Can you prove that you were on a flight?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Joe Pistritto <jcp () jcphome com>
Date: June 27, 2005 10:36:49 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: eszter.hargittai.062705 () eszter com
Subject: Re: [IP] Can you prove that you were on a flight?


Well the bit about if you dont show up for a flight all future  
flights on that iternary being cancelled is standard procedure. This  
can be a pretty annoying problem if it happens to you (say by  
accident) in a foreign country. (this happened to me in *India* of  
all places, not a place I was really looking to spend the 3 or 4 days  
it would've taken to get a seat going home).   This also happens, by  
the way, if you're doing a "hidden city" thing, and you get *off* a  
flight at a city before your destination (ie. fly SFO->Denver- 
>Chicago and fail to check in for your Denver->Chicago connection.  
You'll find all your other connections are automatically cancelled.   
Airlines do this to detect doulbe booking as early as possible. And  
they've done it since at least the 1970s.)

However this points out a problem with the "home checkin" stuff.   
I've only done that a couple times, i think i will *avoid* it in the  
future.  (I always save my stubs, they generally become bookmarks in  
whatever SF book I'm reading on the flight, and i have occasionally  
needed them for frequent flyer milage credit).  But i've never had  
what at happened to you occur on a domestic flight.  I think i'll  
skip the home checkin and just use the electronic checking at the  
airfield from now on...  It prints real boarding passes.

 -jcp-

----- Original Message ----- From: "David Farber" <dave () farber net>
To: "Ip ip" <ip () v2 listbox com>
Sent: Monday, June 27, 2005 2:18 PM
Subject: [IP] Can you prove that you were on a flight?



> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Eszter Hargittai <eszter.hargittai.062705 () eszter com>
> Date: June 27, 2005 4:24:32 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Can you prove that you were on a flight?
>
>
> Dear Dave,
>
> I wonder if any other IPers have experienced something similar  
> before  and
> if anyone has suggestions as to what one can do about such a   
> situation. In
> addition to blogging this and sending you this note, I have sent a
> complaint to the airline's Customer Relations dept, but am not sure  
> what
> else to do.
>
> Eszter
> http://www.eszter.northwestern.edu
>
> Can you prove that you were on a flight?
>
> The other day I found myself in the curious position of having to  
> prove
> that I had been on a flight in order to be allowed to return home. The
> only explanation I could come up with for the airline having no   
> record of
> my presence on the flight there is that the gate agent had failed  
> to  scan
> in my boarding pass. As far as I can tell I had done everything “by  
> the
> book”. In this day and age of being tracked in so many situations  
> and so
> many ways, I found it an interesting twist that I could think of  
> no  way of
> proving (no way that the ticketing agent seemed to find  
> satisfactory) that
> I had, indeed, been on the plane and should be allowed to return  
> home on
> my originally scheduled flight. Details follow.
>
> On Friday, I went to Ohio for a wedding. In the morning I checked in
> online, printed out my boarding pass and headed for O’Hare. Everything
> went smoothly. There was a short line at security, the agent  
> checked  my ID
> and marked my boarding pass, I proceeded to my gate. There was a  
> bit of
> commotion at the gate as several flights were scheduled to be  
> going  out of
> the same area very close to each other. However, it turned out  
> that  there
> were two doors at the gate and only people on my flight were exiting
> through that specific one. Things proceeded seemingly fine. We were  
> called
> to board and being a frequent flyer with this airline, I was  
> allowed to
> board immediately so I did. The agent took my print-out with the   
> boarding
> pass on it. She tore off the upper part and handed back the rest of  
> the
> sheet. I think I recall seeing that she did not scan it in and finding
> that curious, but nothing hugely out-of-the-ordinary. (This was  
> perhaps
> the second time I had checked in at home and was traveling with a   
> printed
> boarding pass so I did not have enough experience to know how this is
> usually handled.)
>
> I arrived at the Cleveland airport soon after. I realized that I had
> neglected to print out the itinerary for my return trip so I went  
> to the
> ticketing counter and asked for a copy of that. I also asked to  
> have my
> seat changed to something closer to the front of the plane. This  
> was all
> fine. The agent pulled up my record (for future reference, recall that
> this is all at Cleveland after I had taken the flight there),  
> changed my
> seat assignment and printed out my itinerary including both the flight
> information going there and back. There was some confusion over my
> preferred seat assignment so she ended up printing out the information
> three times. I doubt this made any difference, but I’m mentioning  
> it  for a
> detailed and accurate account of everything that happened. I left the
> airport.
>
> Next day I arrived at this airport again and proceeded to the machines
> that allow self check-in. Neither of the two machines I tried  
> recognized
> my credit card so I proceeded to the line to talk to a ticketing   
> agent. I
> told him the machines were not recognizing me so I needed to get my
> boarding pass from him. He asked me where I was going and when. I told
> him. I also handed him the flight itinerary the agent had printed  
> out  for
> me the day before at that same counter area so he could have all  
> the info.
> He started typing on his machine and looked confused. (The  
> following is
> not verbatim, it’s as close as I can remember.) He said there was no
> record of me having been on the flight to Cleveland. Now I got   
> confused. I
> had been at that same counter area just 26 hours earlier having  
> taken  the
> flight there and having gotten a printout of my entire itinerary   
> after the
> trip. I said as much. He said I needed to show him some proof that  
> I had
> been on the flight. I asked why that was relevant for my return   
> flight. I
> was not trying to be hostile, I was just trying to understand the
> situation and what that had to do with my ticket not showing up. He  
> said
> that since I had not been on the flight there – he did not say “since
> records fail to show that you had been on the flight”, rather, he  
> stated
> as a fact that I had not been on the flight – my reservation for the
> return flight had been cancelled. Now I got nervous. I could picture
> myself having to spend the night in Cleveland. (No offense to  
> Cleveland,
> but that was really not part of my weekend plans.) I said I didn’t
> understand. I thought I had purchased the ticket not just reserved  
> it so
> how could it be cancelled? He said they get cancelled if the passenger
> does not show up on the first part of the trip. He did not specify the
> reason for that and I was too confused at the moment to try to  
> make  sense
> of it. At that point I was concerned with getting myself on the flight
> home.
>
> He asked for my boarding pass stub from the day before. I  
> explained  that I
> had checked in at home and had printed out the boarding pass. I  
> quickly
> realized that (for no good reason) I did still have the rest of  
> the  sheet
> so I pulled that out of my purse. I showed it to him. My name, flight
> number, seat assignment were all on the sheet. But that wasn’t good
> enough. He murmured something about how these home check-ins were  
> really
> making things difficult for them. (I think that’s what he said, it was
> under his breath so it was hard for me to understand.)
>
> He told me that he wanted something different. I looked at him   
> puzzled and
> frustrated. I explained that I had been on the flight and the agent  
> had
> printed out my itinerary after my arrival so they must have had some
> record of me being on it. He wasn’t satisfied. He asked if I had  
> checked
> in any luggage. I said no. (This should not be too out-of-the-  
> ordinary for
> a one-day trip.) In an accusatory tone (as in: I do not believe  
> that you
> were on that flight) he continued to ask for proof. I was at a  
> complete
> loss. Suddenly I realized that I had gotten a small water bottle on  
> the
> flight that I didn’t think had anything on it to prove it was from the
> flight, but thought had been distinct enough that perhaps he’d  
> take  it as
> proof. Again, for no good reason, I still had the water bottle  
> with  me. I
> pulled it out of my bag. He took it and looked at it and seemed  
> satisfied.
> He said something about how that was fine then, the water bottle  
> proved
> it. I honestly couldn’t tell if he was just being sarcastic.
>
> At this point he proceeded to assign me a ticket.
>
> The only explanation I can come up with is that the gate agent had   
> failed
> to scan in my boarding pass and thus the airline had no record of  
> me being
> on it. This is curious in this day-and-age of security precautions.  
> How
> could an airline not know who is on its flights?
>
> I still cannot think of anything I could have done differently to   
> prevent
> this uncomfortable situation. I replayed Friday’s events. I did  
> everything
> the way you are “supposed to” as a traveller. It also occured to me  
> that
> even if I had simply checked in at the airport (as opposed to   
> printing the
> boarding pass at home), theoretically I could have still NOT  
> gotten  on the
> flight, kept the boarding pass stub and left the airport so I  
> don’t  quite
> see how that would have been better proof of my having been on the  
> flight.
>
> It made me feel better to know that because I am such a pack rat I  
> still
> had the remains of the boarding pass printout and the water bottle  
> with
> me, although in the end I cannot tell if they helped at all.
>
> The most disturbing part of all this for me – beyond the fact that the
> airline did not know I was on the flight, which seems unfortunate  
> in  case
> something happens to the plane – was the accusatory tone of the   
> ticketing
> agent and the assumption that I was lying about having been on the  
> flight.
> I don’t know what I could have done any differently, I cannot identify
> having done anything wrong and so it was disturbing to be accused of
> having been responsible for this situation and being treated so   
> poorly. Am
> I missing something?
>
> It sounds a bit silly that “the most disturbing” part to me was having
> been treated poorly. I meant that on a personal level. Of course,  
> overall,
> the really disturbing part is that the system is set up in a way that
> something like this can happen.
>
> http://crookedtimber.org/2005/06/27/can-you-prove-that-you-were-on- 
> a- flight/
>
>
>
>
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