Author:
madcows
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Date:
8/22/2009 3:50:42 PM
Subject:
RE: Madcow's tip of the day
Yesterday was pretty damn miserable. It started off bad with me having to take care of several last minute requests by the property I was working at. I've been itching to go home since I've been there since the previous thursday. It was a bit nerve wracking as I was was starting to cut really close to the time that I had to leave. By the time I got the chance to, I was already running a bit late.
With my luggage and laptop bag, I had to get to the nearest metro station (in D.C.) in order to catch the train to the airport. By the time I got to the damn machines from which you buy the tickets, there just had to be some asshole filling up his pass, and another group of tourists trying to figure out what the fuck they were doing. It was at that time that the scheduled train arrival was in 2 minutes. By the time I finally got my ticket, I just missed it - and the next one wasn't due in for another 15 minutes.
Here's where I really fucked up: I should have checked in online using my cellphone as I usually do. I'm not sure exactly why I didn't. Maybe it's because I expected to miss the flight anyways.
So, I finally arrive at the airport, which I then had to wait on a shuttle bus to go back around the airport, and take me to the proper terminal. By the time I got to the ticket counter, it was 12:15, and my flight was supposed to depart by 12:30. So, I try to check in at the kiosk, but since it was so close to departure, it wouldn't check me in, and instead, referred me to an agent. The agent told me I was too late, but said that he could put me on a 2:40pm flight. Fine. No big deal. I can wait two hours is what I thought.
I go through the short line in security, just to find that my original flight hasn't even begun general boarding! So, I go to the gate agent and tell her that it was my original flight, and that they had booked me for the 2:40. She practically told me to fuck off, and that my seat was given up, and the plane was full. I can't say I was completely irritated, but there was little I could do. Then again, I wasn't as frustrated since I would leave two hours later....... little did I know, I wouldn't. The thing is, if I checked in online, I could have got the kiosk to just print my boarding pass, and all would have been well.
Shortly before the plane that I was going to be flying on landed in D.C., a storm rolled through, and that plane was diverted to Pittsburgh, and therefore delayed the flight 1 hour. The storm in the immediate area rolled away quickly, but I was still waiting. The one hour delay turned into 2, then 3 hours. Finally, close to 6pm we board the plane. We start to taxi to the runway when the captain comes in on the intercom to inform us that all flights are on ground stop orders. Supposedly weather related. So, the captain parks the plane off to the side, and we wait. I end up getting a couple glasses (ok, plastic cups) of wine to take a bit of the edge off, which did help. The captain then comes on the intercom again, and tells us that if they're not allowed to take off within ten minutes, then the crew would time out - meaning by orders of the FAA, they would not be allowed to fly. Sure enough, they timed out, and we had to return to the gate. Now I was told that the airline would be flying in another plane with a different crew - and the new scheduled departure would be at 9:30, which they had the nerve to list as being "On time" on the flights display. Good for them.
Now I'm sitting once again in the terminal - waiting. I look around, and see another northwest flight to detroit scheduled for 8:30pm. So I go up to the gate agent, and ask if I could get a seat on that one. She said there was plenty of availability, so she books me on it. But as I'm standing there waiting for her to complete the reservation, the flight display behind her indicated that the flight is now rescheduled to depart at 9:30 instead! What was I going to do? Nothing would surprise me at this point.
So, I grab a seat, and notice that there were actually 3 separate norhtwest flight all trying to head to detroit at around the same time! I don't know what the fuck was going on, but the flight that I was booked on kept on switching back and fourth between two gates about 4 or 5 times. Each time, a swarm of people that were on the flight would migrate to the new gate. I was sitting right smack in the middle of the two, and was not going anywhere.
Finally, many hours after my initially scheduled flight of 12:30 which nearly departed on time, it was my turn. But this time, I was given a middle seat that wouldn't recline. Luckily, it was only an hour long flight.
We finally land - on the furthest runway from the terminal, and friday is just about over. At this point, I'm counting the events in seconds as I could no longer stand to be practically held captive by the airlines. But all wasn't over yet. The northwest A terminal in detroit is HUGE - probably about a mile in length - and we had to park in the middle of the terminal on the other side. That meant we had to taxi past the terminal, hook around, then go halfway back. It was literally 4 gates shy of being as far away as possible from where we landed.
The seatbelt sign comes off, and everyone gets up. I joked with the people around me saying there's probably no one to operate the jet bridge. This was almost true. We were all standing around for a little while, but no one was moving. The flight attendant comes on the PA to inform us that the plane door is stuck shut. Everyone on the plane just started laughing. It was the grand finale. Northwest's last jab at us for the day. And what a long day it was. Except for crashing, and losing my luggage (that would have been bad, since it was a carry-on), it seemed as if everything that could have gone wrong, did.
And probably because I just didn't check in online.
