Airline Rant

Well I forgot to tell you all about my experience with, rhymes with, Pamerican Pairlines. We used this airlines for all our flights domestically while we were in the US and they weren't too bad.... except for in Dallas.

They didn't have the terminal on the itinerary so because there are like 5 terminals at DFW I called ahead to see where we should check in. After pressing all the numbers and dealing with the automated system I found out our plane was taking off from "Terminal A - as in Alpha"

We checked in to terminal A said our goodbyes to Husband's family and went through security. After we got through security I looked down at our freshly printed tickets which said Gate 34 in terminal C.

What?! Terminal C? I had only called a half hour ago and was told to go to terminal A! And did any of the ladies too busy chatting behind the counter feel the need to tell us we were in the wrong terminal? No!

sigh

So we head for the little tram and take it over to terminal C. We walk for a while and get to gate 34. Still an hour to go before the fight so we're fine even with the terminal change. Wait. What time does the bored say? The flight is delayed by an hour??? Yup the flight was delayed yet another change the lovely ladies behind the counter couldn't clue us into.

So then we had plenty of time so I headed down to the bookstore to browse around. After a bit of time wasting I head back to our seats only to see they are all empty. Empty! I look to the left to see my husband beckoning me over. Oh the gate has been changed. Changed again! So we lug all of our bags to the new gate. Gate 25

Fortunately this gate has seats with TV screens near them and they are playing the news. Only the before had Michael Jackson's death been announced so we were eager to watch the news. We sat there watching the news for a while and also watched as passengers ran past us from one side of the airport to the other trying to catch their flights. I finally got up to go check on the status of our flight and make sure it wasn't delayed again. What happens when I stand up? The seats are all empty!! EMPTY! AGAIN! I had this flash of panic where I thought we had completely missed the flight so engrossed in the news coverage of Michael Jackson. I run up to the gate desk to see what? Yup the gate has been changed! Gate 30 my friends. SIGH! BIG FRUSTRATED SIGH! We trudge to the next and final gate because our flight is suppose to start boarding in 10 minutes. My husband and I grabbed our stuff and ran to the next gate.

Huffing and puffing we reach the gate just as they are calling Group 1 to board. Fortunately we were Group 3 so we had a bit of time to catch our breath and make friends with the people standing next to us who were elderly hand had an awful time trying to keep up with all the gate changes the airport had put them through considering they were just laying over in DFW on their way to Portland from another town. While we were chatting we got to experience the man working at the gate yell at the waiting, paying, passengers like they are four year olds. He seriously told everyone that he was "not going to try to speak over everyone" and he would just "wait for everyone to quiet down" he would board any more passengers. Seriously.

Finally we got on the plane and took off for Portland, the next leg of our journey. But I must say I was sorely disappointed in the service they provided. I mean all the airlines are talking about how they are barely making ends meet and they are charging passengers more and more the least they could do is offer some decent customer service. Seriously I think they under estimate how much people would be willing to put up with if someone would just treat them with respect and take ownership when things are not functioning as expected. Treat people with respect and then they will be way more satisfied customers... even when the flights don't go according to plan.

A little courtesy would be nice too... I'm just sayin'