumped. They aren't truly safe until they are in the air. I've heard of nonrevs boarding, seated.. that have been pulled. <-- This ever happen to anyone here?
Sunday, August 5th 2007. 7:30am
Security:
The lines were long enough to where I just said heck with it, let's go through Employee line. I did all the screening and took of my shoes, awaited for my 3 guests to come through as well. We sat down, put on our shoes. I had a bad memory so I ended up taking us to the International B gates, where I was supposed to be at B27. We laughed and took the walkways back to the correct location, which would have been walking straight outside of security.. not to the right.
B27 Gate:
Okay, here we await for the boarding for flight 158 to St. Louis at 8:48am. The sitting area was shared amongst 4 other gates, so people were filling in the area around the gate desk. We "checked in" again to let them know we were in the area and to see what the chances were of them getting onboard.
First of all, some lady got scared cause there were three of us flying, but I wasn't included.. else we would have gotten on
I just shrugged and thought to myself, this is supposed to be a longshot at best of getting on this flight. (And the next.. but tht one is a different story.)They start flashing the lovely sign that says "No first class upgrade; flight is book full. No seat changes, flight is book full." I am thinking about giving up right now.
Observation: Gate agent, while nice, just seemed like he was there. He didn't really offer anything useful, just said okay.. standby and we'll see if ya can get on the flight. Everyone boarded and the first 3 nonrevs listed got on, leaving us not on the plane
We make our way to the next gate.
A16 Gate:
We arrive at the gate, although the St. Louis flight doesn't leave until 11:45am. We sit down, across from this girl who is sleeping on the chairs. (Must have been uncomfortable.) The 4 of us talk about various things, listen to the boarding announcements etc. There was this *REALLY* bad announcer who couldn't remember her script (LOL) and kept stumbling around with it. Oh well.. kudos for trying.
About 10:30, we get a late breakfast/lunch consisting of some weird chicken burrito. Probably cost $7 for the thing.
About time for boarding, say 11:15am.. my friend goes to get a boarding pass. Turns out Agent #1 from flight 158 didn't roll us over, but she did them a favor and rolled them over as a courtesy. Very nice of her to do that. (They would have been IAM-Screwed.. hahaha.. although not mechanics.. anyhow.) No seat numbers on the tickets. She then makes this DREADED announcement. "We are in an overbooked situation here. If you would like to give up your seats, we have several offers for you. The first one is a one night hotel stay and roundtrip airfare voucher, the second is a voucher good for any destination in the 48 US states, or a $200 credit." LOL d'oh.. not that flight either. We figure it's going to be a LONG day until flight 152 comes in.
Observations: No one wanted to give up their seats, they thought the idea of a voucher was sort of funny. They were still anouncing this during boarding. Think of all the involuntary bumps on that flight.
Okay, so they didn't make that flight. Next flight is at 6:18pm. Long wait.
Gate A20
SHORT WALK OVER. LOL. After a debate about going home and giving up or staying for another 7 hours, we decided to stick it through after visiting with Customer Service. She gave me a good idea of stuff I couldn't check because I wasn't at work. There were flight delays out of San Francisco, so at least 10 people weren't going to make it
A lot happened during this long sit next to the gate counter. My friends / neices got to play behind the counter with some other airline employee's kids.. and I chuckled when the gate agent through this adult guy out from behind the gate because it was for employees only. I felt bad for him, he was just sitting there. At this time a plane pulled up bound for Santa Anna. LOL This A320. They have a sh*t because the next announcement I hear makes us laugh. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have some bad news. The plane going to Santa Ana has been downgraded from a Boeing to an Airbus and we just lost about 50 seats. That means those of you in rows 27 and after need to come to the desk so we can resit you." LOL Poor people! Observations: One man almost looked like he was going to attack the male gate agent who took his ticket.. he was one of the last to board, he was mad cause he was now in a middle row instead of his "aisle seat" .. he hesitated and just got onboard. Another lady customer get mad about the same thing, but this one STOMPED on the jetway and through a fit. (LOL.) Next, they close the gates after giving the rest of the seats to stand by passengers. RIGHT after they shut the door a guy comes running up asking if it's closed. They say yes it is, and then they put him on a flight in the B gates. ROFL.. have fun getting over there in time buddy
He said "swell" and then started off in the other direction.. hehehe. Okay, so after a Whopper w/ cheese and a drink, they are about to board in 2 hours. LUCKY US. The flight is delayed one hour because of MX issues. Well, anyhow. Turns out they DID get on board this flight after a long day at the airport. The gate agent at this one was friendly too. I was soo happy they got on. His job was on the line if he didn't get in .. had to go to work at 6am the next morning.
Comments:
If I had not checked him in the night before at 9pm and then did the rolling standby's, he probably would NOT have made it. His seniority jumped ahead of the other SA7s and below because of that.
There were some grumpy gate agents because of delays, but in general, they were very professional. I don't know how I would take that direct abuse day to day. I guess not make eye contact and you have to have a cold shoulder.. because you know the pain they are going through if they get bumped, but you have to turn them away sadly.. and can only do so much to help them. (Rebook, hotel, etc..) and try to make them happy. It doesn't happen all the time, but I think everyone of the agents I saw that had to reaccom pax did a good job.
I left after my friends / neices got their seat numbers. I couldn't take it anymore. I made sure they were okay with handling the rest.. cause I was there to make sure they got home safely. I battled what I did the whole way home because I KNEW I was taking a chance they'd still get bumped. They aren't truly safe until they are in the air. I've heard of nonrevs boarding, seated.. that have been pulled. <-- This ever happen to anyone here?
