So I had to go pick someone up at the airport on Tuesday after work. I planned on taking the R1 train out of Suburban Station since SEPTA runs a train straight into the airport. When I get down into the platform I find out that they've somehow lost all power to their overhead lines. This means that all of the trains are not running.
I head over to the customer service desk and I stand as I listen to the employees explain "No, we don't know when we'll have power restored" and "No, your roundtrip ticket is not valid on the bus, you'll have to pay for the bus as well". I ask them how to get to the airport and find out that I have to take the subway down to near the stadiums, get out and wait for a bus. So I take my laptop bag and all of my things and head into South Philly. My heavy laptop bag. It felt like it weighed a ton.
Two hours later I'm finally pulling into the airport after a long and scenic (and vaguely smelly) tour of South Philly. It was not without its highlights. I was enthralled with the sight of the Sunoco Oil Refinery, and there was some really nice little neighborhoods that we passed through, great old Victorian houses and little gardens. But it was just the long time waiting at each stop and the whole inconvience of it all.
If I had wanted to take two hours to get to the airport, I would have let my wife drive down with the kids and handle it. What a goddamn pain. The worst of it is that something happens like they lose all power and everyone at SEPTA acts like they have no responsibility to their customers and that they shouldn't be held responsible for events "beyond their control".
A good private company would not treat their customers that way and would have worked to mitigate their customer's pain. I hate SEPTA.
I went through Philly airport to go to Tampa last Wednesday evening, and I took the train to 30th Street Station from Harrisburg. Well, as usual, the R1 Airport direct line, that you also took, was running late, a mere 40 minutes. Like you experienced, the employees were clueless, not to mention rude, but that just comes with the Philly attitude, I reckon. Well, by the time it got to the airport, from 30th St, I was cutting it very close. Needless to say, though, that my rather meticulously planned trip (which I'm a fool to do, I admit, going through Philly I should know better than to count on any competance) was nearly ruined. I had to huff it to make it to my Southwest flight, but believe me, I was gonna make it. I wasn't planning on spending one extra minute in the "City of Brotherly Love" (that is hilarious) when I could be in Tampa. But, I agree, SEPTA sucks. Next time, I'll take my chances flying out of BWI, for about the same low fare, and just parking in their long term lot...or else, book out of Harrisburg.
Well, I almost missed my direct flight from Newark back home to Fort Myers. When I realized that the plane was boarding earlier than what originally stated on my itinerary (when do planes ever actually run earlier opposed to later?), I went running up to the Continental counter. I felt like Ben Stiller in "Meet the Parents" when the woman calls every row to board even though he is the only person waiting. Well, the only Continental worker at the counter was finishing up with the one and only customer at the counter. I wanted to make sure I'd actually make my plane instead of running there and then missing it anyway. As I'm waiting for her to look up so I can explain my predicament, she says rudely, "You'll have to wait back there until someone calls you." I'm assuming by "someone" she meant herself as she was the only person at the self check-in counter. Unfortunately no other type of check-in counter exists at most airlines anymore. I had to restrain myself from wanting to smack her. So, I waited and muttered to myself wanting very much to inflict bodily harm for her poor attitude. I swear I felt like she was purposely taking longer than necessary just to piss me off. Instead of wasting time, I went running down to security. Of course the lines were out of control. Luckily, there were two very nice people at security who got me through rather quickly. I ran to my plane, and made it no thanks to the helpful people (or should I say person) at Continental.
People who work in customer service just suck. I was taught that no matter what job I had or how little I was making, to put a big smile on my face and do the best job I could. It's called a work ethic. If you hate you job/people then quit. But if you are there because you need a paycheck, then suck it up, put a big smile on your face, and do the job you are getting paid to do.
Let's just hope I never have to fly the "friendly" skies with Continental or US Airways any time soon. Why can't JetBlue be located in Newark? I hate having fly in/out of JFK.