It's been a bad month for flying. I felt a deja vu of Mexico City happening yesterday and today. On Saturday, I went to do the online check-in for my Carlsbad-St. Louis flight only to get the message "problem with your flight, call customer service." No matter what I did, the message came up, so I broke down and made the call. Turns out that the flight was cancelled, no explanation and no phone call. I was rebooked out of San Diego which while I was happy to have the flight (and the first class upgrade) I wasn't happy with the resulting 3:00 am wake-up call.
Even worse, the flight crew was late. Why? Their luggage was trapped in the back of the hotel shuttle and no one could break into the van or open the door. To make matters worse, US Airways justified this to us by saying that Delta was delayed as well. Instead of making an announcement, the gate agent just told each of us individually, that Phoenix would handle our reroutes. Her phrase was "as I just said..." OMG! Get on the PA and make an announcement if you don't want to repeat yourself.
7:00 am. We are finally on the plane, 60 minutes late. Nothing happens. And more nothing. Since I'm near the front, I hear the dreaded conversation between the pilot and the mechanic. Unidentified problem that needs investigation. Finally an announcement. We're delayed. Duh....we figured it out. 7:30, the flight finally takes off to Phoenix.
Arrive in Phoenix at 8:38 am. My flight departs at 8:49 am. The best advice US Airways could offer? "Run." A6 to A30 are in two different wings of the airport. I didn't run. Why bother? I looked at the screen and my outbound to St. Louis was delayed. I had 15 whole minutes, a luxury in today's airplane schedule. Turns out that the arriving flight had no gate to go to, so I lucked out due to general travel lameness.
A flight that should take under 4 hours, ended up taking 7 hours when the wasted time is added in and that's not counting the 3:00 am wake-up. Let's make that 8 hours wasted.
So now I'm in my St. Louis hotel where I get to stay put for the night before I leave for Monterrey, Mx tomorrow night. I fly through Dallas, the scene of last week's AA crime. And, I'm flying AA again. Wish me luck.
On a better note, all the downtime allowed me to finish the final assignments for Finance 1. I now have one day free before I start Finance 2. That at least, is a small relaxation point in my life.
Even worse, the flight crew was late. Why? Their luggage was trapped in the back of the hotel shuttle and no one could break into the van or open the door. To make matters worse, US Airways justified this to us by saying that Delta was delayed as well. Instead of making an announcement, the gate agent just told each of us individually, that Phoenix would handle our reroutes. Her phrase was "as I just said..." OMG! Get on the PA and make an announcement if you don't want to repeat yourself.
7:00 am. We are finally on the plane, 60 minutes late. Nothing happens. And more nothing. Since I'm near the front, I hear the dreaded conversation between the pilot and the mechanic. Unidentified problem that needs investigation. Finally an announcement. We're delayed. Duh....we figured it out. 7:30, the flight finally takes off to Phoenix.
Arrive in Phoenix at 8:38 am. My flight departs at 8:49 am. The best advice US Airways could offer? "Run." A6 to A30 are in two different wings of the airport. I didn't run. Why bother? I looked at the screen and my outbound to St. Louis was delayed. I had 15 whole minutes, a luxury in today's airplane schedule. Turns out that the arriving flight had no gate to go to, so I lucked out due to general travel lameness.
A flight that should take under 4 hours, ended up taking 7 hours when the wasted time is added in and that's not counting the 3:00 am wake-up. Let's make that 8 hours wasted.
So now I'm in my St. Louis hotel where I get to stay put for the night before I leave for Monterrey, Mx tomorrow night. I fly through Dallas, the scene of last week's AA crime. And, I'm flying AA again. Wish me luck.
On a better note, all the downtime allowed me to finish the final assignments for Finance 1. I now have one day free before I start Finance 2. That at least, is a small relaxation point in my life.
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