My Plane Broke

[lokheed]

So Kris safely made it to the airport this morning and got on her flight without a hitch. She called me from the plane just after she was seated, just to make sure my mom and I were on our way to the airport for our own later flight. I told her I loved her and I would see her tonight in Orlando. Apparently I lied.

Upon arriving at the airport, we walked into a mob scene. I tried to check in at US Airways, but was sent over to United because although I was booked on US Air for our travel, the first leg of the flight was being operated by United. After standing in line at the United check in for over a half hour, we discovered that there was a mechanical error with the plane and our flight was completely cancelled. We were instructed to go stand in another (very long) line to re-book on a later flight. The US Airways counter continued to be pretty much empty, so I walked back over there and asked them why, if I was booked with US Air, they couldn't take care of me. The woman I spoke to was very nice, and once she ascertained that our tickets really were booked with the US Air code instead of the United code she got us booked on a new flight.... tomorrow morning. As bad as an overnight delay sounds, I could hear the folks at United telling people that it was going to be at least three days before they could get on a flight out of Seattle. For the record, the people at United sucked and the people at US Air were very nice and very helpful.

Unfortunately, Kris does not know about any of this yet. I sent her a text message, which she should get whenever she lands after the first leg of her flight. She'll have to pick up my car and then come back to the airport tomorrow after work to pick my mom and I up. Whee.

Comments

[stannius.livejournal.com]

One plane had mechanical problems and they're overbooked for three days? WTF?

[lokheed.livejournal.com]

From what I gathered standing in line, there was a different plane that also experienced mechanical problems yesterday. In other words, United sucks.

[stannius.livejournal.com]

I've rarely flown United, and frequently flown USAir, so I guess I was lucky :)

gnatchaya's taking United back here on Wednesday... I hope she gets away with it.

[stannius.livejournal.com]

Looks like she's not getting away with it. Her plane is two hours late (so far). They're giving some kind of story about the airport being closed. Which sounds suspicous to me.

We haven't flown United much in the past. We definitely won't fly it in the future.

[lokheed.livejournal.com]

According to the FAA (http://www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp), there are currently no closed airports in the continental US. There is a concentration of airports on the eastern seaboard that are experiencing delays in excess of 45 minutes, and both Chicago and Phoenix have delays of 16-45 minutes. Everyone else is green.

Is she coming from the east coast?

[stannius.livejournal.com]

Yep, from Providence.

She eventually got off the ground 2 1/2 hours late. Ironically, the only cheap ticket we could find was one with a 3 1/2 hour layover, so she doesn't have to worry about missing her connection in Chicago (assuming her connection leaves on time).

[adrianna-colon.livejournal.com]

Hopefully since the error was on them and you've been bumped, they should be putting you up, and/or giving an upgrade, and giving you enough milage to travel roundtrip somewhere!