Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Need flight information? Ask a fellow passenger

When I needed to know a flight’s status, a fellow passenger had access to more information than an American Airlines gate agent.

I’m sitting in the food court in Chicago O’Hare’s K Terminal; I just arrived from Washington Reagan National on a flight that was delayed 90 minutes due to weather here in the (ahem) Windy City.

As an aside, I’d love to meet the genius who decided Chicago was a good place for a major hub airport. Indianapolis is closer to the center of the country and has far fewer weather problems. I’d pay real money to talk for just five minutes to whoever made that call.

But I digress.

I’m connecting to a flight to Kansas City that was scheduled to depart at 8:45 p.m. and showing on-time when we left Reagan. We arrived short of the gate at 8:25 and waited for a ground crew to guide us in. They finally arrived, then we waited for a gate agent to move the jetway into position.

As I deplaned (how company nobody ever debuses or deboats?), I asked the gate agent if it was possible to call the gate for the Kansas City flight to let them know I was on my way. I have Platinum status with American and I’m delivering a keynote talk at 8 a.m. tomorrow (Thursday) morning; this flight is the only way I can get there short of taking a flight into St. Louis and driving to Kansas City from there. (I can’t tell you how many times one of my flights has sat at the gate because, according to the pilot or flight attendant, we’re waiting for a connecting passenger. Yet never, not once, has a plane waited for me.)

The gate agent told me she had to stay on the jetway and the jetway phone only connected her to other G gates. After some prodding, she finally tried to call another G gate so they could contact the agent at the Kansas City gate here in the K terminal.

But nobody answered. Finally, a fellow passenger waiting in the jetway for her carry-on bag, asked if I had the flight number. It told her what it was and she punched it into her smartphone. (I would have done this myself except that I’d sapped my phone’s battery talking to Orbitz and American about alternate routes to Kansas City while sitting on the tarmac in D.C.) In less than a minute, she said, “You’re going to Kansas City? That flight is delayed until 10:40.”

I have never been happier to be on a delayed flight.

But it’s mind-boggling that a passenger with a mobile phone has access to more information than an American Airlines gate agent.

Something is seriously wrong here.

Posted by Shel in • Planes
(10) Comments • Permalink

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  1. It is funny how often frequent fliers have more knowledge of an airline’s operations or an airport’s features than the actual workers.

    Josh Hallett  on  02/12  at  05:37 AM

  2. It’s like asking the way in an unfarmiliar place. The local resident didn’t know, while a passer-by traveler showed the direction. Think the gate agent shall at least have a connection to get the information.

    Jean  on  02/15  at  07:57 PM

  3. Several years ago, my then-boyfriend, now husband, was on a flight that got rerouted through a new city and sat on a tarmac for several hours. I was supposed to pick him up, so he called me to let me know he would be late but had no idea how late, or even what the heck was going on with his flight. For the rest of his time on the ground, I called him several times to give him the latest info from the internet and my own calls to the airline. He then communicated this to the passengers around him. Information they got about their situation from the crew of the plane? NONE. Airlines need serious help with their communication, both on the plane and in the airport itself. In the absence of information, Customers get more upset and irate; yet, most flights keep mum about what is going on as long as possible. Your example makes a great case for getting a Smartphone…I need a new cell anyway!!

    .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  02/16  at  12:41 PM

  4. The next time you are stuck in a terminal for an extended period of time why not take out that mobile device and use it to look up charter flights, next time when using this form of carrier you might not be delayed.

    Charter Flights  on  06/10  at  03:47 AM

  5. I have Platinum status with American and I’m delivering a keynote talk at 8 a.m. tomorrow (Thursday) morning; this flight is the only way I can get there short of taking a flight into St. Louis and driving to Kansas City from there. (I can’t tell you how many times one of my flights has sat at the gate because, according to the pilot or flight attendant, we’re waiting for a connecting passenger.

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  10. The bright side is that in todays technological world it is a huge step forward that the technology and device exists to allow us to get the information ourselves instantly - But dissapointing that an employee could not give it to you directly.

    Mike Ireland  on  10/23  at  11:03 AM

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