MACH81

This happened to me yesterday, flying AA, but more MRs related and it might happen to someone else.


I was on one of my last MR of the year yesterday. A six segments sat/sun run involving west coast was turned into a 4 segments run by AA schedule changes, actually AS schedule changes more than AA! So I was doing a simple LGA-DFW-PHX-ORD-LGA out early morning and back late eve. I wasn’t thrilled about the solution, but I set for it when I realized the agent was rebooking me in full Y so I could upgrade without stickers (and this would prove to be wishful thinking on my part!) avoid a red-eye and sleep in my bed.

Got at DFW a little late and a plane at out gate had a mechanical and was being serviced; to make it short we sat on the tarmac close to the gate for about 30/35 minutes. Add the 15/20 minutes delays and my 55 minutes connection is screwed. Boarding for my PHX bound flight started at 9.20;got out of the plane at 9.39 at gate D26 or 24;PHX bound flight was at A16!I rushed to the skylink and then to gate: got there at about 9.46. Gate closed nobody there. Meanwhile other 8/9 passengers that were on the same LGA-DFW got to the gate and were looking at me! They did not wait for 10 people! People were mad I was fuming (I had a confirmed /g on the flight). We were there, sitting on the tarmac doing nothing because another plane had a mechanical, while there were gates available. They knew we were there and they could wait for 10 passengers!

All other passengers didn’t know what to do and thought of going to the gate for the next PHX bound plane, C8. I called the plAAt line and told the agent about it. He fed me the bull$**t that there is a $10k fine if they do not push back in time and I told me that it should always apply and not only when it best suits them (none of my other flights of the day pushed back on time!). Anyway he looked at my itinerary and asked me if I was taking the trip just to get miles; I said maybe and I also said: ”I thought AA knew why we fly”…but he didn’t get the joke I guess. I asked me if I wanted to go back to NYC right away. I said no. Again: “Are you trying to re-qualify for plAAt”? I said maybe or maybe trying to get EXP. He said he was trying to help. I said ok. Then he put me on hold for a while and got back and told me I was confirmed in F on the DFW-PHX at 11.40 and on the PHX-DFW at 1.55 giving me 1h45’ in PHX. Skylink to terminal C, got my BP but not the return BP (Strangely enough, the day before when I printed my BPs I’d got them all outbound and inbound). Plane got in a little late and people started deplaning; boarding time passed and we were still sitting there. GA announced that the plane had a mechanical and they had to shut it down.

Boarding started 35 minutes after scheduled departure time. Boarded and sat at the gate for another 40 minutes. Neither drinks nor snacks were offered in F (?!!?). We pushed back 1h 20’ late, service in F was poor and slow. Got into PHX 1h5’ late so my 1h45’ connection was down to 40’. Rushed to the gate and got my BPs back to LGA all confirmed in F, even though the GA looked at me strangely when she handed me the BPs. Went to the gate, enjoyed 5’ of PHX’s free wireless and then boarded. Boarding was very slow; moved from my assigned seat to let a couple sit together; it seemed we were ready for departure, while on the phone I saw a big guy approaching me, asked if I was Mr. MACH81, I said yes and he flashed at me a US Air Marshal badge introducing himself and asked me if I could follow him. I followed him to the jet-bridge.

US A.M: Where are you coming from?
Me: NY.
US A.M: why did you come all the way to PHX for half a hour?
Me: Miles
US A.M.: Is that right? You have XXXk miles. You must be EXP by now. (Not very well informed! )
Me: that’s total available miles but I only have 47808 this year and I needed to re-qualify for plat.
US A.M.; Tell me about it…
Me: Well, you need 50k miles and…

He didn’t let me finish and he asked me for an I.D, told him that my passport was in my jacket so I boarded and got it. Asked me several other questions and told me that my name popped up because I had a very short layover. I was very quiet during all this as I had nothing to fear or to be afraid of, I was doing nothing wrong.

US A.M: Do you do this often?
Me: Once in a while, if a good fare pops up and I have the time and money, I do it. Many people do it.
US A.M.: when was last time you did it?
Me: I believe it was well before the BAR exam, end of May I’d say.
US A.M: Ok, it’s probably nothing but we had to check;
Me: No problem.

Handshake and back on the plane; flight was uneventful including and that goes also for any food other than a tiny bag of crappy nuts in F and a coke.

When I got off in DFW, I met him at the gate and he wanted to be sure he had the right pp #. I showed him my pp again and he asked me again if I was doing that just for miles because he had to report it and if I was traveling with someone; I confirmed what I told him before.

US A.M: You have XXXk miles why do you do it?
Me: It’s not that much if you think that you need 135k miles for and F award to Asia;
US A.M: it’s that what you wanna do? But you already have enough…
Me: just for one and I want to go with my GF.
US A.M.: Ok.
US A.M: it’s probably popping up next time you fly but as you are a plAAT or EXP, it would be ok. You are set to go on your next flight to LGA.
Me: Fine, thanks.
US A.M.: thanks for your cooperation…
Me: No problem, it’s your job, I know that since 9/11 security is tighter, I guess isn’t any fun for you to sit on a plane all day long…
US A.M.: tell me about it…
Me: I love to fly, not a problem for me.
US A.M: thanks for being so cooperative, I appreciate it.
Me: Thank you, have a good one.

Service on the LGA bound flight was outstanding and I enjoyed it after a long messy day!

Now: did the plAAT agent alert someone? Was it the GA in PHX? When the US. Air Marshal arrived I thought they were mad because I was still on the phone but I was almost sure there was no announcement to switch them off.

Should I be worried? I have an EU passport, been here for over a year, have a regular Visa and a work permit. I have another MR in November.

Next week end I’m flying on an AA award LGA-YYZ 4 hrs in YYZ then off to Italy and LCA on the AZ C fare and flying (AA) YYZ-JFK-MXP (AZ). Is that gonna be a problem?

Please post your experiences. Thanks and sorry for being so long!

lucky9876coins

Reminds me a bit of my FAM experience late last year on a turnaround @ DCA. Good job staying cool. This time I would not have been nearly as cooperative, since I am still pi$$ed about what happened last time. It is nice to see that the FAM was at least somewhat nice.

I kind of missed this part I guess, but he knew your AA number, or did you give it to him?

MACH81

HE knew it!and my balance too!

lucky9876coins

Unacceptable! There is absolutely no reason whatsoever that the FAM needs to know anything about your AA status in order to determine whether or not it is safe for you to fly on a place!

What really pi$$ed me off was that I was accused of using my dad's status because I am so young, all because of my encounter with the FAM. I would not have cooperated with the FAM if he already had that info.

BlackBear05

ummmmm, encounters with FAMs don't happen too often do they?

MACH81

That's why I think the GA alerted them...or maybe the agent of the plAAt line wrote something in my PNR.

PlatinumScum

I'm no fan of nosy law enforcement, but slow down for a second. If I tell an FAM that I'm flying for the miles or to qualify for elite status, then my current balance/status is obviously relevant.

To clarify ... I'd say that the OP has every right to be upset with the AA personnel who reported him to the FAM and gave away his personal information. From what the OP wrote, however, it really doesn't sound like the FAM did anything but "check him out," which is what he's supposed to do in that situation.

kaztm

And it's not impossible for them to detain you, right?

Having nothing to fear or hide is no guarantee that you won't be suspected, and that's all they need to take you to some place where your law degree won't be of much help...or am I influenced by the media too much? These days, I'm sometimes more scared of the people who are trying to protect me than the terrorists...different devastation, but seems more likely to occur.

On the bright side, I would WANT them to look at my mileage records. I've been flying for decades and perhaps more than a thousand times. If I am a terrorist, I would have done something bad by now.

MACH81

It is relevant, but when he told me my balance he caught me a little off guard (not that I was waiting for something like that!)...

To the other poster: detain me for what?flying?

channa

I would not have been as cooperative as you.

What did he need your passport for? What are they doing with the information? Can you get a copy? How?

GUWonder

FAMs are self-identifying and engaging in other brilliant nonsense like the ID checks? Not surprised but this deserves

This is the kind of nonsense that used to happen in the Soviet Union. Now it happens in America. So much for winning the Cold War.

lucky9876coins

I see what you mean. BUT, at least in my case, the only thing that my UA MP number caused was an accusation that I was forging status. I am annoyed when they try to make connections, and a UA agent would accuse me of something based on an event with a FAM.

Nonetheless, even if the OP was not flying for miles and was just flying for fun, that is not against the law. You don't need to fly for miles or have something to do in order to fly.

GUWonder

FAMs should not be engaged in this nonsense, especially not in this way, to begin with. There is no excuse for this kind of nonsense. The FAMs and defenders of this nonsense ought to be ashamed of themselves for borrowing one from the old Commie playbook.

lucky9876coins

I highly doubt that they would detain him, even if they could. In my experience, I believe that I was mistreated to a certain extent, so being fully cooperative often just makes them treat you like a yahoo. Often times, being assertive about it can help speed up the process, and make them realize that they can't just do whatever they want. In retrospect, in my case, I would have gotten a UA agent to play witness to the situation, and only answered questions which I see as pertenent to the investigation. Otherwise, I won't answer it, and they can do what they want to do. If they detain me...

MACH81

he asked for a Driving license and I don't have an american one so I gave him my info.

I didn't want to raise any suspicion being uncooperative.I was just flying so why bother playing it hard?they got me fingerprinted everytime I got in and out,so...