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December 20, 2005
Northwest Airlines Blows
Oh, the story I have for you . . .
My lovely wife Lisa and I flew out to California for personal and business reasons. Yesterday, on our flight back, we were almost sabotaged by this bitter African-American woman who was manning the A2 gate at Memphis -- Lisa sometimes gets this treatment from other women because of the way she looks, especially from certain African-American women. Anyway, this woman deliberately gave us misleading information, as I would soon figure out.
This lady had already rubbed me the wrong way ninety minutes earlier when I asked for help changing our seat assignments, "I have to help the passengers for this plane, sir." There was no one in line except the guy that she had just finished helping. She just didn't want to be bothered with us. Lazy.
15 minutes before our flight, word came over the intercom that passengers would be limited to only one carry-on each. I went back to the lady who didn't like us to explain that all my bags met Northwest's requirements for carry-ons. I didn't understand that this was a smaller plane. In my defense, you couldn't see any planes from this enclosed waiting area. She got huffy with me (horrible customer service) and told me that I would have to check my largest rolling bag back at Security near Gate A19.
This was so "last minute" and seemingly out of our control -- very fear inducing. Lisa and I got about 50 paces away from A2, hoping to check our bags and still catch our flight, when some nice lady stopped us. The lady explained that she was a person who helped physically disabled people make it to their plane on time and that she knew the airport's procedures well. She explained that if we were to go all the way to A19 and try to check our bags that we would miss our flight. She said that all we had to do was to go back to the lady at Gate A2 and get a green tag for each item that was too large to fit into the plane's overhead bin or under our seats. Our bags would then be stowed in the luggage compartment but would be waiting for us in the hallway as we left the plane.
Everything clicked in my head. I was livid. I hurried back and firmly asked the lady point blank, "Are you the person who hands out green tags that people can put on their luggage so that they don't have to check them back by Gate A19?" Her response was to roll her eyes at me and hand a wad of green tags (which she was now holding in her hand) to the guy standing next to her. She disappeared behind the door to the A2 hallway. I was so angry, realizing that this bitter, competitive woman was trying to screw us royally.
The guy handed me two green tags. I thanked him and expressed my exasperation at the woman, about which he smiled apologetically and shrugged. Wimp.
The woman reappeared, at which point Lisa and I began to relay our extreme disappointment with her customer service skills. She denied ever telling us to go back near Gate A19 to check our bags, at which point my blood boiled and, without feeling to need to censor myself anymore (and having had some liquid courage with lunch), I called her a liar to her face. At that, she took a mild fighting posture, wagged her head with wide eyes, and the guy put himself between her and me. I went away to tag my bag while Lisa attempted some damage control. However, Lisa defended me, gently explaining that "he called you a liar because you lied to us." (Lisa's actual words)
Anyway, the woman kept denying any wrongdoing, telling the guy standing there that Lisa was confused. We're going to take this to the president of Northwest Airlines if we have to. We have everything we need: the lady's first name, Gloria; the location, Gate A2; the date, December 19th, 2005; the time, 2:30 p.m. CST; the airline, Northwest; and the airport, Memphis International. When Lisa asked her name, she replied with a sneer, "It's Gloria, G-L-O-R-I-A." as if she felt invincible. Bitch.
A few minutes later, as she was scanning our boarding passes without making eye contact with us, she was muttering under her breath. As we collected our things to go through the A2 door, you could hear her telling people behind us "that woman called me a liar" as if to incite a passenger uprising against us. If Lisa talked about troublesome library patrons to other patrons, she would be fired on the spot. Besides, I was the one who called her a liar, not Lisa. I actually feel proud of myself for that.
The most hilarious part of the whole green-tagged bag situation was that our bags were just sitting in the hall next to the airplane door waiting for us. No one was verifying that people took their own bags, matching green stub to tag, so the whole green ticket thing was bullshit. Anyone could have taken our bags. Northwest Airlines sucks, especially at Memphis.
Posted by Nathan Dickson at December 20, 2005 08:04 PM
Comments
That's an awesome story. You'd have been better off flying on Fedex, since you were in Memphis anyway.
I have to ask, how does your wife look?
("Lisa sometimes gets this treatment from other women because of the way she looks")
-Greg
Posted by: Greg at January 25, 2006 05:54 PM
You can see pictures of my wife Lisa at her website
Posted by: Nathan Dickson at April 12, 2006 08:49 AM
I can't believe it, my co-worker just bought a car for $11685. Isn't that crazy!
Posted by: Betsy Markum at June 2, 2006 12:53 PM
I know that sometimes the customer service people at airports can be less-than-helpful, but you seem to have made a mountain out of a molehill. That's actually pretty common to check some carry-ons at the gate and pick them up later. Also, bringing the lady's race into the equation just makes your over-reaction even more evident. Out of curiosity did NWA do anything?
Posted by: Orosi Holmes at April 16, 2007 07:59 PM
Three things in response:
1. We rarely travel by air, therefore do not know the ins and outs of air travel. I stated this in the post.
2. I believe that race was an issue. Everyone is a little bit racist, and it's something we all should lean against. Lisa, being a very attractive platinum blonde white chick, gets negative vibes from women who are intimidated by her looks. This issue is exacerbated with black women until they get to know her and realize that she very much loves all people of color. One of her favorite things to do is work with children in the predominantly black neighborhoods in the library system where she works.
3. This woman gave us advice that would have caused us to miss our flight, as was explained by the kind lady who intercepted us. I believe the woman did this on purpose as a response to number two. You should have seen the pissy look on her face when she gazed at Lisa -- like this was her chance to get even with life or something.
I am not making a mountain out of a molehill. I am stating the facts and perceptions as I understand and experienced them. This is also merely a blog, not a newspaper or chronicle for the ages. If one cannot vent an issue on a blog that they own and operate, where can one vent publicly and safely? This is one logical use for a blog.
The end result is that NWA gave is a $100 credit toward a future flight. I threw it away.
Posted by: Nathan Dickson at April 16, 2007 10:19 PM