I have a new least favorite airline. I guess that means I can start flying Delta again. Asiana takes the cake for meanest airline. This comes as a surprise to me, since Korea supposedly sets the standard for airline service.
I guess I'll start by mentioning that I am still in Los Angeles. It's Saturday. I was supposed to leave on Thursday, if anyone is counting. On Thursday, the Continental agent who booked my flight called Asiana to confirm my seat, since his coworker mentioned that they were quirky. Later on, Bobby called Asiana to find my baggage, and said that my baggage was set to fly with me on Friday, the 27th.
Fast forward to Friday. I waited in the check in line, only to discover that my reservation had been cancelled. The shift manager put me on standby. I waited patiently. I watched other people get kicked off the flight. One group of young adults showed up at 12:15 and were booted. I was not aware of this, but Asiana will kick people off a flight if they show up less than one hour before the flight leaves, which in this case was 12:10. Had I known LAX well and rushed to my gate, I probably still would not have made my flight on Thursday. In a normal airport, 1.5 hours is plenty of time to make a transfer, but LAX sets the bar.
Anyways, someone came to me at 12:20 and told me that they were not accepting standby passengers. I got a little belligerent. I said, “but you cancelled my flight!” The manager came out and proceeded to yell at me: “we did not cancel your flight! We waited for you!” Perplexing, considering that I tried to check in on time, but I guess he was talking about Thursday. I hope he loses his job.
I went back to Continental, at which point the customer service rep got peeved on my behalf. She said that Asiana has been canceling reservations all week. I saw a woman who had her reservation canceled on Thursday, so I guess it was my turn. She also mentioned that she saw space on the flight I had just been denied, so I'm not sure why they wouldn't let me on. Maybe they didn't like the way I looked. (Pregnant woman, flying alone...where's her husband? I may not have mentioned this yet, but if I had no husband, I would have been denied treatment at most Korean hospitals) . Continental put me up in yet another airport hotel and confirmed me on a flight for Saturday. When I got to my room, I called Asiana to ensure that I was actually on a flight for Saturday. The agent told me that there had been no ticket number attached to my reservation—a technicality that was not noticed by either of the Asiana people I spoke to on Thursday, and absolutely Asiana's fault—and confirmed that I had a ticket number for Saturday. Apparently, if there is no ticket number attached, a reservation will be cancelled.
Since I saw people kicked off the flight I was waiting for, I can only assume that Asiana was again overbooked. It looks like they overbooked all their flights for the weekend, and were looking for a reason to boot some people. If someone had apologized profusely to me and offered me something nice, like an upgrade, perhaps I wouldn't feel so abused. As it is, I hope Asiana gets bought out and everyone who works that counter is fired.
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