Enough already. Today is the last straw. I really need to write some of this stuff down.
There are certainly folks who travel more than me, but I think I travel more than most. My job currently has me traveling approximately 50% of the time. (My wife thinks it's more, but that's another blog post for another day) I've been traveling this heavy for approximately two years now. I'm not out to "bash" the airline (or travel) industry, but some of my experiences are just too weird, funny, or unbelievable not to share.
Okay, The "last straw". I was ticketed to travel from ORF (Norfolk, VA) to SDF (Louisville, KY) on August 10th. My flight was to depart ORF at 9:30am, arrive in ATL (Atlanta, GA) at 11:30am, then depart ATL at 12:06pm to arrive at SDF at 1:25pm.
When I checked in at ORF I was given a "SEAT REQUEST" ticket which meant that I had to go to the gate to get my seat for ORF to ATL and my boarding pass from ATL to SDF. No problem. When I got to the gate I learned that the flight was overbooked and they were looking for volunteers who would take a later flight. Since I was traveling a day before my meeting I gave up my seat and was told to wait until the plane was boarded. Once the plane boarded I would get my travel and meal voucher (travel voucher usually good for a couple hundred dollars on future travel and the meal voucher is normally around $7.00 good for that day in that airport). The agent booked me on a later flight from ORF to CVG (Cincinnati, OH), then CVG to SDF. I stood by as the plane boarded.
Everyone who was at the gate boarded the plane, however two people who had checked in, had not boarded. After multiple attempts to find the missing passengers, the agate gents were going to "close the door" and send the flight on its way. I said, "Well if there are seats, can I go a scheduled?" I was told a seat and sent down the breezeway. I was not given a boarding pass for the ORF to ATL flight nor did I have a boarding pass for my next flight (ATL-SDF).
Okay, that's the set-up. Here is how the remainder of my day went. I knew that I had a fairly tight connection in ATL (30 minutes) and it could get sticky if we took off late or I had to change terminals in ATL. Once I landed in ATL, I rushed over to the gate bound for SDF. I handed the agent my ID and asked for a boarding pass. The agent told me that I was not on that flight (which departs in 25 minutes) and that I was on a 1:55pm flight to ORF, then CVT, then SDF. (After picking up my jaw off the ground) I told her I just got off a plane from ORF, why would I turn around and fly back there? She said that is how my ticket was booked and it would cost $50.00 to change my ticket and get on that SDF flight. Not really given an option I decided to change my flight (and I was going to challenge the charge later). The agent called for assistance, but then told me to go to the service desk to get my ticket changed.
I strolled down (quickly) to the service desk. The first question asked of me is "Can I see your boarding pass?" I reply with "I do not have one." After trying to explain why I don't have a boarding pass; twice, I was directed to the main desk where my record is pulled up. The service desk representative asked why "I missed my flight from ORF?"
Huh? "How did I miss my flight from Norfolk?" I asked, "I'm here in Atlanta." I explain my situation again (third time) and the agent then corrects my flights (for free), besides I was put in this pickle because I originally volunteered my seat.
I raced back to the SDF gate and boarded the plane. We push away from the gate and take off. All is good in the world, right? I'll be in SDF as scheduled.
The flight from ATL to SDF is 55 minutes long. 25 minutes into the flight, the captain says "We have a malfunctioning computer. The plane is safe, but we are going back to ATL and will be there in 30 minutes." I was not happy to turn around, I wished they would just finish the flight and fix the plane in SDF. The airline has more resources in Atlanta, so I understand why they turned us around.
Once back in ATL, we de-planed (Thankfully). The alternative would being forced to wait on the plane while the mechanic tries to fix it. Not fun.
While waiting in the terminal for my second ATL to SDF flight, I went back to the service desk and said "Hello" to the customer service representative who corrected my flights. We shared a laugh and I headed off to my new SDF gate.
The airline in a brilliant move, put my second SDF flight right next to another SDF flight which was to depart at roughly the same time. Both SDF flights were boarding at the same time and there was obviously lots of confusion on which flight was which and get this...The other flight was overbooked and the airline would not let standby folks join our flight because we "had already taken off in the computer system and they could not do it". Well, they did allow some of the other flight's standby passengers join our flight and we were on our way.
We landed in SDF and believe it or not, my luggage arrived as scheduled.
We'll there you have it. My first posted travel experience. I'll be posting some "experiences" from the past as I remember them and the ones yet to happen. Now I really understand why comics say "You can't make this stuff up".
