Monterey Regional Airport — Local services in Monterey

TERRIBLE. I have been flying through here for years and loved the convenience. Tried to check in the night before and on my way this morning with no luck. I only have carryon and hoped with checking in online this wouldnt be an issue. In the past even running late, someone would stay behind to man the ticketing counter but as I walked in 30 min before departure decided to try the kiosk instead which wouldnt work. I litterally had to walk around a corner through TSA to board this plane. United told me to knock on Americans door which wouldnt work. TSA and the person who came after takeoff lectured me on not being here 2 hours prior for my 6:10am flight. I understand I came late 30 min before departure but all I needed was a printed boarding pass and I could have hopped right on this plane. What WAS nice about this airport was the people working were helpful, kind, and asking for a minute of someones time wasnt asking too much. I told the person who reticketed me (visibly in a terrible mood) that this was really difficult because I came here for my grandmas funeral and was delayed 6.5 hours coming also. He didnt even look up and told me "well looks like you made it just fine." Sir, I was sobbing in Phoenix in a room full of strangers, terrified I wouldnt make this funeral. Every person with American on this trip has not shown any customer service skills, even when I mention I came for a funeral. To add more insult, TSA wasnt even open until less than an hour before boarding after lecturing me about being two hours early. TSA and the jerk at the ticket counter kept talking about how long the line gets to prove a point that I should not have been late. What this is- they want you to wait on them but they will not show you any consideration with unexpected circumstances. Every person Ive known who flys through Monterey knows nothing is open when you get there early. My grandma was a kind person so she has been worth every minute of these delays and thats my comfort. American needs to provide adequate staffing so people dont get burnt out and treat others this way. The person who was rude to me briefly mentioned they have no one. Neither do I at work, but I never allow this breaking point to come where ppl are being mistreated- and thats working with FOOD. People traveling go places at both their best and their worst moments, and with American needs to provide better support for employees and customers. Finally one lady just showed me some kindness and printed a boarding pass for getting me out of the back row. Something tells me her day is going better than the man at...

Operation: Stripe Extraction Monterey Regional Airport, 0300 Hours Mission Status: Compromised

I arrived at the AO (Area of Operation) one hour before boarding. Intel suggested a routine insertion into long-term parking, followed by a smooth extraction via Gate Alpha. What followed was a logistical ambush orchestrated by a rogue ticket dispenser and a call center command structure that had clearly gone off-grid.

Phase One: Contact Upon arrival, I encountered a jammed ticket hanging from the dispenser like a white flag of surrender. I initiated standard protocol—pressing the button. The machine responded with a cryptic transmission: “Please grab your stripes.”

Stripes? Is this a promotion ceremony? A covert barcode retrieval op? I pressed again. “Please pull your stripes.”

Still no stripes. No ticket. No clarity. Just a blinking light and the creeping suspicion that this machine had been programmed by a disgraced linguist with a vendetta against clarity.

Phase Two: Comms Breakdown I hit the “Help” button. It patched me through to a call center that sounded like it was operating out of a submarine in the Indian Ocean. The speaker quality was so degraded I felt like I was trying to coordinate an airstrike using a McDonald’s drive-thru intercom.

The operator requested my last name. I gave him “Smith.” He asked me to repeat it. Seven times. I considered switching to the NATO phonetic alphabet—Sierra Mike India Tango Hotel—but feared it might trigger a system reboot or cause his headset to combust.

Phase Three: Tactical Failure The operator assured me he would raise the gate remotely. The machine buzzed, clicked, and then... nothing. The gate remained closed. He sounded genuinely shocked, as if the gate had betrayed him personally. Meanwhile, a convoy of civilian vehicles had formed behind me, headlights glaring like judgmental spotlights.

He then issued the final directive: “Sir, you’ll have to find another gate.”

At Monterey Regional. During construction. With no signage. No map. No second gate. This was not a tactical relocation—it was a retreat into chaos.

Phase Four: Extraction Under Fire I briefed the convoy behind me, executed a reverse maneuver under pressure, and rerouted to short-term parking. The entire operation burned through my 45-minute buffer. I reached TSA just in time to hear my name echo through the terminal like a last rites...

UPDATE: may 2025 just had another delay at this airport there was not enough space for us to deplane when we got in due to another plane leaving late. We are picking up a friend from the airport and they had to spend an extra 40 minutes on the plane due to this gross mismanagement. Management is seriously lacking at this airport. First delay!!! We spent 8 hours in this airport trying to get on our flight with American airlines. Our flight kept getting pushed back hour after hour with no reason. Communication skills with American airlines is seriously lacking. This airport is seriously understaffed. American airline employees do everything from taking your ticket, to taking your bags, to actually going out on the tarmac and guiding in the airplanes. One employee would fill all these jobs! It was shocking and very unprofessional. Where is any airport staff? There does not appear to be any management from the airport or any security anywhere in this airport except for the TSA agents. We will never fly from this airport ever again even though it is very convenient for us. This is a bush League unprofessional scary place to fly a...