AA gate agent asks nursing mom "How many boobs do you have"

MatthewDB · Thu May 10, 2018 4:42 am

- Breastfeeding mom Kelsey Myers was reduced to tears before boarding a flight
- Myers was preparing to travel home from LAX to ORD with American Airlines
- While boarding, she was stopped by two airline employees who told her she was carrying too many bags
- Myers assured them she was well-informed of the airline policy and was breastfeeding and not overloaded
- One supervisor berated her and even asked her, 'how many boobs do you have?!'
- The new mother said she was embarrassed and began crying over the incident
- A rep for American Airlines confirmed Myers had been following its policy
- The airline has offered her a voucher to compensate for the mess on Sunday

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grbauc · Thu May 10, 2018 5:21 am

What a worthless tread. There are stupid things done and said all the time. Just another internet drama tread forJerry springer type that don’t bring good conversation/discussion. I don’t remember seeing so man when this site was a paid site.

If you’re so embarrassed by the alleged violation why would you go on Facebook posting this whole awful situation.

We don’t know all the facts and there’s nothing but guessing and conjecture. We only see part of the story part of the situation it’s worthless unless we can get the whole story.
Guessing because one time we had a situation that might’ve been similar or we can see somebody saying awful alleged stuff, leads to prejudice and erro and bad judgments.

Kashmon · Thu May 10, 2018 6:14 am

it is so funny, modern women claim to be so strong and independent yet cry for such silly things. The women who were the first settlers etc would be laughing at such a response.

FatCat · Thu May 10, 2018 7:21 am

Maybe she was the ladycat from "Total Recall", lol

What a worthless tread.

Agree

45272455674 · Thu May 10, 2018 7:48 am

grbauc wrote:
We don’t know all the facts and there’s nothing but guessing and conjecture

You might want to tell that to this guy below:

grbauc wrote:
There are stupid things done and said all the time

grbauc wrote:
I don’t remember seeing so man when this site was a paid site.

I do, and unless you've got multiple accounts, I've been here a lot longer than you have and remember "robust" discussions around the actions of airline staff.

Allegedly or not, airline staff have no business making comments like that. I don't know if they teach them to talk like that at the airline training facilities, I'm guessing not. That's completely out of line. If I'd said anything so crude in my work I'd be out of a job immediately.

Jouhou · Thu May 10, 2018 8:27 am

Kashmon wrote:
it is so funny, modern women claim to be so strong and independent yet cry for such silly things. The women who were the first settlers etc would be laughing at such a response.

You realize testosterone suppresses tears right? It's not a matter of willpower, it's a biological and instinctive response that sends a signal of submission so that other humans capable of empathy will cease their attacks. It's a part of being a social animal. Because of testosterone men can feel equally upset without actually crying.

sevenair · Thu May 10, 2018 8:34 am

Oh dear. How terribly awful.

Sack and jail that agent now. Ground American.

Or you could just pick yourself and move on with your life. Seriously, airline staff should never joke about anything. I turn up to work, act like I'm an undertaker and go home. It seems to work.

devron · Thu May 10, 2018 10:44 am

I guess and suspect based on the pictures two? But then this is not an aviation question.

Really she had a bag, a personal item, a medical breast pump, and a freaking large cooler that fits a cow. American airliners website says
"Diaper bags (1 per child), soft-sided cooler bags with breast milk, child safety seats, strollers and medical or mobility devices don’t count as your personal item or carry-on."

So if I understand correctly she was allowed to carry it and AA employees were wrong. If I travel with our kind I have encountered two examples were employees did not now the rules and wanted me to 1) checkin stuff and 2) pay more for it. After the first time I made started printing the rules.

Most airlines though (LH and EK more specifically) I think are extremly helpful if traveling with kids. LH has family checkin (some stations) and EK allows you to reserve seats when traveling with kids/infants.

Jayafe · Thu May 10, 2018 10:56 am

US3 seal of approval for Platinum Customer Support, once again. I already lost count of how many topics with horrendous treatment to passenger happen around. Still some people happy to defend such attitudes.

dtw2hyd · Thu May 10, 2018 11:17 am

Policy doesn't allow to help passenger even if they are struggling with a kid and bags, at the same time they wan't to speed up the boarding process. What a conundrum.

Revelation · Thu May 10, 2018 11:48 am

grbauc wrote:
What a worthless tread. There are stupid things done and said all the time. Just another internet drama tread forJerry springer type that don’t bring good conversation/discussion. I don’t remember seeing so man when this site was a paid site.

If you’re so embarrassed by the alleged violation why would you go on Facebook posting this whole awful situation.

And you're taking the usual "attack the victim" line, for unknown reasons.

Maybe you're the "Jerry Springer type" trying to make themselves look/feel better than the victim?

We don’t know all the facts and there’s nothing but guessing and conjecture. We only see part of the story part of the situation it’s worthless unless we can get the whole story.
Guessing because one time we had a situation that might’ve been similar or we can see somebody saying awful alleged stuff, leads to prejudice and erro and bad judgments.

Huh? The FACTS we know is AA is admitting a customer knew their policies better than two of their employees and that they've given her a voucher to compensate her for her mistreatment. What more do we need to know? That an employee might have made an insulting comment on top of their other mistakes? I guess we'll never know one way or the other because it wasn't recorded, but would it be a big leap to give her the benefit of the doubt and presume she wouldn't make up a crude comment about her own breasts?

FatCat · Thu May 10, 2018 12:27 pm

12 posts and still no one has figured out how many boobs this woman has

Revelation · Thu May 10, 2018 12:33 pm

FatCat wrote:
12 posts and still no one has figured out how many boobs this woman has

No, but we've figured out that there's plenty of :butthead:

s here...

MIflyer12 · Thu May 10, 2018 12:41 pm

grbauc wrote:
What a worthless tread. There are stupid things done and said all the time. Just another internet drama tread forJerry springer type that don’t bring good conversation/discussion. I don’t remember seeing so man when this site was a paid site.

If you’re so embarrassed by the alleged violation why would you go on Facebook posting this whole awful situation.

We don’t know all the facts and there’s nothing but guessing and conjecture. We only see part of the story part of the situation it’s worthless unless we can get the whole story.

When you get your 'news' from UK tabloids, this is what you get.

DocLightning · Thu May 10, 2018 12:51 pm

You know, given the fact that everyone here has a mother, I'm just amazed at how disrespectful so many of you are to this young mother.

This employee was at work. That's an incredibly unprofessional thing to say. If any of the employees at my company said something like that to a nursing mother, you bet your ass they'd be gone. Right then and there. Absolutely unacceptable.

Honestly, do any of you work for a living? If you work for a company that would let you say that to a customer and get away with it, then your management and your company just suck.

Amsterdam · Thu May 10, 2018 1:34 pm

Why do so many people cry so quickly?

FatCat · Thu May 10, 2018 2:03 pm

Amsterdam wrote:
Why do so many people cry so quickly?

This may be an instant hot topic thread

blockski · Thu May 10, 2018 2:29 pm

Amsterdam wrote:
Why do so many people cry so quickly?

Should an airline’s employees ever berate customers to the point of tears? Ever?

FatCat · Thu May 10, 2018 2:33 pm

blockski wrote:
Amsterdam wrote:
Why do so many people cry so quickly?

Should an airline’s employees ever berate customers to the point of tears? Ever?

*Edit*
Should *anyone* ever berate *anyone else* to the point of tears? Ever?

Brickell305 · Thu May 10, 2018 2:52 pm

That agent should be fired. That was a ridiculously unprofessional thing to say to a customer. I'm not surprised however that some are trying to blame the victim or claim that we need more evidence despite it seemingly already having been resolved by the airline. That's par for the course here when airline staff are clearly in the wrong.

devron · Thu May 10, 2018 2:53 pm

FatCat wrote:
12 posts and still no one has figured out how many boobs this woman has

well after my extensive analysis of the pictures of this lady, googleing female anatomy (I won't post my source here) and here facebook page

devron wrote:
I guess and suspect based on the pictures two?

FatCat · Thu May 10, 2018 2:55 pm

So we can close this thread, having discovered the lady has two boobs.

spinotter · Thu May 10, 2018 2:58 pm

blockski wrote:
Amsterdam wrote:
Why do so many people cry so quickly?

Should an airline’s employees ever berate customers to the point of tears? Ever?

The remark about how many b**bs is way beyond the pale, and I hope that the employee who made it (if true) will be disciplined, but reading through Yelp and Flyertalk you realize that passengers sometimes break out in tears for very minor reasons. Flying these days a person needs a tough outer skin.

stlgph · Thu May 10, 2018 3:00 pm

it's 2018, get with the times lady.

this is one of the first questions asked of anyone on Tinder, Happn, Hinge, Bumble, and well, Grindr.

Indy · Thu May 10, 2018 3:29 pm

Serious question.... If there was nothing in the story that impacted the plane itself or the route (ex diversion), does this even belong in Civil Aviation? Should this stuff go into a different category the way trip reports are posted elsewhere? Just curious.

gatibosgru · Thu May 10, 2018 3:32 pm

grbauc wrote:
What a worthless tread. There are stupid things done and said all the time. Just another internet drama tread forJerry springer type that don’t bring good conversation/discussion. I don’t remember seeing so man when this site was a paid site.

If you’re so embarrassed by the alleged violation why would you go on Facebook posting this whole awful situation.

We don’t know all the facts and there’s nothing but guessing and conjecture. We only see part of the story part of the situation it’s worthless unless we can get the whole story.
Guessing because one time we had a situation that might’ve been similar or we can see somebody saying awful alleged stuff, leads to prejudice and erro and bad judgments.

What a worthless post.

jetero · Thu May 10, 2018 3:33 pm

Indy wrote:
Serious question.... If there was nothing in the story that impacted the plane itself or the route (ex diversion), does this even belong in Civil Aviation?

Uncivil Aviation?

stlgph · Thu May 10, 2018 3:35 pm

Indy wrote:
Serious question.... If there was nothing in the story that impacted the plane itself or the route (ex diversion), does this even belong in Civil Aviation? Should this stuff go into a different category the way trip reports are posted elsewhere? Just curious.

A number of posts here could end up under a "Total Boobs" tab.

((think about that one for a moment))

klm617 · Thu May 10, 2018 3:44 pm

This is what you get when you basically have no customer service standards. We see this over and over again where the customer is basically bullied around with little or no recourse when they have issues that standard just sit down and we'll get to you. In a lot of cases one's travel experience this day's is already filled with tension due to the face of how the airline business and airport security is handled in this day and age. Because training costs money that there is no return on investment on it too is kept to the bare minimum contributing to the lack of professionalism in the airline industry in America.

dtw2hyd · Thu May 10, 2018 3:49 pm

Indy wrote:
Serious question.... If there was nothing in the story that impacted the plane itself or the route (ex diversion), does this even belong in Civil Aviation? Should this stuff go into a different category the way trip reports are posted elsewhere? Just curious.

Yes, but that is airline PR job to report the post and get this buried somewhere no one can find.

If the employee has sufficient neurons, she could have claimed it was a slip of tongue, meant to ask how many bags to you have.

Revelation · Thu May 10, 2018 4:08 pm

FatCat wrote:
So we can close this thread, having discovered the lady has two boobs.

You've been here a month, and you're not covering yourself in glory...

ikramerica · Thu May 10, 2018 4:32 pm

Kashmon wrote:
it is so funny, modern women claim to be so strong and independent yet cry for such silly things. The women who were the first settlers etc would be laughing at such a response.

No doubt. “Life ain’t easy on the Oregon Trail.”

atcsundevil · Thu May 10, 2018 5:19 pm

Please discuss the topic. Comments which are personal attacks on other users or are misogynistic will be deleted.

Users are expected to maintain a standard of common decency, and comments like, "We all know how women can be" fall far short of that standard. Not only is it unnecessary, but generalizations do very little to form a cohesive argument in a debate.

✈️ atcsundevil

Etheereal · Thu May 10, 2018 5:36 pm

*edited because im wrong*

klm617 · Thu May 10, 2018 5:52 pm

blockski wrote:
Amsterdam wrote:
Why do so many people cry so quickly?

Should an airline’s employees ever berate customers to the point of tears? Ever?

I think on both sides of the line people are feed up with how they are treated a toxic environment that has been created by this profits over people mentality that some many have come to embrace customers and employee's alike and this is what happens when emotions boil over whether your frustrated by the travel experience or and employee that is over whelmed by their workload

Braniff1 · Thu May 10, 2018 5:55 pm

dtw2hyd wrote:
Policy doesn't allow to help passenger even if they are struggling with a kid and bags, at the same time they wan't to speed up the boarding process. What a conundrum.

Oh yes, Policy. The subject of gate agents, FA's and general staff has been addressed many times on this board and this is a perfect example for the employees using their tidy union to make sure they don't offer service in a service industry. Policy is what has ruined the airline industry. Don't be a decent human and help out a mother, God forbid our policy-generated by our union-generated by lazy slackards is what has made air travel a joke. American, United et al are perfect examples of a greedy corporation working with lazy employees...to give the paying public little. I agree with DocLightning, the personnel involved should be fired, but the union won't allow that, oh no, that will never happen. Just protect the cry-baby airline staff and screw the public.

Carry on!

winginit · Thu May 10, 2018 6:01 pm

klm617 wrote:
blockski wrote:
Amsterdam wrote:
Why do so many people cry so quickly?

Should an airline’s employees ever berate customers to the point of tears? Ever?

I think on both sides of the line people are feed up with how they are treated a toxic environment that has been created by this profits over people mentality that some many have come to embrace customers and employee's alike and this is what happens when emotions boil over whether your frustrated by the travel experience or and employee that is over whelmed by their workload

While there are one-off incidents here and there that gain more media attention that they may have previously, it's worth noting that by many metrics Airline Customer Satisfaction is at all-time highs even as more passengers than ever are in the skies.

Seabear · Thu May 10, 2018 6:08 pm

winginit wrote:
klm617 wrote:
blockski wrote:

Should an airline’s employees ever berate customers to the point of tears? Ever?

I think on both sides of the line people are feed up with how they are treated a toxic environment that has been created by this profits over people mentality that some many have come to embrace customers and employee's alike and this is what happens when emotions boil over whether your frustrated by the travel experience or and employee that is over whelmed by their workload

While there are one-off incidents here and there that gain more media attention that they may have previously, it's worth noting that by many metrics Airline Customer Satisfaction is at all-time highs even as more passengers than ever are in the skies.

Or perhaps the bar has been set so low that anything short of a full-on beat down would be considered a "pleasant experience"?

Lies, damn lies, and statistics...

winginit · Thu May 10, 2018 6:41 pm

Seabear wrote:
winginit wrote:
klm617 wrote:

I think on both sides of the line people are feed up with how they are treated a toxic environment that has been created by this profits over people mentality that some many have come to embrace customers and employee's alike and this is what happens when emotions boil over whether your frustrated by the travel experience or and employee that is over whelmed by their workload

While there are one-off incidents here and there that gain more media attention that they may have previously, it's worth noting that by many metrics Airline Customer Satisfaction is at all-time highs even as more passengers than ever are in the skies.

Or perhaps the bar has been set so low that anything short of a full-on beat down would be considered a "pleasant experience"?

Lies, damn lies, and statistics...

Perhaps - do feel free to provide evidence that's contrary to the Airline Customer Satisfaction Survey's claim. Additionally, who would really be to blame for the bar being lowered if that is indeed the case? Passengers have been voting with their wallets in being willing to fly ULCCs like NK or F9 for the sake of a cheap ticket and the legacies are forced to compete.

Brickell305 · Thu May 10, 2018 6:57 pm

winginit wrote:
Seabear wrote:
winginit wrote:

While there are one-off incidents here and there that gain more media attention that they may have previously, it's worth noting that by many metrics Airline Customer Satisfaction is at all-time highs even as more passengers than ever are in the skies.

Or perhaps the bar has been set so low that anything short of a full-on beat down would be considered a "pleasant experience"?

Lies, damn lies, and statistics...

Perhaps - do feel free to provide evidence that's contrary to the Airline Customer Satisfaction Survey's claim. Additionally, who would really be to blame for the bar being lowered if that is indeed the case? Passengers have been voting with their wallets in being willing to fly ULCCs like NK or F9 for the sake of a cheap ticket and the legacies are forced to compete.

Being civil to customers doesn't cost anything though so how does customers rationally looking to pay less warrant rude treatment from employees?

crAAzy · Thu May 10, 2018 6:59 pm

DocLightning wrote:
That's an incredibly unprofessional thing to say.

Well to be fair, it was in LA where this could be considered an acceptable question under several circumstances, including dating.

klm617 · Thu May 10, 2018 7:10 pm

winginit wrote:
Seabear wrote:
winginit wrote:

While there are one-off incidents here and there that gain more media attention that they may have previously, it's worth noting that by many metrics Airline Customer Satisfaction is at all-time highs even as more passengers than ever are in the skies.

Or perhaps the bar has been set so low that anything short of a full-on beat down would be considered a "pleasant experience"?

Lies, damn lies, and statistics...

Perhaps - do feel free to provide evidence that's contrary to the Airline Customer Satisfaction Survey's claim. Additionally, who would really be to blame for the bar being lowered if that is indeed the case? Passengers have been voting with their wallets in being willing to fly ULCCs like NK or F9 for the sake of a cheap ticket and the legacies are forced to compete.

Perhaps we've gotten to the point where the red tape and hassle of filing a compliant with an airline is no longer worth the effort so most just cut their losses and move on and there is no statistic or data for that.

winginit · Thu May 10, 2018 8:02 pm

klm617 wrote:
winginit wrote:
Seabear wrote:

Or perhaps the bar has been set so low that anything short of a full-on beat down would be considered a "pleasant experience"?

Lies, damn lies, and statistics...

Perhaps - do feel free to provide evidence that's contrary to the Airline Customer Satisfaction Survey's claim. Additionally, who would really be to blame for the bar being lowered if that is indeed the case? Passengers have been voting with their wallets in being willing to fly ULCCs like NK or F9 for the sake of a cheap ticket and the legacies are forced to compete.

Perhaps we've gotten to the point where the red tape and hassle of filing a compliant with an airline is no longer worth the effort so most just cut their losses and move on and there is no statistic or data for that.

Perhaps, but that would be a purely speculative claim as I'm sure you know, and I'm not sure what "red tape" you're referring to? It's exceptionally easy to file a complaint - one email and you're good. Additionally, airlines appear to be more and more willing to give out miles and other incentives in exchange for customer experience feedback, although again, I have no data to back that claim so it's speculative.

mjoelnir · Thu May 10, 2018 9:11 pm

winginit wrote:
klm617 wrote:
winginit wrote:

Perhaps - do feel free to provide evidence that's contrary to the Airline Customer Satisfaction Survey's claim. Additionally, who would really be to blame for the bar being lowered if that is indeed the case? Passengers have been voting with their wallets in being willing to fly ULCCs like NK or F9 for the sake of a cheap ticket and the legacies are forced to compete.

Perhaps we've gotten to the point where the red tape and hassle of filing a compliant with an airline is no longer worth the effort so most just cut their losses and move on and there is no statistic or data for that.

Perhaps, but that would be a purely speculative claim as I'm sure you know, and I'm not sure what "red tape" you're referring to? It's exceptionally easy to file a complaint - one email and you're good. Additionally, airlines appear to be more and more willing to give out miles and other incentives in exchange for customer experience feedback, although again, I have no data to back that claim so it's speculative.

I assume if he talks about red tape he means red tape. The first line of defence for an airline is just not to answer your e-mail. The second line is to answer you very late, or not to "find " your case and so on. I took once over a year to resolve a claim with TAP. BA is very good in not answering. I assume a lot of claims just fall through the cracks because people give up.

My point would be, that claims should be resolved immediately. If the airline will not offer you the service they sold you and you paid for, compensation in cash should be immediately, otherwise claims should go through a neutral mediator.

klm617 · Thu May 10, 2018 9:22 pm

winginit wrote:
klm617 wrote:
winginit wrote:

Perhaps - do feel free to provide evidence that's contrary to the Airline Customer Satisfaction Survey's claim. Additionally, who would really be to blame for the bar being lowered if that is indeed the case? Passengers have been voting with their wallets in being willing to fly ULCCs like NK or F9 for the sake of a cheap ticket and the legacies are forced to compete.

Perhaps we've gotten to the point where the red tape and hassle of filing a compliant with an airline is no longer worth the effort so most just cut their losses and move on and there is no statistic or data for that.

Perhaps, but that would be a purely speculative claim as I'm sure you know, and I'm not sure what "red tape" you're referring to? It's exceptionally easy to file a complaint - one email and you're good. Additionally, airlines appear to be more and more willing to give out miles and other incentives in exchange for customer experience feedback, although again, I have no data to back that claim so it's speculative.

Filing is the easy part getting a response from the carrier is a another matter. With the ULCCs it's probably even worse being everything is the bare minimum.

Super80Fan · Thu May 10, 2018 9:38 pm

There were three boobs here, the two on the mother and the agent.

winginit · Thu May 10, 2018 9:40 pm

mjoelnir wrote:
I assume if he talks about red tape he means red tape. The first line of defence for an airline is just not to answer your e-mail. The second line is to answer you very late, or not to "find " your case and so on. I took once over a year to resolve a claim with TAP. BA is very good in not answering. I assume a lot of claims just fall through the cracks because people give up.

My point would be, that claims should be resolved immediately. If the airline will not offer you the service they sold you and you paid for, compensation in cash should be immediately, otherwise claims should go through a neutral mediator.

klm617 wrote:
Filing is the easy part getting a response from the carrier is a another matter. With the ULCCs it's probably even worse being everything is the bare minimum.

Relevant to this discussion is the fact that airlines are becoming impressively responsive to customer service issues via twitter. Anecdotally I've heard that they're generous with compensation miles via that medium as well. But of course it doesn't matter because airlines are evil, don't care at all about customers anymore, and are staffed entirely by careless and incompetent cotton-headed ninny muggins. Right?

flydude380 · Fri May 11, 2018 5:53 am

When people can’t take sarcasm... -__-

Airstud · Fri May 11, 2018 6:08 am

Does testosterone actually suppress tears? I've read that the reason chicks cry more easily is that

A) their tear ducts are actually smaller than ours, thus their tears exit onto their faces sooner than ours do (onto ours); and

2) a hormone called prolactin, which actually has more to do with milk production than with tearage, but, being milk-related, is hella more present in the wimmins than in us.

(Wiki says there's nonetheless some prolactin present in us dudes, which I find mildly alarming.)

downtown273 · Fri May 11, 2018 8:10 am

The key thing to understand here is that this could happen in any airline. Not justifying it, it's wrong, but it comes down to the actual employee that you get.

Had this happened in Ryanair or Norwegian, some people would be saying "you get what you pay for".

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