Don't fly American Airlines

Worst customer service experience ever!
 
I will NEVER fly American Airlines again after our experience this morning.  When I booked the flight from Bradley International I did not have the choice to fly JetBlue straight to Miami, the only airline with that option was American Airlines.

We got to the airport at 4:45 am and it was already chaos.  It was not clear which line to get into AND we had already checked in online.  After getting in one line which seemed like the right one we were guided to the kiosk line to pay the $25 per checked bag and then got into the LONG line we had just left for dropping our bags.  The belt was broken so after waiting 45 minutes to drop our bags we carried them to the x-ray machine ourselves.

People dropping their bags were going down the middle of the kisosks WITH their bags, bumping into the people WITH bags paying the $25/bag.

Two AA employees "helpers" told us two different lines to get into. The employees were not even clear on the process.  If their process was not soooo broken these employees could have helped out in other areas.

When we complained to the two TSA agents they both said "I blame American"!

 I asked the AA employees at the gate who to talk to in the airport and there was no one, go to AA.com, which I did and got an automatic email.  Empty gesture!

I also tweeted about my horrible experience and got an automatic email back from @AmericanAir.  Empty gesture!

Just now on the flight they interrupted us to try to sell their frequent flyer package to which I burst out laughing. Free bag check, Group 1 boarding, blah blah blah.  JetBlue has free first bag for EVERYONE, individual TV with many options, free wifi, blue chips, friendly flight attendants, and from now on my business!

I have made a point of only flying JetBlue and I will be going back to that practice after today.  Poor service should not be rewarded with repeat business. I cannot that this company is the largest airline.  A Fortune article I just read said they are #11 for the WORST airline experience.  Way to go American Airlunes! Sad that you abuse and treat so many people inadequately.  There are other options people.......

Southwest Rocks

If you have read my previous airline posts you will remember that I love Southwest Airlines. Right now I am on a flight from BOS to PHX. Their boarding procedures are a bit unconventional and it might be a more efficient process. It certainly saves the airline some people hours, since they are not assigning seats and reassigning seats. It can be anxiety provoking if you have a boarding zone and are one of the last to board. For the most part, I think family units can more easily board.

In the boarding area I heard as I left, "Lucy Latearrival(not the real name I heard, that is my attempt at humor), we love you but we'll leave you.". Sitting in a departure lounge can be so boring so any attempt at humor is welcome.

Just now, while waiting for the bathroom, I heard one flight attendant say to the other one "we'll have the kids do it.". Skeptic that I am I thought she was referring to the younger attendants. No they actually recruited kids from the flight to hand out snacks. They were having fun, and kept busy and the attendants could do other stuff. It was a win win win. Win for kids, win for passengers, and win for attendants.

This flight does not have audio or visual entertainment, and for a 5.5 hour flight that might be a problem. It isn't however, because of all the unexpected fun tasks this flight crew makes into a game. People have their own entertainment in the way of kindles, blackberries, video games and tablets.

I would always chose Southwest over, United or American. Southwest employees seem to enjoy their job, and the unexpected humor is a welcome replacement for the jaded attendants on other airlines.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Hertz is more random than I am

On this trip I have had the opportunity to rent from Hertz three times.

The first time in Salt Lake City they gave me a huge SUV, and I could barely get into the cab it was so tall.  I went back and asked for a smaller car.  There was another gentleman in front of me, who did the same thing.  I also did not want to pay for gas for a SUV.

In San Jose, I got a hybrid.  It took me a bit to figure out how to start it, but I did finally figure that out.  I was only driving it for the day, so I did not really need the hybrid part.

On Sunday, I picked up my last car of the trip.  I don't even know the brand, but there are no electric locks, windows etc.  When was the last time you rolled up a window with a winding knob?

When I mentioned this to someone at dinner last night they said "Is is all random."  I am a Hertz Gold Member which means I don't have to wait in the huge long line and can walk straight to my car.  Don't you think they would give the best cars to the Gold Card Members?  I know they had lots of cars because I walked through them at the Hertz parking lot at SFO.

What is really interesting to me is I refused to drive the SUV, but I did not refuse to drive the untechnical car.  It sounds like a tin can and I have to walk around to each door to lock it, and wind up and down the window myself, but I am a lot more comfortable in this car than the SUV.

Further California observations

Since I was on the red eye last night I had some time to waste so after finding a cute yarn shop in Los Altos I got on 280 instead of 101. I usually travel on 101 since it is the most convenient but 280 is amazingly beautiful and uncrowded at rush hour. In fact I am not sure why I would travel 101 again unless I am time bound. 280 travels among the hills and you see very little towns whereas on 101 you never leave a city from the SFO airport to Mountain View.

When I left 280 to go down to Burlingame I drove on some amazing curvy steep roads. The speed limit was 10 miles per hour in some places. California has had rain lately so there were some DPW signs covering grates that said FLOODED. Formal signs they put out when the road is less than perfect. How civil? We could have used those in the North East. There were also sand bag stations with huge piles of sand. Never seen this in the northeast.

Final observation, in Burlingame there is an ordinance that you cannot post a For Sale sign in a car. Huh? There has to be a story behind this one unless I read the sign wrong.

Traveling is such fun to see the differences and to question why they are different.

Not an observation but I finally had dinner at an In-and-Out Burger. Google it if you don't know about this chain. I was impressed by the kid cutting up potatoes for French fries or rather the machine he was using to cut them up and they were delicious and the hamburger was OK. Hamburger and fries cost me 3.82 so it was a good deal but I am not sure I would hurry back. This could be because of my tendency toward veggies lately.

OK final final observation. Restaurant in CA employees do not wear gloves while preparing food, not even the ones who collect money and then get your fries ready. Has Boston gotten hyper sensitive on this issue or are our health departments stricter?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Obligatory Flying Blog Post

I am currently on WIFI on a Virgin America from BOS to SFO. When I got to the airport this morning, and glanced up at the screen, our flight was delayed. OH NO! was my first thought. I approached the desk and asked what was going on? The agent said "The incoming flight is 40 minutes late, and we will turn the plane around ASAP." AND THEY DID. I facebooked that even though it was delayed I trusted the agent, because Virgin America has earned my trust with their honesty.

I did experience some difficulty getting into Gogoinflight, but once in, I am able to be "at work" for the entire flight. Oh yes, I can check personal email and facebook as well.

The agents are friendly and honest and funny and helpful. I am just not sure why I would fly another airline it I did not have to.

When I arrived this morning I had tons of time, so I put on my sneakers and walked all around Terminals A, B and C, and when I say all around, I mean all around. It was great to get my exercing done before getting on the flight.Jet Blue and Air Tran have lots of flights leaving from C on Monday morning. School vacation week for NH and lots of people escaping to Florida and the Caribbean. US Airways was quiet as was Continental. American and United were busy.

So once again, as I support a group for Intuit that is located in LA for a few months, it is a good thing that VA (Virgin America) flies to LA. I am going to rack up some frequent flyer points on this airline, happily.

Have I told you Lately that I Love my Job

This week, I had the opportunity to head out to Mountain View, CA for the second time in three weeks. This is the Intuit Epicenter so when I get out there, it is usually a really great experience. Tuesday we had a wonderful Extended Staff offsite. The last few days, I spent some time with the group that I support and with my HR colleagues.

At this time of year, all managers receive their Annual Employee Survey scores. I thought last week "This is one of my favorite days of the year at Intuit." Managers take these reports so seriously. They were pouring over the results and trying to figure out how to attack the opportunity areas. I am sure there are not too many companies where MOST managers are so serious about the results. The first year I worked here, we actually moved a manager to an individual contributor role, because the scores for that gorpu were so low. We don't tolerate "not great" managers.

I also participated in a couple of brainstorming conversations with colleagues which got my juice going. We are trying to demystify Talent Planning, trying to make it something that we actually do, and measure our results. Our question is "Why don't we do Talent Planning?". I think we are getting to the bottom of this answer.

So as I fly back to Waltham, not feeling exactly up to par (that is NOT going to be a blog topic or a Facebook entry, I will spare you those details), I reflect on the great company I work for and the current great boss I have. I am grateful for both of those, and I am grateful that just over 3 years ago, I started working for a Great Place to Work.

Forced to blog again about air travel

OK finally boarded and after de-boarded and after de-icing we will be taking off. I just want you to know, and yes I am whining, that my flight was the only one delayed, THIS MORNING. Not the same as last night however.

I want to give a shout out to Jetblue customer service who have been patient, courteous, informative (there is a new adjective) and calm.

I took a picture with their permission of Anthony and Randell (BTW he is 6' 11") in Boston. After a 2.5 hour delay they still had their sense of humor when they said "I am sorry that you now have to board."

They brought up snacks for the two + hour delay. This was more food than you get from United and American on a cross country flight.

The biggest asset was that they gave us information when they had it. Most airlines keep this close to the vest and don't want to share why the delay, how long before there is an update, how real is the new time etc.

The prologue to this post is that we took off after being delayed and de-iced, had a realatively smooth flight AND then we circled SFO for about 20 minutes. Because we were low on fuel, we then were diverted to San Jose to refuel and come back to SFO. Ureka, I deplaned at San Jose, called my new best friends at Corporate Travel, got my Hertz rental switched to San Jose, and gave a colleague a ride to the office. San Jose is easily half the drive to Mountain View so all is good.