Northwest Airlines - Hostile Service

I booked Northwest Airlines flight NW877 to fly from Tampa to Milwaukee (with a connection in Memphis) on July 29, 2005 at 6:30 am. I arrived at the Northwest check-in at 5:48. There was only one other person at the ticket counter at that hour and the rest of the airport was pretty well empty.

I attempted the self-service check in, but the kiosk directed me to an agent. So I reported to a Northwest agent and told him Id like to check in for the flight. He tersely told me, You are not flying anywhere. I thought maybe there was a maintenance problem and asked why I wouldnt be flying. He pointed to a sign and replied You are too late. I looked at the sign and it said something about having to check in 45 minutes prior to departure. I thought he was kidding with me and asked him to check me in. He said no as I wouldnt make it to the gate on time and that the flight was now in control of the gate agentso I was too late.

I told him that neither my ticket nor itinerary had any such provision on it and again he pointed to the sign like that was enough to provide sufficient notice of something so important. I asked him what could be done as I took 7 days of leave to visit my folks before deploying to the Middle East. He finally booked me to fly stand-by on a 12:30 pm flight. Unfortunately, that flight was cancelled for maintenance and I finally got out at 3:30 pm. The other agents were a bit harried, but nowhere near as rude and unfriendly as the first ticket agent.

The other person at the counter when I arrived was there 50 minutes prior to departure and another Northwest ticket agent told her she was too late as well! That she would never make it to the boarding gate on-time. Well, Tampa IAP is pretty darn small and user-friendly. It took us 10 minutes to reach the gate, which included going through security. Like I said, there was hardly anyone in the airport.

My biggest complaint is the lack of customer service on the part of the ticket agents. If we were truly too late to board, they could have been a little more diplomatic. I fly a lot and have been much later twice before with other airlines, and they bent over backwards to get me on the flight. Talking to some others later in the day, I heard that NW877 was overbooked, and we probably wouldnt have gotten on anyhow. If that was true, Id rather have been told that rather that some tale about not being able to get to the gate on time!

My wife and I were sitting in the back seat of the Northwest plane on May 18th flight # NW 1062. When the plane landed at Detroit, we watched three employees through the window unload the luggage since we were the last ones to get off. Two employees seemed to be doing their job in a normal fashion. One disgruntled employee, however, was being extremely reckless and destructive with customers' luggage.

He was throwing it off the conveyer belt (the belt that carried the pieces off the plane) - about a three and a half foot drop. Once they were on the ground he would take the lighter pieces over his head and throw them as forcefully as possible into the cargo containers. He was dragging the larger pieces on their fronts across the pavement then throwing them into the container. In between the cargo containers and the conveyer belt he was dragging his feet and looking very upset. I feel this is important to note since some people may think he was an overzealous employee who just needs to take more care. This was not the case, everything he did was in a purposeful manner. He was actually trying to do damage.

Although the other two employees were doing their job normally, I also find them at fault for not stopping their co-worker from destroying luggage. I was already upset, but then I saw my luggage. As luck would have it, the disgruntled employee took two of our four pieces. One was a large American Airlines brand suitcase. Another was a Samsonite hardcase suitcase. He pushed them both off the belt before they even got to the bottom of it. The Samsonite landed on its corner and the other on its front. He then proceeded to drag them on their fronts to the cargo containers.

I told the flight attendents what was happening. They were understanding but said they can't do anything and that I would have to complain to someone at the counter once I got into the terminal. Once we got to a counter inside the airport I asked for a supervisor and told him what had happened. He handed me a critique form. I can understand their need for a critique form, but a more suitable response would have been to seek out the employee immediately to keep him from doing more damage to customers luggage. I filled out the critique form, but have not been called or emailed yet - a week later.

When we received our luggage, the hardcase was broken on the corner it landed on, and the other suitcase was permanently stained with oil and dirt from the ground it was dragged on, and it was also frayed. Inside we had coffee mugs from Bulgaria that had been broken, these were wrapped in a way that if they had been handled normally, it wouldn't have happened. I work overseas for the U.S. Department of State and fly back to the U.S. on average once a year. Northwest Airlines can be assured that it won't be with them anymore.

With my ticket, I was to fly from Tampa, FL to Houston, TX to Shreveport, LA (my final destination) for the Thanksgiving holidays. I was to return on Nov. 30th for work on the 1st. My family lives 2 hours from the Shreveport airport. They drove me to Shreveport on the 30th of Nov. for my return flight. My flight was to depart at 10:35 AM I didn't find out that it was DELAYED until 10:30 AM. Around 10:40 AM I found out that the flight was CANCELLED.

At that time we were instructed to go back to the ticket counter. My family had left assuming my flight had taken off. I had to wait 2 hours for my family to arrive home so I could call them to tell them that they were to come back 2 hours to pick me up because the next available flight NWA were able to give me was for Tue. Dec. 2nd at 6:15 AM to Memphis, TN to Tampa, FL, arriving at 12 noon!

Since we live 2 hours from the airport that was really inconvenient for us. We had to stay in a motel close to the airport. The n! ight before my return flight, we w ent by the airport to confirm my new flight arrangement before we went and spent money on a motel. NO ONE could help me. So, we just took a chance on the flight not being cancelled or delayed and spent the money on a motel. When I returned home to Tampa, FL, my supervisor was furious with me. For the money I spent for that trip, it made my holiday a nightmare.

I booked a flight online departing September 11 at approx 5:50am from St. Cloud, with a Minneapolis connecting flight to Raleigh Durham. I was attending an Office Administrator retreat with peers from many sites in the US. A fellow manager's husband was picking several of us up in his private plane to fly us to our final destination of Myrtle Beach S.C.

I arrived at the terminal 20 minutes prior to departure. (St. Cloud is an extremely small terminal) I WAS THE ONLY PASSENGER/CUSTOMER/PERSON IN THE RECEPTION/LOBBY AREA OF THE TERMINAL. I was told that I could not be processed through security in under 30 minutes. My luggage consisted of a duffle bag, as I had to travel light because of the small plane from Raleigh to Myrtle Beach. THERE WERE AT LEAST 4 MESABA EMPLOYEES STANDING AROUND WITH THEIR HANDS IN THEIR POCKETS! THE PLANE HAD NOT ARRIVED AT THE GATE YET! I offered to empty everything out of my bag. "No ma'am I cannot get you through security in under 30 minutes."

I was wearing shorts, a shirt, bra, panties and tennis shoes. I offered to ship my bag UPS and just get on the plane with my credit card and driver's license. "No ma'am I cannot get you through security in under 30 minutes." There are at least four employees standing around doing absolutely nothing....and THEY CAN'T GET ME THROUGH SECURITY IN UNDER 30 MINUTES? THE PLANE ISN'T EVEN HERE!! I was put on a much later flight...Therefore, I arrived in Raleigh at 5 PM rather than 11am. The connection to Myrtle Beach was unavailable in the evening so I had to rent a car and drive nearly four hours alone in the dark on unknown roads, missing the meetings that afternoon and the welcome reception that evening.

I understand the importance of security at the airport. If the airport would have been too busy to get me through security -- that would have made this horrible experience a bit more understandable.

I am out about $200, missed the first day of the two day meeting, not to mention my husband's time driving me to MSP.... all because I arrived 10 minutes late to the St. Cloud airport. Seems pretty severe doesn't it?