The airline industry is incredibly complex, and airlines deserve a lot of credit for how well they function, all things considered. However, sometimes you have a customer service interaction that makes you wonder what someone’s deal is, and that makes the DMV look like a Four Seasons, by comparison. Well, I just had one of those…
In this post:
My weird American check-in experience at JFK
I was recently taking an American flight out of JFK (after landing from Tokyo in Japan Airlines’ A350 business class). I had forgotten to change my frequent flyer number from American AAdvantage to British Airways Executive Club, but had already checked in. So I went up to one of the self-service kiosks to do that, but the kiosk wouldn’t let me change the number.
Therefore I went to the priority check-in area (not Flagship First Check-In, just to be clear) — which I was entitled to use, both based on being confirmed in first class, plus being an Executive Platinum member.
The check-in area had one of those line “guards,” who is supposed to point you in the correct direction. Our conversation went something like this:
Me: “Hi, I’m in first class, but I just need to see an agent to change the frequent flyer number on my booking.”
Employee: “You have to use one of those kiosks.” (he pointed to the bag drop kiosks)
Me: “I actually just tried to use a kiosk, and it wouldn’t let me do it, so I need to see an agent, please.”
Employee: “Then you have to see an employee in that area.”
Me: “Sir, that’s the bag drop area. Sorry I if I wasn’t clear, but I’m in first class, so I’d like to see an agent here.”
Employee: “Then you have to go to check-in zone three.”
Me: “I don’t understand, isn’t that the economy check-in area? Why can’t I use this area, I’m in first class?”
Employee: “Go see that guy over there, you need to use those kiosks” (he pointed to the person supervising the bag drop kiosks)
I had no clue what this guy’s deal was, but I played along. So I went up to the other employee (who was very nice). I explained that I had already tried to use a kiosk unsuccessfully, but said I’d do so again, just so he could see it. He watched me go through the process of trying to change my frequent flyer number on the kiosk, and he agreed with me that it didn’t work. He said I should go back to exactly where I previously was, and see an agent in the first class check-in area.
The line guard was surprised to see me again. At this point the nice guy who was trying to help me yelled over to the line guard saying “he needs to see an agent, he’s right, it’s not working.” The line guard once again said “you can’t go here, you need to go to zone three.” Without saying it, the other guy very much gave his colleague a “WTF is your issue” look.
At this point I politely confronted this guy (and to give myself some credit, I’m good at controlling my emotions when I’m frustrated in customer service interactions, because I have a lot of practice over the years). 😉
Me: “Sir, I don’t understand why you’re giving me such a hard time. I am in first class, and I should be able to use the first class check-in area. What am I not understanding?”
Employee: “I’m just doing my job.”
Me: “But you’re not. I am in first class, and should be able to see a priority check-in agent. Instead you’re directing me to the bag drop area and to the economy check-in area.”
At this point he yelled over to one of the people working the priority check-in area, and said “he’s trying to change his frequent flyer number and he says the kiosk won’t do it.”
She responded “no problem, just have him come over here.” The priority check-in agent was of course lovely, and solved my problem in less than a minute. The wild part here is that there wasn’t even a wait in this check-in area, so it’s not like he was trying to control the length of the queue.
I don’t even understand what happened here
I’d like to think that I have reasonable expectations of service at US airlines. Most airline labor groups work really hard, don’t make that much, and deal with the wrath of the traveling public. That being said, sometimes you have an interaction that makes you wonder if you’re just on a different planet.
In the case of this guy, he has one primary job — he’s supposed to direct people in the correct direction. Now, he’s the first airline employee that most premium customers visiting the check-in facility will interact with, so ideally he’d also be friendly and welcoming, but maybe that’s a step too far.
But I honestly don’t remember the last time I’ve interacted with an airline employee who just had such bizarre disregard for what a customer was saying. Let me be clear, there was nothing lost in translation here, and I’m not omitting any details.
I repeatedly told him I was in first class and needed help with something, and he directed me to bag drop kiosks (when I already told him that didn’t solve my issue) and even to the economy check-in area. And then when his colleague told him to let me see an agent, he still argued.
I’m trying to come up with any possible explanation for why he acted the way he did… but I’m coming up with nothing. Why did he make his life harder than it had to be? He could’ve just said “welcome,” and that would’ve been the end of it…
Bottom line
I’m a frequent American flyer, so it’s unusual for me to be fazed by a negative customer service interaction. An exception was while recently trying to go to the priority check-in area at JFK, where the line “guard” kept trying to reject me for reasons I couldn’t figure out. I’ve never had an interaction quite like this before, and I’m still not sure I can make sense of why he was so insistent, and why he had such an attitude.
Just to follow on my previous comment, the rules for Flagship access may be found at:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/plan-travel/extras/flagship-first-check-in.jsp
I too had the same problem with AA at JFK. As it was explained to me by the AA Gate Police officer, there’s first class and then there Flagship First (and I suppose long haul business is lumped in there too).
The Flagship line is similar to those traveling Delta One. They are not for the use of domestic first passengers regardless of status. But if you have emerald status with another oneworld carrier then...
I too had the same problem with AA at JFK. As it was explained to me by the AA Gate Police officer, there’s first class and then there Flagship First (and I suppose long haul business is lumped in there too).
The Flagship line is similar to those traveling Delta One. They are not for the use of domestic first passengers regardless of status. But if you have emerald status with another oneworld carrier then you can use the Flagship line. Another reason to give up on AA status and just become BA Gold.
Could've; should've just got it changed at the lounge.
He used to work for LH -- that is why he treated you like that.
Decades of cutting educational budgets in the US makes for this kind of zombies who are 'just doing their job' or so they believe. It's the same level as those people standing shouting all the time to 'move on, keep moving!' to the immigration line that's just waiting to see an agent and has absolutely no chance to move on. Just doing their jobs, no incentive to think or apply any knowledge.
Ah, America just loves the poorly educated, right?
Petty tyrants everywhere.
Change article title to "My typical interaction with AA employee at JFK....."
I would just ignore him - why even bother with responding to someone like that? If he has a problem he can chase after you.
Welcome to customer service in the United States of America. They'd rather stable their eyeball than be courteous and professional.
Why switch frequent flyer numbers?
@ Christian -- There are benefits to crediting to different programs based on your elite status situation, the perks you're looking for, etc. With American, I always first make bookings with my AA number, since I can easily manage my reservation online that way.
I didn't see this mentioned, but did you show your boarding pass or status? Generally, they either ask, or I proactively show this rather than simply stating I have access due to class of travel or status. This is because I imagine they get people who say they are 1st class when they really just mean domestic first.
@ Chris -- I wasn't going to stick my mobile boarding pass in his face, but he never asked for it, and never questioned whether I was in first class. If he had asked, I would have of course shown it.
Had a similar experience at PVG a couple of weeks ago, where a China Eastern’s employee wouldn’t let me access to the Sky Priority check in despite having Elite Plus status. (To be fair, all the other MU staff that I interacted with during my trip were (surprisingly?) very friendly)
AA has some absolutely miserable employees, but my experience is those at JFK are the worst.
Yeah, they can be.
I have a sneaky suspicion that you have conveniently left out some key information in an attempt to Tell Your side of the Story. It happens quite regularly and more than likely the Employee wasn't believing you. When you constantly state "I am First Class" with a spice of attitude no doubt, it doesn't mean the Yellow Brick opens up to you. When someone states "I politely said..." it generally means you were rude, loud...
I have a sneaky suspicion that you have conveniently left out some key information in an attempt to Tell Your side of the Story. It happens quite regularly and more than likely the Employee wasn't believing you. When you constantly state "I am First Class" with a spice of attitude no doubt, it doesn't mean the Yellow Brick opens up to you. When someone states "I politely said..." it generally means you were rude, loud and confrontational. More than likely you weren't the nicest Traveller either and this Employee just felt, give him a dose of his own medicine. Words matter and Actions speak even louder. Altered story to suit your agenda.
@ roger -- You're absolutely right that tone and attitude matters. Since I didn't video record the interaction (which would've been a violation of the employee's privacy), I can't prove my version of events. I can only say that it's important to me to treat people in customer service with respect, regardless of how they treat me. I'm very fortunate, and I'm not here to dramatize something for clicks at the expense of a hardworking,...
@ roger -- You're absolutely right that tone and attitude matters. Since I didn't video record the interaction (which would've been a violation of the employee's privacy), I can't prove my version of events. I can only say that it's important to me to treat people in customer service with respect, regardless of how they treat me. I'm very fortunate, and I'm not here to dramatize something for clicks at the expense of a hardworking, frontline employee.
You're of course welcome to be skeptical, and I don't blame you, given how many people do act. I will just say this -- I've been blogging for over 15 years, sharing the stories of my travels. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that if you're rude to others and tell a one-sided version of the story, it will come back to haunt you. That's another reason I go out of my way to be friendly. People can accuse me of all kinds of things, but being rude to frontline airline employees isn't among them.
And honestly, if I did ever lose my cool, I'd own it. I'm only human, and it happens, and I'd have no issues saying "he got the best of me, and I lost my patience." But that wasn't the case here.
@Lucky - Good answer. I don’t know you personally but from your blog you appear to be a nice and respectful guy, which is why I enjoy your blog so much.
So many other aviation bloggers seems to be complete d*** unfortunately
Regardless of how the interaction went, was Lucky still not objectively in the right here? And given Lucky has been an AA flyer for years and years now, I can guarantee he's had much more frustrating experiences than this that were resolved without this kind of interaction
Found the rude employee... his name is Roger and he doesn't like taking responsibility for his incompetence.
I’ve had the same experience numerous times. I walk around them and ignore them. Complete idiots. I’ve had someone try to yank me out of the queue - and I politely responded touch me and I’m calling the police. Welcome to AA!!!
Welcome back after being to Japan, you must already miss the Japanese hospitality huh?
Maybe the staff didn't get a big enough dog for breakfast (because apparently that's all Americans eat now), maybe he had a bad morning, or maybe he just has a case of little man syndrome where he gets a kick out of it.
Unfortunately a lot of people in the US have a very different mindset about service roles.
Most of them see it more as exercising authority over customers (a la Stanford prison experiment). That's why TSA agents, airport agents, etc. love to power trip. And they rake what's already a highly stressful situation in air travel, and generally just make it worse for everyone.
On the other hand, in Asia, there is proper service culture, where...
Unfortunately a lot of people in the US have a very different mindset about service roles.
Most of them see it more as exercising authority over customers (a la Stanford prison experiment). That's why TSA agents, airport agents, etc. love to power trip. And they rake what's already a highly stressful situation in air travel, and generally just make it worse for everyone.
On the other hand, in Asia, there is proper service culture, where the focus is on actually wanting to help the customer, as they see that as the primary success metric for their jobs.
I wouldn't read too much into it - the old Hanlon's razor (never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity). As you know well, the US does not have a good service culture for a lot of reasons. Personally, I think the primary one is how miserable a lot of people are working these jobs. A lack of sleep and a total disinterest in what's actually going on easily produces results...
I wouldn't read too much into it - the old Hanlon's razor (never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity). As you know well, the US does not have a good service culture for a lot of reasons. Personally, I think the primary one is how miserable a lot of people are working these jobs. A lack of sleep and a total disinterest in what's actually going on easily produces results like this.
I will say that on average, AA employees certainly seem the most grumpy and out of it of the big 3 US airlines.
He is not paid to provide the level of service you expect. And he probably didn't like you very much at that given moment. In my experience this is not just JFK or New York or American Airlines. It's prevalent across the US when it comes to customer facing roles. Under paid, inadequately trained and lack of service mentality. To go through these things with minimal friction, the solution is to try to minimize the...
He is not paid to provide the level of service you expect. And he probably didn't like you very much at that given moment. In my experience this is not just JFK or New York or American Airlines. It's prevalent across the US when it comes to customer facing roles. Under paid, inadequately trained and lack of service mentality. To go through these things with minimal friction, the solution is to try to minimize the need to interact with this layer of customer service at the first place, and in this case, Ben, would you say that you had said too much? Had you simply waited in the line and pretended you didn't speak English, you probably would have had a better chance to get to the counter sooner...
Yeah, I would agree. I don't blame Ben for having a straightforward approach, but in the US I think you have to just play the system to get what you need
Had something similar happen to me. TLDR - AA JFK F checkin door checker staff are a pack of cHunts. Non AA OWE (QF) travelling on AA Dom J (transon to LAX) from JFK. F check in didn’t know non AA/AS OWE have access to F (rudely) sent me to J, J sent me back, F (rudely) sent me back to J, J had to escort me back to F and explain that I do have access. I politely told the F gatekeeper how lucky I am to have competent check in staff back home in Australia.
I have encountered much of the same at DCA. Employees in the checkin area are so aggressive about directing passengers to the self checkin that they should consider careers in time share sales.
I too have had check in transactions where employees were insistent that I wait in line to use the self checkin, only to learn that what I needed to accomplish required an agent. I travel enough to know when my trasnaction requires...
I have encountered much of the same at DCA. Employees in the checkin area are so aggressive about directing passengers to the self checkin that they should consider careers in time share sales.
I too have had check in transactions where employees were insistent that I wait in line to use the self checkin, only to learn that what I needed to accomplish required an agent. I travel enough to know when my trasnaction requires a real agent. These goons need to accept "no".
American employees at DCA checkin are generally hateful and seem to get off on being hostile to customers.
I had a similar strange interaction with the AA check in line police at LAX. I was flying to SYD in J. Due to my EXP status I was entitled to using the Flagship First check in.
Mostly because of the construction mess I had a difficult time locating the curbside entrance and ended up in T5. I asked the AA agent directing the nearly empty queue for directions. She reputedly and instantly said...
I had a similar strange interaction with the AA check in line police at LAX. I was flying to SYD in J. Due to my EXP status I was entitled to using the Flagship First check in.
Mostly because of the construction mess I had a difficult time locating the curbside entrance and ended up in T5. I asked the AA agent directing the nearly empty queue for directions. She reputedly and instantly said I can use the priority check in line here.
I kept reiterating that I just wanted directions to Flagship First check in as I was entitled to use that. She would not relent so I left and finally found it myself. Once there I was happily greeted by the FF agents who indeed had my name on a list and directed me inside to check in.
Overall just makes you wonder what the first agent was trying to accomplish other than to ride a power trip and upset a customer.
It's American. I'd expect nothing less. I miss US Airways every time I'm forced to deal with AA.
Are you sure it was an American employee? It really shouldn't matter but I've found they often have either contractors in those positions (like you know they have their baggage service agents outsourced - they wear AA uniforms but work for usually the same company that pushes wheelchairs) or have employees that are a sub category...
It's American. I'd expect nothing less. I miss US Airways every time I'm forced to deal with AA.
Are you sure it was an American employee? It really shouldn't matter but I've found they often have either contractors in those positions (like you know they have their baggage service agents outsourced - they wear AA uniforms but work for usually the same company that pushes wheelchairs) or have employees that are a sub category of agents who aren't really trained on anything but how to walk someone through the kiosk flow.
I've had times at CLT and MIA and DFW that have baffled me... like at DFW recently where I wanted to change my FF number to my Alaska number (some res agent making a change to ticket changed it to my no-status AA number). I was standing at an actual agent at the counter. "You're in First Class, you must go to the Priority check in." Yeah but can't you do this? "But you are in First Class." There's a line at that counter and I'm facing you here. "But you are in First Class."
He literally had one job :D LOL!
Possibilities:
1. He was recently spoken to about not being aggressive enough in pointing people toward the Kiosks.
2. The quality of employees AA is able to get for what they are willing to pay isn’t sufficient for their needs in this instances.
3. Due to a lack of training and understanding (see #2) he’s making up rules that don’t exist.
This is JFK.. what else can I add to this....
I really feel like this is a case where you should have gotten his name and printed it here...it sounds like he clearly deserves it.
you should have just flashed your BAEC Gold card and gone to the rebranded flagship first check-in for help. the attitude of the line bouncer is absolutely wild
I could have stopped reading as soon as I saw "American Airlines" and "JFK" ;-)
In all seriousness, the NYC area airports have some of the worse airline customer service reps I have encountered, across all airlines. This includes airlines that tend to have friendlier employees elsewhere- I'm talking about AS at EWR and DL at JFK.
Maybe he wants to be on One mile at a time! Thats one way to do it!!!
Sometimes I think certain employees try to ruin their employer or contractor's reputation on purpose. Especially unionized workers.
LOL!!!!!!
It's hard to find good help these days.... Covid ruined everything.
Looks like you don’t fly out of JFk that often. It sounds like a normal interaction for us who fly out of JFK, EWR and PHL. :D