AirCanada014 From Canada, joined Oct 2005, 1492 posts, RR: 0 Posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 2649 times:
Hello all
I've just finally watching some Airline on TV and its very interesting to watch it. I was wondering was Southwest the only airline in this Airline show?
I feel sorry for the airline dealing with stupidity passengers every single day.
Last night one of the episode was this lady had few drinks and was denied boarding. She was very pissed off because she couldn't get on the flight. She wanted to sue the airline and the passenger agent for not letting her on the flight. She wanted to go home and see her son's game. Finally they had the police escort her out of the building and lay charges against her. Thank goodness for that. He told her before she was left the building he would put her on the next morning flight but because she was arrested she had to stay over night in jail hopefully she can catch the next flight but I don't think they will let her out that early. Well anyways she deserve that especially her being verbal abusive to the passenger agent. The agent handle her pretty well with calm voice but in return she wasn't very nice to him.
Sometimes I don't understand why some passengers find the airline policy is stupidity. I don't think so. Another episode was this lady had two kids with her and she arrived 3hrs earlier and was hoping to see if she can get on a flight sooner than later. She was already booked on a flight but wants to get on earlier. The passenger agent inform her the flight is wide open but if she wants to get on the flight she would have to pay 125.00 per passenger times 3. She wasn't too impress with that, she couldn't understand why the agent wouldn't allow them to take the earlier flight without paying upgrading fees.
The agent did say it was upgrading fees to get on earlier flight. The agent did have a piece of paper with policy regarding everything and wanted the passenger to read it but she refuse to read it. HA HA HA for the passenger. She had to wait for 3hrs, too bad for her maybe next time she shouldn't arrive early to catch the earlier flight. Good thing she didn't get too pissed on her normal flight because that flight was 20mins late, so she had to wait 3hrs and 20mins for her flight to depart.
I say kudos to all passenger and ticket agents. They tried their best to accommodate the passengers, their service is very professionals and high quality service.
Pe@rson From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 18832 posts, RR: 54 Reply 2, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 2621 times:
It seems at least two-fold: it shows how stupid some passengers are and it also shows how the airline can possibly be a bit OTT.
What annoys me most of all is that they - and easyJet in the UK - concentrate only on the 'bad' instances (and weddings, outside work stuff, etc.) because it makes for good viewing. Yet 99% of the time everything's fine with customers but that does not, of course, get mentioned - because it's boring. That's a problem with the media. Nevertheless, the free publicity during peak times or nearly peak times (at least here in the UK) surely outweighs the disadvantages 1 million-1.
[Edited 2006-01-25 15:12:52]
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AAtakeMeAway From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 296 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 2578 times:
Quoting AirCanada014 (Thread starter): The agent did have a piece of paper with policy regarding everything and wanted the passenger to read it but she refuse to read it.
Apparently it was written by Herb. I wonder what it says.
DL Widget Head From United States of America, joined Apr 2000, 2040 posts, RR: 5 Reply 4, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 2535 times:
Quoting AirCanada014 (Thread starter): was wondering was Southwest the only airline in this Airline show?
I have heard that the producers approached all of the US majors about participating in the show and all declined except WN. Supposedly, WN could not pass up the free publicity. Sometimes I wonder if they made the right choice because many times, WN comes off looking bad. Granted, in the two examples you cited, the agents did their best with unreasonable passengers. Also, did you see the bit about the cat? That guy seemed a tad eccentric. They finally had to send him over to CO in order to get him and Tiddles to CLE. They showed quite a bit of interaction with the CO agents. I wonder if CO management had to approve this before airing.
Flypdx From United States of America, joined Apr 2005, 636 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 2535 times:
Quoting AAtakeMeAway (Reply 3): Apparently it was written by Herb. I wonder what it says.
It was on the website I believe. Don't know if it is still there. Had to do with why you can't buy one ticket for one flight, and try to use it on a different flight.
AirCanada014 From Canada, joined Oct 2005, 1492 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 2497 times:
I just notice another post regarding stand by policy for WN. That policy was regarding to stand by for earlier flight. It has to do with stand by policy and the passenger didn't want to read it. She decide to wait 3hrs at the airport for her flight.
LTBEWR From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 12333 posts, RR: 12 Reply 7, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 2487 times:
While too often Airline shows WN staff dealing with drunken and idiot pax, many episodes have often included stories of great compassion and extraordinary service to other pax by them, well beyond what I suspect other airlines would encourage. [for example the apparently homeless smelly guy whom was given a chance to clean up and given clean clothes and the assistance to help a handicapped pax use an airport bathroom, or finding a way to get stranded and overbooked pax home ASAP]. WN has it's own well established and firmly held rules such as to ticket changes and is probably why they are about the only profit making airline in the USA market.
I think WN's leadership agreed to participate in this show as they felt a great pride in their airline and staff, that they had nothing to hide about their policies and that it was good publicity in the long run. Even showing them keeping off drunks and potentially disruptive pax from their flights is good as it shows they care not only for that pax, but that it also encourage other pax to use them as they see someone concerned about their safety and comfort.
DALNeighbor From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 597 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 2446 times:
Quoting DL Widget Head (Reply 4): I have heard that the producers approached all of the US majors about participating in the show and all declined except WN. Supposedly, WN could not pass up the free publicity. Sometimes I wonder if they made the right choice because many times, WN comes off looking bad. Granted, in the two examples you cited, the agents did their best with unreasonable passengers. Also, did you see the bit about the cat? That guy seemed a tad eccentric. They finally had to send him over to CO in order to get him and Tiddles to CLE. They showed quite a bit of interaction with the CO agents. I wonder if CO management had to approve this before airing.
WN was the first choice for the producers of Airline. They kept pressing for over a year and WN was reluctant. I think the final kicker was when Airline producers said they were going to approach B6 about doing the show if WN didn't want to do it. WN leadership has said the show has been a success in their eyes and has really elevated the awareness of the brand. I think they are happy with the outcome.
Wright Amendment = Federally Engineered AA Price Gouging
Richierich From United States of America, joined Nov 2000, 4023 posts, RR: 6 Reply 9, posted (7 years 3 months 4 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 2367 times:
Quoting DALNeighbor (Reply 8): WN leadership has said the show has been a success in their eyes and has really elevated the awareness of the brand
I'm not sure I understand Southwest's thoughts on brand recognition then. Personally I thought that Southwest was pretty well known coast-to-coast in the US. They have been in the Northeast for 10 years now and have a presence in almost every New England state. Obviously they are all over other parts of the country too. Are there really that many people out there that have not heard of Southwest or don't know anything about them?
In just about every show I have watched, Southwest comes off looking bad in some way at least once. Counter that with some decent crewmembers who do their best under less than ideal conditions and it is probably a wash as far as image goes. After all, the crew do KNOW they are being taped, right?! And most people watching do realize that bad things can happen at any airline, I hope. I've always felt that the show is not so much about an airline but really about the travelling public in general. Spend a day at your local airport and people-watch: you'd be amazed with what you see and, no, they are not all Southwest passengers!
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