A family, including an eight-month-old baby, was denied boarding on American Airlines in order to accommodate standby passengers after the gate agent claimed they were too late. But not only did the family have a valid reason for being late, they made it to the gate with plenty of time to board and before the standbys were even cleared.
Family Denied Boarding On American Airlines To Accommodate Standbys Even Though They Were In The Gate Area
Liz Nelson shared her story on Facebook, which I’ll share in full, but first summarize:
- Family of three was in Philadelphia to for family funeral
- Family received text message at 9:00am that their 1:00pm flight was delayed to 1:16pm
- While going through security at 12:43pm, 33 minutes before the revised departure time, they received a text message that the flight was back on-time and would be departing at 1:00pm
- Ms. Nelson and her baby proceeded to the gate because the stroller had to undergo secondary screening
- When she reached the gate, boarding was still in process
- Nelson approached the gate agent, Richard, and explained the situation
- He asked for their names, mentioning he had to clear standbys who “needed” to get on the flight
- Nelson assumed he asked for their names so that they would not be offloaded
- Her husband showed up a minute later, as standbys were clearing
- Richard denied them boarding, saying they were too late, even while standbys were being cleared
- He denied the flight was ever delayed
- He proceeded down the jet bridge, telling the family to go to the customer service desk for rebooking
- No one was present at customer service, so the Nelsons returned to the gate
- Richard’s demeanor had changed: he admitted the flight was late and apologized for kicking them off
- He offered them a chance to go standby in three hours or confirmed tomorrow
Here is the story in Nelon’s own words:
I wanted to share the HORRIBLE experience my family and I had with American Airlines! I’ve made this post public, please share in hopes this gets American Airlines attention so they can get their act together and this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
Yesterday June 13th my 8 month old baby, husband and myself were scheduled on AA 410 from PHL to DFW. At 9AM that morning we received an App notification that the flight was delayed from a 1:00pm departure to 1:16PM. Initially this was not a big deal and we planned accordingly.
When going through security my husband was directed to a different line in order for our stroller to be scanned. Again, not a big deal. UNTIL I received a text from American Airlines at 12:43PM stating the departure is back to 1:00PM. I quickly communicated to my husband that I was going to the gate with our baby to let them know we are present.
When I got the the gate they were boarding the last few passengers. I explained about the delayed time message we received and that we were present and my husband is just a few minutes behind. Richard, the desk attendant, proceeded to ask my name. He also informed me there were several people on the standby list that needed to get through.
I figured he took my name so they could not give away those seats while assigning seats to those flying standby. After I gave him my name I stepped aside to call my husband and tell him to run. Our phone call lasted a minute and he arrived at the gate when we hung up. That’s how close he was.
While on the one-minute call the Richard, yelled to me “your phone call doesn’t matter, you aren’t on this flight anymore.” At this point the standby people were starting to be called to board the plane. We very politely asked Richard how he could do this to paying customers as we were clearly there. He was very rude and said to take it up with Customer Service.
Our family was standing at the gate while Richard gave our seats away. He also denied the flight was ever delayed and said we should have got there sooner. Eventually he walked away from us down the jet bridge and we asked him for his name and he continued walking as he yelled “Richard”.
After feeling defeated, not cared for and upset we headed to the Customer Service Desk. Lo and behold there was no one there. My husband asked an American Airlines Desk Attendant nearby and they said no one was there and no one was going to be there. We headed back to gate B8 and got to interact with Richard again.
His demeanor changed. He said, “Guys I hated to do that since you had a baby and all. The flight was delayed but just try to get here earlier next time.” American Airlines: do you not empower your associates to make decisions? Did he truly “have” to do this?
He informed us we could wait a few hours and fly on standby, where we may or may not get on the flight(every moms dream) or he could book us a flight for the following day. In the end we stayed in Philadelphia for one more night. Our bags were gone and we had to purchase new toiletries, pajamas, diapers and formula.
Little did Richard know we were in Philadelphia for the last days of my fathers life and for his funeral. Little did Richard know how valuable PTO is and having to lose an additional day is giving away precious time. Receiving such terrible customer service at a time we were already grieving was painful and unnecessary. We have been very loyal customers but after this experience it became clear that AA Customer Service is lacking BIG time.
My Thoughts
There is a degree of fault on both sides in this story, but it is so lopsided that I can fully side with the family. Nelson included a screenshot in her Facebook post which clearly demonstrates that the flight was delayed, then went back to being on time…17 minutes before departure.
Savvy travelers know that delays can change and that you should be near the gate at your scheduled departure time just in case problems are solved, a new aircraft is found, an air traffic control delay is lifted, or a number of other variable factors that impact departure time.
At the same time, it is not unreasonable to take an airline at its word when it says your flight will be delayed. The Nelsons were cutting it close, but not late.
But what really gets me about this story is that they arrived at the gate before the standbys boarded (and possibly before the standbys even cleared) and yet were denied boarding. A similar thing happened to a family in Charlotte recently.
Make no mistake: the gate agent has discretion in order to act. Here, Richard could have unseated the standbys and placed the family onboard. Under the circumstances, that is exactly what he should have done.
Even if it was Executive Platinum members trying to standby for an earlier flight (versus employee standbys), the family, including an eight-month-old, were right there. Boarding was still going on. They had a confirmed seat. American told them their flight would be delayed.
Rules are rules, you might say. They were not in the gate area 15 minutes prior to departure, therefore they should be shown no mercy. Come on, people. When you are told that your flight is delayed by the airline and you arrive one minute late on that basis, a gate agent need not throw you off the flight.
And another thought: why did Richard just assume they would just travel together or not at all? Ms. Nelson and her baby were in the gate area and were not even asked if they wanted to board without Mr. Nelson.
CONCLUSION
I understand that gate agents may wish to take care of high status passengers or employees trying to standby. I also understand that 15-minute cutoffs exist for good reason. But it seems to me AA pulled a bait-and-switch in this case and really put this family in a bad position so unnecessarily. Richard should have let them onboard when he knew they were present and before he cleared standbys.
But it is a good reminder that you should always give yourself extra time when traveling. Plus, delays come and go and American Airlines is not unique in rescinding a delay at the very last minute.
Do you take Richard’s side or the Nelson’s side in this incident?
Sorry. If you have to be somewhere that bad. Don’t cut it that close. No airline has great service these days , we all know this.
Piece of Royal Shit of an airline. Sorry, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again no matter if I turn green in the face!!
@ Matthew — They are each due IDB compensation.
I wonder what would have happened if they went straight to the gate and tried to board? Would it have made a difference not drawing attention until the last moment. She could have been the last of the confirmed pax boarding, stalled for a stroller tag while her husband got caught up.
Agreed, this likely would have worked. But for a young and inexperienced family traveling, I don’t blame them for not thinking in these terms.
Must have been the same jerk of an AA CSR in PHL that I recently had. He gave away our seats out of PHL, despite our making it to the gate as it was boarding, because “we were late getting to the gate”. We were “late” because our inbound commuter flight into PHL was late and it created a really tight connection even with their stupid shuttle buses and sprinting through the terminal. DO and current CSR workloads/staffing are sending this AA Platinum to anyone else. Dougie P doesn’t “get it” IMHO.
United doesn’t pull these tricks…at least IME. They will actually pull standbys off if a passenger makes it to the gate and their ConnectionSaver technology means more flights are being held (though that would not have been applicable here). I’m curious what would have happened if you held your ground and attempted to board? Arrest?
Matthew.. most airlines clear standby’s instantly at the cut off . I can see there is no win here for the agent. here . Stadby’s do clear at the cutoff mark unless there is a KNOWN mis-connect, even at UA, SWA everywhere. IT is VERY rare that an agent can un-clear a stadby after the boarding cut off time. My question here is..
The flight was originally for 9am… flight ended up being delayed until 1:16pm…WHY oh WHY were the just clearing security at 12:33pm? Families with small children should ABSOLUTELY be allowing more time. I bet there are 2 sides to this story. most delays do state clearly that the flight could depart earlier. As a pilot, I try not to fly someone elses airplane….were you there? How do you know the whole story?
Negative. First of all, the flight wasn’t for 9am it was 1pm. Second, no United doesn’t clear passengers right at the boarding cutoff if their ConnectionSaver tool gives them a permissible hold time, a tool that I don’t believe AA has.
Jim,, if you read. y entire comment, I was clear that known mis-connects would be accommodated in most cases before standbys clear even within the 15 minute window.
In my case with AA in PHL, the agent could clearly see in his system that my first plane had landed, that the connection was still legal/doable, and that I was hustling to make the connection. I actually got on the plane, but not in my original assigned seat. All in all, a bigly negative customer experience.
Gate agents have become attune to this scam. Most airlines agents now will not board partial parties to prevent departure delays auch as checking strollers at the very last minute.
So if the situation was such that you were upgraded and the original person shows up to the gate when boarding had closed and you are then told that you have to give up your seat and be downgraded you wouldn’t be pushing the “15 minute cutoff exists for a reason?”
As you mentioned earlier “delays can change and that you should be near the gate at your scheduled departure time just in case problems are solved.” Does this situation suck? Yes. But how many times have experienced travelers been able to get on an earlier flight, or score a battlefield upgrade, or a last minute seat change from a middle seat next to the toilet to an aisle bulkhead because someone missed a connection or shows up late? If they had accommodated this family, then what about the other family that was at security at the same time as they were and then comes running up to the gate two minutes later and sees the other people getting on?
The funeral part is irrelevant; whether employee or revenue standbys it doesn’t matter. If you are going to risk not being at the airport until the new departure time when a flight is delayed, then unfortunately the reality is you may potentially miss your flight if the departure time changes. Even as an experienced traveler I have to make that choice and not rely solely on the airline to inform me of the change.
You can’t draw conclusions after hearing one side of the story. It’s quite possible that the standbys at the gate were revenue standbys from an earlier canceled or delayed AA flight. The airline would have to compensate them if that were the case and they were left behind. No such compensation would be due for someone who wasn’t at the gate by the cutoff time for boarding. Airlines strive to push back from the gate by the scheduled departure time, not wait patiently for everyone to get through TSA and on board right up to the last second before departure. No flight on any airline would ever be on time if this were standard policy. This is why there are cutoff time to be present for boarding, so anyone NOT there on time can be offloaded and seats given away to those who are physically present to 1) board on time and 2) allow the plane to leave on time.
In this case, the customer’s legitimate beef is with the time switching back and forth, but it’s not clear from their rant whether they were even at the gate in time for the later posted time, much less the reinstated earlier slot.
Bottom line, I never assume anything from hearing from just one side in a dispute.
I happen to know these people so I take them at their word, but it is a difficult case for the gate agents. Still, it never excuses being rude and failing to show empathy.
I feel bad for these people kind of. But they were still cutting it really close. What time was boarding on their boarding pass for their 1:16PM departure? Usually AA boards things really early. Nobody mentions this or considers it. I agree with the poster above. The funeral is irrelevant and the pto part is not the gate agent’s problem. These people still were going through security with barely 30 minutes prior to departure, when their boarding passes probably said the boarding time/ door closing time. Sometimes that’s totally fine, sometimes that’s not, but sounds to me like they cut it too close and unfortunately missed out. No sympathy, though I do understand it is frustrating.
Perfectly well put.. IF I were on standby and NOT commuting to work and heard the plight of the family I promise I would offer up my standby seat but in no way was the gate agent in the wrong here unless the family was mis-connecting from another flight ( we know miss-connects do get priority) it is on them to be there.
This reminds me of a similarly horrible experience I had with AA while departing from St Kitts two years ago. Gate agents don’t always have to be so rude to travelers.
30 minutes prior to 1.16pm departure and still in security? With an 8 month old bay? They were late, period.
Not true. Not being onboard 15 minutes prior to departure is considered late.
This, exactly! I one time checked into a flight at the ticket counter 33 minutes before the departure and the agent said to me “you know you’re late.” And I said, your airline specifically allows check in until 30 minutes before to departure, so by their own definition I’m absolutely not late. Now maybe I’m not running early, but I’m definitely not late!
Whether the departure time was at 1pm or 1:16pm is irrelevant almost. What time did the boarding pass say boarding begins/ boarding ends? Even for the 1:16pm flight they were probably in security after boarding had started. Yes this sucks what happened to them and funerals are sad, but they should have been there earlier. That’s all I can say about this one.
My vote would be on the Gate Agents side…… in reading it looks like he was accommodating “disrupted” passengers due probably to items like weather & delayed / missed connections, who were waiting patiently in the gate area. The family effected seem to have just cut it too close. Especially travelling with young children you should leave a significant buffer of time such that 16 minutes is not “mission critical”. Why were they going through security at 12:43pm for a flight they understood had a 1:16pm departure ?. If they were present at the gate greater then 1/2 hour before departure looks like they would have been fine.
With all the delays going on with TSA, anyone without pre check needs to allow plenty of time. TSA is back to suggesting you get to the airport 2 hours early. It sounds like they used the potential delay to get to the airport as late as possible. I’m with AA here.
The manifest closes 15 minutes before they push the gate…the standbys were probably deadheading to the destination DFW….get over it people…the agent was correct
For those who are being critical of the family remember that boarding was not yet complete when she arrived at the gate. Which means that until that moment the gate agent had zero reason to think they were no shows. It was only when she said something that he removed them from the flight. As Matthew noted he didn’t even offer her the chance to board he just yanked them all of the flight.
The agent here is in the wrong period no excuses.
Airlines suck! End of story. This is not even debatable. They can be delayed all they want, change your flight time, change your seats, be late, be early, whatever they want, charge you more if they choose, inconvenience you at your expense, and there is nothing, or very little, you can do. One-sided terms and conditions. Too bad, so sad,
That said, the family was cutting it way too close. Things with airlines being what they are, showing up for security screening right at boarding time, delayed flight or not, was not a wise move. I hope they learned their lesson. This is not to excuse the gate agent’s behavior. He seems to have been a real jerk. I have experienced that kind of behavior from AA as well. Sadly, this seems to be par for the course with airlines and AA in particular. I was a MM well before AA and US merged and even that did not guarantee good service after AA took over.
I take no pleasure in saying that I spent over 25 years at the so-called Elite levels (blah, blah!) with multiple airlines. Nothing to brag about. Happily, I have turned my back on the airline game and now refuse to travel by air unless I choose to do so (which lately, I have not chosen).
As I said, airlines suck!
Terrible treatment but not unexpected from the power-crazed martinets on gate duty ( it’s a universal issue , not AA specific)
Flight attendant here, my input is that families with small children, are usually there boarding early. The family is placing blame on the airline for their tardiness. They weren’t on a connecting flight running from one terminal to the next. Unfortunately, gate agents get the worst treatment from passengers and are under a lot of stress and pressure to get flights out on time. Sometimes working flights solo.
Many airlines, will pull standbys of all sorts, revenue or not, off of the plane if there’s enough time. I’m sorry, but it doesn’t matter whether it was 1pm or 1:16pm, they should have been there early and they wouldn’t have had this dilemma.
In true American fashion lets take our problems to social media. Give just enough information from one side to garner sympathy. For years we have been told to arrive at the airport an hour if not two prior to departure. I sick of the lack of personal responsibility.
Greetings,
What happened at the check in counter when they did the bag drop ? ( Assuming they had checked bags ? Were they told they were close to not making the flight ? IF they had checked bags and it was close why did the counter not call the gate ? Aside from that I think that the gate agent made a decision to teach this family a lesson and later on thought about his actions and tried to back pedal… The family will likely be more on time next time and the gate agent needs some “What does it feel like for others when I treat them like they don’t matter re-training”. Of course this is all just “My Opinion”. T
AA a shell of its former glorious self. Deterioration evident over past 5 years. I have Over a decade as ExPlat and 3 MM and I still bolted for United. Hard to do being based in Dallas. Just got fed up with AA and gave up.
I stopped flying American a long time ago. Now I remember why. They hire morons.