I've been mulling over a situation that happened at the Delta ticket counter at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) last Friday, trying to decide if which of the two in the title happened.
Here's the story:
My son qualified for the Academic Games national tournament that was held this weekend in Orlando, FL. The New Orleans Academic Games league has been one of the serious competitors in Academic Games going all the way back to when I was in high school. Getting the opportunity to represent your school in a national competition is always a thrill for a kid, and certainly was for my 13-year old 8th grader. The group from New Orleans took chartered buses to Orlando that were scheduled to leave at 6pm. That presented a problem for my chronic over-achiever of a kiddo, because the Brother Martin High School Jazz Band had their spring concert at 7pm on Friday.
OK, being the wonderful parents that Mrs. YatPundit and I are, we were more than willing to make this work. The easy solution would be to let him play the gig Thursday night and put him on a plane to Orlando on Friday morning. This was made even easier when we learned that there was a Delta nonstop flight to MHO, and the teacher who is the Academic Games moderator for BMHS had already planned to take that flight. So, we booked the flight and that was that.
Until I got to the airport on Friday, that is.
The gig Thursday night was fantastic, and the other kids going to Orlando got off just fine. I drove kiddo to MSY about 10:15am for a 11:40am departure. We parked and went up to the First Class/Medallion line to check him in. The ticket agent was a black woman in her late 30s/early 40s. I handed her my driver's license and my "Platinum Medallion" card, explaining that I was checking in my son. The agent told me that she would have to charge me $100 extra because kiddo was only 13 and therefore had to be treated as an "unaccompanied minor."
I further explained to the agent that he wasn't going to be "unaccompanied," but rather that he was traveling with a teacher from his school. She firmly refused to bend on charging me the fee, saying that the only way that it could be avoided is if the teacher was here to escort kiddo through security.
At this point, I wasn't a happy camper. You see, I don't pay fees like this to Delta. I have "Platinum" frequent flier status with the airline. Last year, I spent over $30,000 with Delta, and I expect to spend at least as much this year. I expect them to waive fees like this as a courtesy to a good customer. This woman would simply not budge, and I was getting annoyed by it. Finally, I said we would call the teacher to see if he was already here or on his way, and take it from there. At this point, the agent got snippy with me, informing me that she was going on her break, and therefore was going to void out the current check-in of kiddo, and that we would have to start over with someone else when we got things straight.
We stepped back from the counter and off she went on her break. In the meantime, kiddo had run teacher and learned that he was indeed already checked in, through TSA, and at the gate. There was no way I could rationalize paying the hundred-buck fee. If a Delta employee had to be tasked with the responsibility of making sure kiddo got on the plane and then off into the hands of another responsible party, that would be one thing. But his teacher was going to be with him the entire time; all that was necessary was to have an adult take him through TSA.
By now kiddo's anxiety is starting to build up. It's 10:45am and departure is 11:40am. OK, time to bite the bullet and do what I have to do to make him at ease, even if it costs me a c-note. Back up to the counter we go, through the First Class line. The agent of our first encounter is still on break. To the left of that station is one agent who is servicing the regular passenger check-in line, and to the right was another agent who was one of two servicing the "self-service" computer kiosks. Ten minutes go past, and the self-service agent is not only ignoring us, but is actually handling customers who are leaving the regular line and jumping over to the kiosks. After 15 minutes had passed, I've no doubt that my face reflected my annoyance of being kept waiting this long.
Finally the agent working the regular check-in process waves to us to come over to his station. he's a white guy, early 30s. I repeat the process as before, handing him my license and platinum card, explaining that the teacher is going to accompany kiddo on the flight. He printed up kiddo's boarding pass and attached a claim check to his bag. With no mention of rules, fees, or anything, the agent asks, "Would you like to walk your son down to the gate?" I said, "yes, indeed." He took my license again and printed me up a pass to get through TSA.
The contrast between the two agents was stunning, even to me, and I fly on Delta 30+ weeks a year. I'm very much used to having my butt kissed by Delta employees, even the frazzled, stressed, overworked (but wonderful) gate agents at ATL. They see that "Platinum Medallion" on my boarding pass and they know that I'm a regular who understands the system.
This brings me back to my original question: was I the victim of bad customer service or the benefit of white privilege? The first agent was a black female. The second agent was a white male. Clearly, if the rules were as firm as the female agent made them out to be, then the male agent committed a serious breach of the rules. That's not the sort of thing one good ol' boy does for another, particularly given how fickle TSA folks can be. I can see if they cut me a break because they kept us waiting so long the second trip to the counter, though. I'd like to think that I was treated the way I was because of my customer status, not my race.
Here's the story:
My son qualified for the Academic Games national tournament that was held this weekend in Orlando, FL. The New Orleans Academic Games league has been one of the serious competitors in Academic Games going all the way back to when I was in high school. Getting the opportunity to represent your school in a national competition is always a thrill for a kid, and certainly was for my 13-year old 8th grader. The group from New Orleans took chartered buses to Orlando that were scheduled to leave at 6pm. That presented a problem for my chronic over-achiever of a kiddo, because the Brother Martin High School Jazz Band had their spring concert at 7pm on Friday.
OK, being the wonderful parents that Mrs. YatPundit and I are, we were more than willing to make this work. The easy solution would be to let him play the gig Thursday night and put him on a plane to Orlando on Friday morning. This was made even easier when we learned that there was a Delta nonstop flight to MHO, and the teacher who is the Academic Games moderator for BMHS had already planned to take that flight. So, we booked the flight and that was that.
Until I got to the airport on Friday, that is.
The gig Thursday night was fantastic, and the other kids going to Orlando got off just fine. I drove kiddo to MSY about 10:15am for a 11:40am departure. We parked and went up to the First Class/Medallion line to check him in. The ticket agent was a black woman in her late 30s/early 40s. I handed her my driver's license and my "Platinum Medallion" card, explaining that I was checking in my son. The agent told me that she would have to charge me $100 extra because kiddo was only 13 and therefore had to be treated as an "unaccompanied minor."
I further explained to the agent that he wasn't going to be "unaccompanied," but rather that he was traveling with a teacher from his school. She firmly refused to bend on charging me the fee, saying that the only way that it could be avoided is if the teacher was here to escort kiddo through security.
At this point, I wasn't a happy camper. You see, I don't pay fees like this to Delta. I have "Platinum" frequent flier status with the airline. Last year, I spent over $30,000 with Delta, and I expect to spend at least as much this year. I expect them to waive fees like this as a courtesy to a good customer. This woman would simply not budge, and I was getting annoyed by it. Finally, I said we would call the teacher to see if he was already here or on his way, and take it from there. At this point, the agent got snippy with me, informing me that she was going on her break, and therefore was going to void out the current check-in of kiddo, and that we would have to start over with someone else when we got things straight.
We stepped back from the counter and off she went on her break. In the meantime, kiddo had run teacher and learned that he was indeed already checked in, through TSA, and at the gate. There was no way I could rationalize paying the hundred-buck fee. If a Delta employee had to be tasked with the responsibility of making sure kiddo got on the plane and then off into the hands of another responsible party, that would be one thing. But his teacher was going to be with him the entire time; all that was necessary was to have an adult take him through TSA.
By now kiddo's anxiety is starting to build up. It's 10:45am and departure is 11:40am. OK, time to bite the bullet and do what I have to do to make him at ease, even if it costs me a c-note. Back up to the counter we go, through the First Class line. The agent of our first encounter is still on break. To the left of that station is one agent who is servicing the regular passenger check-in line, and to the right was another agent who was one of two servicing the "self-service" computer kiosks. Ten minutes go past, and the self-service agent is not only ignoring us, but is actually handling customers who are leaving the regular line and jumping over to the kiosks. After 15 minutes had passed, I've no doubt that my face reflected my annoyance of being kept waiting this long.
Finally the agent working the regular check-in process waves to us to come over to his station. he's a white guy, early 30s. I repeat the process as before, handing him my license and platinum card, explaining that the teacher is going to accompany kiddo on the flight. He printed up kiddo's boarding pass and attached a claim check to his bag. With no mention of rules, fees, or anything, the agent asks, "Would you like to walk your son down to the gate?" I said, "yes, indeed." He took my license again and printed me up a pass to get through TSA.
The contrast between the two agents was stunning, even to me, and I fly on Delta 30+ weeks a year. I'm very much used to having my butt kissed by Delta employees, even the frazzled, stressed, overworked (but wonderful) gate agents at ATL. They see that "Platinum Medallion" on my boarding pass and they know that I'm a regular who understands the system.
This brings me back to my original question: was I the victim of bad customer service or the benefit of white privilege? The first agent was a black female. The second agent was a white male. Clearly, if the rules were as firm as the female agent made them out to be, then the male agent committed a serious breach of the rules. That's not the sort of thing one good ol' boy does for another, particularly given how fickle TSA folks can be. I can see if they cut me a break because they kept us waiting so long the second trip to the counter, though. I'd like to think that I was treated the way I was because of my customer status, not my race.
