Background: For those of you who don't know me, I live and work in Cozumel, but also work as a professional musician in Canada and the US. I typically do 75 - 100 flight legs per year. Since the end on May I have done 23 flight legs on United/Continental (I know! Boy am I familiar with IAH. Try the bisque at Pappadeaux's), and so far, each and every one of them has gotten me where I was going. Some were late, and my luggage has been delayed, but in every case I have made my connections, and got home safely at the end.
Yesterday: I was coming home from Canada, and due to my starting point I was up at 4 am after only a couple hours of sleep. After 3 flights, and some coffee I finally arrived into Cancun at around 7 pm. I headed through immigration, and customs, but had waited a long time for my bag. As I stepped out of the terminal and was contemplating whether to head for the bus and ferry, or Mayair, I heard someone say my name. It was the person who had been seated next to me on the flight. I wondered how she knew my name, as we hadn't talked at all. She explained that I had left my laptop in the seat pocket, and the flight attendant had found it and had been outside waiting and looking for me. She had believed that if she left it at the airport in Cancun I would most likely never see it again. When she could no longer wait she took it to her hotel, and would take it back to Houston and track me down through my ticket number to get it back to me. On the off chance that my seat neighbour saw me though, she had left her with her name, cell number, and the hotel in Cancun where she was staying. I tried to call, but it went straight to voice mail, so I jumped in a taxi and headed to her hotel. When I arrived I called her room, and she sounded so genuinely excited to hear my voice. I explained that I was in a hurry to try to get back for the Mayair flight, but I was in the lobby of her hotel. About 1 minute later she appeared, actually running with my computer. I thanked her as best I could in those few seconds, and she told me how happy she was to be able to get it back to me. Then she gave me a quick hug and off I went.
The point: I see many people complaining about the airlines on this and other sites. I have a good selection of bad travel stories myself, but in general I have good things to say about all of the airlines. I think that most of the complaining I see is people who expect perfection on every flight, and often feel entitled to berate the employees and companies when their experience is anything less than that. I wonder if these same people would feel differently if their customers and coworkers treated them this way whenever things go awry, regardless of who's fault it was. So, I thought it was about time for a story of a different kind. There are people out there working hard, who genuinely care about their customers, and are giving excellent service. When was the last time someone posted that they got on the flight, it went up and came down, and they arrived on time with their luggage? We never hear that, although it is the case most of the time. I would like to hear more stories about things going well on flights, and less complaining about the hiccups along the way. If you fly enough you will end up with some nightmare travel stories, but if you fly enough you should also recognize that those are the exception, not the norm. Three cheers for United employee Tina Rea, who did an outstanding job yesterday!!! Thank you for your kindness and help.
Everythings Amazing & Nobodys Happy - YouTube
Yesterday: I was coming home from Canada, and due to my starting point I was up at 4 am after only a couple hours of sleep. After 3 flights, and some coffee I finally arrived into Cancun at around 7 pm. I headed through immigration, and customs, but had waited a long time for my bag. As I stepped out of the terminal and was contemplating whether to head for the bus and ferry, or Mayair, I heard someone say my name. It was the person who had been seated next to me on the flight. I wondered how she knew my name, as we hadn't talked at all. She explained that I had left my laptop in the seat pocket, and the flight attendant had found it and had been outside waiting and looking for me. She had believed that if she left it at the airport in Cancun I would most likely never see it again. When she could no longer wait she took it to her hotel, and would take it back to Houston and track me down through my ticket number to get it back to me. On the off chance that my seat neighbour saw me though, she had left her with her name, cell number, and the hotel in Cancun where she was staying. I tried to call, but it went straight to voice mail, so I jumped in a taxi and headed to her hotel. When I arrived I called her room, and she sounded so genuinely excited to hear my voice. I explained that I was in a hurry to try to get back for the Mayair flight, but I was in the lobby of her hotel. About 1 minute later she appeared, actually running with my computer. I thanked her as best I could in those few seconds, and she told me how happy she was to be able to get it back to me. Then she gave me a quick hug and off I went.
The point: I see many people complaining about the airlines on this and other sites. I have a good selection of bad travel stories myself, but in general I have good things to say about all of the airlines. I think that most of the complaining I see is people who expect perfection on every flight, and often feel entitled to berate the employees and companies when their experience is anything less than that. I wonder if these same people would feel differently if their customers and coworkers treated them this way whenever things go awry, regardless of who's fault it was. So, I thought it was about time for a story of a different kind. There are people out there working hard, who genuinely care about their customers, and are giving excellent service. When was the last time someone posted that they got on the flight, it went up and came down, and they arrived on time with their luggage? We never hear that, although it is the case most of the time. I would like to hear more stories about things going well on flights, and less complaining about the hiccups along the way. If you fly enough you will end up with some nightmare travel stories, but if you fly enough you should also recognize that those are the exception, not the norm. Three cheers for United employee Tina Rea, who did an outstanding job yesterday!!! Thank you for your kindness and help.
Everythings Amazing & Nobodys Happy - YouTube
The pie idea is a nice touch.
