Passenger gets angry at Check-In

[Robert Zweck]

Over the last few weeks we did a tour of Victoria by car, calling in to as many Airports as possible.

On one Saturday afternoon at Mildura, we witnessed some rage at the QantasLink check-in, a middle aged woman ( plus 3 ) were booked to catch the Dash-8 to Melbourne.

It appeared that they all turned up at 1500 and " found no staff " at the counter. They then left the airport and returned at 1555 to find that the aircraft was about to depart at 1605...they had misread the ticket and thought the STD was 1650.

Their seats had been filled by some waitlisted passengers, but she was having none of that. She wanted the seats " that were rightfully hers " Thankfully , there was no foul language but she let forth with a tirade at one of the Ground Staff who wanted to continue the despatch.

" HEY, YOU, I WANT TO SPEAK TO YOU ! "

" DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME, COME HERE, NOW! "

The staff were all adamant that someone was in attendance at 1500.

This heated language went on for about 10 minutes and was something I have never witnessed in all my years in this industry.

I was nearly going to suggest that if she desperately needed to go to Melbourne, it was only 5-6 hours away by hire-car ( There must have been at least 50 out in the Park ) But I figured it wasn't worth getting involved.

I think the woman was probably more angry with herself for having misread the ticket ( trying to blame someone else for her error )

Is this where our society is headed?

[Nigel C]

Unfortunately, yep.



People these days can't/won't admit when they're wrong, and won't take responsibility for their own actions and short-comings.
I know this is right, so please don't try to tell me otherwise.

[Hugh Jarse]

RobZ,

I spent many years at QLink (and have stood behind the counter watching the checkin staff work). One thing I'll say is that I would never want to have to do that job! They're a great bunch of resilient people.

The trouble is that more morons are travelling, and have some degree of difficulty reading a ticket. I'm afraid I have no sympathy for them.

If the gate staff could have changed things at MIA, they would have, but if you no-show after the cutoff time, the standby travellers get a guernsey. If the flight is delayed because of checkin then the staff are held accountable for OTP. Not nice.

I had a similar thing happen on a REX flight from Lismore-Sydney (we were the standbys). The gate staff closed the flight 5 mins after they should have (and put us on). As we walked out to the aeroplane, the original PAX walked in the door with the expectation that they could just board at departure time

Fortunately, the checkin lady was assertive without being rude and explained why they weren't going to travel on that particular flight.

[AdamC]

i must say after doing a few hours behind the counter, people like to and love to blame the staff for the stupid mistake of missing the aircraft.

But the funniest thing is it's just not missing a flight, it's also missing bags. It's like the staff are to blame because it was a hot day and the aircraft couldn't take their 35kg bag. Some of the ordinary travellers need to realise that weather and the pax weights come into effect when it is a hot day. Also the weather fact of a foggy day and no aircraft will come in or out for a few hours, the staff are always to blame for that one.

Hugh could probably vouch for me when i was in ABX working the counter. Some travellers just don't back down and will swear black and blue that it's our fault.

i would love to hear others stories for those that have or work in the industry, maybe someone that has a notebook and a camera will read these threads and understand that it's not always the airlines fault.

my five cents worth.

cheers

Adam

[Adam P.]

My favourite question?

What time will the fog clear?

[Scott Loveday]

I actually had an airline Customer Service Coordinator yell at me once (CSC on the ground at the airport, not the one on board the aircraft). I wasn't trying to provoke him.

Must have been a stressful night.

[Scott Loveday]

Nigel,

You've hit the nail on the head. Generally speaking, our society seems to want someone to point the finger at for purposes of blame... the finger never points back in the direction of origin though.

S.

[Radi K]

Great topic!

One day I do seriously intend to write a thesis on human behavior changes brought about by air travel related stress.

The stupid (e.g. dumb questions, security type jokes etc.) and inappropriate behavior displayed by people (physical abuse to staff etc.) is truly hard to describe unless you’re in the environment for an extended period.

To be fair however, travelling is stressful and it’s always a cocktail of emotions & personal situations that causes people to behave like they do. Still, it’s amazing to wonder what comes over people once they walk through the double doors into a terminal! The more experienced ones among us might be able to confirm this trend is fairly new and getting worse!

Most major airlines train front line ground staff with specialised conflict training and these situations can be handled effectively. If you really want to get technical, the lady in question above was having an “amygdala hijack”. Google that for a interesting read about our brains!

[David M]

Adam - Along with the FOG question.. I've had a passenger onboard (while enroute under a thunderstorm) ask why would couldn't continue to our destination?



So.. it's not only on the ground.

David.M.

[Hugh Jarse]

I remember well the tribulations the front line staff go through, Adam C.

I also remember (referring to David M's post) when I was flying the Jetstream many moons ago. We were inbound YWLM-YSSY and were given unscheduled holding at what was then POWEL (now LOWEP). The captain was flying and because the situation was fairly fluid, there was quite a bit of communication between ATC and us. So we were both very busy. The captain flying, and me working the radios and calculating our fuel for a divert.

I did a PA to let the folks know that we were holding, and one "gent" who decided we weren't going to do that, raced up to the flight deck (all we had for security was a "reinforced flight deck curtain" ) and proceeded to let loose a tirade of abuse at the captain, demanding we continue on as he had an urgent appointment....

My colleague just looked up sideways from his instrument scan towards me and coolly said "Get rid of him".

So I did.

Radi, IMHO the world has fallen into a "blame" mentality, fostered by such crappy shows as Today Tonight, A Current Affair and 60 Minutes. As soon as something happens to inconvenience an individual - somebody has to be held accountable. Sometimes Sh*t just happens. As airline workers, the last thing we want to do is inconvenience people or get them to their destination late. Anyone who is a pilot prides themselves on being on time or early. That's part of our character.

Another fog story for you: One day an opposition aircraft took off from Armidale with a visibility of less than 180m (800m required there). Our PAX were livid that I was not prepared to depart with less than the minimum required visibility. "So and So took off - why can't you!!!"

Some people just don't understand that you have THEIR best interests at heart.....