2012 conventions 2012 election 2013 session arts arts and culture author ballot measures basketball bomb books boy scouts budget bullying business charlie hales children clackamas climate change coal college courts crime culture culture club democrats drugs economy education environment family film fluoride food gay rights guns handguns health health care health insurance high school history housing immigration internet kitzhaber law legislature lgbt literary arts living marijuana marriage media medicine mental health military minor parties mohamed mohamud movies music native americans news newspaper obama olympics oregon our town parenting pers photography police politcs politics port portland portland business journal president prevention public safety religion republicans rnc romney rural salem sam adams sandy hook schools science shooting sports suicide supreme court taxes technology terrorism theater third parties transportation union university of oregon washington wildfire women

I feel compelled to tell you about my recent flying experience (6/20 - 7/03/08). I will tell you that I am 71 years old, a fairly frequent flyer and certainly no starry-eyed Pollyanna. However, when things GO RIGHT, I still feel I must pass the information along. My daughter and I left PDX with two "free" tickets (United's Mileage Plus program). First of all, by September, 2007, I had tried three times before I got a United agent who actually was able to book 2 "free" tickets to Nice, France. Interestingly, this was a gentleman in the Philippines. The prior times, I had talked to obviously U.S. based employees, who I felt had been told to do everything they could to discourage any of these free flights. After telling the agent (named Tom Cuervo)my sad story, in 15 minutes, we had 2 tickets for Nice, France for June-July 2008.
I felt considerable trepidation about the flight. My daughter had been ill, didn't like to fly, and I had had my share of nightmare flights in the recent past. As it turned out, we did have a couple of "glitches", but they were handled extremely well. We flew United, Swiss Air, Lufthansa and United again. What became very obvious to me was that the attitude of ALL the employees we dealt with, was incredibly courteous, helpful and kind. By the time I arrive home, I had no recourse but to decide to change my previous attitude, which had become extremely cynical. I even went to far as to send United an email, commending one of their employees in Frankfurt, who was a PARAGON of intelligence, efficiency, etc. She actually was able to hold 395 passengers at bay for 2 hours, while a door was repaired. The food service company had damaged the door to the extent they didn't know if they were going to take off or not. With the exception of one old geezer who complained, everyone remained in good spirits, including numerous babies and small children. It was an amazing experience.
The other thing I saw for the first time, is as "frequent flyer" people using our "free miles", we were treated as well as the first class passengers. Normally, I've seen these people treated like dirt, and they are the last ones to be helped. This time, no such experience.
All in all, my faith has been restored that the airlines "get it". I find myself feeling sorry for them - it seems, in my opinion, they're doing the best they can, considering the overwhelming problems they're facing. I think it's important to say what happens "right", as well as what happens "wrong"!

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
view in context