You have to understand, I hate to complain…. but I’m going to. Let’s see if I can do it in a fun way.

Recently, I planned a trip to visit the (((girl)))! Ha! Planning a trip based on her schedule I could complain about, ha ha, but I won’t complain about that here 🙂

Generally, I plan my flights first thing in the morning. I fly out of a regional airport so I usually have to fly into a larger city to get to my destination. My last two flights were delayed. One flight, they had to fly a pilot in from another airport. The last flight, it took forever to de-ice. I decided to fly another airline. The flight was pretty cheap but it had me flying to Dallas and then to NY. I won’t mention the carrier but it was an American Airline. Ha! I heard that joke a long time ago and was waiting for the right moment to use it!

I arrived at the airport about an hour and a half before my flight. Getting through TSA at that time is quick and easy. As I waited for my flight. It was snowing and it was in the back of my mind we may be delayed but I had buffered some time at my stop over to avoid a short delay. As the time grew closer to my flight, I heard murmurs about “Pilot Fatigue” but no official announcement. Not too long after, it was announced that our flight was being delayed…. 3 Hours! Mind you, this was my third flight out of this airport to be delayed. Since it was going to be a three hour delay, I was going to miss my connecting flight and I went up to the counter to have them give me a new flight at my connecting location. I let them know that if they wanted to book me on another flight, that was great, my final destination was the important detail. They didn’t give me any options, they just booked me on a later flight out of the airport I would be stopping over at stating “I SHOULD be able to make the connecting flight”.

I decided to have breakfast and coffee at the airport to pass the time. The 3 hour delay was taking a bit longer and of all people, the pilot made the announcement. Apparently one of the “Flight Crew” had to drive in from a neighboring city and was on their way. Mind you, it turned out, the person missing was a flight attendant. Not long after, I got a text that I was going to miss my connecting flight, back up to the counter to let them know and see if I can rebook again. The counter person calculated time in his head and said, we are boarding in 15 minutes and it’s a two hour flight, so I SHOULD make my flight. I looked at him skeptically and said, “oh, we are boarding in 15 minutes??” And he responded with “uh, 15-20”. I sat back down and it was like 25 minutes before we boarded. Then we had to de-ice, then the flight took two hours and fifteen minutes. I arrived in Dallas, I looked at the Departure board and my connecting flight just left.

I hopped on the “air train” to get to another terminal… but it was as if I was really wandering around aimlessly. What was I going to do when I got to the next terminal? So I got off the air train in the middle of the terminal and went to seek a counter person for that American Airline. While I was walking around, the (((girl))) texted me to say LaGuardia (NY) was closed/delayed because of TSA issues. Right around then I noticed a text from the airline which was confusing because they rebooked me to LaGuardia!!!! Ugh! I found a person working one of the counters and I must have seemed in despair as I asked her to let me know my options…

This counter rep was (((awesome))) [unusually high pitched “awesome”]. I mentioned the issues at the other airport and she looked up my options. The next direct flight to JFK Airport was at like 7pm and I would get there around 9:30pm. OR I could fly into Washington DC and then to JFK and I would get there around 8pm. Or she could book me on a flight that took me to LaGuardia… after a short deliberation, I chose the flight to DC and then to JFK. I was thankful to her for helping me out, she gave me options that my original airport did not.

….BUT…. I had 10 minutes to get to another terminal and to my next flight. Luckily, I got there just as they were about finishing boarding. I have a feeling that counter rep called them to let them know I was coming! I wish I got her name! Before long, we were in the air and it was nice to see the Washington DC area from above. Then it was off to NY! I originally expected to get to NY around 3pm and have dinner with the (((girl))) but I arrived in NY sometime after 8pm. I got an Uber to my hotel and…wow, it was like an 16 hour day when I got back to the hotel. Dinner was out but we had a short quiet evening. Saturday we spent a wonderful day together but since this was a weekend trip to visit her, I was back on the airline circuit Sunday morning at 5:30am.

The American Airline that will remain nameless, lol, came through when I told them the story of my trip and sent me a $100 voucher for my next flight! I’m thankful for that! I likely won’t fly out of the regional airport the next time, I will drive the 2 hours to the larger airport and just fly direct.

After I returned. I checked my bank account for charges, it turns out, my hotel overcharged me for my stay! So that took another call to get things straightened out. But if life couldn’t get much crazier, I went to McDonalds and had the strangest thing happen. I went up to the counter and there was no one there to take my order. The people behind me left because they got tired of waiting. I noticed the new kiosks that they have – where customers can place their order. I punched in my order, paid and waited. It took almost 20 minutes to get the order! The order had some issues AND then they forgot my drinks. As I waited, I noticed other customers coming up to the counter and being ignored and they subsequently left.

I just had to get my story off my chest. I hope the next week is smooth sailing 🙂

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