1.) people don't like losing their bags....especially since we charge for them (period).
and
2.) because they don't like losing bags, Baggage Service is where they take out their frustration. When most of the time...they just need to vent and tell someone why they feel that Delta basically sucks haha... It's also where we as employees get a chance to exercise our service from the heart by reminding them that it's not intentional and that weight and balance or timing on connections are OUT OF OUR CONTROL! ;-) lol
Just as we were done taking down our line and finding bags that might have missed their connections, our lead agent was walking back and forth from the back office up to the counter asking us if we had pulled any bags that were going to Reno off of the Detroit flight that got in late. None of us did. About 15 minutes later my Supervisor from up at the gates came down panting with the most worried helpless look on his face. I asked what was wrong and he told me that he was still looking for those Reno bags because those bags were apparently loaded on the plane in Detroit, but were no where to be found.......
NOT GOODHe then explained that the reason why it was so important to find these bags was because the bags that we could not find had a feeding tube and food in it for a passenger in a vegetated state.
that made it even worse.... it's bad enough not finding normal passengers bags but for passengers with medical needs......that's a whole different story.
As they turned the corner into the baggage service office my heart broke. I couldn't believe what I saw. The young man (*that we will call Devon....because he just looked like one lol*) in his reclined wheelchair with no worries in his eyes, not knowing anything was wrong, not knowing his sister and friend he was traveling with was stressing, our employees stressing, our supervisors stressing brought tears to my eyes.
As Devon and his family entered the office he looked at me and my watery eyes with his carefree look. I felt so bad. As an employee I take situations a lot serious than passengers think because I represent the company. I felt like it was my fault that he didn't have what he needed to live. My heart hurt and I wanted to do anything I could to help him out.
My supervisor made phone calls to every hospital he could reach to see if they had Devons medical needs and food he needed. My boss then came out and asked me to go check if Gold Cross was outside yet. I went outside and met the driver, explained what we needed him to do. I was relieved he was very understanding and waited patiently as we continued to try and get a hospital to help us out (that must be why they get paid so much ;p). Still feeling helpless I went to check on our passengers to see if they wanted to get loaded into the van. Devons sister brought him out and as we were standing there waiting for our Gold Cross guy to load him Devon looked up at me and I took the initiative to start a little conversation... asked him how he was doing and how his flight was. Of course he couldn't speak but he smiled so big and kept laughing as I was talking to me. I felt a lot better after seeing Devon smile, it brought a lot of comfort to me. It was so cute. =) I thought if I can't do anything else I might as well make this guy smile.
After loading him into the van and paying our Gold Cross guy we went back in to see what the deal was with his medical needs. As we came in our lead agent was on his way out. Explained to us that he called a few of the big hospitals and none of them could help. His last hope was Pioneer Valley Hospital. The head nurse that he had spoken to told him that we are more than welcomed to come and pick up as much as we needed for FREE!!! We couldn't believe it...it was a miracle.
I've ALWAYS heard bad things about Pioneer Valley Hospital. Last night that changed real quick, all my negative thoughts and rumors I heard prior were all erased. For them to help us out as we tried to help others out was amazing. Once again a reminder that there are good people in this world. =) =)
I'm glad that we met the needs of Devon. I mostly admired Ty (my supervisors) efforts in trying to meet the needs of a mistake that he wasn't responsible for and for taking the initiative to go the extra mile in helping Devon. It's humbling experiences like this that encourage me to give that extra mile everyday!!! =) Thanks to Pioneer Valley for being so helpful!!!
"tHe JoYs CoMe FrOM PuTTinG thE WeLfAre oF OTHERS abOvE oUr OwN."
-HeNrY B. EyRiNg
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