[jimmiefoxx850]

Our international flight was delayed and we arrived at SF 5 hours late, so my wife and I missed the 13:30 flight. The person at the ticket counter said she didn't have other options for us, she could only put us on standby list for 10pm flight and we had to go to the gate to see how things went.

So we arrived the departing gate before 8pm and saw our names were on the top 2 of the standby list. Then we saw some other standby people talked to the gate agent inquiring about their chance of getting on. There're too many inquiring thus the agent had to announce that "people on the standby list please do not ask about your status, we will call your name. And don't worry, even though it's apretty crowded plane but we will get you on board". We didn't ask about our chance then.

However, when the flight finally started boarding at 22:30, the screen stopped showing the standby list and we saw a few people arguing about their status again. Even there's one young girl complaining that she should be on board while agent told her "You didn't have the ticket". Some of them were later granted boarding passes before us. Then when one of the agents calling "gate is closing" we saw 2 "standby" people (one Japanese business person and one college youth who made phone to his mother about may not be able to get to the plane, those two previously asked their status despite agents said they should not to) rushed to the gate and were given boarding passes(the lady on the gate even didn't bother to check their ID). Then we saw that girl kept complaining to the agent, and the agent just printed another board pass to her and said "that's your pass,you want to take this plane or not?"

And the door was closed. We figured out that while being on top of the standby listwe were the only two people at the gate who didn't get on the plane!

I went to ask about this, and that lady simply told me "Those 3 are flight attendants". All of a sudden that plane has 1 Japanese business guy, 1 college kid, and 1 complaining girl as flight attendants!

On the next morning when we got to the gate again, we found out that all other people after us on the standby list for previous night were all gone.

So, we lost the appointments the next day and lost more than $600 because we were too kind to the gate agents. We let them to do their thing and not bothering them like everybody else. It looked like those people on the gate for that night flight were just trying to go home. So they didn't bother to go through the routine standby list thing and chose to give the boarding pass to whoever asking for it.

[glennjridge]

what?! I know you are most likely long gone from the forum...I dont understand how this happened....isnt it normal procedure for them to take the names off the top of the list? is this "list" just on some crappy piece of paper on a clipboard or something and mean nothing? I also dont understand how you didnt ask to speak to a supervisor and at least have the employee called on what she did....make sure she doesnt do that again in the future and ignore the list so she doesnt do somethign that unfair without thinking. a supervisor could have at least checked her claim.

also I dont know what you mean by you were out of 600 dollars....how? do you mean you lost out on a business deal because you were late getting where you had to be or do you mean the ticket price? if its that how is that possible?...you could show proof that you were on top of the list and the girl let others go ahead of you.

persnally if I had the problem you early on I would have as a precaution been right where the agent was in charge of boarding....not off a bit in distance...I would have shouted the moment I saw she was letting someone who wasnt on top of the list like you get on.I would have shouted I'M ON TOP IM ON TOP OF THE LIST! GO BY THE LIST!


any update or insight?

[jimmiefoxx850]

Thanks for the advice. That was the only time we experienced this. Usually we want to be nice to fly attendants and ground crew because they must deal with bad customers frequently. It was the last flight on the day and it was delayed for an hour, so we couldn't find people to complain.

The standby list was on the monitor screen. So we all knew how many people were on list and which position we were at. We had tickets to attend some activities the next night so in the end those tickets were wasted.
Next time we will definitely shout.

I filed complaint to AA after our trip but got the usual perfunctory response. Then we filed another one directly to DOT(and emphasize the part that those crew didn't check ID before letting people who argued on board). AA finally made formal apology and gave us $600 flight coupon. I don't understand why those guys never treat customers seriously unless they get their b*** kicked?

[glennjridge]

No...its me who should be thanking you. I am pretty much totally new to flying and navigating airports.

I have been devouring these forums to see issues I might be running into as I will be flyinf alot more in the coming years.

your account struck a chord with me more than so many others, as this type of unfairness has always been my weakness. when I am in line to recieve something...ie..its my turn...and a authority doesnt follow policy and casually essencially throws me away in favor of someone else..this type of unfairness just destroys my soul.

if you could answer just a couple questions...cause I can totally see me at some point missing a flight and having to get involved in the business of "standby".....

you said you were at the top of the list...so...say I just miss my flight...how do you even get on the list or have positions on the lost...is it you just have to talk to the gate agent or someone else after missing a flight and depending on how fast you got to that agent than another flight missing person...thats how you get a position on the list?

you said its a moniter screen you see the standbye positioning....are you represented by name or a number on this screen?is it easy to see to the gate agent who did this to you?

when you say you complained to the DOT...whats that? is that a department of transportation? to get a voucher, can you talk to a supervisor at the airport at the time of the incident and get said voucher in person rather than going via mail and all that?

one more question.....this woman who did this to you....was she a seasoned worker or maybe a young girl? what she did is the most insideous kind of unfairness in my book. so unprofessional that as crazy as I am I would have wanted to make sure she didnt EVER do that again as she causally threw your life into a state of chaos because she either didnt know her job, or didnt care.

wow...thanks for this heads up.....when I get on standby someday,thanks to your incident....I am going to ROOT MYSELF right to that booth they stand behind and get prepared to speak up loudly if anyone trys to charm...intimidate a gate agent from being someone else my spot.

thanks for this heads up!