Friday, February 16, 2007
oh the joys of traveling
Posted Wednesday on Wednesday Whining from NortheastAirport:
Whine: Went to airport at 4am with wet hair (hotel hair dryer was broke). Waited outside in an ice storm (or what I thought at the moment to be an ice storm but what turned out to be only the slightest beginning of THE ICE STORM) for an hour. Finally I'm next in line -- wait -- airport is closed. Somehow convinced them to check me in despite orders to "close" ticketing.
teeny-tiny anti-whine: no line for security and relatively fresh food.
Back to the whine: Waited until 1pm with virtually no information about status of flight (other than delayed - duh!).
teeny-tine anti-whine: at least I didn't wait on the plane like several others.
Back to the whine: Finally decided to book flight for tomorrow despite no official cancellation of flights to Hometown. Booked with a connection in DC (uh oh) as all 5 direct flights were already booked. Waited outside in THE ICE STORM for 30 mins to take a 5 min shuttle to hotel. Waited in hotel lobby for another hour for a clean room.
anti-whine: I have a hotel room! A nice hotel room! with a free bag of microwave popcorn!
to-be-determined whine: I just checked in for tomorrow's flight so I will not have to wait in ticketing line (in theory) again. At least not until that flight is indefinitely delayed (seriously that is what the official declaration was - not cancelled but indefinitley delayed - WTF?)
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When I woke up Thursday, I found out flight to DC was delayed which would void any possibility of making a connection to Hometown flight. So, I went immediately to the airport because calling US (wait, this is a blog I should use a pseudonym) SuckyAirways is completely useless (if you do not get a busy signal (probability of which is 15%), then you are automatically disconnected). I went back to see my friends the gate agents and rebooked on a flight through the CityofNotherlyLove (all 6 direct flights were booked or cancelled). Flight was delayed and we waited on the tarmac for close to 90 minutes. Connection was delayed even longer but I eventually made it home. Total number of different reservations I had in less than 24 hours: 5. Total number of hours spent in the airport: 17. Total number of hours in flight: less than 2
Overheard/overseen at the airport:
Whine: Went to airport at 4am with wet hair (hotel hair dryer was broke). Waited outside in an ice storm (or what I thought at the moment to be an ice storm but what turned out to be only the slightest beginning of THE ICE STORM) for an hour. Finally I'm next in line -- wait -- airport is closed. Somehow convinced them to check me in despite orders to "close" ticketing.
teeny-tiny anti-whine: no line for security and relatively fresh food.
Back to the whine: Waited until 1pm with virtually no information about status of flight (other than delayed - duh!).
teeny-tine anti-whine: at least I didn't wait on the plane like several others.
Back to the whine: Finally decided to book flight for tomorrow despite no official cancellation of flights to Hometown. Booked with a connection in DC (uh oh) as all 5 direct flights were already booked. Waited outside in THE ICE STORM for 30 mins to take a 5 min shuttle to hotel. Waited in hotel lobby for another hour for a clean room.
anti-whine: I have a hotel room! A nice hotel room! with a free bag of microwave popcorn!
to-be-determined whine: I just checked in for tomorrow's flight so I will not have to wait in ticketing line (in theory) again. At least not until that flight is indefinitely delayed (seriously that is what the official declaration was - not cancelled but indefinitley delayed - WTF?)
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When I woke up Thursday, I found out flight to DC was delayed which would void any possibility of making a connection to Hometown flight. So, I went immediately to the airport because calling US (wait, this is a blog I should use a pseudonym) SuckyAirways is completely useless (if you do not get a busy signal (probability of which is 15%), then you are automatically disconnected). I went back to see my friends the gate agents and rebooked on a flight through the CityofNotherlyLove (all 6 direct flights were booked or cancelled). Flight was delayed and we waited on the tarmac for close to 90 minutes. Connection was delayed even longer but I eventually made it home. Total number of different reservations I had in less than 24 hours: 5. Total number of hours spent in the airport: 17. Total number of hours in flight: less than 2
Overheard/overseen at the airport:
- "There are 5 of us, so we can drive all night and make it there tomorrow night" - woman & friends who declared they would just drive from Northeast Airport to Florida for the race (I'm assuming this one). Perhaps she didn't realize that the reason we were all standing in line re-booking our flights was that there were several inches of ICE falling from the sky. Not exactly the best driving conditions.
- "hi. I'm scheduled to get married Friday and I'm wondering if I can reschedule for Monday or Tuesday?" - woman on a cell phone standing in airport with group of family, friends, and future-husband who were planning to fly to Cancun for her wedding.
- Woman in the seat next to me while we sat on the tarmac - sobbing on phone with her father's answering machine. Someone had died or was near death (I'm guessing the latter) and she wasn't sure if she'd make it to Florida to be with her father but was clearly putting on a brave face for him.
- Large group of students with disabilities running through the airport to board a plane bound for Ft Lauderdale only to sit on the tarmac for hours and attempt to take off twice. None of those passengers were too happy when they got off that plane (including woman determined to drive).
- State troopers on segways zooming through the airport. Honestly, the strangest thing I've ever seen. First, when did state troopers replace TSA? Second, where did they get the budget for segways?
- My sister booked a flight to visit us in March. Her seats are messed up and she is worried because she is flying with her 2 year old son (and she doesn't fly much). While I'm waiting to board my delayed flight she calls to complain that she has been calling SuckyAirways and Partner and was on hold forever with Partner but Sucky's line was always busy. I explain to her that perhaps the reason is that people like me are stranded in the Northeast. Perhaps her seating requests could wait a week or two. "Oh yeah I forgot about that" Wish I could have.
Labels: airports, ice storms, whining
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