I read a news article yesterday about a group of 40 teenagers that were embarking to leave on a weeklong mission trip to Mexico. I was doubly interested because they are from Kentucky (the article doesn’t say where) and were leaving on their mission trip out of my home airport (CVG)
What happened
According to William Davis, who was the pastor of the church and posted on Facebook:
Mr. Davis led a group of 40 teenagers who had raised $1500 over 2 years to go to Mexico for a 7 day mission trip. They arrived at CVG at 5:58 a.m. for a 7:54 a.m. flight (nearly 2 hours early)
Once they got to the AA checkin counter, according to Mr. Davis, there was mass confusion on the part of the counter agents. I imagine that any time you’re trying to check in with a group of 40 people (especially ones that are all arriving at the same time and part of the same reservation), there’s a little bit of madness, but from what he described, it seemed like more than I’d expect.
(SEE ALSO: Dan, I think I’m going to miss my flight!)
It appears that the counter agent was trying to put all 40 bags on his account instead of 1 per passenger? I’m not 100% clear what happened there
In any case, that took a lot of time, and by the time everyone was processed, they were running way behind. Despite running through the terminal to the gate, by the time they got to the gate, the doors were closed and the gate agent, undoubtedly in an attempt to get the plane off on time, would not reopen them.
The other side of the story?
I have to say that whenever I hear stories like these, I always start out with a healthy dose of skepticism. While it’s always fun to blame the “evil corporation”, typically when these stories come out, you only hear one side of the story.
So here are a few things to think about – first, the recommended arrival time at CVG is 3 hours for an international flight, though I’m not sure American even would have staffing at the counter at 4:54 a.m.
It’s unfortunate that American is now flying out of Terminal B at CVG (they used to fly out of Terminal A which would have saved 3-5 minutes coming from the ticketing counter.
And while I understand the airlines’ emphasis on on-time departures, it does feel like they are often a little TOO aggressive on closing the boarding doors. Last month when my CVG-LGA flight (also on American) was abruptly canceled, the AA phone agent rebooked me on a CVG-ORD-LGA connecting ticket but by the time I ran to the CVG-ORD gate, the gate agent said that the boarding door was closed and the flight was full (even though I had 2 tickets for the flight).
On the other hand, had American held the plane, we’re not talking about a small delay – it’s probably AT LEAST 15 minutes for everyone to get to the gate, board the plane, stow their carryons, etc. According to Mr. Davis, while he was waiting at the gate, the gate agent received a call from her supervisor who was upset that she had not held the flight.
In any case, the church and their teen volunteers were out nearly $2000 due to the delay (should have booked it on a credit card with trip insurance! 😀 )
Readers what do you think? What should American have done differently (if anything)
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
OMG! AA continues their reputation of being a garbage airline that either couldn’t care less about their customers or outright despises them, or is grossly incompetent, or both. Just appalling that they don’t see how holding the plane for 40 passengers is the right thing to do.
Your so right…. no long ago they delayed our flight so long that we arrived at a small town airport at 3:00 am!! The car rental counters were long closed, and no taxi service. We were a long way from our hotel. We sat around the airport until 7:00 am when the car rental re opened. Response from AA was basically ‘tough shit’….
Sounds like AA helped spare the people of Mexico from being subjected to 40 Bible-thumping teenagers. Well, at least for a couple days.
Thanks for turning this political / religious!
Agree with Dan. Why do you have to be a clown and ruin a discussion that might be important to 99.9999 percent of the others who read this post?
Not to mention, it would be my assumption (I’d have to re-read the OP) that these teenagers were not spending a week proselyting or “Bible thumping” but instead probably doing some sort of community service. Now if you want to have a meaningful discussion of whether voluntourism is useful or note, sure let’s do it. But let’s keep to the point!
Sorry Dan, can’t resist, “AMEN TO THAT! ! !”
Community service often is an important factor in both college scholarship decisions or job interviews.
I agree with all this but at most small airports 3 hours is not really needed. I’m guessing you don’t get to your home airport 3 hours before departure. I still blame AA on this. I’ve had AA close doors on me with 15 minutes to go because they gave away my seat assuming I wouldn’t make the connection. Not holding the plane for 40 passengers shouldn’t have been that big of a deal I don’t think. As disorganized as mission trip leaders can be I think they arrived in plenty of time. I also agree there is usually two sides to the story but this does seem a bit weak on the AA side.
Correct – I never get to CVG 3 hours before my flight (though I have not yet flown international directly from CVG). I also (almost) never check bags, which also cuts down on the time it takes to get through gate checking / security
Albeit a short non-stop flight on a B-737, but in 2015 went to Grand Cayman from IAH, a very busy airport with many international departures and arrivals every day. Two hours ahead was plenty of time, even with 2 on the same itinerary and both checking bags. Ticket counter verified our passports, checked our bags, then TSA-Pre and arrived at the gate 90 minutes ahead of departure time.
Since when is a flight from Cincinnati to Dallas an international flight? 2 hours for a domestic flight should be more that enough
It doesn’t matter. If you are flying International, at the ticket counter, you are required to show documentation for to show your final destination is out of the USA. Your Passport has to be checked for the initial domestic flight.
I am a former gate agent for a large Airline working in ATL. Yes, we were always pushed to get the plane out on time, and often left CONNECTING late passengers stranded at the gate when we were pushing back the plane. However, in this case, with AA there is no excuse for their sorry lack of consideration in this incident. American Airlines management is totally worthless. You can read dozens of accounts of AA being rude, incompetent, and totally uncaring and ruthless. AA Management Sucks big time.
The flight may be domestic, but they would still be checking intl documents at CVG. Still, one wonders how a gate agent could close the door KNOWING he was missing 40 passengers. And, those passengers were obviously checked in. And, if they were running late at the counter, a call from the counter would have been appropriate.
Especially as this plane had only 62 seats anyway as far as I can see.
AA has harangued this staff into creating these bizarre situations
Contrast this with what I saw with AK Airlines at IAH on Sept 13. Our grandson was flying as unaccompanied minor back to SEA, sched 740 P. As grandparents, we accompanied him to the gate. All day long, AK’s flight status said delayed 30 mins —- my research said due to weather between IAH and SEA where the incoming originated. But they made up most of the time. Plane to SEA had many open seats.
Grandson boards, rest is passengers as well around 735 P then door closes. About 5 min later, a couple comes dashing to gate, said they never recd an alert that plane was boarding. No checked bags. Had to be in SEA THAT EVENING.
At first agent reluctant to re-open door.
But then, empathetic with their plight, he gets on radio, talks to flight ops, double checks their IDs, and allows them to board.
Kudos to Alaska Airlines! ! !
I thanked the gate agent afterwards, and we discussed situation. Valid security / safety concerns, and the list of on-board passengers already sent to their flight ops. This gent said he’d rather get some yelling from flight ops than badly inconvenience customers when a solution DID exist.
Had this been with one of the “eye in middle of forehead ogres” with a major airline with HQ in Chicago, the response would have been, “Sorry, your fault, I’m off shift now. Good luck finding another flight.”
Since we travel to SEA to visit our grandson (lives in Olympia), I will either begin to burn our UA miles or pay to fly on Alaska.
This is one reason that I fly Southwest as often as possible. They will delay departures for a few minutes to accomodate transferring passengers and also for passengers in such situations. I am happy to wait, because I would expect the same thing if it were me. And I have personally had connections held for me for a few minutes when my first flight arrival was delayed.