Security at the Jackson airport is thorough and they check both my bags out, again with my permission and no argument from me. But it is a US Airways employee that sets the tone for this day. Ticket agent Alma (Connie) Brown does a wonderful job of checking passengers in at 5:30 in the morning. But it is her style of customer service that I appreciate. With my Chairman’s Preferred card in hand, she’s probably seen plenty of frequent flyers such as myself, many of which answer security questions before they are asked. But Connie almost catches me and leaves us both smiling. Instead of the usual “Have your bags been in your control”, she asks “And your bags have not been in your control?” If you are on auto-answer, you’re answering this with a ‘Yes’ which is not the correct answer. I was about half-way through my canned answer when I realize this is a different question and I quickly change my answer to ‘No.’ I know she knows I know she tried to trick me. She knows that I know she knows, and I can’t help myself from starting this day on a perfect note. As I see her later taking tickets from boarding passengers, I remind her of no more tricks and she smiles like a diamond as I’m given directions to the plane, a jet plane. At a time when most airline employees treat these questions with disdain, and so do passengers, I found someone in America doing her job to make sure we’re always thinking. Connie, you’re the best and great success with your career at US Airways.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2001 at 7:40 pm and is filed under Come Fly with Me, Day 7. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.