Fast Food Airlines


Fast food.

Maybe you don’t ever go to a drive through, but I admit, sometimes in my life, I have. I make no excuses for it. But there is one time that sticks in my brain.

I was at an undesignated drive through in an undesignated city, and I pulled up to make my undesignated order, and after 2 seconds of talking to a speaker, realized I was being quizzed by a recording. Although it was working perfectly and in English, we didn’t speak the same language. And to make it even more aggravating, this is one of those driveways it is impossible to exit until the end. So I was forced to wait all the way around; and when I did, I did not get food; but I did make a formal complaint, which I followed through both indoors and in a letter to the undesignated franchise. Maybe it’s stupid, but I felt offended; and I did not return to that particular franchise until that impersonal protocol was removed.

And this was just fast food. My life was not at immediate risk.

Recordings don’t cut it. Sometimes you JUST NEED PEOPLE to communicate.

I’m betting that there are some French Aer Lingus passengers who feel the same way. Friday, somebody in the cabin of an Aer Lingus Dublin to Paris flight pushed the wrong button and subjected the French passengers to the wrong pre-recorded message…the emergency landing message. This put them all in fear of their lives. That same pain and suffering people feel when they’re actually about to crash–that’s what these French passengers were going through. The non-French were fine, since they didn’t get that message that they were about to crash.

I’ve been on planes that made emergency landings and in both instances we heard directly from a live human in the flight deck who explained the problem and urged us not to worry.

Where do they come off with stupid recordings like this? The airline should refund the full fare to these passengers for the grief they unnecessarily went through, even if only for a few minutes and airline operator should be happy they got off that cheaply.

There’s no excuse.

Originally Posted by George Hatcher Saturday, September 12, 2009