3 ms·

Can't you just go to the nearest gate agent for another flight of the same carrier? I feel like they could point you to the right direction.

techsupporter 6y ago
Realistically, no. I write this in the gentlest manner possible, not directed solely at you: a lot of the "see a gate agent and they'll sort you" advice seems to be coming from a place of people who either don't travel very much at all, or who travel so much that an airline employee can practically feel their level of Airline Status(tm) from half a kilometer away and will race to their aid. I fall in the third bucket, people who travel just enough to have seen a lot of things but not so much that any particular airline gives a rat's hindquarters about me. Gate agents largely do not have the authority--or the inclination--to help with much past their own flights. Anything you need done outside of that is usually handled at a customer service desk elsewhere in the airport, if such a desk is staffed by that airline. Most low-cost carrier (LCC) airlines do not staff help desks in the airport. And, in many circumstances, the gate agents wearing the uniform and logos of a LCC are contractors who hop from gate to gate, wrangling flights as they come and go. An unexpected circumstance happening two days before Christmas in a busy airport on a LCC? I would do the exact same as the author of the linked article and get my traveling party where we needed to be with a minimum of fuss and handle the rest later.
- bluGill 6y ago
  Low cost is the key. Normal cost airlines are more friendly. They have the ability to do things that discount airlines don't care to.
- mehrdadn 6y ago
  Is the answer still no for conventional airlines? Because if have guessed the distinguishing factor isn't the amount of traveling, but the mode (budget airlines).
  - filmgirlcw 6y ago
    I would say it is largely still no, but it almost entirely depends on the route, time of flight, and time of year. On a traditional airline in this situation, you would absolutely have some passengers who were autobooked to an alternate airport/route, even on a different airline, and taken care of, but you’d have many more who would be stuck with the changed flight time/fourteen-hour flight delay. If the airport is a hub for an airline, you might be able to get someone to make a change, but that late at night, even that is going to be difficult, unless it is a major hub for the airline. Like, if you get stranded in Atlanta on Delta, chances are someone is around who can help you, even late at night. Same for American in Dallas, KLM in Amsterdam, Air France at CDG, Quantas in Sydney, etc. Delta has a concept known as Red Coats, which are employees empowered to make more decisions regarding booking, but most of the gate agents are beholden to whatever the system is telling them. I’m sure other airlines have similar representatives but Delta's program is fairly unique amongst American carriers, in terms of its visibility (a tip for anyone flying Delta who has a tricky situation, especially around rebookings, is to ask for a Red Coat. You won’t always get it, but those are the people most empowered to help). Sometimes a non-status customer can get lucky by getting on the phone while in the airport — in my pre elite status life, I’ve successfully had gate agents speak directly to someone on my phone to resolve a situation — but if it’s right before Christmas and you’re at risk for not getting home and your alternate flight is leaving soonish, you’re almost always going to be better off just booking the alternate flight and then dealing with customer service later. But as I said in another comment, outside of LCCs, there are two distinct classes of customers for airlines. And it isn’t just enough to have spent a lot on a specific ticket (unless you’re flying international first class on Singapore or Ethiad or something — but Asian and ME airlines are a whole different world), the airlines don’t care that you paid to upgrade yourself to domestic first class or even that you’re flying international business. The people they bend over backwards for either fly enough domestic miles that they spend as much time on a plane as the crew or are people who spend at least $30k with a specific airline. I spent over $50k with Delta in 2019 (and $20k before I was grounded in March) and I still didn’t qualify for Delta 360, their invite-only loyalty tier. Don’t get me wrong, Delta has treated me incredibly well — but I’m still just one of many thousands of Diamond Medallions to them. They won’t send me someone to escort me through security when I’m in danger of missing my domestic flight (something American did for a friend who has their Concierge Key status and pre-COVID averaged $50k a year with them for about a decade), but depending on the flight makeup (depends on how many other high status people are on a flight), I’m usually going to be in the group of people auto-rebooked to a good time or booked on a different airline without having to make a fuss, in order to maintain my itinerary.
- filmgirlcw 6y ago
  Bingo. This was a LCC, so they don’t care about even the high-status passengers. I would have done what the author did too and just booked my own arrangements. I also totally agree with your bucket of passengers. I used to be in the first camp, naively assuming a gate agent could help me. That quickly changed after I flew more than a handful of times. Then for many years, I was in the third camp (where you are), and I had to resign myself to being one of the people that has to turn to Twitter to get anything done (I sort of hate myself for it but for non LCCs, it works) in a real crisis. For the last two years or so (pre-COVID), I was in the second camp, and it was a true revelation to see how the other side lives, so to speak. The reality is that there are two very distinct classes of airline passengers (foregoing LCC's for a moment because with few exceptions, none of them give a rats ass about loyalty. They are a volume business). As an example, within a relatively short period of time, I went from an airline giving my seat away even though I made my connecting flight (and had contacted the airline from the plane to warn about my delayed connection/assure them I wasn’t going to no show and to only put me on a later flight as a backup), forcing me to wait an additional 5 hours in the airport for a new flight (and I stress here that I made my connection and was denied boarding) without so much as an apology or a voucher for free food to that exact same airline, when a similar tight connection actually DID cause me to miss my flight, met me at the gate, took me in a chauffeured car to another gate, had someone expedite the transfer of my luggage, got me on a different flight to another US city (meaning I had to take one more flight, but at least I got home), actually held that flight until I boarded, and kept my seat class intact (I was flying business). I didn’t even have to reach out the second time (which was good because that flight didn’t have internet access), it was just taken care of. A colleague who had the same itinerary as me, and was booked in the same seat class, had to fly back the next day. The difference? My colleague (and me in the first instance), was just a regular passenger (albeit someone with a $4000 round-trip ticket in this case — still didn’t matter). Whereas by that second flight, I was on track to fly 150,000 miles that calendar year and had already spent over $30,000 with that airline. I'll be honest when I say that I’m not looking forward to being treated like a regular airline passenger once I’m allowed to travel again. My status's are all intact but I don’t envision many 150k mile years made up largely of international travel until at least 2022. Side note, as someone who has always heard friends brag about how much better European consumer protection laws are, it’s both relieving and infuriating to see that the situation in the EU is basically identical to the situation non high-value US customers deal with with airlines.

techsupporter 6y ago

Realistically, no. I write this in the gentlest manner possible, not directed solely at you: a lot of the "see a gate agent and they'll sort you" advice seems to be coming from a place of people who either don't travel very much at all, or who travel so much that an airline employee can practically feel their level of Airline Status(tm) from half a kilometer away and will race to their aid. I fall in the third bucket, people who travel just enough to have seen a lot of things but not so much that any particular airline gives a rat's hindquarters about me. Gate agents largely do not have the authority--or the inclination--to help with much past their own flights. Anything you need done outside of that is usually handled at a customer service desk elsewhere in the airport, if such a desk is staffed by that airline. Most low-cost carrier (LCC) airlines do not staff help desks in the airport. And, in many circumstances, the gate agents wearing the uniform and logos of a LCC are contractors who hop from gate to gate, wrangling flights as they come and go. An unexpected circumstance happening two days before Christmas in a busy airport on a LCC? I would do the exact same as the author of the linked article and get my traveling party where we needed to be with a minimum of fuss and handle the rest later.

bluGill 6y ago
Low cost is the key. Normal cost airlines are more friendly. They have the ability to do things that discount airlines don't care to.
mehrdadn 6y ago
Is the answer still no for conventional airlines? Because if have guessed the distinguishing factor isn't the amount of traveling, but the mode (budget airlines).
- filmgirlcw 6y ago
  I would say it is largely still no, but it almost entirely depends on the route, time of flight, and time of year. On a traditional airline in this situation, you would absolutely have some passengers who were autobooked to an alternate airport/route, even on a different airline, and taken care of, but you’d have many more who would be stuck with the changed flight time/fourteen-hour flight delay. If the airport is a hub for an airline, you might be able to get someone to make a change, but that late at night, even that is going to be difficult, unless it is a major hub for the airline. Like, if you get stranded in Atlanta on Delta, chances are someone is around who can help you, even late at night. Same for American in Dallas, KLM in Amsterdam, Air France at CDG, Quantas in Sydney, etc. Delta has a concept known as Red Coats, which are employees empowered to make more decisions regarding booking, but most of the gate agents are beholden to whatever the system is telling them. I’m sure other airlines have similar representatives but Delta's program is fairly unique amongst American carriers, in terms of its visibility (a tip for anyone flying Delta who has a tricky situation, especially around rebookings, is to ask for a Red Coat. You won’t always get it, but those are the people most empowered to help). Sometimes a non-status customer can get lucky by getting on the phone while in the airport — in my pre elite status life, I’ve successfully had gate agents speak directly to someone on my phone to resolve a situation — but if it’s right before Christmas and you’re at risk for not getting home and your alternate flight is leaving soonish, you’re almost always going to be better off just booking the alternate flight and then dealing with customer service later. But as I said in another comment, outside of LCCs, there are two distinct classes of customers for airlines. And it isn’t just enough to have spent a lot on a specific ticket (unless you’re flying international first class on Singapore or Ethiad or something — but Asian and ME airlines are a whole different world), the airlines don’t care that you paid to upgrade yourself to domestic first class or even that you’re flying international business. The people they bend over backwards for either fly enough domestic miles that they spend as much time on a plane as the crew or are people who spend at least $30k with a specific airline. I spent over $50k with Delta in 2019 (and $20k before I was grounded in March) and I still didn’t qualify for Delta 360, their invite-only loyalty tier. Don’t get me wrong, Delta has treated me incredibly well — but I’m still just one of many thousands of Diamond Medallions to them. They won’t send me someone to escort me through security when I’m in danger of missing my domestic flight (something American did for a friend who has their Concierge Key status and pre-COVID averaged $50k a year with them for about a decade), but depending on the flight makeup (depends on how many other high status people are on a flight), I’m usually going to be in the group of people auto-rebooked to a good time or booked on a different airline without having to make a fuss, in order to maintain my itinerary.
filmgirlcw 6y ago
Bingo. This was a LCC, so they don’t care about even the high-status passengers. I would have done what the author did too and just booked my own arrangements. I also totally agree with your bucket of passengers. I used to be in the first camp, naively assuming a gate agent could help me. That quickly changed after I flew more than a handful of times. Then for many years, I was in the third camp (where you are), and I had to resign myself to being one of the people that has to turn to Twitter to get anything done (I sort of hate myself for it but for non LCCs, it works) in a real crisis. For the last two years or so (pre-COVID), I was in the second camp, and it was a true revelation to see how the other side lives, so to speak. The reality is that there are two very distinct classes of airline passengers (foregoing LCC's for a moment because with few exceptions, none of them give a rats ass about loyalty. They are a volume business). As an example, within a relatively short period of time, I went from an airline giving my seat away even though I made my connecting flight (and had contacted the airline from the plane to warn about my delayed connection/assure them I wasn’t going to no show and to only put me on a later flight as a backup), forcing me to wait an additional 5 hours in the airport for a new flight (and I stress here that I made my connection and was denied boarding) without so much as an apology or a voucher for free food to that exact same airline, when a similar tight connection actually DID cause me to miss my flight, met me at the gate, took me in a chauffeured car to another gate, had someone expedite the transfer of my luggage, got me on a different flight to another US city (meaning I had to take one more flight, but at least I got home), actually held that flight until I boarded, and kept my seat class intact (I was flying business). I didn’t even have to reach out the second time (which was good because that flight didn’t have internet access), it was just taken care of. A colleague who had the same itinerary as me, and was booked in the same seat class, had to fly back the next day. The difference? My colleague (and me in the first instance), was just a regular passenger (albeit someone with a $4000 round-trip ticket in this case — still didn’t matter). Whereas by that second flight, I was on track to fly 150,000 miles that calendar year and had already spent over $30,000 with that airline. I'll be honest when I say that I’m not looking forward to being treated like a regular airline passenger once I’m allowed to travel again. My status's are all intact but I don’t envision many 150k mile years made up largely of international travel until at least 2022. Side note, as someone who has always heard friends brag about how much better European consumer protection laws are, it’s both relieving and infuriating to see that the situation in the EU is basically identical to the situation non high-value US customers deal with with airlines.