Slate’s Elizabeth Spiers pronounces Brazilian carrier TAM to be the world’s worst airline. Her first-person sidebar story includes these delightful tidbits:
Arrive at the airport three hours early. After an hour of waiting in line at ticketing, discover that your partner’s ticket is not showing up in the reservations system because the system that manages such things is segregated entirely from the system that manages, say, boarding passes… Three gate agents spend at least 20 minutes frowning at computer terminals that include information for one, two, or all systems, none of which are integrated… Return to ticketing and check bags, if they haven’t already been studiously checked and shipped off to the wrong destination. Now you have a boarding pass. And your plane is delayed for five to seven hours. Several hours later, you finally board the plane and the woman at the gate wants to know where your ticket is. You don’t have a ticket. No one gave you a ticket. They gave you a boarding pass…
This sounds like it could be almost anywhere, any airline. Actually sorta reminds me of the United counter at Chicago O’Hare.