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More on my Alaska Airlines Situation

  • Artikel

I've spoken with several people from Alaska Airlines. What I've learned, the person on the front lines (the main reservation number) can generally get you in touch with the right person...eventually. So I had to make a call to "customer care" and "central baggage' first. Linda in Boise was sympathetic (and very nice...someone give her a raise) and told me to document what I remember of the the incident. I called Customer Care the next day and spoke with Laurie who seemed totally shocked by the situation and sent me off to "Central Baggage". In "Central Baggage" I talked to a guy who couldn't have cared less, at least that was my impression. He pretty much just wanted me to fax the note over to him and get off the phone. But I had to remind myself that he's not in a customer facing job so I suspect he was wondering why the heck anyone sent me to him in the first place. I got 2 more voice mails at work (see, they figured out where I worked without me telling them) and 4 more at home with personal cell-phone numbers, etc. I called Ray, the Director of Customer Care back on Friday night. He told me they had already started an investigation (that's good) and would do something for me from a customer standpoint when we get through all this and he said he knew I was a frequent flier and good customer. I know I had another message from someone else in "Central Baggage" and I believe another one from ops. Anyway, Ray told me I would be dealing with him and their ops VP. At the VERY least, they are taking this thing seriously.

Today I e-mailed over a scanned copy of the offending note to Ray as well as my description of everything I remember. There's every indication that the guy is going to get fired when they figure out who he is. Ray seemed to think that the guy was doing it to set someone else up (with the phone number) and said that they had tried reverse directory. I really hope they can figure out who did this and that there's some accountability.

Anyway, I'll let you all know what happens. I think that either this is going to be a good story about how Alaska makes things right or it's just going to be a creepy story that I tell people when I am sitting on a plane from another airlines. Seriously, I'm all for giving Alaska the benefit of the doubt because they do seem intent on correcting this situation and they seemed genuinely concerned. If their follow-through lives up to my expectations, I'll be considering that this is all about one creepy guy who their contractor hired and how a company ensured customer loyalty under really bad circumstances. We'll see.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 23, 2006
    Sounds like they will find the person. Also places like Alaska Airlines and other airlines keep files on all their employees. So if you write a letter in support of an employee who did a good job, they get recognition. The companies like hearing about people who went over and above.

  • Anonymous
    January 23, 2006
    Would that be the same accountability they showed when they had Menzies fire the guy that caused depressurization at 26,000 feet and didn't tell anyone? Wait - they didn't. I wrote a letter to Alaska regarding that issue and they gave me some quick reply back about how they're getting 25 security expert from Menzies to watch over things. Great - I feel better now that Menzies in charge of themselves for once!

    Good luck. I hope justice is done in your case.

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    I doubt you'll get very far when dealing with airlines:

    http://www.pennandteller.com/sincity/penniphile/federalvip.html

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    You assume that the person behind your unpleasant experience is a male.

    Do you base your assumption on hand-writing analyisis? Stereo-typing?

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    There are forensic handwriting analysts that could probably tell who the writer of the note was (given a sample), even if the creep were trying to conceal his writing. Just in case it's a set-up and the phone number is unreliable.

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    Update...got an e-mail from a SVP at Alaska apologizing for the situation and asking me to re-fax the note (for some reason it wasn't readable). Again, they seem to be taking this seriously.

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    Matt-extemely well said! Thanks for your support! I'll definitely let you know how Alaska fixes this thing. Wasn't necessarily just trying to complain. I thikn they have a real opportunity here to fix this and I'll tell you all about it if they do. Like I said, I'm encouraged to believe that they will.

    JenK-exactly!

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    This might be why people get private airplanes. If you keep blogging, you may get mobbed for autographs.



  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    Anon- interesting idea...it's not in my budget ; ) If anyone asked for my autograoh ever, I'd have a hard time not laughing.

    Neal-not really affecting my work. Updating my blog, even the personal stuff, is part of my job, so just part of my normal day. Also, I don't have a 8-5 type job so I do what I need to do. Other than having to fax copies of the note, there's nothing that's distracted from my job (the calls with folks from Alaska have not been from work anyway). And trust me, my chain of command told me to make sure I follow up on the issue so I don't think they'd be surprised that I took 5 minutes to fax over a copy of the note. I have the kind of job where there are so many things going on at once that I kind of get good at focusing on one thing for blocks of time.

    Now I have to admit that I am not really a pro football fan so I'm happy for people here that are happy that the Seahawks are going to to the Superbowl, but it's not as interesting to me personally. In fact, my mon's n town and she's a Panthers fan and went to the game. She had a great time except for the outcome ; )

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    I think the point being made about it not being a man is legitimate... doubtful that's the case.. but possible. You assume, rightfully so, that the baggage man who you said hi to was the one who placed the note. It's not impossible that it was the (or one of) the flight attendants though. Suppose one of them disliked the guy, perhaps dates or dated him, and saw you say hi and him maybe turn to check you out as you boarded... a little get even time!? Again, it's not that I think this is the case, but it is possible.

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    My impression, based on my conversations with the Alaska folks, is that the flight attendants wouldn't handle the tags on pet carriers. I suspect that once the carriers leave the check-in area, they aren't touched by flight attendants. I really don't know if there are females on the baggage crew. I've never seen any, but that doesn't mean there aren't. The Alaska people I've spoken with obviously have access to that info and they have been referring to the person who did this as a "he". If that changes, I'll let you guys know.

    I'm not big on conspiracy theories though. If the person who did this ends up to be a female, you all will be the first to know.

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    I agree that AA needs to do an above and beyond effort to resolve this issue. Not just from a "eww, that's creepy that handlers go through your bags", but more from a marketing nightmare standpoint. Seems like customer service and marketing should be working together on this. Customer service stands on the frontlines in quelling potential marketing nightmares. And in the case of the lovely (yes I said it nicely) Heather, one would think that with her audience reach...a negative or less than satisfactory result in rectifying this would be relayed to her loyal readers. Not to say that she would be doing a blackball like scenerio; but really, AA has already had bad press on other issues. They have a loyal customer who probably had no real issues with AA and even maybe have evangelized AA to an extent. If I was AA marketing, I would be listening for anything out of customer service after a bad press event. Word of mouth marketing is often overlooked. And the impact of losing a loyal customer in that scenerio would be like losing 10s or 100s or even 1000s of return business.

    I have been a loyal Delta flyer and often relate to other flyers on how they have gone beyond the call of duty to make my experiences better, and I don't really sweat paying a bit more for that. Loyalty exists in every aspect of marketing. And companies often don't realize that your loyal customers are paramount in gaining more business.

    Heather - Hope you get some sort of resolution from this.

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    (In case you're interested, I came here via The Old New Thing.)

    Heather, you have my sympathies regarding this entire situation (including the clueless comments from some other people).

    If it was just the note in your bag, then there might be a case for saying "Ok, he just did the equivalent of sticking a note under your door, and he didn't nose through your stuff". But if he's been contacting you since then, that's rather more worrying, and I would certainly feel that my privacy had been violated.

    I also think that you're doing the right thing by complaining to the airline; they can't fix the problem unless they know about it, and I think it's fair to say that this guy doesn't belong in his current job.

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    So heather, I'm trying to figure out how know it's a male. Because well that's realy relevent. ;-)

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    I'm still working on why you haven't filed a police report? Or have you?

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    John C. Kirk- yeah, the thing is there's an invasion of privacy and it's scary to be a single female and have that happen to you. I don't know how I could describe it to someone that isn't, but in life, as a female (not saying that some males wouldn't feel the same), there are safety considerations when you travel; which is why some hotels have female only floors. If I can't make people understand how it feels, that is fine. I don't expect everyone to know how it feels. But I get your point...thanks for commenting ; )

    Andy-thanks for understanding. I hope for the same.

    Ryan-I already addressed that.

    Kim-thanks for what you wrote. Unfortunately, it did have my address on the bag. When I realized that my stomach dropped (don't worry, I realized it when I was in Vegas, not when reading your comment ; )). All the more reason that I want them to do something ASAP. I agree that it's probably a "stupid stunt" case but it's just scary. Thanks for jumping in as a fellow female business traveler. I also think the "shrug it off" stuff is ridiculous.

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    Scott-I am not clear on whether a crime has been committed and I think it's a port authority jurisdiction versus police. When I hear back from Alaska, I will find out what reporting requirements they have. I havne't spoken to them in person since Friday.

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    I'm not sure it's up to you to determine if a crime has been committed. It certainly isn't up to AA. The police can tell you if any crime has been committed and what charges you can file.

    If the bag had your address on it, you should call the police for sure. What will you do if the notes start showing up in your mail or on your door?

    It's better to file a report now and lay the groundwork JUST IN CASE this person surfaces again. Maybe he has done it to a lot of other women and the police are watching him?

    If you call the police, they will tell you whether or not you should call the PA. You haven't heard back from them since Friday? It's not up to AA to determine what you should do when one of their employees, or a federal employee, leaves a note in your bag telling you what physical action he wants to take with you. Jeez.

  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 24, 2006
    [found via Raymond Chen's blog]

    Wow. I'm shocked that this would happen. Heather, have any of the local news channels picked up on this? Yet another black eye for Alaska Air.

    Six months ago I would have given Alaska Air an "A+" for their service, but this, all the Menzies problems, and a nightmare experience which my family had over Thanksgiving week has earned Alaska Airlines a "D" grade. I'm going to start looking elsewhere for my flight needs.

  • Anonymous
    January 25, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 25, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 25, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 25, 2006
    That would be baggage security. Totally different than being creepy.

    Privacy invasion means entering my luggage. It's my personal property and he had no right to enter it. Looking into my bedroom window would be a crime, I believe. Stalking would be a crime. He hasn't done any of those things. I should call the police because he might do one of those things? I don't know. I just see it differently. I'm not trusting AA to handle the matter, which is why I want them to tell me what their requirements are for reporting it. But I still want to give them the opportunity to handle it. If they don't then I will. I'm not dismissing the issue of my personal safety. I just don't think I have recourse inthat regard unless/until something more happens. If you have an idea of an actual crime against me he comitted (versus breaking a regulation imposed by the government, please share). It's not like this has ever happened to me before...I'm no expert.

    I am supposed to call the SVP at AA today. I've been on other calls this AM but will be talking to them today and will update the blog on that.

  • Anonymous
    January 25, 2006
    I don't suppose you tried a "revere phone number lookup"? You could try it on www.whitepages.com . Still, there's only a slim chance you'd get a match. But there are companies out there that are more reliable.

    You must be somewhat curious as to who this person is.

  • Anonymous
    January 25, 2006
    Scott - The last I checked, invasion of privacy is against the law. "Peeping toms" are arrested and charged with a crime. People who plant "toilet cams" get busted if they didn't get proper permission, etc. Invasion of privacy is the crime and the "harm" committed here. Yes, they could "follow her around the mall", but as soon as she is touched, that's a crime. And, guess what? There's tons of harm done there.

    The security risk is that someone not TSA opened the bag after it had been through the security check points. That's a HUGE security risk. That's the whole reason you're asked if anyone else has handled your bags (or whatever the correct wording to that security question is) when you check your luggage.

    And, how would you feel if you got to your destination only to realize your laptop or other valuable had been stolen or damaged in someway by the "creepy person" handling your bags. I promise you'd be pretty angry, and be screaming for justice. Somehow, "get over it" just wouldn't cut it would it?

    Heather, when you speak to the SVP I would certainly mention that you're considering contacting the TSA about this situation. Whether AA "handles it" internally or not, TSA should look into this and see if it's ever happened before.

  • Anonymous
    January 25, 2006
    Tosh-AA tried that right off the bat. I'm actually not curious. I don't care who it is as long as the person doesn't get to have that job. Getting an actual name of someone won't really do much to make me feel any better.

    Coleman-I totally agree with you and I definitely will take your advice and pursue the TSA thing. It's actually been really helpful to me to have you all to talk to about this (even though I don't really know many of you folks personally). It's made me think about things that I wouldn't ordinarily think about because it's hard to be objective when you are just plain old weirded out. I mean, the people who tell me to "get over it" or "be flattered" or whatever are relatively easy to disregard. But the people, like yourself, that are offering insight and advice are helping a LOT. Thank you!

  • Anonymous
    January 25, 2006
    x2 on the TSA comments

    From my experience TSA has left notices on my bags if they are ever inspected, including for a bag that only had zippers. They will break the locks on your bag if they need to get in to inspect, but they will leave you a note telling you they inspected. TSA should care that this guy was inside your bag.

  • Anonymous
    January 25, 2006
    I started to think more about this. Just think prior to 9/11 as to maybe how much more frequently/easily this could have happened. And I must agree if this handler represents the "last hands touching baggage before it enters an airplane", I just got a real bad feeling. If someone with that much unprofessionalism is hired to represent that position, then who else can qualify for that job?

    This goes back to a horrible marketing nightmare that this can stir up. From a very unfortunate incident, we have all commented in some fashion on it. That's 37 posts (including Heather's feedback). One person whose one experience (negative being) with AA has possibly made 20 odd people think twice about maybe flying AA. And those 20 odd people have friends. And the more creepy the story (and it is), the more it can be relayed around.

  • Anonymous
    January 25, 2006
    Purvin...I actually did think twice about blogging about this too, but I almost felt like I had to or at least that I should. I mean, I couldn't think of a good reason why I shouldn't. It's a powerful medium. I'm not telling anyone not to fly Alaska. Just sharing my experience and they can decide as an educated consumer.

    Well, I've left 2 voicemails for the SVP that asked me to call him today and no returned call yet. One week later and no resolution. As time goes on, I don't start to feel better about their interest in fixing the situation. But I guess we'll see.

  • Anonymous
    January 25, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 25, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 26, 2006
    Glad to see that the situation is resolving, even if not completed yet.

    I think it's important for people to realize that an investigation must take place. That is, there are lots of people from whom statements and evidence must be taken. It's part of our concept of "due process" and also ensures that the correct person is disciplined. Sounds like that is happening.

    Invasion of privacy is not a crime. "Peeping Toms" are not charged with invasion of privacy, nor are stalkers. It is most likely criminal trespass, assault (or attempted assault), or some sort of intimidation charge. Laws may be different, depending on the jurisdiction.

    It also is not up to an individual whether or not charges are filed against someone. That is totally within the perogative of the district attorney's office. The police department will collect information and forward it to the district attorney for a decision about what to do. Although an individual can make telephone calls urging a particular action, it is us to the attorney's office.

    Heather, I think you are taking all reasonable and rational steps to resolve a VERY creepy and unsettling occurrence. It also sounds like the involved parties are responding in a like fashion. I hope you'll have a new blog post when resolution is finally achieved.

  • Anonymous
    January 26, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    January 26, 2006
    Just catching up on your posts. Wow, Heather, that is infinitely creepy. Even by LA standards. Yes, that person really needs to find another place to work. Try to remember that there are thousands of nice people for every creep. The numbers are on our side.

  • Anonymous
    January 29, 2006
    Ugh! Good luck in getting this resolved. And ya might want to check the IP addresses of some of your detractors ... when that guy posted about his experinece on the Alaska Airlines flight that decompressed, some of his trolls were using Alaska Airlines IP addresses.

  • Anonymous
    January 30, 2006
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  • Anonymous
    November 01, 2006
    I got an mass e-mail yesterday from Alaska Airlines. I guess I get these because I have a frequent flyer

  • Anonymous
    January 09, 2007
    Hi.. I use to work for Alaska Airlines as one of those laid off baggage handlers that was replaced by menzies.. HELLO! What did people expect when Alaska decided to hire the LOW end of the barrel work force for 8 bucks an hour? You are going to get the worst..  Get use to it when ya fly Alaska..  Fly for cheap and ya get what ya pay for!