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Apr. 13th, 2002 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petermarcusPosted more tonight than I have all week. Anyway, here's the catch-up, and an example of Travel Tips from PeterMarcus.
I'm a touch late from Martha's Vineyard -- the ferry isn't exactly on airline schedules. However, I make it to the airport an hour and a half before my flight, no prob. I get to the security checkpoint and realize I left my itinerary in the rental. The guard wouldn't let me through without an intinerary. (This is a good thing, I suppose, at Boston Logan.) I'm directed back to the ticket counters and I wait patiently in line. I get up to the counter 55 minutes before my flight -- and learn that all the seats are gone and they're pulling a "you must be here one hour before the flight" con. Turns out, the plane was overbooked by 24 seats.
Now, I'm not the only one in this situation. People are yelling and screaming at the ticket reps, whose company has just screwed them as they have to face 24 people that got involuntarily bumped. I start to get mad, the ticket agent sees it...then I back off. You can't yell at the weather, and it is obvious to me that no amount yelling or screaming is going to get me to Atlanta today. So I switch tactics, go polite, point out that I was in the security line and got directed back to the ticket counter which put me under the "1 hour" limit, and I start asking the poor ticket rep what she can do for me. To make a rambling story slightly shorter, while abused ticket reps are pointing out to blowhard passengers that there is nothing they are authorized to do, my ticket rep gets me on the next flight in the morning, confirmed first class, gives me a nice hefty voucher for being involuntarily bumped, the very last hotel room at the Hilton tonight, and a dinner voucher. None of these were easy to obtain -- she had to make several calls for clearance along the way. But she was definitely willing to work with me in polite mode, when the alternative was facing the line of pissed-off passengers behind me.
Nothing in the world greases the wheels like politeness and a touch of empathy. I'm not in my own home, in my own bed, because some airline decided they had to play the odds and overbook. Yet they have made it up to me as best they could, while fellow passengers who blasted out their frustrations at the nearest target are cooling their heels a half-hour from here at the Days Inn.
I'm a touch late from Martha's Vineyard -- the ferry isn't exactly on airline schedules. However, I make it to the airport an hour and a half before my flight, no prob. I get to the security checkpoint and realize I left my itinerary in the rental. The guard wouldn't let me through without an intinerary. (This is a good thing, I suppose, at Boston Logan.) I'm directed back to the ticket counters and I wait patiently in line. I get up to the counter 55 minutes before my flight -- and learn that all the seats are gone and they're pulling a "you must be here one hour before the flight" con. Turns out, the plane was overbooked by 24 seats.
Now, I'm not the only one in this situation. People are yelling and screaming at the ticket reps, whose company has just screwed them as they have to face 24 people that got involuntarily bumped. I start to get mad, the ticket agent sees it...then I back off. You can't yell at the weather, and it is obvious to me that no amount yelling or screaming is going to get me to Atlanta today. So I switch tactics, go polite, point out that I was in the security line and got directed back to the ticket counter which put me under the "1 hour" limit, and I start asking the poor ticket rep what she can do for me. To make a rambling story slightly shorter, while abused ticket reps are pointing out to blowhard passengers that there is nothing they are authorized to do, my ticket rep gets me on the next flight in the morning, confirmed first class, gives me a nice hefty voucher for being involuntarily bumped, the very last hotel room at the Hilton tonight, and a dinner voucher. None of these were easy to obtain -- she had to make several calls for clearance along the way. But she was definitely willing to work with me in polite mode, when the alternative was facing the line of pissed-off passengers behind me.
Nothing in the world greases the wheels like politeness and a touch of empathy. I'm not in my own home, in my own bed, because some airline decided they had to play the odds and overbook. Yet they have made it up to me as best they could, while fellow passengers who blasted out their frustrations at the nearest target are cooling their heels a half-hour from here at the Days Inn.
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no subject
Date: 2002-04-13 09:57 pm (UTC)Next time give me a call - this time I wouldn't have been able to help since I had dinner & show date but that doesn't happen that often.
I had a great time meeting you and definitely want to do it again and keep in touch. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself and I didn't bore you to tears.
Let me know if you ever come up and want to extend the stay over for nonbusiness and don't want to pay the high cost of hotel rooms. You're more than welcome to crash at my place - My futon folds out and is actually very comfortable (I know from experience).
Let me know when you're in town next and we'll make plans for dinner and checking out another part of the city.
no subject
Date: 2002-04-14 07:26 am (UTC)