The Joys of Air Travel
I was away on vacation last week, having gone to New York City and Washington, DC, with my daughter to look at colleges and play the tourist. Except for the travel, we both had a great time.
But oh, that travel…
We were scheduled on 2 Delta flights each way and did not actually fly any of them at the scheduled time. Our first flight, from Oakland to Atlanta on Sunday the 7th, was scheduled at 7 in the morning (so we got to the airport at 5:30), but didn't leave until 11:15 because of mechanical problems. Needless to say, that caused us to miss our connection, but then they even delayed the flight they had moved us to by a half hour. As a result, we arrived in New York at midnight instead of 6 pm. That's one evening lost. On our return trip, Delta topped that. Although we arrived at the airport and got through check-in and security and to the gate a half hour before the scheduled flight time, they had already bumped us from our five o'clock flight to a 6 o'clock flight. Which they then delayed a half hour. But that was cool, because the flight they put us on was going to stop in Atlanta, then continue to Oakland. So we got to Atlanta and waited on the plane while the passengers switching planes got off. After about 15 or 20 minutes, one of the attendants came back on the plane and told us that we had to get over to a gate at another terminal right away because this plane wasn't going through to Oakland after all. So daughter and I and about 15 other passengers rushed to the other terminal only to find the plane we were rushing to had left already, 15 MINUTES AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. There were no other flights they could put us on, so they put us up in an Atlanta hotel, which we got to after 1 in the morning and checked out of at 6, so we could catch our 7:25 flight to San Francisco. We did manage to actually get on that flight (A United flight) and get to SF without any further ado, but once there we had to catch a shuttle to the Oakland airport where our luggage (yes, somehow that got to Oakland on the right flight) and car were. So after leaving Washington at 10:00 Saturday morning to drive to NYC, we finally got home about 1:00 Sunday afternoon.
Aside from giving me an opportunity to vent, why do I tell you this? Because this headline caught my eye, Delta Faces “Very High Risk” of Bankruptcy.
Gosh, why would that be? Nothing but satisfied customers here.
But oh, that travel…
We were scheduled on 2 Delta flights each way and did not actually fly any of them at the scheduled time. Our first flight, from Oakland to Atlanta on Sunday the 7th, was scheduled at 7 in the morning (so we got to the airport at 5:30), but didn't leave until 11:15 because of mechanical problems. Needless to say, that caused us to miss our connection, but then they even delayed the flight they had moved us to by a half hour. As a result, we arrived in New York at midnight instead of 6 pm. That's one evening lost. On our return trip, Delta topped that. Although we arrived at the airport and got through check-in and security and to the gate a half hour before the scheduled flight time, they had already bumped us from our five o'clock flight to a 6 o'clock flight. Which they then delayed a half hour. But that was cool, because the flight they put us on was going to stop in Atlanta, then continue to Oakland. So we got to Atlanta and waited on the plane while the passengers switching planes got off. After about 15 or 20 minutes, one of the attendants came back on the plane and told us that we had to get over to a gate at another terminal right away because this plane wasn't going through to Oakland after all. So daughter and I and about 15 other passengers rushed to the other terminal only to find the plane we were rushing to had left already, 15 MINUTES AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. There were no other flights they could put us on, so they put us up in an Atlanta hotel, which we got to after 1 in the morning and checked out of at 6, so we could catch our 7:25 flight to San Francisco. We did manage to actually get on that flight (A United flight) and get to SF without any further ado, but once there we had to catch a shuttle to the Oakland airport where our luggage (yes, somehow that got to Oakland on the right flight) and car were. So after leaving Washington at 10:00 Saturday morning to drive to NYC, we finally got home about 1:00 Sunday afternoon.
Aside from giving me an opportunity to vent, why do I tell you this? Because this headline caught my eye, Delta Faces “Very High Risk” of Bankruptcy.
Gosh, why would that be? Nothing but satisfied customers here.
posted by Stephen Green at 1:02 PM
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