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It's hard for an industry to be more hated than insurance or telemarketing, but airlines have been trying for decades. Whether it's charging $50 to check one bag or bumping paying customers at a moment's notice, it truly seems like they couldn't give half a damn about their passengers.
Then, on some occasions, they really put in the extra effort to openly make the customers overtly hate them. For example... #7.
"Sorry, ma'am, but we mishandled your luggage. With fire."
Takeoff: Everybody who parts with their luggage at the airport does so with a twinge of nerves; afraid their bags will end up in some other city, or that some crazed baggage handler will sneak off to some private room to start trying on their undergarments. So when a United Airlines employee approached Shannon Tadel and asked to speak with her privately about a problem with her luggage, she probably assumed the worst.
We're guessing even by assuming the worst she was not prepared for when the man said that her bags were on fire. Turbulence: As it turns out, Shannon's luggage was placed too close to an exhaust port on a belt loader, which was so hot it ignited the bags. She thought it was a prank until the pilot revealed himself to not be Ashton Kutcher and pointed out a Tarmac crew attempting to extinguish her clothing with a fire hose.
To make matters worse, her smoldering, water-logged luggage wouldn't be allowed on the flight. We're not sure if this was some kind of regulation or if they just wanted to see the look on her face. Crash Landing: United apparently thought that a first class upgrade was enough of an apology for destroying a bag full of her clothing, and didn't respond to her reimbursement claim. They forced her to jump through many hoops and even dry-cleaned her destroyed clothing to try and lower the amount of the claim. As usually happens, they kept running her through a maze of bullshit before Tadel went out and got the story made public via the Chicago Tribune. Suddenly United was all about pleasing the customer, becoming very compliant and apologetic, issuing her a check to cover her loss and assuring her that in no way did the public embarrassment factor into their decision to replace the possessions they set ablaze. #6.
"Either pay up, or leave your infant with me."
Takeoff: A fairly standard rule in the airline industry is that children under two can fly for free if they can sit in a parent's lap, at least on domestic flights. International flights generally levy a 10 percent charge on the parent's ticket, called a baby fare, we guess for the extra gas it takes to transport a baby.
Turbulence: So Brian Burns paid for his tickets to Greece, took his infant son and had a wonderful trip. Then when it was time to return to America, he went to the Athens airport where he was told he'd have to pay a little more to get his child back home.
Crash Landing: And by a little more, we mean $320. That's how much the fuel surcharge was on the baby ticket that Delta Airlines forced Burns to buy to get his kid on the plane to return home. They had managed to not bring this up when Burns was buying his ticket in America to get to Greece. The options were basically either pay the fare, or dump the child at a Greek orphanage and go back without him. Though we guess for less than $320 he could probably have just mailed the baby back. Just stick lots of Styrofoam peanuts in there and some jars of baby food... #5.
One Flight Forward, Two Flights Back.
Takeoff: AeroMexico Flight 670 was heading nonstop from Mexico City to Seattle when, near their destination, they ran into a bank of fog. They were forced to divert to Portland, in order to get their customers to their connections on time. Never an industry to pass up fucking with non-white customers, the airline made sure this didn't happen.
Turbulence: To be fair, AeroMexico couldn't control the fact that Portland International Airport didn't have any customs agents available to process their foreign passengers, so they were powerless as their customers sat on the tarmac for four hours, gradually growing more pissed off. In fact, the passengers became so irate that the cops had to show up to keep them on the plane after they realized that they were trapped in the plot of a bad Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg collaboration.
In light of the escalating situation, and taking into consideration the proximity of the flight's intended destination of Seattle, AeroMexico did the only intelligent and courteous thing it could do: It made them fly the 2,000-plus miles back to Mexico. Crash Landing: Oh, also, the flight left without stocking any food. The situation was so offensive that local firefighters literally went to McDonald's and got everybody onboard a hamburger out of pity.
Upon landing back in Mexico City, AeroMexico didn't bother to offer any of the passengers food or hotel vouchers, though they did hand out several coupons for free entrees at T.G.I. Go Fuck Yourself. #4.
Hyphens Are Confusing, Evil
Takeoff: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee booked a ticket from Toronto to Florida, arrived at the airport and walked to the ticket counter, all without knowing that her day was about to be ruined by punctuation. Turbulence: A keen eye might notice that Stephanie has a hyphenated last name, just like around 10 percent of new brides do. Ms. Pearl-McPhee had actually run into problems before where airlines had missed the hyphen and assumed that Pearl was her middle name. Of course, after showing her passport, the ticket was always corrected. It's not the sort of thing that takes a team of physicists and a supercomputer to figure out.
However, on this trip, the airline decided to screw logic right up the ass, saying that altering her ticket to include the hyphen constituted a name change and thus was against the rules. Crash Landing: After arguing through about 15 minutes of this, Pearl-McPhee decided to cancel her original ticket and just buy a new one. The airline informed her that there were no more seats available on the flight. Even though she just opened one by canceling. They presumably couldn't give a seat to this "Stephanie Pearl-McPhee" person because "Stephanie Pearl McPhee" could still show up and demand it back. |
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I'm relieved that my airline experiences are never this bad, or even close to it. The worst thing that's ever happened having to catch a connection flight at Las Vagas at 10 pm. that happened to be delayed 4 hours until 2. It wouldn't have been so bad if the slot machines weren't so damn loud and annoying.
I will say though, stories like these are why I refuse to check baggage, I feel safer bringing everything with me in the cabin. Saves a buttload of time too.
I have my own bad experience with airlines. I was coming back from Atlanta to my home in Virginia, we had already been on two flights because we were coming back from California so we were pretty exhausted. Anyways we get to the airport and see our flight isn't on the list of departures. So we asked the airport people and they said our flight was cancelled because there might be a thunderstorm or something. So, I guess that was understandable, but heres where it gets worse. The lady at the desk tells us that she'll book us a room and the airport will pay for like 65% of it, pretty good deal even though we're still spending money we weren't even going to in the first place, but whatever. So we find our way to the shuttle area where all these shuttles come to take people to hotels, we wait for like 30 minutes, and we finnaly find the one we were supposed to go to, only to be informed by the driver that we didn't actually have a room there, that Delta overbooked a ton of people and there was no actual room for us, even though the lady assured us that we had a room. So really soon everyone else who got overbooked finds this out too, and there were SWARMS of people on the shuttles like you wouldn't believe. It was insane, people were literally fighting to get a room on a hotel, but every place we checked was over booked. So we end up staying at this seedy ass motel, the kind without air conditioning that sells condoms in the vending machines. There were bugs in the room and everything, but we had to stay there. Another thing, all throughout the night, literally every 4 minutes, a plane would take off and since we were so near the airport, the plane literally went RIGHT OVER us and made a horrible, horrible loud noise. Oh, and since my sister and my mom (who were with me this whole time, forgot to mention that) didn't have carry-ons, they were also not allowed to get their luggage so they didn't have any pajamas or new clothes or anything, they just ended up having to by deodorant at the airport the next day. It was seriously an awful night.
Also, we met a girl, looked about 15-17, who was with some guy who looked about 18-20, and she was staying with him for the night even though they had never met before because she couldn't afford a hotel and needed someone to stay with. That girl could've been raped and murdered that night, but I guess I'll never know.
That last story gives me a sad :(
When I was flying Delta back to Atlanta from D.C. with my mom and brother (we were there on vacation with my dad, and then he was going to stay another week for business), our flight kept getting delayed and delayed. And delayed. Finally, a little after 10 PM they make an announcement that - oh, by the way - you can't take off or land a plane in Washington D.C. after 11 PM due to noise regulations (out of respect for the monuments? Or just the massive amount of rich politicians who need their sleep?). Even my nubile little seventeen-year-old mind figured, "Okay, the flight is cancelled." Nope. Quarter to eleven, they basically said "Hurry the f**k up and board!" It was a total lost cause. Everyone made it to their seats, only to hear that our plane - and our commitments for the next morning - were going to be c**kblocked by a damn NOISE REGULATION. Understandably, everyone was pissed and verbally raping the stewardess behind the counter. Luckily, we stayed in my dad's tiny hotel room that night, but I had to miss half of work the next day.
A few years later, my ex-boyfriend flew Delta from Atlanta to London with a layover in New York. The flight from New York just sat on the tarmac for two hours while their luggage soaked up the deluge of rain falling outside. f**k Delta.
funny, right now there's and advertisement for airlines at the bottom of the page
*facepalm*
lol the "They presumably couldn't give a seat to this "Stephanie Pearl-McPhee" person because "Stephanie Pearl McPhee" could still show up and demand it back." is so friggin halarious
cant remember the airline it was with but last time i deployed i had my weapons case brought out by an attendant with the latches opend and the padlocks the only thing holding it shut. thinking this was weird i opend it all the way and sure as s**t my issued 9mm handgun was missing!! I brought this to the attention of the lost luggage office, they said just fill out a lost property form!!! it took 20 min of arguing and explaining that someone has stolen a hand gun and this is a big deal. It was never found and nothing was done till about 2 months later.
Holy s**t. That...that is awful.
United is a piece of s**t. I flew them once and never had no problems, but still that last story is f**king outrageous.
I am going to New York in June and no way in hell am I flying United this time. Fuck them.
Wow, the last one is really f**ked up. I will not flight with United ever again.
By the way I have my very own Flying hate story, it's not as good as the ones here, but it's bad. You see my brother and I where comming back home after living in Mexico 4 years, we were flying with Mexicana de Aviacion, we checked in and did everything right; however when it was time to leave we were told the flight was full and just left without us, and a whole lot of other people including a couple with 3 little kids, one who had some kind of medical problem and couldn't be left alone. Anyway what the agents tolds us next was that appearently we had to buy tickets a new flight or stay in Mexico. My parents pushed the agents in ways mexican workers are not used to so, so they gave us seats in the next flight the following day and advised the couple to do the same. So we left the next day, in another flight, after we had to fight for it, and I'm pretty sure someone had to stay behind so We could get home. If that's not s**t I don't know what is.
Man, that pisses me off.
My God cracked, grow the f**k up, not everything is an anti-every single non-white person in the world conspiracy. Your bias is glaringly obvious.
Considering over half the stores were about white people getting screwed, I'm going to go ahead and tell you to chill out.
yeah dude, chill out, if it bugs you so much why do you even read it?
Angriff is just angry he possesses no talent other than showing how much of an ignorant douche he is over the internet. So leave the poor bastard alone. Or maybe not because he's probably very lonely already.
Yyyeah, cuz flight attendants freaking out when a vaguely middle-eastern looking guy tries to go to the bathroom and contacting the FBI has NOTHING to do with her being afraid of him based on nothing but his appearance.
I hate PC as much as the next guy but cmon. Pick a fight you can win.
What's cute is that you used the word "conspiracy" as your argument. try again, junior.
Not to defend airports because I find them the most irritating pieces of shit on the planet, but that last bit about the girl who needed to go on break... that's a law. If she didn't the airport could have been fined up to $300,000 and she would have been promptly fired. I know, fucking labor laws are retarded. Let's go back to the days when we could make people work for as long as we want. Oh, and while we're at it, I think children should be exploited too. Hell, let's go back to slavery.
Have you ever had a job...? I don't know about you but I have plenty of times been late or altogether missed a break just because we were desperately busy where I worked, or, when I worked at a tech support company I got stuck on a 4 hour call that went over my break and over the end of my shift.
While the whole tech phone call thing sucked, it wasn't so bad in my job where I was helping people (mainly my fellow employees, but still)
The point to the woman's story is that if the girl had been 10 minutes late(probably a lot less) she simply would have stayed in her little break room 10 minutes later than normal. I know no business that can't cover that.
Read the source. The ticket agent spent ten minutes of her very own break just to tell the customer to leave. All my check-ins take around 5 minutes. Without luggage it's even faster.
@justathought - Yes, it IS the airlines treating people like this. Your insane Kitty Farmer-esque analysis of human decision making aside, any business is directly responsible for the actions of its employees (though unfortunately that doesn't ever seem to be the case from a legal perspective). But in the public eye, it's not the employee we single out, it's the company that we direct our outrage and indignation against. Because it is the company who employs the person, and that essentially means that they condone the actions and attitudes of that employee. For instance, look at the articles above. Do you know how many of the employees involved in these events were terminated for their actions? I'm willing to bet on 0. The airlines do very little to make an employee fear a reprisal for doing batshit insane things to their passengers, which means that the airlines themselves are responsible for those actions. If they were held accountable, they would raise the quality of their employees (and service) by more than a shade or two.
Hell, they get away with overbooking flights on the grounds of operating costs and the fact that not literally every single person who books on a flight is going to show. But even that is selling a product or service, in this case transportation, that they don't actually HAVE. The result is bumping people from flights because there's not enough space for them. But think about the passenger's point of view, especially the family story: We book a flight, we confirm the reservation, we pay for the ticket. Everything's set, and then all of a sudden, "Oh, sorry, we had to bump you." And then a family member dies before you have a chance to see them one last time. Because they sold you something they couldn't actually provide.
This is why people despise the airline industry, and they're much more than justified in doing so. They could diffuse a lot of the anger they get by doing one simple thing: Acting like they gave a shit about screwing people over (When they're in the wrong, anyway).
Sing it, brother!
While I agree there are alot of BAD experiences when you deal with airlines OR "other big companies", in all fairness there are some good stories too. All of the horror stories are not always a complete picture of how the "injured party" behaved towards the employee of said airlines. I for one can tell a story where it would depned on who told the story as to how BAD the experience was. I was traveling for a training class from Baltimore to Denver in 2005. The day of my flight we woke to a light dusting of snow. To be safe I checked the weather and to my surprise a completely unanticipated BLIZZARD was in the making. The prediction, at that time was 3 to 6 feet. I called the airline and they said my flight would take off before the snow caused any problems (my flight was to take off 90 minutes from when I called). My husband and I decided to leave right then. (even tho it was only 15 minutes to the airport) By the time we got there the snow was knee deep. (WAY WORSE THAN THE WEATH
You know, these weren't airlines treating people like this - they were individuals. We each make decisions about how we are going to act along a continuum of possibilities, Hitler at one end and Mother Theresa at the other. When someone opts to move towards the Hitler end of the schema, they do it out of choice.
caseythedog, 19 white men did not hijack four airplanes and fly/attempt to fly them into buildings. So no, no one yells "look out for the white guy" when he gets on a plane. However, that is exactly what we should have been doing every day that Joseph Cassano, who headed up the AIG Financial Securities division, walked into work. The Saudi's who hijacked the airplanes were powerless amateurs grasping at straws compared to Cassano and the devastation he orchestrated.
quick question in the middle east whenever a white guy gets on a plane do they scream terrorist? no okay just wanted to check
makes me so mad i wanna ram a plane full of people into a tall building also full of people.........waaaaaaaaaaaaaiit....
Thats f**ked up
these are particularly terrible stories, but for most part, passengers cause more problems than they suffer. but these stories will always have the retarded flyers out there think they're not in the wrong.
on another note, my girlfriend just got stranded last week in czech republic, when the skyeurope flight she was due to fly on was cancelled. because the company had not paid their bill to prague airport, and the airport was refusing them access. she found out the night before her flight, thanks to a news bulletin. however, the company's website not only failed to advertise this news, but they still allowed you to purchase tickets for the cancelled flights from prague airport. the company has since suspended its operations, so the issue is serious and reaches far beyond her personally losing out on the cost of a ticket, but the lack of information provided, coupled with the fact that those arriving at the airport for their flight were not so much as greeted by a representative is
When I was living in Germany, my grandparents (who lived in England) wanted to visit us and found that (this was a good few years back) it would be cheaper to fly with Albatross Air then to take the ferry. They boarded the tiny plane and took their seats but, shortly before take off, the stewardess made an announcement (the plane was so small no intercom was needed) saying that the plane was heavier on one side and that the passengers would have to move around untill the weight was more evenly balanced, thus they had to switch around for over half an hour till the plane was balanced enough for it to fly safely.
If they had music, they could have been made more funn with a game of musical chairs. ...now, thats not a bad idea...