My Tedious Experience With A United Gate Agent At Newark

Intro

If you haven’t read a couple of my other posts, I am currently on a very long mileage run since I have just graduated from college. Throughout the past 10 days, I have flown SNA-SFO-ORD-PVD (EWR)-LAX-SFO-IAH-EWR-LHR-MCO (VS)-DEN-YYC (AC)-YVR (AC)-PDX-SFO-SNA. Now, the whole time I have been on this mileage run, everyone at United has been nothing short of exceptional and kind. However, there was one small instance that actually sort of frustrated me. 

I am well aware that this is a very minor inconvenience, but I do think it is noteworthy. 

What Happened? 

For starters, I just want to add that I don’t look like the typical 1K. My face looks like I am about 19 years old, and with a very flashy style, I understand that I can sometimes come across the wrong way: I get it. 

However, showing up at my gate to board the 767-300ER across the pond to London, I was met by something that sort of shook me. Being on the earlier flight, I made the effort to make sure to show up right on the dot at 4:35 pm when United started boarding. Obviously, I write airline reviews, so pictures were taken, which are timestamped at 4:35. 

Right as I showed up, this gate agent was grabbing the black rope to close up pre-boarding. I completely understand if I had shown up 5 minutes later, but United hadn’t even sent out a message or a notification that the flight was pre-boarding! To add on, she hadn’t even closed it off yet!

Cool, it’s not the end of the world at all, it’s so minor. However, the attitude that followed really blew me away. 

“Go join the back of group 1, go now”, the agent said. 

I stood there literally shellshocked, since she was talking to me as if I were 5 years old. I responded with my classic UK voice (charming but maybe annoying) (ha), “I’m terribly sorry to bother, but is there any way I could slot in since I arrived right at 4:35 pleas?e”. 

She responded, “No, go”. 

A big deal? Nope...

Why Is This A Big Deal? 

Honestly speaking, I know I sound like a little spoilt brat. However, there are a couple of reasons why this was tedious. 

• Look, I am not a famous reviewer, but I do thoroughly enjoy writing reviews that sound like a mix between a drunken Anthony Bourdain and a baby seal attempting to escape a great white shark. However, I also try to make sure I get the cleanest pictures for those who are actually interested in seeing cabins. I stay behind after landing, I board early, all to make sure I don’t bother customers, as it's not fair to have someone else’s face in it without permission. 

• Secondly, I do spend a lot of money on United Airlines. They have been incredible to me in many different ways, and I really appreciate the airline, but I do feel like something this small (preboarding) would go a long way. 

I’m not going to sit around and say that I was discriminated against and blah blah becasue that would be dumb, we all hold prejudices in this world and I am well aware (me included). It’s happened to me in Juba, Mogadishu, and places where few “white” people go.

So what is my point (quickly): no airline is perfect. I flew 6 Business Class flights with SQ, 1 was horrendous (they forgot to serve me a meal completely). I’ve flown 7 Business Class flights with Delta, 2 were diabolical. On this trip alone, I flew more than 10 flights on United, and this was the only bad experience. It’s easier to dwell on the one negative than appreciate all the positives. 

But I still think this was an interesting post to bring up... 

Final Thoughts

Yes, I made a post dwelling on a poor experience with United Airlines, but please don’t take away from the fact of how amazing United has been the entire time. The point of this post is to say that there is no airline that is perfect; everyone makes mistakes, we are human, and we all have bad days. Being 23 and having the top status on multiple alliances often gives me second looks. I get ID’d frequently, people double check (my upgrade was hilarious) that it is truly me, but I also get it. Speaking of, I always laugh when I get a last-minute upgrade, and everyone looks at me “like you are 1K”. Not becasue it's cool, but becasue it’s not conformist, and that is what I strive for.