Story time from my flight a week ago. Only mildly infuriating due to the ending
American Airlines agent forced us to check our son's hand carry as we were last in line for boarding. We usually line up late since our child is 4 and doesn't love standing in long lines. Anyways, we told the gate agent that we were flying from the US all the way back to Malaysia and the hand carry had all my son's personal items for the 28+ hour journey home.
She did not care and muttered some corporate jargon at us. ChatGPT sounds more sincere and life-like than the response we received from her.
So she tagged my bag and proceeded to tell us to drop it off at the end of the gangway for the baggage handler to check in. The handler witnessed the whole scene as we struggled to repack our bags on the terminal floor, trying to get out my son's most necessary items.
The baggage handler and I made direct eye contact as we walked down towards the aircraft. She didn't say anything, but I got the vibe that she chose that exact moment after we exchanged glances to turn around and bring the one bag she had to be stowed away, ignoring us as we boarded the plane. The stewardesses onboard were much more understanding, and lo' and behold, there were tons of overhead spaces still available that the stewardess assisted us in finding.
Edit: no announcement for early boarding for families. AA also reassigned my paid seats 1 hour before so we were in the last boarding zone.
They did make an announcement asking for volunteers, but I didn't realize that this announcement implied forced bag check-in if they didn't meet their quota. Again I'm not big mad about it, that's why I posted it here. It's a learning experience if anything. And one more time for those in the back - Big shouts outs to baggage handler homie! Humans above corporations every day till I die, you inspire me to be better handler homie