[Sorry, this post is longer than normal.]
I hear people say, "make someone's day!" far too often in customer service circles. It was quite fun, though, to be on the receiving end of this - having my day made. Steve, at American Airlines in Dallas, totally made our day. This is especially crazy to think about as I turn on the news and hear of folks spending days and days trying to get to their destination. I don't want to jinx our return trip in a couple of days, but this was quite a gift to Nic and me.
Kimberly, one of my coworkers, graciously took us to the airport at the last minute. Before we left, we got a call that our flight had been delayed. This meant we'd miss our rental car b/c the rental place closed. Bear in mind, we had a 4-HOUR drive after the flight to LAX. So, we got on the phone and thought the issue was solved by them flying us to Fresno. We got to the airport and found out they had goofed in a big way - booked us on two flights that didn't connect at all.
We settled for a flight to Burbank, shaving about 45 minutes off our 4-hour drive. (Because, yes, the flight to Fresno was actually sold out). Once we got to Dallas, we waited at the Fresno gate, hoping to fly standby and get a coveted sold-out seat on that flight. Steve was working at the gate, and was super optimistic and helpful. We chilled, ate dinner, and bugged them several times to see if we were going to make it. They started boarding a little late (which is bad b/c it means other folks who's flights were delayed might actually make the flight... and we need them to not make it, so we can get on) and we hung out to see if we had a spot.
The Burbank flight called Steve, looking for us, and he told them he had us taken care of. Sigh of relief! We're the very last ones to board, and he told us he had two middle seats for us, but they were kinda close together. I said, "No big deal, we did that on the way here. We're used to it!" He says, "What? You did?" Nic explains the whole fiasco while Steve types in a few more things and prints our boarding passes. He says, "These seats are together (wink), so don't miss them when you walk by!" I look down and read, "FIRST CLASS." Nic and I look at each other in shock. We were stoked! He totally made our trip 85 times better.
Nic shook Steve's hand, told him how thankful we are, and we waited in line some more to get on the plane. He waited with us to finish everything up with the plane, and told us how much he appreciated us being chill about everything, when really we were just thankful to have middle seats in the back of the plane. Grumpiness seems to get you nowhere in this business.
Needless to say, we got on the plane and enjoyed some delicious food, tons of leg room, and nice, comfy seats! Thanks, Steve for making our day, our trip, and our Christmas!
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| Nic enjoying his grilled chicken salad! |
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| Our yummy meal...preceded by mixed nuts and followed by warm chocolate chip cookies! |
