OMAAT readers share a lot of stories with me, and some of them are pretty wild. Well, Michael just shared an experience with me that might just be the most unusual one that I’ve ever heard. I can’t imagine it’s made up, but it’s also so shocking that I struggle to wrap my head around this.
In this post:
Is this the wildest American Airlines phone interaction ever?
Let me share the email that Michael sent me, in its entirety:
Long time reader who is so flabbergasted by an interaction with AA last night that I thought that I needed to reach out to share it and see if you had any ideas on additional action I should take.
Last night I called AA (I’m an Executive Platinum) and was connected to someone named Kevin at the EP Desk in Dallas. I was calling because I needed to apply multiple trip credits to a trip for me, my wife, and my daughter. After I shared who I was booking for, he asked if I was planning on having any additional children. That by itself is an obviously inappropriate question for an agent to be asking me, but after I said, “no, we were done having children,” he told me that I needed to listen to God and have more children, and he quoted scripture to me about being fruitful and multiplying!
How dare he! He has no earthly idea what my personal circumstances are with regard to child bearing or religion. I stayed calm in the moment and simply stated that what he had said was extremely inappropriate, and moved on to complete the booking, but I am absolutely appalled.
After I finished with him, I submitted negative scores on the automated survey, and tried to figure out how to submit a customer service complaint. Online, the form doesn’t have a place to submit complaints about customer service disconnected from a flight. So, I called back to see what to do. The next agent I spoke with directed me to submit feedback to [email protected]. I did and received an automated message saying that that email address was not monitored by AA. So, I called back today and was directed to a “high value customer” number, which I was told conspiritorily was not supposed to be handed out. When I called that number, it was disconnected and no longer in service.
I know AA has disinvested in their customer service over the years, but this whole sequence is just ridiculous. What do you think?
I followed up with Michael to ask if there was any further context for this interaction:
There was absolutely no other context… it was completely out of the blue. I finished providing everyone’s AAdvantage numbers, he made some comment about how great it was that my six year old daughter had PreCheck, and then asked if I was going to have more children. So weird.
My take on this bizarre American Airlines interaction
If I just read this story online from some anonymous account, I’d assume it wasn’t real, because it’s that unbelievable. However, Michael has been a reader for close to a decade (based on looking at his commenting history), so I assume he’s being honest with what he shares, and has no reason whatsoever to make this up. Fortunately calls are recorded, so American should be able to verify this pretty easily.
I’ve honestly never in my life heard anything like this before, so I’m just shocked. Does the phone agent do this every time he works on the reservation of someone who has a kid, or was he just having a particularly “spiritual” day? Come and think of it, this did happen on a Sunday evening, so I almost wonder if he heard something in church that day, or…
Michael also raises a good point about how hard it can be for even American’s top tier elite members to provide feedback in a meaningful way. He’s right, when you go to American’s website and try to submit a complaint, there’s no option to provide feedback for a phone interaction.
Personally, I would’ve probably just submitted feedback under one of the other categories, and hoped it still gets directed to the right person. Unfortunately given the extent to which American has automated its customer relations, I wouldn’t necessarily expect it to be taken very seriously, though.
What would I otherwise do in this situation, if I wanted to be sure the experience was actually noted?
- You could reach out to media or share the story online, as Michael did
- You could email a senior American executive in hopes that the complaint would then be forwarded to the appropriate person; the email format is typically [email protected]
Bottom line
An American Airlines phone agent reportedly told a customer that he needed to have kids for God, after he tried to get help for a family reservation. I can’t imagine calling and having that “deep” of a conversation while working on an airline reservation, especially with no further context.
What do you make of this strange American interaction?
As long as the agent clarified that they should only have enough kids to stay within the complimentary main cabin extra up to 8 traveling companions limit…
Dont get so offended by religion, bro
I hope next time you have to call a support line they make you listen to the Quran.
Another's religion is almost always offensive. That's why in the most civilized countries, people pray in private and never discuss their religious beliefs with strangers.
Over the years, I had a few AA agents get a bit "Jesus-y" at the end of the call. I listen, returned with "God bless you also" and hung up. It was really nothing for me. I'm not particularly close to any religion but I didn't see the value in letting myself get "offended" or to hurt them. I understand they should keep the call to business but it is what it is. If they...
Over the years, I had a few AA agents get a bit "Jesus-y" at the end of the call. I listen, returned with "God bless you also" and hung up. It was really nothing for me. I'm not particularly close to any religion but I didn't see the value in letting myself get "offended" or to hurt them. I understand they should keep the call to business but it is what it is. If they wished you a Merry Christmas or happy birthday and you're a JW, would you get all crazy about it or simply say thank you?
It's useful to remember that to some, proselytizing is actually deeply offensive. You've stated clearly, it isn't to you. But to many, it is. Discussing your religious beliefs to a stranger you serve is the worst of manners and it's perfectly reasonable to be annoyed by it and to say so.
As a Jew I can reply. In the USA one often is wished a Merry Christmas. You learn to let it be and wish back Happy Holidays. It never becomes an issue.
If true, not the most appropriate topics to be discussing and is obviously too intrusive, and the agent should be reprimanded in some way (further training).
But to be “appalled” or “shocked” and to write into a blog (and then to post about it? Overreact a bit?
No. It is, in fact, actually appalling. Not because you, personally, would be appalled by proselytizing by a person in service to you. But because it's a principle in the foundation of the United States of America and celebrated by freedom-loving people the world over: you pray in PRIVATE.
What are you on about? It is, in literal fact, not appalling. People like you are why the news cycle moves so quick and we all become numb to ACTUALLY appalling events. If everything is appalling, nothing is.
What a joke.
I worked for AA. They are loons and the Dallas HQ is a Severance-like corporate nightmare, but this isn’t behavior they will tolerate.
So many people who call themselves christians are willfully ignorant of the parts where God is going to roast you in fire for billions and billions and billions of years for not worshipping him. So basically more children to be spit roasted. The caller should have stated this to the agent.
MAGA “Christianity” is a cancer.
Now there’s a ‘hot take’…
The customer service agent was not necessary christian. Same philosophy and rhetorics are found in most of the major religions, especially Islam and Judaism.
Thanks Sabrina, for the breath of calm sanity...NOT. We're discussing American Airlines, whose HQ is in Texas. It is definitely quacking, so I'm going to go way out on a limb and call it: it's a duck.
This call is being recorded for quality assurance and training purposes.
AA is a hot mess!
Operationally, and service-wise.
Maybe Kevin is related to the old lady I saw on FRA-DFW making a Powerpoint presentation about how the earth is 6,000 years old.
Well, they did just find mosquitoes in Iceland, so perhaps we’re due for another Biblical plague…
That is the belief of Jews all over the world. If it offends you try not to read someone elses screen.
@Moe calm down, snowflake. Just because flat earthers "all over the world" believe the earth is flat doesn't mean it's true.
First it was respect that dwindled away, then it was decency, then it was common sense, and now it’s professionalism.
Welcome to 2025, where no one knows how to act like a sane and normal person anymore.
It’s AA phone support. Not your relationship partner at Latham. Understand the level of interaction you can expect to deal with, and don’t complain you didn’t receive a Four Seasons welcome at the Motel 6.
Ben I must say - shame on you for posting the agent’s name. Shame on your reader for sending this in. We should absolutely not normalize tattling on support staff. It’s punching down.
Look, I’m atheist too. I wouldn’t care for evangelism on an AA call, but I’d just grin and bear it and move on.
I mean after a few years earning $10,000,001, I’d probably become an atheist, too, or… start to think I’m a ‘god.’ Sorry, did you mean $99,999,999/year?
Arps, nobody is forcing you to keep come back every time after you get banned and get offended by things nobody else gives a damn.
N17017, who are you referring to? What’s the backstory? Even if you disagree with someone on here, there’s no need to censor others. Ignore or engage.
I'm not shocked at all. Dallas, and Texas is general, are full of religious fundamentalists of every persuasion. At least he got a domestically based customer service agent, and not the one that is outsourced to India. In a case of a latter, he would not understand the agent most likely, as Hindus are known for their very specific accent which negative affects customer service in all areas.
Racist nonsense. My experience with Marriott's USA call centres hasn't impressed me. Is it possible that race/nationality/religion ("Hindus") is not the best criterion by which to assess a call centre?
Yeah, please don't. I get it; it's a company, not the government; but, like, please don't try to convert others to your religion, especially not as an agent of a company like an airline, which probably has a policy against evangelizing while in-uniform.
Crackpots, they walk among us. Definitely would think about contacting the execs for such a wild intrusion.