7 True Stories That Prove The Airlines Hate You
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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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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....
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 a terrible lack of courtesy for your customers.
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...
Notice how United Airlines showed up twice on this article... it has done other things too, including breaking a $ 5000 Taylor Guitar. The guy didn't get a refund (that's strange...), so after 1 year of waiting, he made some mud-throwing videos. And guess what, they're musicals! Because he's a country singer! And you don't mess with country singers! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
Just like a lot of large corporations, airlines seem to take pleasure in f*****g people as hard and often as possible. People wonder why I hate flying...
Hey, I can understand the baby tax. Imagine having to sit next to a crying baby for an international flight of more than 10 hours. I'm glad they have to pay more!
Also, Helena_williams, the flight attendants are not responsible for your luggage. She probably thought you were be a b***h by not doing it yourself. Imagine how many people try to take advantage of them and treat them like servants. If they get hurt by your heavy luggage (I'm sure yours wasn't that heavy) they would still have to perform the rest of their duties and probably would not get any injury compensations from the airlines.
In the late 90's an airline called tower air flew a flight from Toronto (I think) to Tel Aviv with a stop over in New York. In the middle of the first leg of the flight the airline filed for bankruptcy. When the plane landed not only did the passengers have no flight to tel aviv but no one to complain to, no way to be reimbursed, and no way back. How did that not get on the list?
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I didn't think it could get worse than number two. Man, f**k airlines.
In May, I was on a SW flight from Baltimore to Tucson with about 3 stops in between. The first stop was detoured to another airport because of severe thunderstorms. We waited on the tarmac for over an hour so the airport could get connecting flights situated. We ended up sitting on the tarmac at all subsequent stops because none of the airports had a gate for us to pull into. I arrived in Tucson in 12 hours instead of 6. They gave me 100 dollars to put towards another flight with them. Blah. I understand the situation with the storms, but there was no food or anything on the flight and after 12 hours..you're kinda hungry.
Several years ago, after nearly starving on a 7 hour flight from the US to London, my husband and I got on a connecting flight to Dublin aboard Aer Lingus. In that one-hour flight we were served a FULL breakfast complete with fresh coffee poured from a silver pot carried around by a flight attendant. (Never mind the touch-and-go we had to endure when the pilot realized the nosegear might not be locked, but hey, at least we would have died with full stomachs!)
A couple years later, we took separate flights from Cleveland to Glasgow - my husband on Continental b/c of his FF points, and me on a Canadian airline b/c it was cheaper (Air Canada?). As I was taking off, Continental randomly bumped my husband to a later flight, meaning I would have landed in a foreign country alone and been forced to spend nearly 24 hours in the airport waiting for him to arrive. (I'm handicapped.) After he explained the situation (read: pitched a fit) they got him on a flight that arrived before mine, so he was waiting for me when I got off the plane. Bless Continental.
Sadly we no longer live in Cleveland and must deal with Delta and NorthWorst out of Detroit. But as much as I dislike them, they're still golden compared to the stories shared here!
@Desman
What airlines are you talking about? I flew China Airlines from U.S. to Taiwan and back, and I had no problems at all. Listened to my mp3 player the whole time. :|
This story shows us how online advertisers will soon hate you, thanks to Digg's new ad model.
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I have a Korean wife Helena, and I can tell you that she wasn't being rude, that's just how they are. Took me 10 years to get used to it, but now I don't even notice it anymore.
On an 10 hour flight back from germany I had the good luck of being on a plane with a small personal TV on the back of each seat, which I made good use of. Half way though my movie the flight attendant came on and claimed that some people were having a problem with their personal TVs and these needed a reset. The "reset" caused all of the TVs to malfunction and spend the next 7 hours staring at a constantly restarting screen.
I had a flight with Korean Air... . Before the flight i placed my backpack in the overhead compartment. Then when the plane was taxing i remembered that i forgot to turn-off my mobile phone, which is inside the backpack. There was a flight attendant passing by and so i just asked her politely if she could just hand me the backpack from the compartment; i thought that would be more quicker than for me unfastening my seatbelt and standing up. The flight attendant made a nasty face but she still got the backpack... BUT instead of handing to me properly she threw it to me and STOMPED off. What a b***h!
Last May my sister and I were in a Philippine Airlines flight to US. The plane have those little personal sit TVs (whatever u call those). When i decided to use my own little TV to kill my boredom, i found out that it wasn't working; i asked my sister if her's was working, she tried and it wasn't too. We reported this to a flight attendant and he told us that it would be fixed. But guess what, after the 13 hours flight, IT WASN'T FIXED. Worse, we noticed that we're the only ones that have busted TVs. Worst, we actually died of boredom for 13 freaking hours! WTF
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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 WEATHER PEOPLE WERE SAYING) My flight was of course cancelled but the airport personel told me that they would be able to get planes out in a few hours once the snow stopped. I decided to wait as I had no kids and am able to entertain myself with a good book in almost any situation. I sent my husband home so he would not have to drive in even deeper snow. After 8 hours at the airport I was put up in a 5 star hotel and given free room service for meals. No flight was available that night but seats were available with another airline out of Dulles in DC. They sent a cab for me the next morning which got me to the airport in DC about 9am. There was a long line waiting to get the seats available but the line was moving reasonably fast. I was in line 40 minutes. The person ahead of me was a couple traveling thru Denver to California (on thier original flight) the attendant (from another airline not the one they booked on) was trying to find them two seats. The man was pissed off and frustrated (understandable) BUT he was screaming at the wrong person because this person was trying to HELP. She found two seats on the same flight but one was first class and one was not. Since they could not sit togeather on the 4 hour flight he refused the seats and was SCREAMING at the poor woman till he had her nearly in tears. (she was shaking). He left in a huff and I never saw him again. I walked up to the counter and said, "My! Someone didn't get up on the right side of the bed today, did they?" She sighed and said "No, I guess they didn't" Then she asked me how she could help me. I told her, "Get me to Denver, please. ( I gave her my most friendly smile) I honestly don't care how long it takes or how I get there as long as I get there in time for my class in two days." She sighed, smiled and thanked me twice for being so nice, saying she really needed that right then. She then gave me the first class seat on a flight leaving in 30 minutes. To me this proves if you are rude you get s**t if you treat others like you want to be treated it works MOST of the time. Regardless it is better than shooting your blood pressure up into the triple digits over something ultimately not worth it. I am sure the guy in front of me would tell a completely diffrent story, leading others to believe he was a "victim" of the awful airlines. Its too bad he wasn't there to see what happened when the lady was treated respectfully.....
P.S. Just because I had a good experience I am in no way saying that for sure those people with bad experiences had it coming to them. I just wonder if the stories being told are leaving out the behavior of the "victim" to make them look less deserving of the bad experience.