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Golf Hotel Whiskey: for pilots and aviation enthusiasts

Please stand in line…

For all of you out there who’ve had to deal with an irate customer, this one is priceless:

An award should go to the United Airlines gate agent in Denver for being smart and funny, and making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as baggage.

A crowded United flight was canceled. A single agent was rebooking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, "I HAVE to be on this flight and it has to be FIRST CLASS."

The agent replied, "I’m sorry, sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you, but I’ve got to help these folks first, and I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out."

The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, "Do you have any idea who I am?"

Without hesitating, the gate agent smiled and grabbed her public address microphone. "May I have your attention please?" she began, her voice bellowing throughout the terminal. "We have a passenger here at the gate WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to the gate."

With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the United agent, gritted his teeth and swore, "F*** you!"

Without flinching, she smiled and said, "I’m sorry, sir, but you’ll have to stand in line for that, too!"

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hugo Moolenaar says

    February 1, 2010 at 10:54

    Hi Matthew, great story!

    The lady in Denver, she should start her own blog.

    People who work with folks waiting in line have lots of funny experiences to share. I used to work at Amsterdam Central Station exchanging foreign currencies, when I was a student (that was before the Euro).

    Idiotic situations, every day and night! Only fastwitted people survive there.

    People waiting in line, where does that compare to social media?

    Another place, for collecting stupid remarks?

    Not in your social media world ofcourse, nor in mine… We're the ones to pick out the diamonds. Ofcourse we are.

    Funny posting!

    Greetings from Holland, where it's all white again.

    Reply
    • Matthew Stibbe says

      February 1, 2010 at 11:06

      I've been in those lines at Centraal Station – it can be a bit scary! 🙂

      Het sneeuwt hier ook! 🙂

      Matthew

      Reply
  2. Steve says

    February 1, 2010 at 13:45

    Great stuff, thanks for sharing!

    As a frequent commercial flyer, the things you see some passengers say to the gate agents and airline personnel are baffling.

    Reply

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Matthew Stibbe
Matthew Stibbe is CEO of Articulate Marketing and Turbine, the easy, online way to deal with office paperwork. He has an FAA CPL/IR and an EASA PPL/IR and sometimes flies a Cirrus SR-22. He also writes about wine at Vincarta and being a better manager at Geek Boss.
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