[UnitedFlyer]

Friday morning flight, 8:15 am, Chicago to Boston. I was flying in First Class with my 12-year old son. I had passed through the gate agent onto the jetway with no problems. I turned around and saw my 12-year old being told he had to check his bag. His bag was IDENTICAL to my bag, but was only about 2/3 as full. Yet he was being told to check it. AND he was a First Class passenger! There was no doubt the Gate Agent was picking on him because he was a kid. I went back to her and questioned why he had to check his bag when he was in the First Class cabin where there was plenty of bin space. "It doesn't matter what cabin he's in, the bag is too big." Really? Then she saw my bag and said I needed to check it, too. I was furious. I told her I wanted to see her Manager. She told me she was a Manager. I told her I wanted to see her Superior, whoever that happened to be. I was not checking two standard carry-ons, when we had First Class tickets. She went on to tell me that there were FAA-installed cameras filming me, and that I could get myself into big trouble for being disruptive. I told her I wasn't being disruptive. I was simply refusing to check my bags and wanted to talk to her boss. She then said, "Look, you are welcome to see if they will fit in the sizer. But they have to fit easily. You can't push them in." My son's bag dropped into the sizer with absolutely no problem whatsoever. She went silent. "OK, that one is OK to carry on. But the other one isn't going to fit." I opened the front zipper and took out my iPad and my travel valet. It, too, dropped right in. "Well, if you are going to take things out, of course it will fit." I told her that my bag wasn't even the bag she had questioned. My son's bag was the one she had stopped and it dropped right in. Then she tried to lecture me on how I should behave in front of my son. "We need to teach our children to be respectful', she said. I told her I was teaching my kids not to let themselves be bullied by people they were paying to provide a service. That when they are a paying customer, they deserve to be treated like one. My son and I then boarded, WITH OUR BAGS.

I left American Airlines years ago because of horrible employees like her. United has its share of bad employees, but nothing like what AA has. This gate agent seems to be the rule rather than the exception at AA. The sooner they go belly-up, the better for the flying public.

[jimworcs]

AA has already gone belly up, but in the US different rules apply to airlines. All airlines appear to get a free pass to offer terrible service and be rescued through the process of Chapter 11. Whilst all companies can benefit from this process, airlines use it routinely and are offered protection from normal competition rules to emerge, sometimes even larger, with exemptions from anti-trust regulations. The only major carrier not to have done this is Southwest.

[leggroom]

I totally wonder if I encountered this same woman this morning at O'hare. Mean, surly Polish-speaking woman? Story almost the same... she questioned a bag as I walked by... complained that it would not EASILY fit in the sizer, told me "You must check" and some other gramatically incorrect jibberish... I griped.... she told me my other bag would not go either. That one totally fit in the sizer, even easily.

So I go back to the podium and the woman tells me "Yah, don't go over there. She's horrible. Everyday people complain about her." Go through another gate... no problems.

It was Christmas. Hopefully Santa will deliver a layoff slip with his lump of coal.