Today was terrible. We got to KC with an hour and a half before our flight… with only 3 United agents helping ALL of the customers. 1 of them for economy, 1 who had no clue what she was doing (“I’ve only been doing this 3 days and I don’t know what I’m doing!”), and 1 for First Class, Business, etc.
I could go into details, but I doubt that anyone really cares…
I will admit fault to say that we should have been there 2 hours early. (Which was totally my fault, laughing at Aaron, who wanted to leave at 8am, which would have gotten us there 2.5hrs before our flight). I’ve flown out of KC many times (including internationally), and taken other people to fly out of KC many times, and we’ve always found an hour to be PLENTY of time. So an hour and a half seemed very safe.
But, there was so much wrong with the situation. Poor logistics, understaffed, undertrained staff, staff who just didn’t care, and overbooked flights. Anyone, even just walking by, could see that the whole thing was a disaster.
We heard a whole lot of blame on us… I can’t tell you how many times that they told us that we should have been there 2 hours early and the statement “I can’t do anything”. Never once did we hear an apology or any sympathy to our situation.
There are two things that a customer service rep should be decent at… 1.) Whatever it is they serve you doing. 2.) Being nice to people. I saw neither today.
Anyways, we have tickets for tomorrow. Same airline. We will arrive at the airport 3 hours early. In the very likely event that we will have way too much time, I will stand exit of the customer service counters and hand out hugs and encouraging notes like “Better luck next time!” or “Fly Southwest!”
P.S. In case you are wondering how bad it is that we are arriving in EE a day late, we will see. Please pray it’s not a big deal.
a moose in moscow 