Airline Staff Yells at Million Miler

July 4, 2013

in Airport Stories

I fly too often for work. I must have flown close to 1,000,000 miles on airlines in Star Alliance which resulted in Star Alliance Gold status on both Asiana Airlines (Diamond Plus) and Singapore Airlines (PPS Club). In terms of sales revenue, these airlines must have captured at least $400,000 as most flights have been in business class. Most Star Alliance airlines recognize and reward passengers with elite status, which makes the hassle of flying less painful. LOT Polish Airlines somehow hasn’t caught up with it. To the contrary, the more you fly with them, the more chance you will have of being yelled at.

I had three instances in just 3 months where LOT screwed me over. In all three cases, the staff yelled at me! It is quite a disappointing outcome especially after spending the equivalent of the annual salaries of their 10 full-time employees…

1. Lost baggage: My family came back to Warsaw from Asia through London Heathrow. The airlines lost all 6 suitcases that we checked in. I went to the baggage claim service counter. I made a BIG mistake of not bringing the luggage tags. I asked them to locate them by my name and flight number. The lady there YELLED at me that I needed to bring the baggage tags. The missing suitcases turned out to be at London Heathrow… They delivered them in 2 days.

2. I had to travel to London Heathrow from Warsaw 4 hours before my original reservation for a work-related emergency. I went to the ticket counter to change my flight to an earlier flight. The plane was practically empty as the staff at the check-in counter kindly advised. The staff at ticketing told me that I had to call my travel agent. I asked if the airline could bypass this and just put me in one of many empty seats. The ticketing agent started to yell at me that she would call the travel agent if I didn’t call. I told her not to but she called the travel agent anyway and repeated the airline policy to the travel agent. I wanted to phone customer service to complain about the unprofessional treatment and condescending conduct, but there was no customer service phone number. The best alternative, as I found out, was to write a complaint in the feedback section of their website. It promises to return communication in 45 days! Nonetheless, I wrote a 3-page discourse.

3. Three weeks after the previous incident (not yet resolved), I was denied boarding at Frankfurt Airport because I was there later than the boarding pass’s boarding time (40 minutes before departure time). I arrived at the gate 20 minutes before departure, but the “bus” had already left. What bus?! They don’t use a jetway at the gate, but rather transport passengers on buses to aircraft parked at a faraway tarmac. I asked them to find an alternative way to get on the plane, as there was still 20 minutes left for the departure and the plane was still on the ground. They yelled that it was my fault to be late and that the other 60 passengers were smart enough to be on time. They told me that I was rude to ask for help after arriving late to the gate. As it turned out, they didn’t have time to take me to the plane, but they had enough time to retrieve my suitcase from the aircraft and bring it back to the baggage claim area! It was an 8:55 PM flight and the staff clearly wanted to go home early rather than let a passenger go home. The passenger had to stay at a hotel in Frankfurt and ended up going home the next morning!

IF YOU FLY LOT POLISH AIRLINES, FOLLOW THEIR RIGID RULES AND/OR BE PREPARED TO BE YELLED AT.

{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }

bobbie marlin July 6, 2013 at 8:14 pm

if you hadn't written: "…especially after spending the equivalent of the annual salaries of their 10 full-time employees…" i would actually feel bad for you but if it the same attitude you projected towards the workers, i can understand their reaction…

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crabman July 10, 2013 at 6:32 am

Whine, whine would like cheese with your whine

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RedHead0186 July 10, 2013 at 12:17 pm

In response to your 3rd complaint, boarding time cutoffs are in place for security as well as keeping flights on time, those are sometimes even mandated by federal regulations. They have to put a cutoff time in place and enforce it, otherwise where do they draw the line? If they make one exception, then where does it stop? Most airlines have those rigid rules in place. Granted, if they really did yell at you, that was unprofessional, but as Bobbie mentioned (above comment), I can't tell if you're just projecting an attitude or if they really did mistreat you.

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john August 25, 2013 at 11:37 am

You Gold Stars are a joke. I deal with them all too often. Each and everyone one of you assume that because you have some, not a lot, of status that you are just entitled to everything. Buddy, stop being a jackass and follow the guidelines and you won’t have so many problems.

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Jeff December 13, 2013 at 5:55 pm

Self Made D'bag….

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Viktor_LOT April 1, 2014 at 7:48 am

Maybe you were expecting the ladies at the counters to kiss your ass for your Gold card?
KURWA! This is a terribly bullshit of a story. Unless you abuse staff and either yell or swear at them, you won't be yelled at in the Airline business.

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joel March 6, 2016 at 2:15 am

For someone who claims to have travelled as much you say you have, you're a complete idiot for not understanding the rules of travel as basic as the ones mentioned above.

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