My bride works for an airline at the gate in San Diego. Their main hub is SFO (San Francisco).
Very often they have delays from SD to SFO due to SFO fog (what a surprise) or rain. Inevitably many guest come up to her and get in her face and complain that:
- "They will never fly her airline again." My reaction:Really? Then who would you fly? After all none of the airlines are taking off for the same reason. Her response: smiles and says we'll do everything we can for you sir.
- "You are making me late for my connection!" My reaction: No, actually mother nature is. Her response: With a concerned look, I understand and we're very sorry-we will get you to your final destination.
- "You need to upgrade me to first class!" My reaction: Well there's only 8 first class seats and 120 guests on the plane, you do the math. Her response: Unfortunately sir those seats are already booked.
And so on. There's a great line I heard in a movie when a passenger was complaining to a gate agent about fog delays: "We Don't Make the Fog Sir, We Just Deal With It."
I'm always amazed that people argue with the airlines over being late when the airlines is trying to prevent them from being dead. Ah, I'll take late over crashed.
My bride says what really disappoints her is not the irrational behavior and childish venting, but that most of these passengers, appearing to be in good health are complaining about being inconvenienced over a vacation. My bride sees passengers every day that are blind or deaf or soldiers returning with prosthetic legs or no legs at all. They are not complaining and their's was a more permanent inconvenience. The airline always tries to upgrade the soldiers in uniform (injured or not) as a "thank you for your service" gesture.
The funny part is they also try to upgrade the people who remain calm and ask for help rather than yell and make threats. The yellers never realize they were a polite conversation away from first class or a free movie or meal on the plane.
Mom always said take a deep breath, let it out and count to ten before you react. Mom flew fist class complimentary a lot too!
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