[krispy71]

LAX - HNL. Here I sit in LAX waiting for a third flight to HNL. After missing my connection last night due to AA
maintenance issue on the ORD - LAX, I showed up bright and early, an hour and a half early, for the morning HNL
flight. 9th on the standby list numbering 18 for the 8:10AM morning flight. Did I mention that I had a first
class ticket? I now await the 3:15PM afternoon flight in the terminal after finally speaking with a helpful AA
employee. I asked her what kind of confidence I could have getting on the flight, and wasn't there anything she
could do considering that I had a first class ticket...? She seemed genuinely suprised that I hadn't made the
morning flight and immediately moved me from standby to a confirmed 1st class seat in the afternoon. This is after
speaking with two prior agents, one the previous night after missing the connection, and one, too old to wear the
silly overgrown soul patch that he was sporting, at the gate this morning. Both were aware of the class of ticket
and both assured me that it was noted in the system, yet the third agent was able to rectify the situation
immediately after I informed her of this fact. I'm convinced that apathy on the parts of the other two agents
played a large part in this. I observed while a fellow passenger calmly attempted to ask a follow up question of
the gate agent this morning and the old shrew behind the counter told her that she'd already addressed her
questions and she'd deal with her later. Note that this agent was not occupied at the time, though even busy,
she'd have no excuse to answer a customer so rudely. The fellow customer had been on standby for a previous flight
as well. I find it interesting that AA is willing to offer $800 vouchers to passengers that voluntarily give up
their seats, yet those that are involuntarily not served are given no compensation. Furthermore those volunteers
are guaranteed seats on the next flight, though the rest of us were informed that it was overbooked as well.
Paradox, or outright lie? Bottom line, if their service is so poor for customers paying full fare in first class,
then how much less interested are they in serving their economy customers? I'll be flying any other airline from
now on.