Travis Swicegood

My run in with American Airlines at Code Works SFO -> LAX

Published On
September 24 2009
Author
Travis Swicegood

Me: "I see why he left. Go inside the next time you check in." So much for friendly skies. #americanairlines

Jeffery Carouth: What did you do?

Started to respond on Facebook, but ran into their limit, so I'm responding on my blog...

Went to take my boarding pass that he was handing to me, then snapped that back at me. Let me back up with the context.

I was standing in line at the curbside checkin with everyone else from CodeWorks '09. The guy who's line I'm standing in takes a bag back to the conveyor, then disappears through another door. I'm standing around looking dumbfounded while the other two guys are continuing to check people that came in after us.

Finally, I asked him if we lost the other guy or not? "I don't know" then after he finishes with another person who just walked up he proclaims "next". I walk over, start the process, everything's fine.

Then he calls me down to get my boarding pass and baggage check ticket. He starts handing it to me (I thought) and is pointing out what's what. I go to take it from him and he jerks it back and says "I see why the other guy left!" Then mumbles something about this being for express check-in and next time I shouldn't park illegally and tie it up for people who know what they're doing. He was old and not particularly articulate, so that combined with being floored by the lecture I didn't catch exactly what he said.

I rarely fly American anyhow, but you can bet I won't be flying on them again where I pay for the flight.

About

Travis Swicegood is a professional programmer and owner of Domain51, a web development company with a focus on non-profits, NGOs, and online activists. He doesn't change the world, he supports those who do.

He has personal a focus on web applications, performance, and stability; is author of Pragmatic Version Control using Git; and working on his second book. He has been using PHP; since '99 and still remembers how revolutionary PHP 4 was, but can't remember why. He's a TDD, open-source, and open government advocate—sometimes called a zealot—and lurker on many an open-source project mailing list when not learning other programming; languages; for fun, exploring his surroundings on bike, or tasting his latest kitchen and home-brew creations.

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