The Mega Outage

invadertim said:
SJI has put a significant amount of effort into keeping AFA or any other FA union off property. The signs they have in the FA schoolhouse lobby make you think signing a union card will give you space herpes, disappoint your grandmother, and directly cause several kittens to be slowly drowned. You don’t want that to happen, or do you, Comrade…
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Delta leadership put this in the world and the internet does not forget (mostly).

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ChasenSFO said:
AS also closed the doors on my gf at the time and I in SEA 42 mins before departure (as in check-in is still open) on a 737-900ER booked to 22 pax to SFO during COVID (also the last flight of the night). It was the only time I've seen a gate agent get in trouble in my years of non-reving. She comes up and says "Oh, everyone was on board so we closed, you can go to Sacramento at the gate next door" (leaving 5 mins LATER than SFO but didn't start boarding yet). She barely looked up from her phone as she told me. I simply walk over to the adjacent gate and ask if they can roll me over to SMF, they are like "Wait, WHAT?". Turns out there was a supervisor who was working the SMF flight who stormed over just in time for a uniformed soldier to walk up and ask why the SFO flight looks closed haha. Turns out, he came off Southwest on a self-made connection and made the 30 minute check-in window at a kiosk by which time the flight was already closed! While the agent and supervisor were loudly arguing rather than anyone trying to communicate with the PIC, the SFO flight pushed like 25 early leaving behind 1 revenue passenger and a crowd of 4 non-revs who showed up dumbfounded like myself. Never seen that before, either.

The supervisor asked me if I'd write a statement but I was on a @Rocketman99 buddy pass so I was like, "Yeah...I'll just try again, tomorrow, its cool". The other non-revs were not so chill but they worked there lol. Ended up getting a hotel then doing SEA-GEG-SFO the next day to get one last Q400 ride and got awesome pics as WX was great up until we got to GEG. Still, wtf.
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The only time I saw an agent get into trouble was back in my Express days. It was no secret that the mainline (USAir, in this case), held the commuters in open disdain, but I couldn't really help that.

So, I'm on this trip that double deadheads from base through CLT to MIA, as part of one of those random, holiday trips (Xmas, in this case) that winded its way back to CLT via MIA, TPA, and TLH the next day. So its Dec 23rd, and we get to CLT somewhere down on the C, to find that while our DH was booked correctly, there are no seats. The CA inquires to the agent, who states, loudly, "EXPRESS DOESN'T HAVE MUST RIDE", and seemingly ended the conversation, the clear implication that we weren't getting on the flight. This exchange delights me.

CA calls our Crew Scheduling, explains the issue, and they ask to speak to the gate agent, who promptly hangs up on them. Crew Scheduling tells us to just hang tight.

I sit down to continue my FO duties of not giving a flip, while I watch the hilarity of this impasse ensue.

So now we're down to departure time, and a supervisor hurriedly arrives at the gate, where a loud-ish verbal counseling session seemed to progress with said agent. There was some moderate hand waving. They pull two people off the plane, and we take our last row, middle seats down to MIA. I was mildly disappointed, because I was ready to turn around and go home.

That wasn't my last encounter with almost-blown DHs in CLT. I was there one day going through SVT (as it was called then) in the sim, and was on a DH back to TPA. Again, DH was booked correctly, MUST RIDE, back to TPA. I checked in an hour before departure, and patiently waited as the cleared just about everyone else. Finally, about 10 prior, I go up to the agent to ask, and he stated in a huff "well, we don't have a seat, so we're just going to send you to SRQ". I was near the end of my tenure there, so I simply said, "uh, yea, no, this is must ride". They had to pull someone off. I was completely indifferent to his annoyance with me.
 
@Richman yikes, the "Express" gave me PTSD. When I was SkyWest CS/Ramp, hardened 9/11 era UA agents called us "Express" and acted like our passengers might as well been those of rival American. The number of times I was sitting at the United Express (really all the signs just said "United") Customer Service Center (CSC) across from the gate formerly known as 77B to have some pissed off people slam their crap down and tell us they waited X minutes in line at the United CSC only to be told "Oh, you're on Express? You need to go talk to them at 77B we can't help you" AND for me to find out that in the time they were sent over I lost the opportunity to get them home that day is a high number. They would get written up, but as the write ups fell off after 90 days and as I was one of the few agents to immediately snitch on them rather then just roll my eyes and go "that's United for you", most just kept doing it.

Say what you will about mergers, Continental made United a million times better and those agents were all shown the light and learned to smile or transferred systematically to non-customer facing roles. Tho that often meant being promoted because they were bad at their jobs, FAA ATC style. America West did the same thing for US Airways, by the time I had bennies on them post-merger the agents were getting better and better.

Now, I grew up in a United family that was very much affected by the 9/11 events and the RJ circus, so I get why after being kicked and dragged thru the mud most of them hated the company. Not to mention stuff like SFO-DFW/AUS/MCI was being done by oversold CRJ700s with SkyWest employees bumping them on the one or two open seats. Not a fun time compared to today to work there, but they sure as hell loved to take it out on our must rides as well. I recall several cancellations where we needed pilots to come in on a mainline route last min and ended up cancelling or taking a huge delay because mainline messed up and refused to pull pax for "Express must rides". So I bet that went on at all the legacies in the 2000s haha
 
ChasenSFO said:
@Richman yikes, the "Express" gave me PTSD. When I was SkyWest CS/Ramp, hardened 9/11 era UA agents called us "Express" and acted like our passengers might as well been those of rival American. The number of times I was sitting at the United Express (really all the signs just said "United") Customer Service Center (CSC) across from the gate formerly known as 77B to have some pissed off people slam their crap down and tell us they waited X minutes in line at the United CSC only to be told "Oh, you're on Express? You need to go talk to them at 77B we can't help you" AND for me to find out that in the time they were sent over I lost the opportunity to get them home that day is a high number. They would get written up, but as the write ups fell off after 90 days and as I was one of the few agents to immediately snitch on them rather then just roll my eyes and go "that's United for you", most just kept doing it.

Say what you will about mergers, Continental made United a million times better and those agents were all shown the light and learned to smile or transferred systematically to non-customer facing roles. Tho that often meant being promoted because they were bad at their jobs, FAA ATC style. America West did the same thing for US Airways, by the time I had bennies on them post-merger the agents were getting better and better.

Now, I grew up in a United family that was very much affected by the 9/11 events and the RJ circus, so I get why after being kicked and dragged thru the mud most of them hated the company. Not to mention stuff like SFO-DFW/AUS/MCI was being done by oversold CRJ700s with SkyWest employees bumping them on the one or two open seats. Not a fun time compared to today to work there, but they sure as hell loved to take it out on our must rides as well. I recall several cancellations where we needed pilots to come in on a mainline route last min and ended up cancelling or taking a huge delay because mainline messed up and refused to pull pax for "Express must rides". So I bet that went on at all the legacies in the 2000s haha
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When I was flying HGR-BWI for 9K the ramp was all mainline Continental and they were the best. Treated my little 402 like it was a 747. I even went mountain biking with a couple of the ramp guys in our off time because we were local (they stomped me lol). Couldn’t beat that crew
 
So, I just got back from vacation yesterday (cruise with the GF). First Class tickets booked on SJI from MEM to FLL via Mecca Rednecka. Saw the news reports last Friday about the CrowdStrike issue, etc. Figured SJI would have a handle on things and I quietly was thankful I didn't book tickets on my former employer. And, of course, we were going down the day before with a planned arrival time more than 24 hours prior to the All Board time at Port Everglades. I'm not an idiot (or so I thought).

Night before as the GF and I were finalizing packing, I noticed our MEM-ATL flight cancelled. App had been glitchy all day. Website not much better. Couldn't find anything to ATL in the morning, so I checked Southwest. Boom. 2 seats leaving MEM 2 hours earlier (nothing to FLL, only ATL). Booked them immediately...in Business Select no less. Figured we'd have plenty of time to reclaim our bags in ATL, recheck them on Delta and be on our merry way after a couple of hours in the Sky Club.

SWA went off without a hitch. Got to ATL and went to baggage claim, grabbed the bags made it over to the other side of the terminal to recheck. That's when I first noticed there COULD possibly be a problem. Checked the bags at the Sky Priority counter and went back through security. So far, so good. Noticed the flight to FLL was about 15 minutes delayed. No biggie.

Got to the A Concourse saw the line for the Service Center. Holy crap! Glad I don't have to use that (famous last words). Hung out in the Sky Club for a couple of hours. Snacked, grabbed a couple of cocktails, saw they moved the gate to the B Concourse, so off we went.

Got to the gate. Delayed another 20 minutes. Jet's on the ground, pilots are waiting, so there's that. We're good. So good. Jet pulls in (saw how bad the taxiways were getting jammed up with others waiting for gates). People get off. Pilots get on. Still good. Another 20 minute delay. And another one. And then an hour. Then the Captain comes out. Gate agents explain we're waiting on 2 flight attendants. Captain explains we're waiting on 2 flight attendants. Says they're waaaaaayyyy good on duty and that we're getting to FLL today. Another delay posted.

2 flight attendants show up and the crowd goes wild, literally (I didn't cheer as I always felt it demeaning when I flew self-loading freight). Turns out one of them was going to PVD. He wants to work the FLL flight, but can't get ahold of anyone to do that. I wait until the Captain isn't busy, introduced myself as a fellow pilot on vacation and I go chat with him. I thank him for being so clear to everyone and explaining what was going wrong and I told him I feel his pain. He and I have a good chat and he jokingly asks if I could work as an FA. I told him actually was one back in the day and am door trained on the 757. We have a laugh and I get a trading card (yay!). Go sit down and wait some more. Flight delayed until 5pm now (original departure time 12:35pm).

Next thing I now, app notification. Flight's cancelled. GF and I book it to the B Service Center. There is no line. No ability to wait in line. Scan a QR code to get in a virtual line. Congratulations! You're number 983 in line to speak with an agent. (Not making that up) Jump on the DL app and start looking for flights anywhere in Florida. GF starts looking at rental cars. No cars. Nada. Find the last 2 seats to MCO, First Class. Book them. Back to the Sky Club. Waited in line for about an hour up there to figure out the bag situation. Very helpful agent sent a message to get our bags forwarded to MCO...maybe. He was honest and said it was a 50/50 shot. Whilst talking to him, said MCO flight cancels. App lets me rebook for a different delayed flight to MCO. A little relieved, but still nervous. Secure a last-second hotel room and 2 seats on Brightline to FLL in the morning.

Delayed MCO flight actually happens. Left at 9:45pm, but who the hell cares at this point. Land in MCO a little after midnight. App shows bags are requested to be expedited on the MCO flight. Air Tags show the bags still in ATL. Head to MCO Baggage Services. Waited in line another hour. This next sentence is not sarcastic in any way, shape or form...I truly mean these words. We were assisted by an extremely helpful agent who, despite the hell she'd probably been through, was very pleasant. Said she'd try to get our bags to FLL. It's now 1:45 am and we're off to the hotel and our train is at 5:50 am. (Hyatt was sold out, so we had to go off airport property).

We MAYBE get 45 minutes to an hour of sleep. I wake up to get ready to catch our train. I just happened to check the DL app and it says our bags are in FLL. They got there at 2:13 am. Air Tags confirm this. I MAY have shed a tear or 2 and still have absolutely NO idea how it happened! Now I don't have to go on a cruise with just the shirt on my back and maybe a few things I grab at Walmart in FLL. Get on Brightline and have an absolutely joyous ride to FLL (and a short nap). Uber to FLL airport and low and behold, there are our bags.

I change, put on deodorant and it's off to the ship! 28+ hours of traveling and 12+ hours in the Atlanta airport and I'm standing in The Retreat Lounge with a glass of champagne in my hand whilst my bags are being loaded 15 decks below me.

Thankfully, the trip home yesterday went off without a hitch. Everything was early. Bags arrived early, although a wheel was broken on the GF's suitcase. MEM Baggage Services just handed us a brand new suitcase and said, "Have a nice day!"

Last night, I unpacked and sent thank you messages to everyone at Delta that was so kind and helpful. I know they went through hell and were probably yelled at so many times, they lost count.

If you're still with me, thank you. I know everyone here understands, but my dying wish would be that the general traveling public the rubes who buy cheap tickets on Expedia realize that situations like this are not the fault of frontline employees they're just doing the best they can with the tools they have. Yelling at them does no one any good and only makes you look like an •.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
 
Richman said:
The only time I saw an agent get into trouble was back in my Express days. It was no secret that the mainline (USAir, in this case), held the commuters in open disdain, but I couldn't really help that.

So, I'm on this trip that double deadheads from base through CLT to MIA, as part of one of those random, holiday trips (Xmas, in this case) that winded its way back to CLT via MIA, TPA, and TLH the next day. So its Dec 23rd, and we get to CLT somewhere down on the C, to find that while our DH was booked correctly, there are no seats. The CA inquires to the agent, who states, loudly, "EXPRESS DOESN'T HAVE MUST RIDE", and seemingly ended the conversation, the clear implication that we weren't getting on the flight. This exchange delights me.

CA calls our Crew Scheduling, explains the issue, and they ask to speak to the gate agent, who promptly hangs up on them. Crew Scheduling tells us to just hang tight.

I sit down to continue my FO duties of not giving a flip, while I watch the hilarity of this impasse ensue.

So now we're down to departure time, and a supervisor hurriedly arrives at the gate, where a loud-ish verbal counseling session seemed to progress with said agent. There was some moderate hand waving. They pull two people off the plane, and we take our last row, middle seats down to MIA. I was mildly disappointed, because I was ready to turn around and go home.

That wasn't my last encounter with almost-blown DHs in CLT. I was there one day going through SVT (as it was called then) in the sim, and was on a DH back to TPA. Again, DH was booked correctly, MUST RIDE, back to TPA. I checked in an hour before departure, and patiently waited as the cleared just about everyone else. Finally, about 10 prior, I go up to the agent to ask, and he stated in a huff "well, we don't have a seat, so we're just going to send you to SRQ". I was near the end of my tenure there, so I simply said, "uh, yea, no, this is must ride". They had to pull someone off. I was completely indifferent to his annoyance with me.
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DCI in Atlanta ain’t got no rights either, trust me.
 
ERfly said:
So, I just got back from vacation yesterday (cruise with the GF). First Class tickets booked on SJI from MEM to FLL via Mecca Rednecka. Saw the news reports last Friday about the CrowdStrike issue, etc. Figured SJI would have a handle on things and I quietly was thankful I didn't book tickets on my former employer. And, of course, we were going down the day before with a planned arrival time more than 24 hours prior to the All Board time at Port Everglades. I'm not an idiot (or so I thought).

Night before as the GF and I were finalizing packing, I noticed our MEM-ATL flight cancelled. App had been glitchy all day. Website not much better. Couldn't find anything to ATL in the morning, so I checked Southwest. Boom. 2 seats leaving MEM 2 hours earlier (nothing to FLL, only ATL). Booked them immediately...in Business Select no less. Figured we'd have plenty of time to reclaim our bags in ATL, recheck them on Delta and be on our merry way after a couple of hours in the Sky Club.

SWA went off without a hitch. Got to ATL and went to baggage claim, grabbed the bags made it over to the other side of the terminal to recheck. That's when I first noticed there COULD possibly be a problem. Checked the bags at the Sky Priority counter and went back through security. So far, so good. Noticed the flight to FLL was about 15 minutes delayed. No biggie.

Got to the A Concourse saw the line for the Service Center. Holy crap! Glad I don't have to use that (famous last words). Hung out in the Sky Club for a couple of hours. Snacked, grabbed a couple of cocktails, saw they moved the gate to the B Concourse, so off we went.

Got to the gate. Delayed another 20 minutes. Jet's on the ground, pilots are waiting, so there's that. We're good. So good. Jet pulls in (saw how bad the taxiways were getting jammed up with others waiting for gates). People get off. Pilots get on. Still good. Another 20 minute delay. And another one. And then an hour. Then the Captain comes out. Gate agents explain we're waiting on 2 flight attendants. Captain explains we're waiting on 2 flight attendants. Says they're waaaaaayyyy good on duty and that we're getting to FLL today. Another delay posted.

2 flight attendants show up and the crowd goes wild, literally (I didn't cheer as I always felt it demeaning when I flew self-loading freight). Turns out one of them was going to PVD. He wants to work the FLL flight, but can't get ahold of anyone to do that. I wait until the Captain isn't busy, introduced myself as a fellow pilot on vacation and I go chat with him. I thank him for being so clear to everyone and explaining what was going wrong and I told him I feel his pain. He and I have a good chat and he jokingly asks if I could work as an FA. I told him actually was one back in the day and am door trained on the 757. We have a laugh and I get a trading card (yay!). Go sit down and wait some more. Flight delayed until 5pm now (original departure time 12:35pm).

Next thing I now, app notification. Flight's cancelled. GF and I book it to the B Service Center. There is no line. No ability to wait in line. Scan a QR code to get in a virtual line. Congratulations! You're number 983 in line to speak with an agent. (Not making that up) Jump on the DL app and start looking for flights anywhere in Florida. GF starts looking at rental cars. No cars. Nada. Find the last 2 seats to MCO, First Class. Book them. Back to the Sky Club. Waited in line for about an hour up there to figure out the bag situation. Very helpful agent sent a message to get our bags forwarded to MCO...maybe. He was honest and said it was a 50/50 shot. Whilst talking to him, said MCO flight cancels. App lets me rebook for a different delayed flight to MCO. A little relieved, but still nervous. Secure a last-second hotel room and 2 seats on Brightline to FLL in the morning.

Delayed MCO flight actually happens. Left at 9:45pm, but who the hell cares at this point. Land in MCO a little after midnight. App shows bags are requested to be expedited on the MCO flight. Air Tags show the bags still in ATL. Head to MCO Baggage Services. Waited in line another hour. This next sentence is not sarcastic in any way, shape or form...I truly mean these words. We were assisted by an extremely helpful agent who, despite the hell she'd probably been through, was very pleasant. Said she'd try to get our bags to FLL. It's now 1:45 am and we're off to the hotel and our train is at 5:50 am. (Hyatt was sold out, so we had to go off airport property).

We MAYBE get 45 minutes to an hour of sleep. I wake up to get ready to catch our train. I just happened to check the DL app and it says our bags are in FLL. They got there at 2:13 am. Air Tags confirm this. I MAY have shed a tear or 2 and still have absolutely NO idea how it happened! Now I don't have to go on a cruise with just the shirt on my back and maybe a few things I grab at Walmart in FLL. Get on Brightline and have an absolutely joyous ride to FLL (and a short nap). Uber to FLL airport and low and behold, there are our bags.

I change, put on deodorant and it's off to the ship! 28+ hours of traveling and 12+ hours in the Atlanta airport and I'm standing in The Retreat Lounge with a glass of champagne in my hand whilst my bags are being loaded 15 decks below me.

Thankfully, the trip home yesterday went off without a hitch. Everything was early. Bags arrived early, although a wheel was broken on the GF's suitcase. MEM Baggage Services just handed us a brand new suitcase and said, "Have a nice day!"

Last night, I unpacked and sent thank you messages to everyone at Delta that was so kind and helpful. I know they went through hell and were probably yelled at so many times, they lost count.

If you're still with me, thank you. I know everyone here understands, but my dying wish would be that the general traveling public the rubes who buy cheap tickets on Expedia realize that situations like this are not the fault of frontline employees they're just doing the best they can with the tools they have. Yelling at them does no one any good and only makes you look like an •.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
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Didn't realize you were a former FA. That is cool, I bet you have some good stories!
 
///AMG said:
Didn't realize you were a former FA. That is cool, I bet you have some good stories!
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Eh, not really. I did it after I graduated college, post 9/11. Couldn't find any other flying jobs.

I worked for a charter airline, flying vacation passengers..."Cancun for the Greyhound Set."

I only did it for 8 months and then quit to go pursue an actual flying job full time. I joke that I only lasted 8 months because after 6 months, I started to say what I was thinking.
 
Skåning said:
Shoulda just driven! Geez!
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The thought crossed our mind initially, but then we thought about the drive back after the cruise was over.

Figured if we could get to ATL, we'd be fine. Turns out that was the least complicated part of the journey!

We also looked at driving from ATL to FLL, but there were NO rental cars. We ended up talking to some folks one more at breakfast that said they met a couple who ended up renting a one-way Uhaul. Talk about genius!
 
ERfly said:
The thought crossed our mind initially, but then we thought about the drive back after the cruise was over.

Figured if we could get to ATL, we'd be fine. Turns out that was the least complicated part of the journey!

We also looked at driving from ATL to FLL, but there were NO rental cars. We ended up talking to some folks one more at breakfast that said they met a couple who ended up renting a one-way Uhaul. Talk about genius!
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I told a number of our pax that they needed to rent cars/drive home. A couple I sent into downtown ATL/FTY/PDK to find cars.

ATL was a mess.
 
ERfly said:
The thought crossed our mind initially, but then we thought about the drive back after the cruise was over.

Figured if we could get to ATL, we'd be fine. Turns out that was the least complicated part of the journey!

We also looked at driving from ATL to FLL, but there were NO rental cars. We ended up talking to some folks one more at breakfast that said they met a couple who ended up renting a one-way Uhaul. Talk about genius!
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That’s insane, what a journey. I’ve heard of renting the Home Depot pickups in a pinch too.
 
ERfly said:
We ended up talking to some folks one more at breakfast that said they met a couple who ended up renting a one-way Uhaul. Talk about genius!
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That’s been a thing for a while in charter, especially in Hawaii. Or when you absolutely have to have ground transport, even a small truck from Home Depot if you know it’ll be round trip.
 
I was in the middle of a trip to pick up a friend’s airplane to fly to OSH. 773 crew rest seat to HNL which was awesome. Got stuck in HNL after boarding for IAH, sat for an hour with the FAs talking about things to do in my new base. Saw the news article about the IT problems, opened up flightaware to see which airlines were still moving. As it was 11pm ish there were a couple AS flights that were departing soon, ran over to the other terminal to list- SAN flight couldn’t CASS verify me, they closed and I went to attempt SEA in case it was an operator error thing. No dice.
Was too late to try for FDX or UPS as they were other side of the field and not worth the effort if I couldn’t be verified. Went online and found a ticket on AS for the early morning departure that would get me within driving distance of the airplane I was getting, so I booked a ticket HNL SEA IAD. Spent the night in the airport as it was 2am by the time I came up with a plan and hotels had mostly sold out. Got on the early SEA flight, spent some time looking for rental cars before passing out. No one way rentals from IAD-ORF. Get to SEA with 7hr to kill before my IAD redeye, find an amtrak ticket available that I could make via DC Metro from IAD. Launch for IAD, zonk out on redeye. At ToD, do some scrolling and find that I can once again book flights in my employee travel site but flights look oversold and number 4 for the JS. Get to IAD, walk over to gate before heading to metro in the event that they can actually check me in for the flight, in a hail mary attempt. Agent has 50 misconnects, I get a seat in first on a 25 min flight.

44hr of what usually takes me 22ish.
 
bimmerphile said:
I was in the middle of a trip to pick up a friend’s airplane to fly to OSH. 773 crew rest seat to HNL which was awesome. Got stuck in HNL after boarding for IAH, sat for an hour with the FAs talking about things to do in my new base. Saw the news article about the IT problems, opened up flightaware to see which airlines were still moving. As it was 11pm ish there were a couple AS flights that were departing soon, ran over to the other terminal to list- SAN flight couldn’t CASS verify me, they closed and I went to attempt SEA in case it was an operator error thing. No dice.
Was too late to try for FDX or UPS as they were other side of the field and not worth the effort if I couldn’t be verified. Went online and found a ticket on AS for the early morning departure that would get me within driving distance of the airplane I was getting, so I booked a ticket HNL SEA IAD. Spent the night in the airport as it was 2am by the time I came up with a plan and hotels had mostly sold out. Got on the early SEA flight, spent some time looking for rental cars before passing out. No one way rentals from IAD-ORF. Get to SEA with 7hr to kill before my IAD redeye, find an amtrak ticket available that I could make via DC Metro from IAD. Launch for IAD, zonk out on redeye. At ToD, do some scrolling and find that I can once again book flights in my employee travel site but flights look oversold and number 4 for the JS. Get to IAD, walk over to gate before heading to metro in the event that they can actually check me in for the flight, in a hail mary attempt. Agent has 50 misconnects, I get a seat in first on a 25 min flight.

44hr of what usually takes me 22ish.
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Reading this exhausts me.
 
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